'$RCSfile: eml-coverage.xsd,v $' Copyright: 1997-2002 Regents of the University of California, University of New Mexico, and Arizona State University Sponsors: National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans, University of California Santa Barbara Long-Term Ecological Research Network Office, University of New Mexico Center for Environmental Studies, Arizona State University Other funding: National Science Foundation (see README for details) The David and Lucile Packard Foundation For Details: http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/ '$Author: jones $' '$Date: 2002-12-06 22:23:42 $' '$Revision: 1.74 $' This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA eml-coverage

The eml-coverage module contains fields for describing the coverage of a resource in terms of time, space, and taxonomy. These coverages (temporal, spatial, and taxonomic) represent the extent of applicability of the resource in those domains. The Geographic coverage section allows for 2 means of expressing coverage on the surface of the earth: 1) via a set of bounding coordinates that define the North, South, East and West points in a rectangular area, optionally including a bounding altitude, and 2) using a G-Ring polygon definition, where an irregularly shaped area may be defined using a ordered list of latitude/longitude coordinates. A G-Ring may also include an "inner G-Ring" that defines one or more "cut-outs" in the area, i.e. the donut hole concept. The temporal coverage section allows for the definition of either a single date/time, or a range of dates/times. These date/times may be expressed as a calendar date according to the ISO 8601 Date and Time Specification, or or by using an alternate time scale, such as the geologic time scale. In order to express an "ongoing" time frame, the end date in the range would likely use the alternate time scale fields with a value of "ongoing", whereas the begin date would use the specific calendar date fields. The taxonomic coverage section allows for detailed description of the taxonomic extent of the dataset or resource. The taxonomic classification consists of a recursive set of taxon rank names, their values, and their common names. This construct allows for a taxonomic hierarchy to be built to show the level of identification (e.g. Rank Name = Kingdom, Rank Value = Animalia, Common Name = Animals, and so on down the hierarchy.) The taxonomic coverage module also allows for the definition of the classification system in cases where alternative systems are used. The eml-coverage module, like other modules, may be "referenced" via the <references> tag. This allows the coverage extent to be described once, and then used as a reference in other locations within the EML document via it's ID.

all datasets where spatial, temporal or taxonomic coverage is important no Coverage Spatial, temporal, and taxonomic coverage information. This field si a container for the spatial, temporal and taxonomic coverages that apply to various resources, often dataset resources. Please see the individual descriptions of the sub fields for more detail. Please see the individual sub fields for specific examples. Geographic coverage Geographic coverage information. Geographic Coverage is a container for spatial information about a project, a resource, or an entity within a resource. It allows a bounding box for the overall coverage (in lat long), and also allows descriptin of arbitrary polygons with exclusions. Please see the individual sub fields for specific examples. Temporal coverage Temporal coverage information. This field specifies temporal coverage, and allows coverages to be a single point in time, multiple points in time, or a range of dates. Dates can be expressed in tems of both calander dates and geologic dating systems. Please see the individual sub fields for specific examples. Taxonomic coverage Taxonomic coverage information. Taxonomic Coverage is a container for Taxonomic information about a project, a resource, or an entity within a resource. It includes a list of species names (or higher level ranks) from one or more classification systems. Please see the individual sub fields for specific examples. Temporal coverage Temporal coverage information. The temporal coverage fields are intended to be used in describing the date and time of an event. It allows for three general descriptions: a single date/time, multiple date/times, and a range of date/times. Please see the individual sub fields for specific examples. Single Date/Time Means of encoding a single date and time The singleDateTime field is intended to describe a single date and time for an event. There is a choice between two options: a calendar date with a time, or a geologic age. Please see the individual sub-elements for example. Range of dates/times Means of encoding a range of dates and times. The 'RangeOfDatesType' field is intended to be used for describing a range of dates and/or times. It may be used multiple times to document multiple date ranges. It allows for two 'singleDateTime' fields, the first to be used as the beginning dateTime, and the second to be used as the ending dateTime of the range. Please see the examples from the 'singleDateTime' field for specific examples. Begin Date A single time stamp signifying the beginning of some time period A single time stamp signifying the beginning of some time period. There is a choice between two options: a calendar date with a time, or a