ESPON Data and Metadata Specifications

ESPON M4D

Revision History
Revision 1.7 (svn rev 2420)2014-12-19 17:31:57
Stable public version. Please consult the appendix entitled Main Changes for an overview of the main changes between the different revisions of the document.

Abstract

This document is a specification of the data and metadata model to be applied by the ESPON Projects providing Key Indicators Datasets for the ESPON 2013 Database during the Phase 2.


Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Abstract Metadata Model
1.1. Introduction to the Abstract Metadata Model
1.2. Abstract Metadata Model Structure
1.2.1. Overview of the Abstract Metadata Structure
1.2.2. Layout Conventions of the Abstract Metadata Model Elements Description
1.3. Dataset Information Element
1.3.1. Properties of the Dataset Information Element
1.3.1.1. Name Property
1.3.1.2. Project Property
1.3.1.3. Abstract Property
1.3.1.4. Resource Type Property
1.3.1.5. Resource Locator Property
1.3.1.6. Unique Resource Identifier Property
1.3.1.7. Dataset Language Property
1.3.1.8. Metadata Language Property
1.3.1.9. Metadata Date Property
1.3.1.10. Topic Category Property
1.3.1.11. Keyword Property
1.3.1.12. Temporal Reference Composite Property
1.3.1.13. Lineage Property
1.3.1.14. Conformity Composite Property
1.3.1.15. Constraints Composite Property
1.3.1.16. Responsible Party Property
1.3.1.17. Metadata Contact Property
1.3.1.18. Distributor Property
1.3.1.19. Point of Contact Property
1.3.1.20. Indicators Aggregation Property
1.3.2. Summary of the Dataset Information Element
1.4. Spatial Binding Element
1.4.1. Geographic Location Property
1.4.2. Nomenclature Property
1.4.2.1. Nomenclature Name Property
1.4.2.2. Nomenclature Version Property
1.4.2.3. Nomenclature Level Property
1.4.3. Summary of the Spatial Binding Element
1.5. Indicator Identification Element
1.5.1. Two Levels of Indicators Representation
1.5.1.1. Code Property
1.5.1.2. Name Property
1.5.1.3. Abstract Property
1.5.2. Indicator Aggregation
1.5.2.1. Code Property of an Indicator Aggregation Element
1.5.3. Policy Property
1.5.4. Core Property
1.5.5. Methodology Property
1.5.6. Theme Property
1.5.7. Keyword Property
1.5.8. Temporal Extent Property
1.5.9. Indicator Value Nature property
1.5.10. Data Type property
1.5.10.1. Type Identifier Property
1.5.10.2. Description Property
1.5.10.3. Numeric Data Types
1.5.10.4. Text Data Types
1.5.10.5. Enumerated Data Types
1.5.10.6. Boolean Data Types
1.5.10.7. Flagged Data Types
1.5.10.8. Other Data Types
1.5.11. Summary of the Indicator Identification Element
1.6. Source Reference Element
1.6.1. Label Property
1.6.2. Publication Property
1.6.2.1. Title Property
1.6.2.2. URI Property
1.6.2.3. Reference Property
1.6.3. Provider Property
1.6.3.1. Name Property
1.6.3.2. URI Property
1.6.4. Date Property
1.6.5. Copyright Property
1.6.6. Estimation Property
1.6.7. Quality Level Property
1.6.8. Access Rule Property
1.6.9. Methodology Property
1.6.10. Summary of the Source Reference Element
1.7. Shared Elements
1.7.1. Contact Element
1.7.1.1. Individual Name Property
1.7.1.2. Organization Name Property
1.7.1.3. Position Property
1.7.1.4. Role Property
1.7.1.5. Phone Number Property
1.7.1.6. Email Address Property
1.7.1.7. Address Property
1.7.1.8. Summary of the Contact element
1.7.2. Methodology Property
1.7.2.1. Description Property
1.7.2.2. Formula Property
1.7.2.3. URI Property
1.7.3. Keyword Property
1.7.3.1. Keyword Value Property
1.7.3.2. Vocabulary Property
1.7.4. Temporal Extent Property
1.8. Summary of the ESPON Metadata Model
2. Metadata Model Implementation for the ISO-19115 Standard
2.1. Introduction
2.2. MD_Metadata Node
2.2.1. fileIdentifier Node
2.2.2. language Node
2.2.3. characterSet Node
2.2.4. hierarchyLevel Node
2.2.5. contact Node
2.2.6. dateStamp Node
2.2.7. identificationInfo Node
2.2.8. contentInfo Node
2.2.9. distributionInfo Node
2.2.10. linkage Node
2.2.11. dataQualityInfo Node
2.2.11.1. report Node
2.2.11.2. lineage Node
2.3. identificationInfo Node
2.3.1. citation Node
2.3.1.1. title Node
2.3.1.2. date Node
2.3.1.3. identifier Node
2.3.1.4. collectiveTitle Node
2.3.2. abstract Node
2.3.3. pointOfContact Node
2.3.4. descriptiveKeywords Node
2.3.5. resourceConstraints Node
2.3.5.1. useConstraints and otherConstraints Nodes
2.3.5.2. useLimitation and classification Nodes
2.3.6. language Node
2.3.7. topicCategory node
2.3.8. extent Node
2.4. contentInfo Node
2.4.1. indicatorsAggregation Node
2.4.2. indicatorIdentification Node
2.4.2.1. code Node
2.4.2.2. name Node
2.4.2.3. abstract Node
2.4.2.4. core Node
2.4.2.5. theme Node
2.4.2.6. keyword Node
2.4.2.7. methodology Node
2.4.2.8. temporalExtent Node
2.4.2.9. Data Type property
2.4.3. sourceReference Node
2.4.3.1. label Node
2.4.3.2. provider Node
2.4.3.3. publication Node
2.4.3.4. date Node
2.4.3.5. copyright Node
2.4.3.6. accessRule Node
2.4.3.7. estimation Node
2.4.3.8. qualityLevel Node
2.4.3.9. methodology Node
2.5. extent Node
2.5.1. geographicElement Node
2.5.2. temporalElement Node
3. Tabular Model Implementation
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Naming conventions
3.3. General Principles of Data and Metadata Layout
3.3.1. Labels and Values
3.3.2. Separating Metadata From Data
3.3.3. Empty Columns and Rows
3.3.4. Missing Values
3.4. Metadata Elements Layout
3.4.1. Dataset Information Element
3.4.1.1. Contact Information
3.4.2. Spatial Binding Element
3.4.3. Indicator Identification Element
3.4.4. Source Reference Element
3.5. Data Layout
3.5.1. References to statistical units
3.5.2. Indicator values part
A. Metadata Property Values Constraints
B. List of Nomenclature Identifiers
C. List of ESPON Projects
D. ESPON Policies Classification
E. List of Themes Composing the ESPON Thematic Classification
F. INSPIRE Topic Categories
G. List of Literals Defining an Indicator Value Nature
H. Proposal of XLM Data Structure to Store ESPON Data
I. Main Changes
References
About

List of Figures

1.1. Relationship between the Data and the Metadata
1.2. Main elements of the metadata model
1.3. Dataset Information element structure
1.4. Spatial Binding element structure
1.5. Indicator Identification element structure
1.6. Source Reference element structure
1.7. Contact element structure
1.8. ESPON Metadata Model
2.1. Children nodes of the MD_Metadata node
2.2. Children nodes of the identificationInfo node
3.1. Single data sheet naming
3.2. Several data sheets naming
3.3. Recommended structure of the tabular document
3.4. Simple dataset with all the metadata put in one sheet
3.5. Invalid start layout of a sheet
3.6. Empty rows between elements and properties
3.7. Two parts of a data sheet
3.8. The links between the data and the metadata parts
3.9. Association between two statistical units
3.10. Indicator values and sources column
3.11. Example of a complete layout of a data sheet

