An Introduction to Vector Images

The vector graphics is a technique used in computer graphics to describe an image. Picture described with vector graphics is called a vector image. In vector graphics image is described by a set of geometric primitives that define points, lines, curves and polygons to which can be attributed colors and also shades. It is radically different from raster graphics images, which are described as appropriately colored grid of pixels.
Advantages
The main advantages of vector graphics are as follows:

• Possibility to express the data in a form directly comprehensible to a human being (e.g. the standard SVG );
• Opportunity to express the data in a format that utilizes very less space;
• Possibility to enlarge the image arbitrarily, without affecting its resolution.

Such a system of description of graphic information also has the undoubted advantage of a greater data compression: in practice a vector image will occupy lesser space than a corresponding raster. It is also easier to manage and change. This is why, the vector image is suited to handle large amounts of data such as mapping that are typically managed in vector mode.
Image Quality
When a vector image is displayed on a device with a higher resolution, it will not lose its definition. A line which runs transversely, if the screen is represented using raster graphics, is stored as a sequence of color pixels arranged to form the line. If we tried to enlarge a section of the line, we would see the individual pixels that make up the line. If the same line was stored in vector mode, the line would be stored as an equation that starts from a point, identified with the coordinated initial and ends in another defined point with the final coordinates.
Enlarging a section of such a line does not produce visual artifacts or the display of individual pixels making up the image, as the line would always be displayed with the highest resolution permitted by the monitor. For example, if you take a 2x24 pixels vector image and increase its resolution to 1024x768 pixels, the definition of the resultant image will not change. Thus, the vector images are always of high quality.
Uses
Vector graphics has considerable use in the field of publishing, architecture, engineering and computer graphics. All three-dimensional graphics programs save work by defining objects as aggregates of primitive mathematics. In the personal computer the most obvious use is the definition of font. Almost all fonts used by personal computers are manufactured in vector mode, allowing the user to change the font size without loss of definition. Thus, we can see that vector images have a wide range of applications and they are very helpful because they occupy lesser space.