Spatial coverage
Meaning & purpose
Spatial coverage refers to a geographical area where data was collected, a place which is the subject of a collection, or a location which is the focus of an activity. This may be described using geospatial coordinates for a point or an area (for example, latitude and longitude), or through the use of place or regional names (for example, Barrow Island; Gippsland). Regional names may be based on legal jurisdiction (for example, South Australia).
Spatial coverage information enables users to limit search results to a defined geographic location or area. This makes it possible to connect data from the same location and to address complex cross-disciplinary research questions based on location. It also makes it easier to integrate data and information programmatically into research applications, tools and data archives.
Spatial coverage is contained within the Coverage element wrapper.
Spatial Coverage attributes
Spatial Type
A Spatial Type is required. Preferably specify a type from the Spatial Type vocabulary:
Type | Explanation |
|---|---|
dcmiPoint | Spatial location information for a point in space specified in DCMI Point Encoding Scheme |
gmlKmlPolyCoords | A set of KML long/lat co-ordinates derived from GML defining a polygon, as described by the KML coordinates element but without the altitude component |
gpx | GPX (the GPS Exchange Format) is a light-weight XML data format for the interchange of GPS data (waypoints, routes, and tracks) between applications and web services on the Internet |
iso31661 | ISO 3166-1 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part 1: Country code |
iso31662 | ISO 3166-2 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part 2: Country subdivision code |
iso31663 | ISO 3166-3 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part 3: Code for formerly used names of countries |
iso19139dcmiBox | DCMI Box Encoding Scheme derived from bounding box metadata, conformant with the ISO/TS 19139-1 schema |
kmlPolyCoords | A set of KML long/lat co-ordinates defining a polygon as described by the KML coordinates element |
text | Free-text representation of spatial location. Use this to record place or region names where geospatial notation is not available |
Language attribute
The language in which the spatial coverage metadata is recorded may be included in the Lang attribute, but is not displayed or searchable in Research Data Australia. The RDA Registry accepts language tags consistent with IETF's BCP (Best Current Practice) 47: Tags for Identifying Languages (incorporating RFC 5646). Language codes may be selected from the IANA Language subtag registry (an IANA Language Subtag lookup tool is available also).
Use in Research Data Australia
Geospatial information recorded in the Spatial Coverage element will generate maps in Research Data Australia, if valid, correctly formatted metadata of Spatial Type: "dcmiPoint", "iso19139dcmiBox", "gmlKmlPolyCoords" or "kmlPolyCoords" is provided. Multiple points or polygons will be displayed on the one map.
Best Practice
- Specify the geospatial information format using the Spatial Type attribute, e.g. kmlPolyCoords.
- Include the spatial values in the Spatial Location element, e.g. latitude and longitude coordinates. A useful tool is the Composite Gazetteer of Australia's Place Names Search which allows users to easily discover, interrogate and download place names information from Australia and its external territories.
- To display a map in Research Data Australia, ensure valid spatial data of types dcmiPoint, iso19139dcmiBox, gmlKmlPolyCoords or kmlPolyCoords is provided.
- To display more than one point or polygon on a map, add each point or polygon into repeated XML elements.
- Spatial coverage is not relevant to parties. Do not use for party records.
XML encoding examples
Spatial coverage using Bounding Box of Type iso19139dcmiBox:
<coverage>
<spatial type="iso19139dcmiBox">northlimit=-20.4; southlimit=-21; westlimit=115.2; eastLimit=115.6; projection=WGS84</spatial>
</coverage>Spatial coverage using Country Code and Type iso3166:
<coverage>
<spatial type="iso3166">AU</spatial>
</coverage>Spatial coverage using KML coordinates:
<coverage>
<spatial type="kmlPolyCoords">115.625357,-31.767240 115.754393,-31.774751 115.757967,-32.462250 115.513179,-32.393528</spatial>
</coverage>