What attribute category in GIS ranks entities by order into hierarchies?

The attribute category in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that ranks entities into hierarchies is known as ordinal. Ordinal data provides a meaningful order among the values, allowing for the classification of entities based on a particular attribute while reflecting a sense of ranking or hierarchy. A classic example of ordinal data would be a rating scale, such as ranking satisfaction levels from "very unsatisfied" to "very satisfied," where the order matters in conveying information about the relative positions of each entity.

This characteristic distinguishes ordinal data from other types. For instance, nominal data categorizes entities without any inherent order (like gender or types of vegetation), and interval data, while it allows for the ranking of values, does not have a true zero point (think of temperature in Celsius). Ratio data also ranks entities and has a true zero but goes beyond ordinal and interval data by allowing for the comparison of absolute magnitudes (like weight or length). Each type serves different purposes in data analysis, but ordinal is specifically designed for situations where hierarchy or ranking is essential.