List of Tables

1.1. Table template used to describe the Metadata model elements and properties
1.2. Dataset Information element description
1.3. Name property description
1.4. Project property description
1.5. Abstract property description
1.6. Resource type property description
1.7. Resource locator property description
1.8. Unique Resource Identifier property description
1.9. Dataset Language property description
1.10. Metadata Language property description
1.11. Metadata Date property description
1.12. Topic Category property description
1.13. Keyword property description
1.14. Temporal Reference property description
1.15. Temporal Extent property description
1.16. Upload date property description
1.17. Creation Date property description
1.18. Revision Date property description
1.19. Lineage property description
1.20. Conformity composite property description
1.21. Conformance property description
1.22. Specification property description
1.23. Specification Date property description
1.24. Constraints composite property description
1.25. Use Constraint property description
1.26. Access Condition property description
1.27. Other Constraints property description
1.28. Access Classification property description
1.29. Responsible Party property description
1.30. Metadata Contact property description
1.31. Distributor property description
1.32. Point of Contact property description
1.33. Indicators Aggregation property description
1.34. Spatial Binding element description
1.35. Geographic Location property description
1.36. Nomenclature property description
1.37. Nomenclature Name property description
1.38. Nomenclature Version property description
1.39. Nomenclature Level property description
1.40. Indicator Identification
1.41. Code property description
1.42. Name property description
1.43. Abstract property description
1.44. Code property description
1.45. Policy property description
1.46. Core property description
1.47. Methodology property description
1.48. Theme property description
1.49. Keyword property description
1.50. Temporal Extent property description
1.51. Indicator Value Nature property description
1.52. Data Type property description
1.53. Type Identifier property description
1.54. Description property description
1.55. Unit of Measure property description
1.56. Numerator Name property description
1.57. Denominator Name property description
1.58. Numerator Scale property description
1.59. Denominator Scale property description
1.60. Ranking property description
1.61. Min property description
1.62. Max property description
1.63. Unique property description
1.64. Ordered property description
1.65. Enum Value property description
1.66. Value Label property description
1.67. Value Description property description
1.68. Position property description
1.69. Source Reference element description
1.70. Label property description
1.71. Publication property description
1.72. Title property description
1.73. URI property description
1.74. Reference property description
1.75. Provider property description
1.76. Name property description
1.77. URI property description
1.78. Date property description
1.79. Copyright property description
1.80. Estimation property description
1.81. Quality Level property description
1.82. Access Rule property description
1.83. Methodology property description
1.84. Contact element description
1.85. Individual Name property description
1.86. Organization Name property description
1.87. Position property description
1.88. Role property description
1.89. Phone Number property description
1.90. Email Address property description
1.91. Address property description
1.92. Delivery Point property description
1.93. City property description
1.94. Administrative Area property description
1.95. Postal Code property description
1.96. Country property description
1.97. Methodology property description
1.98. Description property description
1.99. Formula property description
1.100. URI property description
1.101. Keyword property description
1.102. Keyword Value property description
1.103. Vocabulary property description
1.104. Temporal Extent property description
2.1. Table template describing the ISO 19115 XML implementation of the Abstract Metadata Model
2.2. MD_Metadata node description
2.3. fileIdentifier node description
2.4. language node description
2.5. characterSet node description
2.6. hierarchyLevel node description
2.7. contact node description
2.8. dateStamp node description
2.9. distributionInfo node description
2.10. linkage node description
2.11. dataQualityInfo node description
2.12. report node description
2.13. lineage node description
2.14. title node description
2.15. date node description
2.16. identifier node description
2.17. collectiveTitle node description
2.18. abstract node description
2.19. pointOfContact node description
2.20. gmd:descriptiveKeywords node description
2.21. gmd:useConstraints and gmd:otherConstraints nodes description
2.22. gmd:classification and gmd:useLimitation nodes description
2.23. gmd:language node description
2.24. gmd:topicCategory node description
2.25. esponMD:indicatorsAggregation node description
2.26. esponMD:indicatorIdentification node description
2.27. esponMD:code node description
2.28. esponMD:name node description
2.29. esponMD:abstract node description
2.30. esponMD:core node description
2.31. esponMD:theme node description
2.32. esponMD:keyword node description
2.33. methodology node description
2.34. temporalExtent node description
2.35. description node description
2.36. esponMD:integerData node description
2.37. esponMD:floatData node description
2.38. esponMD:textData node description
2.39. esponMD:enumData node description
2.40. esponMD:booleanData node description
2.41. esponMD:flaggedData node description
2.42. esponMD:otherData node description
2.43. esponMD:sourceReference node description
2.44. esponMD:label node description
2.45. esponMD:provider node description
2.46. esponMD:publication node description
2.47. date node description
2.48. copyright node description
2.49. esponMD:accessRule node description
2.50. estimation node description
2.51. qualityLevel node description
2.52. methodology node description
2.53. gmd:geographicElement node description
2.54. gmd:temporalElement node description
3.1. Horizontal layout of a metadata property
3.2. Horizontal layout of a metadata property with multiple values
3.3. Vertical layout of a metadata property
3.4. Metadata element tokens
3.5. Valid start layout of a sheet
3.6. Dataset Information element layout
3.7. Contact element layout
3.8. Spatial Binding element layout
3.9. Indicator Aggregation element layout
3.10. Indicator Identification element layout
3.11. Indicator Identification element layout for several indicator with shared properties
3.12. Layout of a Temporal Extent property covering one year
3.13. Layout of a Temporal Extent property for a time instance
3.14. Layout of the shared properties of the Data Type element
3.15. Numeric Data Types layout
3.16. Text Data Type layout
3.17. Enumerated Data Type layout
3.18. Boolean Data Type layout
3.19. Flagged Data Type layout
3.20. Other Data Type layout
3.21. Source Reference element layout
3.22. Statistical (spatial) units references in a data sheet
C.1. ESPON Projects
D.1. The ESPON Policies Classification
E.1. The ESPON Thematic Classification
F.1. INSPIRE Topic Category
G.1. Indicator Values Nature Types

Introduction

The metadata challenge

Scarcity of data documentation within the ESPON program has been seen as an important impediment to the building and use of the ESPON database. Difficulties stemmed from uncertainties about legal constraints, sources, units, etc...

In the ESPON Database 2013 project Phase 2, the ESPON database will be further enriched and expanded in the time, spatial and thematic dimensions. Information about the data made available is thus even more crucial. Building a rich database would be useless without a strong effort to describe precisely the data that have been gathered and integrated within the database. This information about data is known as metadata. Creating and organizing metadata is therefore an additional, important and transversal challenge for the ESPON community.

To be useful for ESPON projects and other end-users, data should always be accompanied by metadata, including information about their quality and sources. It is also particularly important that the metadata are created in a manner that is consistent with international (ISO) and European (INSPIRE) standards so as to ensure the use of the database in the longer-run and to make it compatible with other national and international database initiatives.

The present document is a specification of the metadata model to be applied by the ESPON Projects providing data for the ESPON 2013 Database during the Phase 2. Firstly, it describes the generic conceptual model of the ESPON Metadata (called as the Abstract Metadata Model). Secondly, it presents the implementation of the abstract model using the international standards (ISO-19115 and INSPIRE Directive). Finally, it explains the implementation of the abstract model in a tabular file format, that was the most used during the Phase 1, but has been completely revised for the Phase 2.

To ensure correct data processing and integration into the ESPON 2013 Database, the present Specification must be carefully respected by all the data providers participating in the projects and by the organizations/persons who intend to create new software implementations interacting with the ESPON Database.

Chapter 1. Abstract Metadata Model

Table of Contents

1.1. Introduction to the Abstract Metadata Model
1.2. Abstract Metadata Model Structure
1.2.1. Overview of the Abstract Metadata Structure
1.2.2. Layout Conventions of the Abstract Metadata Model Elements Description
1.3. Dataset Information Element
1.3.1. Properties of the Dataset Information Element
1.3.1.1. Name Property
1.3.1.2. Project Property
1.3.1.3. Abstract Property
1.3.1.4. Resource Type Property
1.3.1.5. Resource Locator Property
1.3.1.6. Unique Resource Identifier Property
1.3.1.7. Dataset Language Property
1.3.1.8. Metadata Language Property
1.3.1.9. Metadata Date Property
1.3.1.10. Topic Category Property
1.3.1.11. Keyword Property
1.3.1.12. Temporal Reference Composite Property
1.3.1.13. Lineage Property
1.3.1.14. Conformity Composite Property
1.3.1.15. Constraints Composite Property
1.3.1.16. Responsible Party Property
1.3.1.17. Metadata Contact Property
1.3.1.18. Distributor Property
1.3.1.19. Point of Contact Property
1.3.1.20. Indicators Aggregation Property
1.3.2. Summary of the Dataset Information Element
1.4. Spatial Binding Element
1.4.1. Geographic Location Property
1.4.2. Nomenclature Property
1.4.2.1. Nomenclature Name Property
1.4.2.2. Nomenclature Version Property
1.4.2.3. Nomenclature Level Property
1.4.3. Summary of the Spatial Binding Element
1.5. Indicator Identification Element
1.5.1. Two Levels of Indicators Representation
1.5.1.1. Code Property
1.5.1.2. Name Property
1.5.1.3. Abstract Property
1.5.2. Indicator Aggregation
1.5.2.1. Code Property of an Indicator Aggregation Element
1.5.3. Policy Property
1.5.4. Core Property
1.5.5. Methodology Property
1.5.6. Theme Property
1.5.7. Keyword Property
1.5.8. Temporal Extent Property
1.5.9. Indicator Value Nature property
1.5.10. Data Type property
1.5.10.1. Type Identifier Property
1.5.10.2. Description Property
1.5.10.3. Numeric Data Types
1.5.10.4. Text Data Types
1.5.10.5. Enumerated Data Types
1.5.10.6. Boolean Data Types
1.5.10.7. Flagged Data Types
1.5.10.8. Other Data Types
1.5.11. Summary of the Indicator Identification Element
1.6. Source Reference Element
1.6.1. Label Property
1.6.2. Publication Property
1.6.2.1. Title Property
1.6.2.2. URI Property
1.6.2.3. Reference Property
1.6.3. Provider Property
1.6.3.1. Name Property
1.6.3.2. URI Property
1.6.4. Date Property
1.6.5. Copyright Property
1.6.6. Estimation Property
1.6.7. Quality Level Property
1.6.8. Access Rule Property
1.6.9. Methodology Property
1.6.10. Summary of the Source Reference Element
1.7. Shared Elements
1.7.1. Contact Element
1.7.1.1. Individual Name Property
1.7.1.2. Organization Name Property
1.7.1.3. Position Property
1.7.1.4. Role Property
1.7.1.5. Phone Number Property
1.7.1.6. Email Address Property
1.7.1.7. Address Property
1.7.1.8. Summary of the Contact element
1.7.2. Methodology Property
1.7.2.1. Description Property
1.7.2.2. Formula Property
1.7.2.3. URI Property
1.7.3. Keyword Property
1.7.3.1. Keyword Value Property
1.7.3.2. Vocabulary Property
1.7.4. Temporal Extent Property
1.8. Summary of the ESPON Metadata Model

1.1. Introduction to the Abstract Metadata Model

The Abstract Metadata Model is a part of the ESPON Data and Metadata Specification developed for the Second Phase of the ESPON 2013 Database project. It describes the abstract structure of the ESPON Metadata independently of the various ways and formats allowing to store and exchange metadata. It gives explicit definitions of all pieces of information that compose the ESPON Metadata, explains the relationship between them and gives instructions to the persons who intend to create an implementation of any ESPON Metadata storage/exchange format. The respect of these instructions aims at creating a fully compatible and valid implementation of the ESPON Metadata structure, that can facilitate the use and the distribution of the data coming from different ESPON projects.

