The Federal Information Processing Standards. FIPS deals with a wide range of computer system components including the components of most GISs: hardware, storage media, data files, codes, interfaces, data transmission, networking, data management, documentation, programming languages, software engineering, performance, security, and so forth. FIPS 173 is the precursor to the SDTS (Spatial Data Transfer Standard), which includes standardized definitions for a variety of digital mapping terms, addressing federal requirements for accuracy. FIPS provides a U. S. government standard state and country identification code; standards approved for use by U.S. government agencies. FIPS 152-2 includes POSIX.1 Compliance.
