Documenting Spatial and Temporal Extents
This basic extent information supports spatial/temporal searches that are increasingly important as the number of map based search interfaces increases. Many of the attributes included in this spiral can be calculated from the data if the file is compliant with the NetCDF Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Convention. Describes a simple latitude, longitude, vertical and temporal bounding box. For a more detailed geospatial coverage, see the suggested geospatial attributes. Further refinement of the geospatial bounding box can be provided by using these units and resolution attributes. Many of these extent attributes are calculated using the CF-Conventions.
Crosswalks
Concept | Description | Paths |
---|---|---|
Site | The name or description of the physical location where the data were collected | FGDC /fgdc:metadata/fgdc:idinfo/fgdc:spdom/fgdc:descgeog |
Southernmost Latitude | The southernmost latitude of the bounding rectangle. | ECHO /echo:Spatial/echo:HorizontalSpatialDomain/echo:Geometry/echo:BoundingRectangle/echo:SouthBoundingCoordinate ECS METADATA > COLLECTIONMETADATA > Spatial > SpatialDomainContainer > HorizontalSpatialDomainContainer > BoundingRectangle.SouthBoundingCoordinate EML /eml:dataset/eml:coverage/eml:geographicCoverage/eml:boundingCoordinates/eml:southBoundingCoordinate/eml:text FGDC /fgdc:metadata/fgdc:idinfo/fgdc:spdom/fgdc:bounding/fgdc:southbc ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:geographicElement/gmd:EX_GeographicBoundingBox/gmd:southBoundLatitude/gco:Decimal OGC-SOS /sos:Capabilities/sos:Contents/sos:ObservationOfferingList/sos:ObservationOffering/gml:boundedBy/gml:Envelope/gml:lowerCorner netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:CFMetadata/nc:attribute[@name=geospatial_lat_min] |
Northernmost Latitude | The northernmost latitude of the bounding rectangle. | ECHO /echo:Spatial/echo:HorizontalSpatialDomain/echo:Geometry/echo:BoundingRectangle/echo:NorthBoundingCoordinate ECS METADATA > COLLECTIONMETADATA > Spatial > SpatialDomainContainer > HorizontalSpatialDomainContainer > BoundingRectangle.NorthBoundingCoordinate EML /eml:dataset/eml:coverage/eml:geographicCoverage/eml:boundingCoordinates/eml:northBoundingCoordinate/eml:text FGDC /fgdc:metadata/fgdc:idinfo/fgdc:spdom/fgdc:bounding/fgdc:northbc ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:geographicElement/gmd:EX_GeographicBoundingBox/gmd:northBoundLatitude/gco:Decimal OGC-SOS /sos:Capabilities/sos:Contents/sos:ObservationOfferingList/sos:ObservationOffering/gml:boundedBy/gml:Envelope/gml:upperCorner netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:CFMetadata/nc:attribute[@name=geospatial_lat_max] |
Latitude Dimension Length | The number of divisions on the latgitude axis | ISO /*/gmd:spatialRepresentationInfo/gmd:MD_GridSpatialRepresentation/gmd:axisDimensionProperties/gmd:MD_Dimension/gmd:dimensionSize/gco:Integer netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:dimension[@name=lat]/@length |
Latitude Resolution | The average distance between divisions on the longitude axis | ISO /*/gmd:spatialRepresentationInfo/gmd:MD_GridSpatialRepresentation/gmd:axisDimensionProperties/gmd:MD_Dimension/gmd:resolution/gco:Measure netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:CFMetadata/nc:attribute[@name=geospatial_lat_resolution] |
Westernmost Longitude | The westernmost longitude of the bounding rectangle. | ECHO /echo:Spatial/echo:HorizontalSpatialDomain/echo:Geometry/echo:BoundingRectangle/echo:WestBoundingCoordinate ECS METADATA > COLLECTIONMETADATA > Spatial > SpatialDomainContainer > HorizontalSpatialDomainContainer > BoundingRectangle.EastBoundingCoordinate EML /eml:dataset/eml:coverage/eml:geographicCoverage/eml:boundingCoordinates/eml:westBoundingCoordinate/eml:text FGDC /fgdc:metadata/fgdc:idinfo/fgdc:spdom/fgdc:bounding/fgdc:westbc ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:geographicElement/gmd:EX_GeographicBoundingBox/gmd:westBoundLongitude/gco:Decimal OGC-SOS /sos:Capabilities/sos:Contents/sos:ObservationOfferingList/sos:ObservationOffering/gml:boundedBy/gml:Envelope/gml:lowerCorner netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:CFMetadata/nc:attribute[@name=geospatial_lon_min] |
Easternmost Longitude | The westernmost longitude of the bounding rectangle. | ECHO /echo:Spatial/echo:HorizontalSpatialDomain/echo:Geometry/echo:BoundingRectangle/echo:WestBoundingCoordinate ECS METADATA > COLLECTIONMETADATA > Spatial > SpatialDomainContainer > HorizontalSpatialDomainContainer > BoundingRectangle.EastBoundingCoordinate EML /eml:dataset/eml:coverage/eml:geographicCoverage/eml:boundingCoordinates/eml:eastBoundingCoordinate/eml:text FGDC /fgdc:metadata/fgdc:idinfo/fgdc:spdom/fgdc:bounding/fgdc:eastbc ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:geographicElement/gmd:EX_GeographicBoundingBox/gmd:eastBoundLongitude/gco:Decimal OGC-SOS /sos:Capabilities/sos:Contents/sos:ObservationOfferingList/sos:ObservationOffering/gml:boundedBy/gml:Envelope/gml:upperCorner netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:CFMetadata/nc:attribute[@name=geospatial_lon_max] |