geologic age. Please see the individual sub-elements for example. End Date A single time stamp signifying the end of some time period A single time stamp signifying the end of some time period. There is a choice between two options: a calendar date with a time, or a geologic age. Please see the individual sub-elements for example. Single Date/Time Means of encoding a single date and time The SingleDateTimeType field is intended to describe a single date and time for an event. There is a choice between two options: a calendar date with a time, or a geologic age. Please see the individual sub-elements for example. Calendar date The calendar date for an event. The calendar date field is used to express a date, giving the year, month, and day. The format should be one that complies with the International Standards Organization's standard 8601. The recommended format for EML is YYYY-MM-DD, where Y is the four digit year, M is the two digit month code (01 - 12, where January = 01), and D is the two digit day of the month (01 - 31). 2001-01-01 , which is January 1st, 2001. Time of day The time of day for an event. The time field is used to express the hour (and optionally minute, or minute and second) of the day for an event, and should comply with the International Standards Organization's standard 8601. The recommended format for EML is hh:mm:ssTZD, where hh is the two digit hour of the day, mm is the two digit minute of the hour, and ss is the two digit second of the minute. TZD stands for Time Zone Designator which is used to handle time zone offsets. Times may be expressed in two ways: 1) UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT), with a special UTC designator ("Z"), 2) local time, together with a time zone offset in hours and minutes. A time zone offset of "+hh:mm" indicates that the date/time uses a local time zone which is "hh" hours and "mm" minutes ahead of UTC. A time zone offset of "-hh:mm" indicates that the date/time uses a local time zone which is "hh" hours and "mm" minutes behind UTC. 1) 08:31:22Z , which means eight thirty one and 22 seconds in the morning at Coordinated Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time). 2) 14:06:09-08:00 , which means six minutes, nine seconds past two o'clock p.m., Pacific Standard Time (which is offset eight hours behind UTC) Alternative Time Scale A name, code, or date describing an event or period in an alternative time scale, such as one of the geologic time scales. A name, code, or date describing an event or period in an alternative time scale, for instance as an absolute date calculated using a named dating method, or as a relative date that is drawn from stratigraphy or biostratigraphy. Calendar dates as provided in the ISO 8601 dating system used in the standard CSDGM are not adequate to describe geologic time periods. Absolute geologic time is usually measured in millions of years before present, but may use different units and relative base times. Relative geologic time is measured by subdivisions of the earth's geology. in an order based upon relative age, most commonly, vertical or stratigraphic position. The actual dating systems used in geologic studies often tie relative times measured through stratigraphy or biostratigraphy to a particular absolute time using radioisotope dating techniques, among others. As these methods for absolute dating have improved, the estimates of the dates for strata have changed, consequently, it would be inaccurate to record absolute dates in situations where relative dates were measured. This structure is provided as an optional alternative to the standard calendar dates provided by ISO 8601. Please see the individual sub-fields for specific examples. alternative time scale Name of a recognized alternative time scale. Name of a recognized alternative time scale. This includes 'Absolute' as the name of the time scale for measuring geologic dates before the present and names of geologic dating systems that are arrangements of symbols or names in order of relative geologic time. 'Absolute', 'Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale', 'International Geological Time Scale', 'Oxygen-Isotope' Time scale age estimate Either an absolute date or a relative age name describing an event or period in an alternative time scale such as the Geologic Time Scale. For example, '300 Ma' (300 million years before present) is a Geologic_Age_Estimate based on the Absolute Geologic_Time_Scale, 'C28r' is a chron name from the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale, and 'Maastrichtian' and 'Jurassic' are names from the International Geological Time Scale. Since different relative geologic time scales are often not aligned, multiple geologic dates may need to be specified. For example, the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale chron 'C29r', at the K/T boundary lies in both the 'Maastrichtian' and the 'Danian' stages from the International Geological Time Scale, thus if you were documenting this event using the International Geological Time Scale, both 'Maastrichtian' and 'Danian' should be included here. Time scale age uncertainty The error estimate for the alternative time scale. The error estimate for the alternative time. This should include the units of measure, a description of what the error estimate represents and how it was calculated. +/- 5 Ma (Million Years) Time scale age explanation The name and/or description of the method used to calculate the time scale