The approach of creating an abstract metadata model allows to generalize the representation of data and metadata and to establish the common rules that can be used in each case when a particular implementation need exists. For example, the implementations of this abstract model are already made for the normalized ISO-19115, INSPIRE-compatible XML document (Chapter 2) and for a tabular (i.e. Microsoft Excel) document (Chapter 3). Both the formats use the same abstract model, but the implementations are different:

  • the schema-constrained XML has several elements that do not need to be present in the Excel tabular file, because only the international norm (ISO-19115) behind the XML requires these elements.

  • the Excel document is aimed at letting the user edit the metadata without the need to have a knowledge of XML.

The Excel document organizes the metadata elements in quite a different way that the XML one, but this does not affect their overall meaning and allows to make a conversion from one format to the other using the ESPON Metadata Tools. The abstract model behind the implementations is respected and reflected by both the formats. The further use of the abstract metadata model allows to extend the implementations of the metadata to other formats (binary, text or almost any other) with the evolution of the ESPON 2013 Database Web Application.

In the context of the statistical results produced by different ESPON projects, data are represented by sets of socio-economic indicator values that have spatial, temporal and source bindings. The values of the indicators represent the data in the most strict meaning of the term. Each value of an indicator is linked to a statistical unit, it is valid for a particular period or instant of time and must refer to its source of production. These bindings are bridges to the metadata, where the spatial, temporal, ontological and source contexts are detailed. The relationship between the Data and the Metadata can be summarized in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1. Relationship between the Data and the Metadata

Relationship between the Data and the Metadata

1.2. Abstract Metadata Model Structure

1.2.1. Overview of the Abstract Metadata Structure

The present version of the ESPON Metadata is developed taking into account the requirements of the INSPIRE Directive[1] and the particular features of the data coming from different ESPON projects. The model of the metadata represents a complex system of pieces of information grouped into several hierarchical elements that have distinct semantic roles. The main elements of this system are shown as an UML diagram in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2. Main elements of the metadata model

Main elements of the metadata model

This structure reflects the relationship between the Data and the Metadata shown in Figure 1.1.


According to the present specification, all metadata entities can be divided into two major groups: elements and properties:

  • Metadata elements are composite entities forming an autonomous semantic concept. They correspond to classes onto a UML diagram.

  • Metadata properties are values that characterize elements. They correspond to attributes or fields of a class in a UML diagram.

Metadata elements are usually characterized by properties, but they also can use other elements as properties. In this case such elements are called children elements, and the element where they are used is their parent element. The Figure 1.2 shows that the DatasetInformation element is the parent element for SpatialBinding, IndicatorIdentification and SourceReference elements. All of them are defined by their own properties, among which there are other composite elements, also described by the present specification.

The Dataset Information element groups general metadata properties describing the entire dataset. It is the main element of the metadata model and the root of the metadata elements hierarchy.

The Spatial Binding element describes the nomenclature(s) of statistical/spatial units used by the dataset and their geographical extent.

The Indicator Identification element provides metadata on the indicators existing in the dataset.

The Source Reference element gives details about the origin(s) of the indicator values in the dataset.

All the listed higher-level elements of the metadata model are characterized by their specific properties and, in some cases, by inner elements with special semantic roles. Some of the elements of the Metadata model are created following the requirements of the INSPIRE Directive[1]. Others represent ESPON-specific data structures. The present document, when possible, establishes the links between the elements of the ESPON Metadata model and the INSPIRE Directive. The following section introduces the layout of the tables used by the present document to describe all the elements of the metadata model and their properties.

1.2.2. Layout Conventions of the Abstract Metadata Model Elements Description

The present chapter describes all existing elements and properties of the Abstract Metadata Model. It uses a homogeneous layout to present the information. This layout was partially borrowed from the one used in INSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules[2].

The elements and properties composing the ESPON Metadata model are described using template shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1. Table template used to describe the Metadata model elements and properties

ESPON MetadataName[The name of the element in the ESPON Metadata model.]
Name literal[The recommended name literal to be used in ESPON Metadata implementations. This name literal is not case sensitive, because its usage depends on the naming conventions used in the language context of the implementation. In most cases, the literal reproduces the name of the property/element without spaces.]
Parent[The name of the parent element of this element or property.]
Obligation / condition[The constraint showing if the entity is mandatory or optional and, if any, the conditions of the existence of the entity.]
Multiplicity

[The minimum and the maximum number of occurences of the entity relatively to its parent element. The most used multiplicities are:

  • 1 - one and only one such element/property must exist;

  • 0..1 - no more than one such element/property may exist optionally;

  • 1..* - at least one such element/property must exist;

  • 0..* - any number of such elements/properties may exist.

More specific multiplicities may be used for particular properties. For example, the multiplicity {2..4} means that there must be at least two elements of this type and their total number must not be greater than 4.]

Description[The full description and explanation of this entity meaning and role.]
Data type[The expected data type.]
Example(s)[An example of a valid value, for properties only.]
INSPIREReference[The reference to the equivalent of this element in the European Commission Regulation on INSPIRE Directive[3].]
Name[The name of this element in the INSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules.]
Observations[Additional observations and remarks on the entity, if any.]

1.3. Dataset Information Element

The Dataset Information element is a composite element, the root of the entire metadata model. It wraps all the properties used to describe an ESPON Dataset.

Table 1.2. Dataset Information element description

ESPON MetadataNameDataset Information
Name literalDatasetInformation
ParentNone. This is the root element of the Abstract Metadata Model, it does not have parents.
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Gives the most general information about the data produced by an ESPON project. Wraps all the elements that represent the metadata of an ESPON dataset.

Data typeThis is a composite element grouping sub-elements and properties
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferencePart B 1
NameMD_Metadata
Observations 

1.3.1. Properties of the Dataset Information Element

A Dataset Information element can be described with the properties explained in the following sections.

1.3.1.1. Name Property

Table 1.3. Name property description

ESPON MetadataNameName
Name literalName
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description Name of the dataset. This is a brief expression that gives an idea about the dataset contents. We encourage all dataset providers to produce the most short and meaningful dataset names that reflect directly the data semantics.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 128 characters
Example(s)"Demographic trends", "Climate Change Data"
INSPIREReferencePart B 1.1
NameResource title
ObservationsThis property should not have a length of more than 150 characters.

1.3.1.2. Project Property

Table 1.4. Project property description

ESPON MetadataNameProject
Name literalProject
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description ESPON project in which the dataset was produced. This must be an acronym of one of existing ESPON projects. Please consult the possible values of acronyms for all referenced ESPON projects in Appendix C.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 32 characters
Example(s)"DEMIFER", "TIPTAP"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
NamecollectiveTitle
Observations 

1.3.1.3. Abstract Property

Table 1.5. Abstract property description

ESPON MetadataNameAbstract
Name literalAbstract
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description Free-text description of the contents of the dataset, in a more detailed way than it can be made by the name of the dataset.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 1024 characters
Example(s)Contains data on internal migration trends and demographic changes on NUTS3 level for all European countries, from 2010 to 2015.
INSPIREReferencePart B 1.2
NameResource abstract
Observations

This property must not duplicate the expression used in the name of the dataset. It should provide more detailed information on the contents than the Name property.


1.3.1.4. Resource Type Property

Table 1.6. Resource type property description

ESPON MetadataNameResource Type
Name literalResourceType
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionType of the resource. This property is a requirement of the INSPIRE Directive. For any ESPON dataset, the value of this property must always be "dataset".
Data typeCharacter string
Example(s)"dataset"
INSPIREReferencePart B 1.3
NameResource Type
ObservationsThis property is a constant value that must be present in the metadata.

1.3.1.5. Resource Locator Property

Table 1.7. Resource locator property description

ESPON MetadataNameResource Locator
Name literalResourceLocator
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... *
Description

If the dataset has a public URL, it must be mentioned in the metadata so as the users could "obtain more information on the resource and/or access services".

The URL value of this property must point to the location where the dataset and/or its documentation are published.

Data typeURL with max length of 256 characters
Example(s)http://www.espon.eu/report/report001.pdf
INSPIREReferencePart B 1.4
NameResource locator
Observations

According to the INSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules, page 17, if a URL for the resource exists, it must be mentioned in the metadata.


1.3.1.6. Unique Resource Identifier Property

Table 1.8. Unique Resource Identifier property description

ESPON MetadataNameUnique Resource Identifier
Name literalUniqueResourceIdentifier
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionCode that represents a unique identification of the dataset. Please see the observations below for the recommended URI code scheme.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 256 characters
Example(s)"DEMIFER_LaborForce_v2_20111021_corrected"
INSPIREReferencePart B 1.5
NameUnique resource identifier
Observations

The recommended value for this property should be a merged character string referring to the originating project, shortened dataset name, publication date and version, for example: {ProjectAcronym}_{DatasetName}_{UploadOrCreationDate}_{version}[_{OtherOptionalInfo}]. This value must contain only alphanumeric characters, the spaces must be replaced with underscores. The value of this property should be used as the main component for the names of the files related with the dataset.


1.3.1.7. Dataset Language Property

Table 1.9. Dataset Language property description

ESPON MetadataNameDataset Language
Name literalDatasetLanguage
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionISO/TS 19139 alpha-3 (three characters) code denoting the language in which the textual information of the dataset is presented. According to ESPON working languages, the only value for this property is "eng" and the only language of the textual information in ESPON datasets is the English language.
Data typeCharacter string of 3 characters
Example(s)"eng"
INSPIREReferencePart B 1.7
NameResource language
ObservationsThis property is a constant value that must be present in the metadata.

