Architecture: The structure of components, their relationships, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time. (Source: C4ISRAF)

Capability: The ability to achieve an objective or perform a function. (Source: C4ISRAF expanded)

Document: Recorded information regardless of physical form, e.g., text, bit-mapped images, spreadsheets, and electronic versions of UAF products. (Source: C4ISRAF tailored)

Guidance: A statement of direction, e.g., a doctrine, laws, and directives. (Source: C4ISRAF tailored)

Imagery and Geospatial Community (IGC): The set of US and allied governmental, military, academic, and commercial organizations involved in the acquisition and production of imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information. (Source: UAF)

Mechanism: A physical resource that is involved with the performance of an activity, e.g., personnel, tools, automated systems. (Source: C4ISRAF)

Mission: An objective. (Source: C4ISRAF)

Network: The joining of two or more components for the purpose of exchanging verbal, nonverbal, or electronic communications or transporting power, personnel, equipment, or other resources. (Source: C4ISRAF tailored)

Node: An element of architectures that may represent a role, an organization, a facility, or even an individual workstation, depending on the purpose and level of detail needed in the architecture description. (Source: C4ISRAF tailored)

Operational Architecture: Descriptions of the tasks, operational elements, and information flows required to accomplish or support warfighting and civil functions. (Source: C4ISRAF tailored)

Organization: A civil, military, commercial, or academic unit or entity, with an administrative structure supporting a mission(s). Capable of independent and/or coordinated actions with other organizations. (Source: UAF)

Requirement: A need or demand which may be specified in other guidance or derived from necessity and circumstances. (Source: C4ISRAF tailored)

Software: A set of instructions that govern the operation of data processing equipment, e.g., firmware, software applications, operating systems, and embedded software. (Source: C4ISRAF tailored)

Standard: An agreement for a procedure, product, or relationship. (Source: C4ISRAF)

System: Any organized assembly of resources and procedures united and regulated by interaction or interdependence to accomplish a set of specific functions. (Source: JCS Pub 1-02, 23 March 1994)

Task: A directed activity which may be explicitly or implicitly directed by doctrine or demands of the situation. (Source: C4ISRAF tailored)

United States Imagery and Geospatial Information System (USIGS): The single, integrated system which is evolving from multiple systems to support the IGC in the US Government's acquisition and production of imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information. The USIGS has a common information management framework that enables sharing of data, services, and resources among IGC members and their consumers. (Source: UAF)

Views: Perspectives (operational, systems, technical, and/or data) that logically combine to describe an architecture. (Source: C4ISRAF tailored)