Tempo map
The track in a DAW that records tempo and time-signature changes over time, and thereby translates bars and beats into seconds.
Without one, the software knows how many seconds have elapsed but not which bar you're in. Quantisation, the grid, tempo-synced delays and the click all read from it. A Standard MIDI File stores the same information as meta events — tempo expressed in microseconds per quarter note — usually in the first track.
The reverse job, "tempo-mapping" a recording made without a click, means dropping a marker on every beat until the grid follows the players rather than the other way round. Pro Tools' Beat Detective and Logic's Smart Tempo automate parts of it. A band that rushed the chorus is still a band that rushed the chorus — it's just documented now.