Longitude Dimension Length | The number of divisions on the longitude axis | ISO /*/gmd:spatialRepresentationInfo/gmd:MD_GridSpatialRepresentation/gmd:axisDimensionProperties/gmd:MD_Dimension/gmd:dimensionSize/gco:Integer netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:dimension[@name=lon]/@length |
Longitude Resolution | The average distance between divisions on the longitude axis | ISO /*/gmd:spatialRepresentationInfo/gmd:MD_GridSpatialRepresentation/gmd:axisDimensionProperties/gmd:MD_Dimension/gmd:resolution/gco:Measure netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:CFMetadata/nc:attribute[@name=geospatial_lon_resolution] |
Start Time | The start of the bounding time period | DIF /dif:DIF/dif:Temporal_Coverage/dif:Start_Date ECHO /echo:Collection/echo:Temporal/echo:RangeDateTime/echo:BeginningDateTime EML /eml:dataset/eml:coverage/eml:temporalCoverage/eml:rangeOfDates/eml:beginDate/eml:calendarDate/eml:text ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:temporalElement/gmd:EX_TemporalExtent/gmd:extent/gml:TimePeriod/gml:beginPosition OGC-SOS /sos:Capabilities/sos:Contents/sos:ObservationOfferingList/sos:ObservationOffering/sos:time/gml:TimePeriod/gml:beginPosition netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:CFMetadata/nc:attribute[@name=time_coverage_start] |
End Time | The end of the bounding time period | DIF /dif:DIF/dif:Temporal_Coverage/dif:Stop_Date ECHO /echo:Collection/echo:Temporal/echo:RangeDateTime/echo:EndingDateTime ECHO /echo:Collection/echo:Temporal/echo:EndsAtPresentFlag EML /eml:dataset/eml:coverage/eml:temporalCoverage/eml:rangeOfDates/eml:endDate/eml:calendarDate/eml:text ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:temporalElement/gmd:EX_TemporalExtent/gmd:extent/gml:TimePeriod/gml:endPosition OGC-SOS /sos:Capabilities/sos:Contents/sos:ObservationOfferingList/sos:ObservationOffering/sos:time/gml:TimePeriod/gml:endPosition netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:CFMetadata/nc:attribute[@name=time_coverage_end] |
Place Keyword Vocabulary | If you are following a guideline for the place words/phrases in your "keywords" attribute,
put the name of that guideline here. |
ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:descriptiveKeywords/gmd:MD_Keywords[gmd:type/gmd:MD_KeywordTypeCode='place']/gmd:thesaurusName/gmd:CI_Citation/gmd:title/gco:CharacterString |
Vertical Minimum | The minimum height of the bounding rectangle | DIF /dif:DIF/dif:Spatial_Coverage/dif:Minimum_Altitude DIF /dif:DIF/dif:Spatial_Coverage/dif:Minimum_Depth ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:verticalElement/gmd:EX_VerticalExtent/gmd:minimumValue/gco:Real netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:attribute[@name=geospatial_vertical_min] |
Vertical Maximum | The maximum height of the bounding rectangle | DIF /dif:DIF/dif:Spatial_Coverage/dif:Maximum_Altitude DIF /dif:DIF/dif:Spatial_Coverage/dif:Maximum_Depth ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:verticalElement/gmd:EX_VerticalExtent/gmd:maximumValue/gco:Real netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:attribute[@name=geospatial_vertical_max] |
Vertical Dimension Length | The number of divisions on the vertical axis | ISO /*/gmd:spatialRepresentationInfo/gmd:MD_GridSpatialRepresentation/gmd:axisDimensionProperties/gmd:MD_Dimension/gmd:dimensionSize/gco:Integer netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:dimension[@name=altitude]/@length |
Vertical Resolution | The average distance between divisions on the vertical axis | DIF /dif:DIF/dif:Data_Resolution/dif:Vertical_Resolution ISO /*/gmd:spatialRepresentationInfo/gmd:MD_GridSpatialRepresentation/gmd:axisDimensionProperties/gmd:MD_Dimension/gmd:resolution/gco:Measure netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:attribute[@name=geospatial_vertical_resolution] |
Place Keyword | A comma separated list of key words and phrases that give the location of the resource. | DIF /dif:DIF/dif:Parameters/dif:Category > /*/dif:Parameters/dif:Topic > /*/dif:Parameters/dif:Term
> /*/dif:Parameters/dif:Variable_Level_1 > /*/dif:Parameters/dif:Variable_Level_2 > //dif:Parameters/dif:Variable_Level_3 > /*/dif:Parameters/dif: > /*/dif:Parameters/dif:Variable_Level_3 ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:descriptiveKeywords/gmd:MD_Keywords[gmd:type/gmd:MD_KeywordTypeCode='place']/gmd:keyword/gco:CharacterString |
xPath Note: The xPaths included in this table use several wildcards. // means any path, so //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty indicates a gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty anywhere in an XML file. /*/ indicates a single level with several possible elements. This usually indicates one of several concrete realizations of an abstract object. For example /*/gmd:identificationInfo could be gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo or gmi:MI_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo and gmd:identificationInfo//*/gmd:descriptiveKeywords could be gmd:identificationInfo/gmd:MD_DataIdentification/gmd:descriptiveKeywords or gmd:identificationInfo/srv:SV_ServiceIdentification/gmd:descriptiveKeywords.