Intended use for georeferenceProtocol? a legacy-data-mapping question

[kehh]

Hi All, I'm currently working on a project that's migrating legacy data to a DwC inspired data model. One field contains the method through which a georeference was derived with values including:

• GPS
• Gazetteer
• Label
• Map

These don't align with specific DwC definition of georeferenceProtocol which says:

A description or reference to the methods used to determine the spatial footprint, coordinates, and uncertainties.

Examples: "Guide to Best Practices for Georeferencing. (Chapman and Wieczorek, eds. 2006). Global Biodiversity Information Facility.", "MaNIS/HerpNet/ORNIS Georeferencing Guidelines", "Georeferencing Quick Reference Guide". For discussion see http://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/dwc:georeferenceProtocol

georeferenceSources is also not ideal for this as we would expect a listing of specific resources that were consulted in georeferencing.

So my questions are:

1. Should we be using georeferenceProtocol for the above values?
2. If not, is there some other bucket we can put them in?

[debpaul]

Hello @kehh Here are the definitions just so that we can see them during the discussion.

• See http://manisnet.org/GeoreferencingQuickReferenceGuide.pdf
  • georeferenceProtocol: A description or reference to the methods used to determine the spatial footprint, coordinates, and uncertainties. If following the protocol in this guide, use “Georeferencing Quick Reference Guide Version 2012-10-08”.
  • georeferenceSources: A list (concatenated and separated) of maps, gazetteers, or other resources used to georeference the Location, described specifically enough to allow anyone in the future to use the same resources.
  • Example: "USGS 1:24000 Florence Montana Quad; Terrametrics 2008 Google Earth".
  • georeferenceVerificationStatus: A categorical description of the extent to which the georeference has been verified to represent the best possible spatial description. Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary. Examples: "requires verification", "verified by collector", "verified by curator".
  • georeferenceRemarks: Notes or comments about the spatial description determination, explaining assumptions made in addition or opposition to the those GEOREFERENCING QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE p.2 of 10 formalized in the method referred to in georeferenceProtocol.
  • Example: "assumed distance by road (Hwy. 101)".

You say you have a field that stores the "method/s" for how the georeference was derived, and so often contains one or more of these values: (GPS, Gazetteer, Label, Map). It does seem a looser fit that what you might be hoping for, but I'd say that dwc:georeferenceProtocol does fit. You are saying you "used a map" or "used the label" to georeference. It would be great to say which map or which Gazetteer was used (dwc:georeferenceSources) but you may or may not know this, of course. Additionally, you could then use dwc:georeferenceRemarks to elaborate on what, if any, assumptions were made in georeferencing using the (GPS, Gazetteer, Label, and/or Map). In the dwc:georeferenceRemarks, since you are migrating a legacy dataset, you could put a blanket statement for all the records (if you are in the same predicament for all records, for example):

• "All records in this dataset were georeferenced using one or more of the following sources (GPS, Gazetteer, Label, and / or Map). There is no more information in this legacy dataset about how georeferencing was done, or what exact resources were used."

We'll see what @tucotuco, @dbloom and others have to say before we mark this "answered."

[kehh]

Thanks @debpaul. It looks like using this loose definition may indeed be the way forward, and I have a feeling that this is what a fairly large number of collections will use (in anger or ignorance).

[debpaul]

@kehh in anger?

[kehh]

@debpaul just a throw away comment.

[tucotuco]

Hi folks. I am late to answer, but to me the protocol is something that you can reference that tells someone how to achieve the same results, given the same sources. To me, the values you are asking about are categories of sources rather than specific ones. But knowing that the source of coordinates is a GPS tells the user something even if the protocol is not captured, and really is a source and not a protocol. I would not put those values in georeferenceProtocol. To me they are just non-specific sources, and I would put them in georeferenceSources rather than in georeferenceRemarks where they would be mixed with other concepts.