1.3.1.8. Metadata Language Property

Table 1.10. Metadata Language property description

ESPON MetadataNameMetadata Language
Name literalMetadataLanguage
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionISO/TS 19139 alpha-3 (three characters) code denoting the language in which the textual information of the metadata is presented. According to ESPON working languages, the only value for this property is "eng" and the only language of the textual information in the metadata is the English language.
Data typeCharacter string of 3 characters
Example(s)"eng"
INSPIREReferencePart B 10.3
NameMetadata language
Observations This property is a constant value that must be present in the metadata. It represents a so-called "metadata on metadata". It describes the metadata, but not the dataset.

1.3.1.9. Metadata Date Property

Table 1.11. Metadata Date property description

ESPON MetadataNameMetadata Date
Name literalMetadataDate
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionDate when the metadata for this dataset was created. This is a requirement of the INSPIRE Directive.
Data typeDate
Example(s)2011-08-21
INSPIREReferencePart B 10.2
NameMetadata date
Observations

This property represents a so-called "metadata on metadata". It describes the metadata, but not the dataset. Please see the Calendar Date Values Constraints for dates format.


1.3.1.10. Topic Category Property

Table 1.12. Topic Category property description

ESPON MetadataNameTopic Category
Name literalTopicCategory
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1... *
DescriptionGeneric theme(s) associated with the dataset. The theme must be taken from the INSPIRE Directive theme list available in Appendix F. At least one code of Table F.1 must be specified. The maximum number of topic categories is bound to the 19 currently existing ones.
Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values
Example(s)"Society", "Transportation", "Health"
INSPIREReferencePart B 2.1
NameTopic category
ObservationsThe topic categories defined in INSPIRE Directive are different from the ones of the ESPON Thematic Classification and must not be confused. At Dataset Information level, the INSPIRE topic categories must be applied, while the ESPON classification is used on Indicator Identification level.

1.3.1.11. Keyword Property

Table 1.13. Keyword property description

ESPON MetadataNameKeyword
Name literalKeyword
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1... *
DescriptionPlease see the shared Keyword property.
Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferencePart B 3
NameKeyword
Observations 

1.3.1.12. Temporal Reference Composite Property

This composite property covers several values grouped because they all correspond to temporal references of the dataset.

Table 1.14. Temporal Reference property description

ESPON MetadataNameTemporal Reference
Name literalTemporalReference
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description Groups values representing temporal bindings of the entire dataset. These bindings are the union of all the time periods covered by the indicator values, the date when the dataset was uploaded on the ESPON Web server and, optionaly, the dates of creation and revision of the dataset.
Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferencePart B 5
NameTemporal Reference
Observations 

The Temporal Reference composite property define Temporal Extent, Upload Date, Creation Date and Revision Date properties.

1.3.1.12.1. Temporal Extent Property

The Temporal Extent property at the Dataset Information level defines the global temporal extent of all the indicator values present in the dataset. This is the start and the end marks of the union of all the time periods covered by the indicator values. For example, if the indicator values existing in the dataset cover the years 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, the TemporalExtent property must have the value [2005, 2008].

Table 1.15. Temporal Extent property description

ESPON MetadataNameTemporal Extent
Name literalTemporalExtent
ParentTemporal Reference
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Please see the Temporal Extent shared property description.

Data typeList of one or two dates: [startDate[, endDate]]
Example(s)[2001-01-01, 2020-12-31]
INSPIREReferencePart B 5.1
NameTemporal extent
Observations

Please see the Calendar Date Values Constraints for dates format.


1.3.1.12.2. Upload Date Property

Table 1.16. Upload date property description

ESPON MetadataNameUpload Date
Name literalUploadDate
ParentTemporal Reference
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description Date when this dataset was uploaded to the ESPON server. This date is considered to be equivalent to the publication date of the dataset.
Data typeDate
Example(s)'2010-10-31', '2011-08-12', '2012-01-01'
INSPIREReferencePart B 5.2
Namedate
Observations

Please see the Calendar Date Values Constraints for dates format.

An upload date is considered to be equivalent to a publication date.


1.3.1.12.3. Creation Date Property

Table 1.17. Creation Date property description

ESPON MetadataNameCreation Date
Name literalCreationDate
ParentTemporal Reference
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
DescriptionThe date when the dataset was created.
Data typeDate
Example(s)2011-08-19
INSPIREReferencePart B 5.4
NameDate of creation
Observations

Please see the Calendar Date Values Constraints for dates format.


1.3.1.12.4. Revision Date Property

Table 1.18. Revision Date property description

ESPON MetadataNameRevision Date
Name literalRevisionDate
ParentTemporal Reference
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
DescriptionDate of the last revision of the dataset. For a dataset that has never had a revision, this date may be dropped.
Data typeDate
Example(s)2011-08-19
INSPIREReferencePart B 5.3
NameDate of last revision
Observations

Please see the Calendar Date Values Constraints for dates format.


1.3.1.13. Lineage Property

Table 1.19. Lineage property description

ESPON MetadataNameLineage
Name literalLineage
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionGeneral explanation of the data producer’s knowledge about the lineage of the dataset.
Data typeCharacter string without length restriction
Example(s)

This dataset was produced by aggregating data from the following sources: [...]. After the data aggregation, they were checked with [...] and processed by [...]. The missing indicator values have been interpolated using the method of [...]. The data was then validated by [...].

INSPIREReferencePart B 6.1
NameLineage
Observations

This property is required by the INSPIRE Directive and must provide a general description of the lineage for the entire dataset.


1.3.1.14. Conformity Composite Property

Table 1.20. Conformity composite property description

ESPON MetadataNameConformity
Name literalConformity
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... *
DescriptionInformation on the degree of conformity with the implementing rules provided in Art.7-1 of INSPIRE Directive.
Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferencePart B 7
NameConformity
Observations

If the conformity of the data and/or the metadata was evaluated against one or more specifications, the results of the evaluations must be provided by the Conformity property. Otherwise the data and the metadata are considered to be not evaluated. Please see the p. 2.8 of the INSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules[2].


The Conformity property groups three properties: Conformance, Specification and Specification Date.

1.3.1.14.1. Conformance Property

Table 1.21. Conformance property description

ESPON MetadataNameConformance
Name literalConformance
ParentConformity
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionShows if the data and/or metadata are conformant to the cited specification.
Data typeBoolean
Example(s)true, false
INSPIREReferencePart B 7.2
NameDegree
Observations 

1.3.1.14.2. Specification Property

Table 1.22. Specification property description

ESPON MetadataNameSpecification
Name literalSpecification
ParentConformity
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionTitle of the specification against which the data and/or metadata were evaluated.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 128 characters
Example(s)"INSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules"
INSPIREReferencePart B 7.1
NameSpecification
Observations 

1.3.1.14.3. Specification Date Property

Table 1.23. Specification Date property description

ESPON MetadataNameSpecification Date
Name literalSpecifDate
ParentConformity
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionDate when the conformity check against the cited specification was made.
Data typeDate
Example(s)2011-05-12
INSPIREReferencePart B 7.1
NameSpecification
Observations

Please see the Calendar Date Values Constraints for dates format.


1.3.1.15. Constraints Composite Property

Table 1.24. Constraints composite property description

ESPON MetadataNameConstraints
Name literalConstraints
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1... *
DescriptionDefines the use and access constraints applied to the entire dataset. This property is required by the INSPIRE Directive.
Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferencePart B 8
NameConstraint Related To Access And Use
Observations 

The Constraints property wraps four values: Use Constraint, Access Condition, Other Constraints and Access Classification.

1.3.1.15.1. Use Constraint Property

Table 1.25. Use Constraint property description

ESPON MetadataNameUse Constraint
Name literalUseConstraint
ParentConstraints
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionAccess and use constraints applied to ensure the protection of privacy or intellectual property, and any special restrictions or limitations on obtaining the resource.
Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values
Example(s)"Copyright", "Patent", "Trademark"
INSPIREReferencePart B 8.2
NameLimitations on public access
ObservationsAccording to [7], the following values can be applied to the Use Constraint property:
  • copyright - exclusive right to the publication, production, or sale of the rights to a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work, or to the use of a commercial print or label, granted by law for a specified period of time to an author, composer, artist, distributor.

  • patent - government has granted exclusive right to make, sell, use or license an invention or discovery.

  • patentPending - produced or sold information awaiting a patent.

  • trademark - a name, symbol, or other device identifying a product, officially registered and legally restricted to the use of the owner or manufacturer.

  • license - formal permission to do something.

  • intellectualPropertyRights - rights to financial benefit from and control of distribution of non-tangible property that is a result of creativity.

  • restricted - withheld from general circulation or disclosure.

  • otherRestrictions - limitation not listed


1.3.1.15.2. Access Condition Property

Table 1.26. Access Condition property description

ESPON MetadataNameAccess Condition
Name literalAccessCondition
ParentConstraints
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionTextual description of the conditions to be applied in order to access and/or use the dataset. If no conditions apply, should be set to the no conditions apply value.
Data typeCharacter string without length restriction
Example(s)No conditions apply
INSPIREReferencePart B 8.1
NameCondition applying to access and use
Observations 

1.3.1.15.3. Other Constraints Property

Table 1.27. Other Constraints property description

ESPON MetadataNameOther Constraints
Name literalOtherConstraints
ParentConstraints
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionTextual description of any other constraints and legal prerequisites to access and/or use the dataset. Must be specified especially if the Use Constraint property is set to otherRestrictions value. If no other constraints are applied, must be set to the no limitations value.
Data typeCharacter string without length restriction
Example(s)No limitations
INSPIREReferencePart B 8.2
NameLimitations on public access
Observations 

1.3.1.15.4. Access Classification Property

Table 1.28. Access Classification property description

ESPON MetadataNameAccess Classification
Name literalAccessClassification
ParentConstraints
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionClassification of the access rule applied to the dataset.
Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values
Example(s)"unclassified", "restricted", "confidential"
INSPIREReferencePart B 8.2
NameLimitations on public access
ObservationsAccording to [7], the following values can be applied to the Access Classification property:
  • unclassified - available for general disclosure.

