Image display started as ‘raster graphics‘, in which an image is represented as a rectangular grid of pixels on a display device. These were gradually replaced by ‘vector graphics‘ which use all the basic geometrical shapes to represent images. Raster images scale with loss of clarity, while vector-based images can be scaled indefinitely without degradation.
Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor. Although it does not have certain features found in some advanced, competing proprietary vector editors (like Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X), it is suitable for a wide range of applications like creating icons, maps, diagrams, images of near photographic quality.
