Spatial and temporal coverage
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Meaning and purpose
Spatial and temporal coverage is locations in space and time to which research collections, datasets and activities relate. Coverage describes the spatial or temporal topics or characteristics of an entity or object.
Spatial coverage examples include 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).
Temporal coverage examples include a time period during which data was collected or observations made, or a time period that an activity or collection is linked to intellectually or thematically (for example, 1997 to 1998; the 18th century).
Spatial coverage—types
There is a range of formats available for describing geospatial location. If spatial information is to be used for mapping or searching, it is necessary to know what kind of spatial values have been recorded, or which spatial standard governs the format used. Types record this information.
The following types have been identified so far for use in the ANDS Collections Registry:
- gml
- OpenGIS Geography Markup Language (GML) Encoding Standard
http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/gml - 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
http://code.google.com/apis/kml/ - gpx
- the GPS Exchange Format
http://www.topografix.com/gpx.asp - iso3166
- : ISO 3166-1 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part 1: Country codes
http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists.htm - iso31662
- Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part 2: Country subdivision codes
http://www.iso.org/iso/country-codes/background_on_iso_3166/iso_3166-2.htm - iso19139dcmiBox
- DCMI Box notation derived from bounding box metadata conformant with the iso19139 schema
http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-box - kml
- Keyhole Markup Language developed for use with Google Earth
http://code.google.com/apis/kml/ - kmlPolyCoords
- A set of KML long/lat co-ordinates defining a polygon as described by the KML coordinates element
http://code.google.com/apis/kml/ - dcmiPoint
- spatial location information specified in DCMI Point notation
http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-point - text
- free-text representation of spatial location. Use this to record place or region names where geospatial notation is not available.
Temporal coverage
Temporal coverage Type
Temporal coverage can be described either using text or using dates. Choose one of the following types:
- date: a time period described using dates, for example, 1978 to 1990
- text: a text description of a time period, for example, 21st century; 1863 to present day
Temporal coverage description using dates will support timeline filtering and display of search results in Research Data Australia.
Temporal coverage Date Type
There are two Date Types:
- dateFrom: the start date for a temporal coverage period
- dateTo: the end date for a temporal coverage period.
If temporal coverage is described using dates, a Date Type must be specified.
Temporal coverage Date Format
The date formats for temporal coverage differ from those used in other RIF-CS elements. Temporal coverage may need to be recorded to a greater level of granularity. Accordingly, W3C Date Time Format, which allows this, is included in addition to the UTC format.
There are two Date Formats:
- UTC: Coordinated Universal Time
- W3CDTF: W3C Date Time Format Reference site
If temporal coverage is described using dates, a Date Format must be specified. Note that dateFormat is specified for each instance of Date Type; this allows the "from" and "to" dates to be described using different date formats if necessary.
Additional information
The language in which the spatial location is recorded can be described using <xml:lang>. See Language for more information.
Use in Research Data Australia
Temporal coverage is displayed using From [date] and To [date]. If only one date is provided, only the appropriate label will be displayed with the date. Correct display for text information is under development; please contact services@ands.org.au for progress updates if you are affected.
Spatial information recorded in this element can be used to generate map displays in Research Data Australia. Maps are generated if valid, correctly formatted spatial data of types "iso19139dcmiBox", "gmlKmlPolyCoords" or "kmlPolyCoords" is provided.
Spatial and temporal metadata displayed in Research Data Australia
RIF-CS best practice guidelines
These guidelines apply from RIF-CS v1.2.0 onwards. Information about using the earlier RIF-CS v1.0.1
To record spatial coverage:
- First create a spatial coverage element
- Then specify the spatial information format using spatial type e.g. kmlPolyCoords
- Then include the spatial values e.g. latitude and longitude coordinates. (If you are entering metadata manually, you can search for places or regions or draw points or areas onto the map directly).
Maps are only generated if valid spatial data of types "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. However, these will all be displayed on one map in Research Data Australia.