age estimate. The name and/or description of the method used to calculate the age estimate. Detailed information about the method may be provided through references contained in the Time Scale Citation field. Time Scale citation Citation for works providing detailed information about any element of the time scale age. Citation for works providing detailed information about any element of the time scale age. For example, a publication describing the methodology used for carbon dating or describing the basic geologic time scale in more detail could be cited here. Geographic coverage Geographic coverage information. Geographic Coverage is a container for spatial information about a a project, a resource, or an entity within a resource. Please see the individual sub-elements for specific examples. Description of geographic extent Short description of the geographic areal domain of the data set. A geographic extent description is especially important when the extent of the data set is not well described by the "Bounding_Rectangle_Coordinates", or in the case of data which are not specifically geospatial, to provide a geographic setting for the item being documented. Assuming the "Bounding_Rectangle_Coordinates" do not adequately describe the extent of the data set, the discrepancy can be identified and described in this data element. If the item being documented is not specifically geospatial, the "Bounding_Rectangle_Coordinates" can define a general polygon, such as a rectangle around a country, with this "Description_of_Geographic_Extent" element containing a disclaimer concerning the "Bounding_Rectangle_Coordinates" and/or further detail concerning the geographic area of concern for the item being documented. For example, a study of the diseases of salmon may not have a specific geographic extent associated with it, but the salmon involved in the study were collected in Washington and Oregon states, thus the "Bounding_Rectangle_Coordinates" might form a general rectangle around the states of Washington and Oregon, but the "Description_of_Geographic_Extent" might describe the fact that the extent within Washington and Oregon included only certain rivers within those states. This data element differs from the standard data element "Place_Keyword" in that it allows a free text description of the geographic extent, rather than just a list of words or phrases useful as an index of location names associated with the data set. Examples include, "Manistee River watershed", "extent of 7 1/2 minute quads containing any property belonging to Yellowstone National Park", or "ponds and reservoirs larger than 2 acres in Jefferson County, Colorado". This is especially important when the extent of the data set is not well described by the "Bounding_Rectangle_Coordinates". Bounding coordinates The 4 points (latitude and longitude pairs) that define a bounding box on the earth's surface. To define a single point, use the same point in both lat/lon pairs. The limits of coverage of a data set expressed by latitude and longitude values in the order western-most, eastern-most, northern-most, and southern-most. For data sets that include a complete band of latitude around the earth, the West Bounding Coordinate shall be assigned the value -180.0, and the East Bounding Coordinate shall be assigned the value 180.0 If your bounding area is a single point, use the same values for northBoundingCoordinate and southBoundingCoordinate, as well as the same value for westBoundingCoordinate and eastBoundingCoordinate. This will define the same lat/lon pairs since all four are required. Please see the individual sub-fields for specific examples. West bounding coordinate Western-most coordinate of the limit of coverage for a bounding box, expressed in degrees of longitude. The west bounding coordinate field defines the western-most point of the bounding box that is being described. This longitude coordinate should be expressed in decimal fractions of degrees. Whole degrees of longitude shall be represented by a three-digit decimal number ranging from 0 through 180. When a decimal fraction of a degree is specified, it should be separated from the whole number of degrees by a decimal point. Decimal fractions of a degree may be expressed to the precision desired. Longitudes east of the prime meridian shall be specified by a plus sign (+), or by the absence of a minus sign (-), preceding the three digits designating degrees of longitude. Longitudes west of the meridian shall be designated by minus sign (-) preceding the three digits designating degrees. A point on the prime meridian shall be assigned to the Eastern Hemisphere. A point on the 180th meridian shall be assigned to the Western Hemisphere. One exception to this last convention is permitted. For the special condition of describing a band of latitude around the earth, the East Bounding Coordinate data element shall be assigned the value +180 (180) degrees. '-118.25', '+25', '45.247' East bounding coordinate Eastern-most coordinate of the limit of coverage of a bounding box, expressed in degrees of longitude. The east bounding coordinate field defines the eastern-most point of the bounding box that is being described. This longitude coordinate should be expressed in decimal fractions of degrees. Whole degrees of longitude shall be represented by a three-digit decimal number ranging from 0 through 180. When a decimal fraction of a degree is specified, it should be separated from the whole