The cardinal axes
In Maya, the Y-axis is pointing up which is also referred to as Y-up.
As you position, scale and rotate your objects, these three axes will serve as your main points of reference. The center of this coordinate system is called the origin and has a value of 0, 0, 0.
UV coordinate space
As you build surfaces in Maya, they are created with their own coordinate space that is define by U in one direction and V in another. You can use these coordinates when you are working with curve on surface objects or when you are positioning textures on a surface. One corner of the surface acts as the origin of the system and all coordinates lie directly on the surface. You can make surfaces live in order to work directly in the UV coordinate space. You will also encounter U and V attributes when you place textures onto surfaces.
Views
In Maya, you visualize your scenes using view panels that let you see into the 3D world.
Perspective views let you see your scene as if you were looking at it with your own eyes or through the lens of a camera.