  • restricted - not for general disclosure.

  • confidential - available for someone who can be entrusted with information.

  • secret - kept or meant to be kept private, unknown, or hidden from all but a select group of people.

  • topSecret - of the highest secrecy.


1.3.1.16. Responsible Party Property

The Responsible Party property reflects the "identification of, and means of communication with, person and organization associated with the resource" [INSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules[2], page 44]. That is the contact point that is considered to be responsible for the entire dataset. The Responsible Party property is a requirement of the INSPIRE Directive, Part B 9.

Table 1.29. Responsible Party property description

ESPON MetadataNameResponsible Party
Name literalResponsibleParty
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionOrganization or person responsible for the entire dataset.
Data typeContact
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferencePart B 9.1, part B 9.2
NameResponsible party
Observations 

1.3.1.17. Metadata Contact Property

The Metadata Contact property describes the person who created the metadata for the dataset. This may be the same person as the Responsible Party, but may be a person working on behalf of the responsible party as well. The Metadata Contact property is a requirement of the INSPIRE Directive, Part B 10.1.

Table 1.30. Metadata Contact property description

ESPON MetadataNameMetadata Contact
Name literalMetadataContact
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionOrganization or person who created the metadata for the dataset.
Data typeContact
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferencePart B 10.1
NameMetadata point of contact
ObservationsThe value of the Role property must be set to pointOfContact according to the INSPIRE Directive and ISO 19115 standard.

1.3.1.18. Distributor Property

The Distributor property describes the contact point that is responsible for the distribution of the dataset. In ESPON Metadata, this value is always constant and refers to the ESPON Coordination Unit (ESPON CU) in Luxembourg.

Table 1.31. Distributor property description

ESPON MetadataNameDistributor
Name literalDistributor
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionOrganization that provides the distribution of the dataset. The Address property must be specified for this contact.
Data typeContact
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

This property has a constant value in ESPON Metadata, because according to the Terms and Conditions Agreement [9], the ESPON CU provides the distribution of the data published in the ESPON 2013 Database. This contact property must be the following for any ESPON dataset:

  • individualName: Marjan van Herwijnen

  • organizationName: ESPON Coordination Unit

  • phones: +352545580700, +352545580701

  • email: [email protected]

  • deliveryPoint: UCRP HT - P.O. Box 144

  • city: Esch-sur-Alzette

  • administrativeArea: Cedex 13

  • postalCode: L-4221

  • country: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg


1.3.1.19. Point of Contact Property

This property groups the information specifying all the persons or organizations that participated in the creation of the dataset. This is the only optional Contact property of the Dataset Information element.

Table 1.32. Point of Contact property description

ESPON MetadataNamePointOfContact
Name literalPoint of Contact
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... *
DescriptionPersons or organizations that may be contacted for different issues related to the dataset.
Data typeContact
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.3.1.20. Indicators Aggregation Property

If a dataset contains aggregated indicators, it must refer to all of these aggregations.

Table 1.33. Indicators Aggregation property description

ESPON MetadataNameIndicators Aggregation
Name literalIndicatorsAggregation
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... *
Description References all the indicators aggregations that compose semantic groups of indicators. Please see the Section 1.5.2 for more details.
Data typeA list of Indicator Aggregation elements
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.3.2. Summary of the Dataset Information Element

The Dataset Information element can be summarized by the following UML diagram:

Figure 1.3. Dataset Information element structure

Dataset Information element structure

1.4. Spatial Binding Element

The Spatial Binding element groups two composite properties (elements) describing the spatial relation between the data part of the dataset and the statistical/spatial units used. The first property, Geographic Location declares the geographic area where all the territorial units of the dataset are located. This property is required by the INSPIRE directive for any spatial dataset. The second property, Nomenclature, enumerates the nomenclatures of geographical or statistical units that are used by the dataset. That property is ESPON-specific and does not have an INSPIRE equivalent.

Table 1.34. Spatial Binding element description

ESPON MetadataNameSpatial Binding
Name literalSpatialBinding
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionDescribes the spatial link between the data part of the dataset and the territorial units used. This description is made by specifying the bounding box of the geographic area covered by the entire dataset and by citing details on the nomenclature, version and levels of all the statistical units present.
Data typeThis is a composite element
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.4.1. Geographic Location Property

Table 1.35. Geographic Location property description

ESPON MetadataNameGeographic Location
Name literalGeographicLocation
ParentSpatial Binding
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionThe geographic rectangular bounding box to which belong all territorial units referenced by the dataset. This bounding box is defined by the North and South latitude values and by the East and West longitude values (in other words, by the coordinates of the bounding rectangle).
Data typeList of 4 geographic coordinates values in decimal degrees: [N, W, S, E]. Longitudes are measured between -180 and 180 degrees (negative for the Western hemisphere); latitudes are measured between -90 and 90 degrees (negative for the Southern hemisphere).
Example(s)[45.22, 5.65, 45.14, 5.81]
INSPIREReferencePart B 4.1
NameGeographic bounding box
Observations 

1.4.2. Nomenclature Property

Table 1.36. Nomenclature property description

ESPON MetadataNameNomenclature
Name literalNomenclature
ParentSpatial Binding
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1... *
DescriptionDescribes a statistical nomenclature used to represent spatial units in the dataset. The description details the acronym, the version names and the level labels of each nomenclature present in the data part of the dataset.
Data typeThis is a composite element
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.4.2.1. Nomenclature Name Property

Table 1.37. Nomenclature Name property description

ESPON MetadataNameNomenclature Name
Name literalNomenclatureName
ParentNomenclature
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionReference to the official acronym of the nomenclature of territorial statistical units that are used by the dataset.
Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values, with max length of 16 characters
Example(s)"NUTS", "WUTS", "LAU"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

The values of this property are restricted to the list of identifiers denoting the nomenclatures actually supported by the Database. This list is available in the Appendix B.


1.4.2.2. Nomenclature Version Property

The Nomenclature Version and Nomenclature Level properties are restricted to the values listed in Appendix B. These values describe the nomenclatures supported by the ESPON Database. If the nomenclature (its version or level) is not in the list of the supported ones, the integration of the dataset into the ESPON database will be possible only when the dictionary of the statistical units of the database will be fed up with the new nomenclature (version, level). If the nomenclature used in the dataset was created by the data provider, this nomenclature must be described according to the respective documentation[11] and sent to the data integrators before or at the same time with sending the dataset.

Table 1.38. Nomenclature Version property description

ESPON MetadataNameNomenclature Version
Name literalNomenclatureVersion
ParentNomenclature
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Version literal of the nomenclature. Usually, this literal corresponds to the year when the nomenclature was published or applied.

Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values, with max length of 32 characters
Example(s)"1999", "2006", "2010"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

A list of supported nomenclature versions is given in the Appendix B.

If there several nomenclature versions are used by the dataset, each one must be mentioned in the SpatialBinding element in a separate Nomenclature property.


1.4.2.3. Nomenclature Level Property

Table 1.39. Nomenclature Level property description

ESPON MetadataNameNomenclature Level
Name literalNomenclatureLevel
ParentNomenclature
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity

1... * for hierarchical nomenclatures

Description

Level index of the nomenclature of statistical units used by the dataset. Each nomenclature level used by the dataset must be mentioned. The list of supported levels for each nomenclature is present in the Appendix B.

This value is usually a numeric index corresponding to the place of the level in the hierarchy of the parent nomenclature.

If the nomencalture is not hierarchical (does not contain more than one level of units), the value default must be specified for this property.

Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values, with max length of 32 characters
Example(s)"0", "1", "2", "default"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

A list of supported nomenclature levels is given in the Appendix B.


1.4.3. Summary of the Spatial Binding Element

The Spatial Binding element can be summarized in the following UML diagram:

Figure 1.4. Spatial Binding element structure

Spatial Binding element structure

1.5. Indicator Identification Element

The Indicator Identification element describes a socio-economic indicator used in the dataset, stored in the ESPON Database and characterized by a value of a supported data type.

It can be considered as the most important element of the metadata, because the goal of the ESPON Database is to store values of different socio-economic indicators. A dataset cannot be considered as such if there are no indicators specified in it and not described by the metadata.

The Indicator Identification element contains two links that establish a relationship between the data and the metadata part of a dataset. The Code property maps to the columns where the values of this indicator are stored. The Temporal Extent property maps to the time periods covered by the values of the indicator (the same indicator may exist for more than one time period in a dataset). That is why each unique indicator code present in the dataset must be described as a metadata Indicator Identification element. Each time period of the indicator value validity must be referenced by the indicator metadata. Any couple of indicator Code + Temporal Extent must correspond to only one column of values in the data part of the dataset.

Before creating metadata for an indicator, data providers should check the existing documentation, in order to see if the indicator already exists in the ESPON indicators classification. In this case, the data provider should use the existing indicator code, since the name and the abstract will be shared in the metadata. If the indicator does not exist in the ESPON documentation, the data provider must specify these properties; that will allow to add the new indicator to the classification.

Table 1.40. Indicator Identification

ESPON MetadataNameIndicator Identification
Name literalIndicatorIdentification
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1... *
DescriptionDescribes a socio-economic indicator present in the dataset.
Data typeThis is a composite element
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.1. Two Levels of Indicators Representation

The indicators in the ESPON Database may be represented in two ways, depending on the semantics and the links between the indicators included in the dataset.

Any indicator may be represented separately, as a singular structure having its own content and values. This is the most frequent way of the representation. For example, "Gross Domestic Product per Capita" and "Income per Household, Average" are indicators, each of them may form a complete dataset, if they are associated with value.