To record temporal coverage:
- First create a temporal coverage element
- Choose either date or text
- If date was chosen, also specify date type and date format
- Then include temporal information
IMPORTANT: use a separate coverage element for each pair of dateFrom and dateTo dates, otherwise the Research Data Australia display will not be able to display the date pairs correctly.
Temporal coverage for open-ended collections:
Some collections may have only a starting date or only an end date. This is common for cultural collections such as those held by museums, where, for example, a collection is still being added to on an ongoing basis.
In these cases, use only dateFrom or dateTo as appropriate. Alternatively, use temporal coverage of type "text" to describe the time period. Correct display for text information is under development; please contact services@ands.org.au for progress updates if you are affected.
RIF-CS examples
Spatial coverage:
<coverage>
<spatial type="iso19139dcmiBox">northlimit=-20.4; southlimit=-21; westlimit=115.2; eastLimit=115.6; projection=WGS84
</spatial>
</coverage>
Temporal coverage using W3C date format:
<coverage>
<temporal>
<date type="dateFrom" dateFormat="W3CDTF">2001</date>
<date type="dateTo" dateFormat="W3CDTF">2004</date>
</temporal>
</coverage>
<coverage>
<temporal>
<date type="dateFrom" dateFormat="W3CDTF">2001-01-12T19:20:30.45Z</date>
<date type="dateTo" dateFormat="W3CDTF">2004-03-12T09:14:10.00Z</date>
</temporal>
</coverage>
Temporal coverage using UTC date format, and spatial coverage using iso19239dcmiBox format:
<coverage>
<temporal>
<date type="dateFrom" dateFormat="UTC">2008-11-20T13:00:00Z</date>
<date type="dateTo" dateFormat="UTC">2009-05-13T19:20:31Z</date>
</temporal>
<spatial type="iso19139dcmiBox">northlimit=-23.44822; southlimit=-23.44822; westlimit=151.98386; eastLimit=151.98386; projection=WGS84
</spatial>
</coverage>
Temporal coverage using text format:
<coverage>
<temporal>
<text>18th century</text>
</temporal>
</coverage>
Temporal coverage for an open-ended collection:
Date option:
<coverage>
<temporal>
<date type="dateFrom" dateFormat="W3CDTF">1863</date>
</temporal>
</coverage>
Text option:
<coverage>
<temporal>
<text>1863 to present day</text>
</temporal>
</coverage>
RIF-CS v1.0.1 users only
In RIF-CS v1.0.1 temporal and spatial coverage was provided using the location element. The information below applies only to those users. Upgrade of feeds to the current version of RIF-CS is recommended to take advantage of schema enhancements and the new Research Data Australia display.
RIF-CS Schema v1.0.1 temporal coverage
For temporal coverage there are no defined types. Instead use dates, see Date range. This method applies to RIF-CS Schema v1.0.1 only.
To record temporal coverage using RIF-CS v1.0.1:
- For RIF-CS v1.0.1, first create a location element of type="coverage"
- For RIF-CS v1.0.1, then include dates that describe the temporal coverage (see Date range for more information)
- For RIF-CS v1.0.1, if temporal coverage cannot be described as dates using Date from and Date to (for example 18th century), record this information in a <description> element using type of 'temporal'
RIF-CS 1.0.1 examples
Example of spatial coverage:<location type="coverage">
<spatial type="iso19139dcmiBox">northlimit=-20.4; southlimit=-21; westlimit=115.2; eastLimit=115.6; projection=WGS84</spatial>
</location>
Example of temporal coverage:
<location dateFrom="2010-03-01T00:00:00Z" dateTo="2011-01-31T00:00:00Z" type="coverage">
</location>
| Date | Change history |
| April 2010 | Consultation draft |
| 26 Oct 2010 | RIF-CS 1.2.0 changes and examples added |
| 6 Jan 2011 | RIF-CS 1.2.0 examples corrected to show temporal coverage dateFormat on date type as specified in schema; examples for describing open-ended collections added |
| 6 Dec 2011 | Page restructured to separate RIF-CS v1.0.1 information to avoid confusion; information about display of temporal information added; Research Data Australia image updated |
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