number of degrees by a decimal point. Decimal fractions of a degree may be expressed to the precision desired. Longitudes east of the prime meridian shall be specified by a plus sign (+), or by the absence of a minus sign (-), preceding the three digits designating degrees of longitude. Longitudes west of the meridian shall be designated by minus sign (-) preceding the three digits designating degrees. A point on the prime meridian shall be assigned to the Eastern Hemisphere. A point on the 180th meridian shall be assigned to the Western Hemisphere. One exception to this last convention is permitted. For the special condition of describing a band of latitude around the earth, the East Bounding Coordinate data element shall be assigned the value +180 (180) degrees. '-118.25', '+25', '45.247' North bounding coordinate Northern-most coordinate of the limit of coverage expressed in latitude. The north bounding coordinate field defines the northern-most point of the bounding box that is being described. This latitude coordinate should be expressed in decimal fractions of degrees. Whole degrees of latitude shall be represented by a two-digit decimal number ranging from 0 through 90. When a decimal fraction of a degree is specified, it shall be separated from the whole number of degrees by a decimal point. Decimal fractions of a degree may be expressed to the precision desired. Latitudes north of the equator shall be specified by a plus sign (+), or by the absence of a minus sign (-), preceding the two digits designating degrees. Latitudes south of the Equator shall be designated by a minus sign (-) preceding the two digits designating degrees. A point on the Equator shall be assigned to the Northern Hemisphere. Any spatial address with a latitude of +90 (90) or -90 degrees will specify the position at the North or South Pole, respectively. '-18.44', '+44.35', '86' South bounding coordinate Southern-most coordinate of the limit of coverage expressed in latitude. The south bounding coordinate field defines the southern-most point of the bounding box that is being described. This latitude coordinate should be expressed in decimal fractions of degrees. Whole degrees of latitude shall be represented by a two-digit decimal number ranging from 0 through 90. When a decimal fraction of a degree is specified, it shall be separated from the whole number of degrees by a decimal point. Decimal fractions of a degree may be expressed to the precision desired. Latitudes north of the equator shall be specified by a plus sign (+), or by the absence of a minus sign (-), preceding the two digits designating degrees. Latitudes south of the Equator shall be designated by a minus sign (-) preceding the two digits designating degrees. A point on the Equator shall be assigned to the Northern Hemisphere. Any spatial address with a latitude of +90 (90) or -90 degrees will specify the position at the North or South Pole, respectively. '-18.44', '+44.35', '86' Bounding altitudes The limits of coverage of a data set expressed by altitude. The bounding altitude field is intended to contain altitudinal (elevation) measurements in relation to the bounding box being described. It allows for minimum and maximum altitude fields, as well as a field for the units of measure. The combination of these fields provide the vertical extent information for the bounding box. The units should refer to an accepted datum as the baseline. Please see the individual sub-fields for specific examples. Minimum altitude The minimum altitude extent of coverage. The minimum altitude extent of coverage for the bounding box that is being described. The minimum altitude should be in reference to a known datum, which should be described in the altitude units field. '12', '100.6' (e.g meters above Mean Lowest Low Water) Maximum altitude The maximum altitude extent of coverage. The maximum altitude extent of coverage for the bounding box that is being described. The maximum altitude should be in reference to a known datum, which should be described in the altitude units field. '12', '100.6' (e.g meters above Mean Lowest Low Water) Units of altitude Units in which altitude is measured. Units in which altitude is measured. This field should be in relation to a known datum which is described in the units. Meters (above Mean Lowest Low Water) Polygon data set This construct creates a spatial ring with a hollow center. This construct creates a spatial ring with a hollow center. This doughnut shape is specified by the outer ring (datasetGPolygonOuterRing) and the inner exclusion zone (datasetGPolygonExclusionGRing) which can be thought of as the hole in the center of a doughnut. This is useful for defining areas such as the shores of a pond where you only want to specify the shore excluding the pond itself. Please see the individual sub-fields for specific examples. Outer polygon The outer containment loop of a datasetGPolygon. The outer containment loop of a datasetGPolygon. This is the outer part of the doughnut shape that encompasses the broadest area of coverage Exclusion polygon Data Set G-Polygon Exclusion G-Ring, the closed nonintersecting boundary of a void area (or hole in an interior area). Data Set G-Polygon Exclusion G-Ring, the closed nonintersecting boundary of a void area (or hole in an interior area). This is the center of the doughnut shape created by the datasetGPolygon. G-Ring point A single geographic location. A single geographic location. This is useful