But there may also exist groups of indicators that form a semantic unity and that usually come together when providers produce data. This may concern indicators like "Population By Age" (where each age group 0-4 y.o., 5-9 y.o., 10-14 y.o., 15-19 y.o., 20-24 y.o., 25-29 y.o. etc is an indicator, but they all together represent an age pyramid) or "Employment By Sector" (with the indicators "Employment in Industry", "Employment in Services" etc). The indicators in the group are considered as autonomous indicators, but their group also has a semantic role, characterized by some of the attributes of a singular indicator (code, name, abstract). Moreover, in most cases the singular indicators composing a group share a number of properties (units of measure, methodology etc).

Such groups of linked indicators are called Indicators Aggregations. They are represented as a particular case of indicators in the Database.

So, the representation of indicators in the Database is made on two levels. The upper level is shared between Indicators Aggregations and Indicators Idedntifications and describe three metadata properties.

1.5.1.1. Code Property

Table 1.41. Code property description

ESPON MetadataNameCode
Name literalCode
Parent

Indicator Identification or Indicator Aggregation

Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Code of the indicator in the ESPON Indicators Classification. If the indicator already exists in the ESPON database (and thus is present in the classification), the value of this property should be taken from the ESPON Indicators classification documentation. Otherwise, a new code must be created.

The value of this property must be the same as at least one of the indicator code labels in the data part of the dataset. If this is not the case, the metadata will be invalid.

Data typeCharacter string with max length of 32 characters
Example(s)"pop_t_rtc", "ump_rt_rtp"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.1.2. Name Property

Table 1.42. Name property description

ESPON MetadataNameName
Name literalName
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / condition

Mandatory

Multiplicity

1

Description

The name of the indicator. A short expression that reflects the meaning of the indicator and respects the style of the naming of the indicators used in the classification.

Data typeCharacter string with max length of 128 characters
Example(s)"Expenditures on dental services", "Gross Domestic Product (GDP)"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

Data originators should pay a lot of attention to naming the indicators in order to give the most precise expressions and to avoid duplicating names with already registered indicators or with other properties of an Indicator Identification element. An incorrect name can make much more complex the semantic search in the database.

For example, naming a new indicator as "Total expenditures on dental services per inhabitant in Euro in EU" is incorrect, because this expression contains a reference to the unit of measure ("Euro" and "per inhabitant"), to the spatial binding ("EU") and to the most generic scope ("Total"). The correct way is to name this indicator simply "Expenditures on dental services". Other properties of the metadata will make the necessary references to the units and spatial extent. Naming an indicator as "GDP in billions of Euros" or "GDP in PPS" is neither a correct way to proceed. Like in the previous example, the units of measure ("billions of Euros" or "PPS") should be specified separately. But the "GDP" acronym should be explained more carefully. A correct name for this indicator should be "Gross Domestic Product (GDP)".


1.5.1.3. Abstract Property

Table 1.43. Abstract property description

ESPON MetadataNameAbstract
Name literalAbstract
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / condition

Mandatory

Multiplicity

1

Description

The abstract of the indicator. This property must describe the indicator in a more extended way than it is done by the Name property. The abstract must not repeat only the name of the indicator, but propose more information about it, that is not given by the Name.

Data typeCharacter string without length restriction
Example(s)Data on total population in the specified statistical regions.
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
ObservationsThe Abstract should be formulated generically, so that it could be applied to any other indicator having the same name and code in another dataset. It must not mention the spatial or temporal extent or the measurement of the values. For example, instead of giving the abstract "The total population of Poland regions in 2010 in thousands of inhabitants according to the last population census", the data provider should generalize the description transforming it into something like "Data on total population in the specified statistical regions". No need to repeat the spatial unit, year, unit of measure and data origin references, that will be available at their dedicated fields.

1.5.2. Indicator Aggregation

An aggregation of indicators is a group of singular indicators described in Section 1.5.1. The aggregations are not associated with indicator values and act as wrappers for singular indicators with strong semantic links. Therefore, each aggregation is characterized by a Code, Name and an Abstract property. For aggregations, the names of these properties are prefixed with the word Aggregate: Aggregate Code, Aggregate Name and Aggregate Abstract respectively. Each of them describe the common properties of all the singular indicators in the group.

Each Indicator Aggregation must also refer to all of the Indicator Identification elements that compose the group.

1.5.2.1. Code Property of an Indicator Aggregation Element

Table 1.44. Code property description

ESPON MetadataNameCode
Name literalCode
Parent

Indicator Aggregation

Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity2... *
Description

References all the codes of the Indicator Identification elements that compose the aggregation. At least two Indicator Identification elements must exists in a valid aggregation (an aggregation of a single indicator does not make sense).

Data typeA list of codes of Indicator Identification elements
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.3. Policy Property

Beginning from this property, all of the properties described below in this chapter belong to the IndicatorIdentification element of the metadata model.

Table 1.45. Policy property description

ESPON MetadataNamePolicy
Name literalPolicy
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / condition

Optional

Multiplicity

0... *

Description

The ESPON policy classification of the indicator. The value of this property must correspond to a policy code defined in the list of policy titles established by ESPON. Please see the Policies table for the entire classification.

Data typeCharacter string restricted to a set of values
Example(s)'EU2020_1', 'TA2020_2'
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

Please see the Policies table for the values of this property.


1.5.4. Core Property

In conformity with the Core Database Strategy (CDS[10]), before the integration of any new indicator in the Database, it is classified according to its relevance for the CDS. The indicators marked as core ones represent the most precious data in the Database.

Table 1.46. Core property description

ESPON MetadataNameCore
Name literalCore
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Shows if this indicator belongs to the list of core indicators of the ESPON Database. The default value is false.

Data typeBoolean
Example(s)true or false
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.5. Methodology Property

The Indicator Identification element may define a Methodology property that can be shared with other indicators or with Source Reference elements.

Table 1.47. Methodology property description

ESPON MetadataNameMethodology
Name literalMethodology
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
Description

Please see the shared Methodology property.

Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.6. Theme Property

Table 1.48. Theme property description

ESPON MetadataNameTheme
Name literalTheme
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / condition

Mandatory

Multiplicity

1... *

Description

Theme(s) associated with the indicator. It must be a string value coming from the enumeration of themes composing the ESPON Thematic Classification. The full list of existing themes is described in the Appendix E of this document.

Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values
Example(s)"populationAndLivingConditions", "Population and living conditions"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

It is recommended to specify, if possible, more than one theme for an indicator, in order to improve thematic search in the database.

Please note that the list of themes is very different from the INSPIRE Topic Categories and from the thematic classification used during the first Phase of the project.


1.5.7. Keyword Property

Table 1.49. Keyword property description

ESPON MetadataNameKeyword
Name literalKeyword
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / condition

Mandatory

Multiplicity

1... *

Description

Please see the shared Keyword property.

Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferencePart B 3
NameKeyword
Observations 

1.5.8. Temporal Extent Property

The Temporal Extent property at the Indicator Identification level lists all the temporal bindings characterizing the values of this indicator. Semantically, these bindings may exist as time periods or instances (moments in time). Please see the Temporal Extent for more details.

Table 1.50. Temporal Extent property description

ESPON MetadataNameTemporal Extent
Name literalTemporalExtent
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1... *
Description

Please see the Temporal Extent shared property description.

Data typeList of one or two dates or year values: [start, end]
Example(s)['2001-01-01'[, '2002-12-31']], [2001[, 2002]]
INSPIREReferencePart B 5.1
NameTemporal extent
Observations

Please see the Calendar Date Values Constraints for dates format.


1.5.9. Indicator Value Nature property

The values of indicators can result from a study where raw data is collected, can be produced by calculations applied on raw data or may result from analyzes, classifications and other methods of production. These methods can be summarized by a property that reflects the nature of an indicator. The nature of the idicator value is defined during the dataset integration process.

Table 1.51. Indicator Value Nature property description

ESPON MetadataNameNat Type
Name literalNatType
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

The nature of the indicator value. This must be one of the literals defined in Appendix G.

Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values
Example(s)A, AS, RC
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10. Data Type property

Table 1.52. Data Type property description

ESPON MetadataNameData Type
Name literalDataType
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Type of data that is used to represent the values of the indicator.

A restricted list of data types is supported by ESPON 2013 Database. Each type of this list is characterized by its specific properties, so the structure of Data Type property depends on the type chosen.

This property is used to check the validity of the indicator values in the dataset.

Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.1. Type Identifier Property

Table 1.53. Type Identifier property description

ESPON MetadataNameType Identifier
Name literalTypeIdentifier
ParentData Type
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionString identifier of the data type.
Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values
Example(s)"float", "boolean", "enum"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

This property can take the following values:

The values in this list may be used in upper or lower case characters.

Each of the Data Type element properties that depend on the Type Identifier value are detailed below.


1.5.10.2. Description Property

Table 1.54. Description property description

ESPON MetadataNameDescription
Name literalDescription
ParentData Type
Obligation / condition

Optional for all cases except when the Type Identifier property is set to other.

Multiplicity

1 if Type Identifier is other.

0... 1 otherwise.

DescriptionGives a verbose definition and/or comment of the type of data used to represent indicator values.
Data typeCharacter string without length restriction
Example(s)The value denotes the year when the country ratified the Convention on...
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.3. Numeric Data Types

Indicator values represented by numeric data (2, 3.574, 700.25, 10000 etc) can be classified as integer or float data. Numeric data is the most frequent way of data representation in the ESPON Database.

The integer data type is a numeric data type where indicator values are always represented by natural or negative numbers. An integer value cannot have a fractional or decimal component: -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3...