if you register your datasets by a single geospatial point, such as the lat/long of your research station. G-Ring Latitude The latitude of a point of the g-ring. G-Ring Longitude The longitude of a point of the g-ring. G-Ring A set of ordered pairs of floating-point numbers, separated by commas, in which the first number in each pair is the longitude of a point and the second is the latitude of the point. Longitude and latitude are specified in decimal degrees with north latitudes positive and south negative, east longitude positive and west negative 12.453,15.0 5,101 -111,45 Taxonomic coverage Taxonomic coverage information. Taxonomic Coverage is a container for taxonomic information about a a project, a resource, or an entity within a resource. Please see the individual sub-fields for specific examples. Taxonomic system Documentation of taxonomic sources, procedures, and treatments. Documentation of taxonomic sources, procedures, and treatments. Classification system/authority Information about the classification system or authority used. Information about the classification system or authority used. Flora of North America Taxonomic citation Relevant literature for documenting the used classification system. Classification system modification A description of any modifications or exceptions made to the classification system or authority used. Non-authoritative citation Information on any nonauthoritative materials (e.g. field guides) useful for reconstructing the actual identification process. Identifier's Name Information about the individual(s) responsible for the identification(s) of the specimens or sightings, etc. Taxonomic procedures Description of the methods used for the taxonomic identification. specimen processing, comparison with museum materials, keys and key characters, chemical or genetic analyses Taxonomic completeness Information concerning the proportions and treatment of unidentified materials ; estimates of the importance, and identities of misidentifications, uncertain determinations, synonyms or other incorrect usages; taxa not well treated or requiring further work; and expertise of field workers. materials sent to experts, and not yet determined Specimen information Information on the types of specimen, the repository, and the individuals who identified the vouchers. Specimen type A word or phrase describing the type of specimen collected. herbarium specimens, blood samples, photographs, individuals, or batches Storage location of specimen Information about the curator or contact person and/or agency responsible for the specimens. Originator A person or organization asociated with this resource. The 'originator' element provides the full name of the person, organization, or position associated with the resource. Typically, the originator role is set to "owner" to indicate the list of parties who "own" the resource, but other roles such as "principal investigator", "author", and "editor" are provided. Please see the examples within the sub fields for the responsible party. General taxonomic coverage A description of the range of taxa addressed in the data set or collection. A description of the range of taxa addressed in the data set or collection. "All vascular plants were identified to family or species, mosses and lichens were identified as moss or lichen." Taxonomic classification Information about the range of taxa addressed in the data set or collection. Information about the range of taxa addressed in the data set or collection. It is recommended that one provide information starting from the taxonomic rank of kingdom, to a level which reflects the data set or collection being documented. The levels of Kingdom, Division/Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species should be included as ranks as appropriate. Because the taxonomic ranks are hierarchical, the Taxonomic Classification field is self-referencing to allow for an arbitrary depth of rank, down to species. The Taxonomic Classification field consists of a sequence of 4 fields: taxonomic rank, taxonomic rank value, common name, and finally Taxonomic Classification (self-referencing). Please see the sub-fields for specific examples. Taxon rank name The name of the taxonomic rank for which the Taxon rank value is provided. The name of the taxonomic rank for which the Taxon rank value is provided. This field allows for the name one of the accepted levels of Taxa. 'Kingdom', 'Division/Phylum', 'Class', 'Order', 'Family', 'Genus', and 'Species' Taxon rank value The name representing the taxonomic rank of the taxon being described. The name representing the taxonomic rank of the taxon being described. The values included may be referenced from an authoritative source such as the Integrated Taxonomic Information Sytem (ITIS)in the U.S. (http://www/itis.usda.gov) and in Canada (http://sis.agr.gc.ca/pls/itisca/taxaget). Also, Species2000 is another source of taxonomic information, found at (http://www.sp2000.org) Acer would be an example of a genus rank value, and rubrum would be an example of a species rank value, together indicating the common name of red maple. It is recommended to start with Kingdom and include ranks down to the most detailed level possible. Common name Specification of applicable common names. Specification of applicable common names. These common names may be general descriptions of a group of organisms if appropriate. insects, vertebrate, grasses, waterfowl, vascular plants, red maple.