The float data type is a numeric data type where indicator values are represented by real numbers, with a fractional or a decimal part: -1.5, 2.34, 10.758... An integer can also be represented as a float: 1 = 1.0.

The data originator should carefully think about the type of the numeric representation of indicator values. In numerous cases, they can be represented as integers. The number of inhabitants with 1:1 scale is usually represented by positive integers (normally, an inhabitant cannot be cut into parts and stay alive to make part of the statistics): 1000, 10200 etc. A mean number of persons, for example for the "Fertility rate per woman" indicator, can be represented as a float: 1.3, 2.1, 3.5 etc. So, if it is clear that there cannot be at least one decimal indicator value, the Type Identifier should be set to integer. Otherwise it should be float.

Any numeric indicator data must be characterized by a unit of measure that describes this numeric data.

1.5.10.3.1. Unit of Measure Property

Table 1.55. Unit of Measure property description

ESPON MetadataNameUnit of Measure
Name literalUnitOfMeasure
ParentIndicator Identification
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionUnit in which the values of the indicator are measured. This element cites the unit itself and, eventually, its scale of measure.
Data typeThis is a composite element
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.3.1.1. Numerator Name Property

Table 1.56. Numerator Name property description

ESPON MetadataNameNumerator Name
Name literalNumeratorName
ParentUnit of Measure
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

The name of the numerator of the unit of measure. The numerator is the first part of the name of a unit of measure. For example, for "kilometers per hour" the numerator is "kilometers", while "hour" is the denominator. Many units are composed of the numerator only, for example "euros", "inhabitants".

This field must always be specified, because any unit of measure has a numerator.

Data typeCharacter string with max length of 64 characters
Example(s)"inhabitants", "Euros", "km2"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

The name must be full (not shortened) and typed using only standard ASCII characters of latin and numeric character set. The powers must be typed as inline digits: "km2", "m3". The use of the multiplication sign "*" is optional: "kW*h" or "kWh".

If the unit of measure contains a standard SI scale multiplier (kilo-, mega-, etc), this multiplier should not be transformed into a Scale property value. Other indications of the scale ("thousands of...", "millions of...") must be excluded from the name: in this case the multiplier must be converted into a scale value.


1.5.10.3.1.2. Denominator Name Property

Table 1.57. Denominator Name property description

ESPON MetadataNameDenominator Name
Name literalDenominatorName
ParentUnit of Measure
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
Description

The name to use in the denominator part of the fraction that describes the name of the unit of measure. For example, for "kilometers per hour" the denominator is "hour". The "per" preposition or the "/" sign should not be used in this field.

Many units of measure do not contain a denominator, for example "Euros", "inhabitants". In this case, this property must not be filled.

Data typeCharacter string with max length of 64 characters
Example(s)"inhabitants", "Euros", "km2"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

Please see the observations on the Numerator Name property.


1.5.10.3.1.3. Numerator Scale Property

Table 1.58. Numerator Scale property description

ESPON MetadataNameNumerator Scale
Name literalNumeratorScale
ParentUnit of Measure
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Integer value representing the right part of the scale multiplier of the value. For example, if the total population of a territory is measured in thousands of inhabitants, the name of the unit should be "inhabitants" and the numerator scale must be expressed by the value of 1000.

For units that are traditionally measured with a standard SI multiplier (km, kg), the prefix should be left in the name and the scale is set to default 1.

Data typeAn Integer representing a multiple of 10 in the range of {10-23... 1023}
Example(s)1, 10, 1000, 1000000, 1000000000
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.3.1.4. Denominator Scale Property

Table 1.59. Denominator Scale property description

ESPON MetadataNameDenominator Scale
Name literalDenominatorScale
ParentUnit of Measure
Obligation / conditionMandatory if the Denominator Name property is specified.
Multiplicity0... 1
Description

This scale value uses the same principle as the one of Numerator Scale. It corresponds to the scale of the denominator of the unit. For example, for the indicator "births per 100000 inhabitants" the value of this property is 100000.

Please see the explanation for the Numerator Scale property.

Data typeInteger in the range of {-23... 23}
Example(s)1, 10, 1000, 1000000, 1000000000
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.3.2. Ranking property

Numeric indicator values may semantically represent a ranking of statistical units according to some criteria. In this case, the values represent the positional indices of the statistical units in the ranking list and the sum of the values (or even other operations on their set) does not make sense. For such values, the Ranking property may be used, which is set to false by default.

Table 1.60. Ranking property description

ESPON MetadataNameRanking
Name literalRanking
ParentData Type
Obligation / conditionMandatory for integer and float data, does not exist for other data types.
Multiplicity1
Description

Shows if the indicator values represent a ranking of statistical units.

The default value is false.

Data typeBoolean
Example(s)true, false
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

If the values of an indicator represent a ranking, there must not be duplicates in the list of values.


1.5.10.3.3. Min and Max Properties

A set of numeric values can be characterized by a range to which all the possible values of the indicator must belong. It can be the case when the indicator values correspond to academic marks, for example from 0 to 20. In such cases the minimum and the maximum values of the range must be specified in the metadata. This can be done using the Min and the Max properties of the numeric data types.

Table 1.61. Min property description

ESPON MetadataNameMin
Name literalMin
ParentNumeric Data Type
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
Description

The minimum (inclusive) value that can take the indicator.

If this property is not specified, it is supposed that the min value of the indicator is not limited.

Data typeInteger or Float, but the same as declared by the Type Identifier value.
Example(s)-100, 1000, 2.5
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

Table 1.62. Max property description

ESPON MetadataNameMax
Name literalMax
ParentNumeric Data Type
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
Description

The maximum (inclusive) value that can take the indicator.

If this property is not specified, it is supposed that the max value of the indicator is not limited.

Data typeInteger or Float, but the same as declared by the Type Identifier value.
Example(s)-100, 1000, 2.5
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.4. Text Data Types

Indicator values may be represented by textual data without any restrictions or definitions and not composing a fixed collection of invariable character strings. The only limitation to this type of values is the general restriction on character string values described in the Character Strings Values Constraints. If the string values of the indicator compose a fixed set of values, please use the enum data type.

The only metadata property of the text data type is a boolean value showing if the text values of the indicator can be used as identifiers.

1.5.10.4.1. Unique Property

Table 1.63. Unique property description

ESPON MetadataNameUnique
Name literalUnique
ParentData Type
Obligation / conditionMandatory for text data type, inexistent for other types
Multiplicity1
Description

Shows if the text values of the indicator can be used as unique identifiers for the respective "spatial unit - indicator - period" groups. The default value is false.

Data typeBoolean
Example(s)true, false
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.5. Enumerated Data Types

If the enumerated (enum) Type Identifier is specified, all the indicator values of this type must conform to the predefined list of possible and expected values described in the metadata. For example, an indicator shows an estimation of an economic activity, which is measured by the list of possible values: VERY HIGH, HIGH, MODERATE, LOW and VERY LOW. Each of the values in this list must be described using the Enum Value property of the Data Type element.

While the maximum number of possible values in an enumeration is not limited, the minimum number is 2. An enumeration having only one element does not make sense. If the enumeration consists of only two elements having opposite meanings, the boolean Data Type should be considered to describe the values.

Enumerated Data is characterized by a set of invariable values and by the possibility of these values to be compared between them.

[Important]

Please take into account the following constraints when defining an enumeration:

  • all the characters composing the possible values (example: LOW, HIGH) must be given in upper cases without any space character.

  • The Unit of Measure section must not follow the enumeration.

1.5.10.5.1. Ordered Property

Table 1.64. Ordered property description

ESPON MetadataNameOrdered
Name literalOrdered
ParentData Type
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Shows if the elements of the enumeration are ordered between them. This property is set to false by default. In an ordered enumeration, elements can be compared between them.

For an ordered enumeration, the list of Enum Values must begin with the lowest value and end with the highest. For example, for the enumeration cited in Section 1.5.10.5, the list must start with the VERY LOW value and end with the VERY HIGH one.

Data typeBoolean
Example(s)true, false
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.5.2. Enum Value Property

Table 1.65. Enum Value property description

ESPON MetadataNameEnum Value
Name literalEnumValue
ParentData Type
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity2... *
Description

Describes a value that an element of the enumeration can take.

In a list of enumerated values, all of the items must be unique (no duplicates accepted).

If the Enumerated Data is ordered, the list of elements must begin with the lowest value and end with the highest. For an unordered enumeration, the order of the values is not important.

There must be at least two values describing an enumeration. An enumeration of just one value does not make sense.

Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.5.2.1. Value Label Property

Table 1.66. Value Label property description

ESPON MetadataNameValue Label
Name literalValueLabel
ParentEnum Value
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Value that can take the indicator in the data part of the dataset. For example, for the enumeration cited in Section 1.5.10.5, there must be an Enum Value property specified for each element, where Value Label property takes the values VERY LOW, LOW, MODERATE, HIGH and VERY HIGH respectively.

Data typeCharacter string with max length of 32 characters
Example(s) "high", "moderate", "low"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.5.2.2. Value Description Property

Table 1.67. Value Description property description

ESPON MetadataNameValue Description
Name literalValueDescription
ParentEnum Value
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Describes or comments the Enum Value and/or the Value Label with which it is associated.

Data typeCharacter string without length restriction
Example(s) The activity with the index value higher than 100 according to the [...] evaluation formula.
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.6. Boolean Data Types

The boolean data type is considered as a usual couple of values (true or false) that can characterize the indicator. But it also can be seen as a special case of an ordered Enumerated Data having only two elements possible. The first element of such enumeration correspond to false or 0 value, while the second is true or 1. In fact, any string literals can be specified and used to express different meanings: No - Yes, Absent - Present, etc. If this is the case for the values of an indicator, the data provider should specify a custom boolean type.

For boolean data, the structure of the Data Type element is exactly the same as for enum one, with the following restrictions:

  • The Ordered property is always set to true.

  • The number of Enum Value items is always 2.

  • The first item in the Enum Values list corresponds to the false value of the boolean.

  • The second item in the Enum Values list corresponds to the true value of the boolean.

1.5.10.7. Flagged Data Types

The flagged data type is also a particular case of character string enumerations, where the meaning of the value is defined by the positions of the enumerated elements in a character string. For example, the indicator "Change in Net Migration by Main Components" is defined as follows.

There may be two possible quantitative characteristics of migrations phenomena: increasing ("I") and decreasing ("D"). In certain cases, it is not possible to characterize the phenomena, which is expressed by the literal "N". This list of values composes an enumeration of character values { 'I', 'D', 'N' }. The indicator has three dimensions: the net migration, the internal migration and the international one. By positioning the enumerated characters in a string, we can characterize the three dimensions of the indicator at the same time. By convention, we will consider that the first character corresponds to the net migration, the second to the internal and the third to the international migration. Thus, using this convention, the string 'IDI' means that the net and the international migration are increasing, while the internal is decreasing. 'DDD' means that the migration is decreasing on the three dimensions. 'INN' means that the net migration is increasing, but it is not possible to describe the internal and the international migration. If the values of an indicator follow the same principle, the flagged Data Type must be used.

In this case, the main part of the structure of the Data Type element is the same as for the enum data type. It is extended by the Position property, that represents a list describing the meaning of each position in a character string of flagged data. There must be at least two values in this list, otherwise the positions of the elements do not make sense.

Each label of the elements of the flagged enumeration must be represented by a single character, otherwise the combined values cannot be processed automatically without ambiguities.

1.5.10.7.1. Position Property

Table 1.68. Position property description

ESPON MetadataNamePositions
Name literalPositions
ParentData Type
Obligation / conditionMandatory for flagged data type, inexistent for other types.
Multiplicity2... *
Description

Describes the meaning of the position of an element inside a flagged character string.

The index of each value in the Position list correspond to the index of the respective flag position in the flagged character string.

There must be at least two elements in the Position list in order for the flagged data type to be valid.

Data typeCharacter string without length restriction
Example(s)["net migration", "internal migration", "international migration"]
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.5.10.8. Other Data Types

The other data type is used when the type of the values of the indicator cannot be classified as one of the existing types or it is not possible to identify the data type. In this cases, the data originator must specify the mandatory Description property. The value of this property is represented by free text. If the data type can be defined, but it is not possible to do it using the existing means, the data originator must define the type using this property. If no definition can be made for the data type, the data originator must provide an explanation of the impossibility to give the data type definition.

1.5.11. Summary of the Indicator Identification Element

The Indicator Identification element can be summarized in the following UML diagram:

Figure 1.5. Indicator Identification element structure

Indicator Identification element structure

1.6. Source Reference Element

The Source Reference element references the origin of the data existing in the dataset. Its aim is to refer to the origin of the data, citing the publication, the organization that produced the data and some other significant pieces of information, always related to its origin.

Table 1.69. Source Reference element description

ESPON MetadataNameSource Reference
Name literalSourceReference
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1... *
Description Describes the source or the origin of indicator values.
Data typeThis is a composite element
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.6.1. Label Property

Table 1.70. Label property description

ESPON MetadataNameLabel
Name literalLabel
ParentSource Reference
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Identifies the source in the dataset. All indicator values associated with the same label will be considered as coming from the same source. In the list of sources belonging to the same dataset, each label identifies a source.

This property is very important for the consistency of the entire dataset: each Source Reference element must describe a source of data referenced in the data part of the dataset. The Label property establishes the link between the data and the metadata parts. Each source reference label must be unique in the metadata of a dataset.

Data typeCharacter string with max length of 16 characters
Example(s)"1", "2a", "B", "ref10"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

The value of this property can be represented by any character string, but it is recommended to choose a numeric or an alphabetic base for them. For example, Source References that are similar (distinct only in secondary properties) may be labelled as '1', '1a', '1b', etc. Source References for very distinct sources can be labeled as '1', '2', '3', etc.


1.6.2. Publication Property

Table 1.71. Publication property description

ESPON MetadataNamePublication
Name literalPublication
ParentSource Reference
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Title of the publication containing the data, or the name of the data source where values were taken from.

Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.6.2.1. Title Property

Table 1.72. Title property description

ESPON MetadataNameTitle
Name literalTitle
ParentPublication
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
Description

Title of the publication or name of the source where data were taken from, if it exists.

A publication may be made by one or more data Providers. This property should not be confused with the Name property of the Provider element.

Data typeCharacter string with max length of 256 characters
Example(s)"Annual Report on Internal European Migrations", "Switzerland Statistics Public Database"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.6.2.2. URI Property

Table 1.73. URI property description

ESPON MetadataNameURI
Name literalURI
ParentPublication
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
Description

Official Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the publication. In most cases, this is the URL (Internet address) where the data is available online or can be accessed or obtained. This can also be an ISBN if the source is a paper publication.

Data typeCharacter string restricted to a pattern, with max length of 512 characters
Example(s)"http://www.espon.eu/reports/report001.pdf"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
ObservationsPlease see the URI Values Constraints for the format of URI values.

1.6.2.3. Reference Property

Table 1.74. Reference property description

ESPON MetadataNameReference
Name literalReference
ParentPublication
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
Description

Indicates the part of the referenced publication (page, part, chapter etc) to refer to.

Data typeCharacter string with max length of 64 characters
Example(s)"page 50", "chapter II"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.6.3. Provider Property

Table 1.75. Provider property description

ESPON MetadataNameProvider
Name literalProvider
ParentPublication
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1... *
Description

Refers to the data provider of the indicator value. The provider may be an institution, an organization or a person who is the originator of the data. This property should not be confused with the reference to the publication source: the data provider is the actor who contributed to the data production or publication.

Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.6.3.1. Name Property

Table 1.76. Name property description

ESPON MetadataNameName
Name literalName
ParentProvider
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Name of the institution, organization or the person acting as the data provider.

If there is more than one data provider for a source, each one must be described in a separate Provider element.

Data typeCharacter string with max length of 128 characters
Example(s)"EUROSTAT", "ESPON Database Project"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.6.3.2. URI Property

Table 1.77. URI property description

ESPON MetadataNameURI
Name literalURI
ParentProvider
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
Description

Official Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the data provider. In most cases, this is the URL (Internet address) of the data provider's site. This property must not represent a reference to the publication, but to the organization or the person who provided the data. For example, this property can take the value "http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat", which refers to the home page of Eurostat.

Data typeCharacter string restricted to a pattern, with max length of 512 characters
Example(s)"http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
ObservationsPlease see the URI Values Constraints for the format of URI values.

1.6.4. Date Property

Table 1.78. Date property description

ESPON MetadataNameDate
Name literalDate
ParentSource Reference
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Date of the publication of the document referenced by the Publication property. It may be the same as the date of the dataset, if the metadata creator references its own resource not yet published.

Data typeDate
Example(s)2011-08-24
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.6.5. Copyright Property

Table 1.79. Copyright property description

ESPON MetadataNameCopyright
Name literalCopyright
ParentSource Reference
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Text describing the copyright rules and/or restrictions applied to the data associated with this source.

The default value of this property is "(c) ESPON 2013 Database".

Data typeCharacter string with max length of 256 characters
Example(s)(c) ESPON 2013 Database
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.6.6. Estimation Property

Table 1.80. Estimation property description

ESPON MetadataNameEstimation
Name literalEstimation
ParentSource Reference
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Shows if the data coming from this source represents an estimation (approximation), but not an original statistical indicator value. By default, all indicator values are supposed to be original, so the initial value of this property is false.

Data typeBoolean
Example(s)true, false
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.6.7. Quality Level Property

Table 1.81. Quality Level property description

ESPON MetadataNameQuality Level
Name literalQualityLevel
ParentSource Reference
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Denotes the evaluation of the precision of the data coming from this source. This is a subjective value that the data provider may specify at his own choice by classifying the Quality Level as no opinion (default), low, medium or high.

Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values
Example(s)low, medium, high
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

The following values of this property are expected:

  • no opinion - the default value.

  • low - low level of quality.

  • medium - medium level of quality.

  • high - high lelve of quality.


1.6.8. Access Rule Property

Table 1.82. Access Rule property description

ESPON MetadataNameAccess Rule
Name literalAccessRule
ParentSource Reference
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description

Declares the access rule for the data and the metadata originated from this source. By default, both the data and the metadata in ESPON 2013 Database have public access.

Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values
Example(s)"public", "public metadata, private data"
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

The Access Rule property can take the following values:

  • public - public access to the data and the metadata originated from this source. This is the default access rule.

  • public metadata, restricted data - the data are accessible to ESPON projects members, the metadata are public.

  • public metadata, private data - the data are under private access, the metadata are public.

  • restricted - both the data and the metadata are accessible for ESPON projects members only.

  • restricted metadata, private data - the metadata are accessible for ESPON projects members, the data are private.

  • private - private access to both the data and the metadata.


1.6.9. Methodology Property

This property can be shared with an Indicator Identification Methodology property.

Table 1.83. Methodology property description

ESPON MetadataNameMethodology
Name literalMethodology
ParentSource Reference
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
DescriptionPlease see the Section 1.7.2 for details.
Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.6.10. Summary of the Source Reference Element

The Source Reference element can be summarized in the following UML diagram:

Figure 1.6. Source Reference element structure

Source Reference element structure

1.7. Shared Elements

This section describes the elements (composite properties) that can be shared between several metadata elements in order to optimize the information storage and avoid its duplication.

1.7.1. Contact Element

Contact elements are used to define contact information for the following dataset properties: Responsible Party, Metadata Contact, Distributor and Point of Contact.

Table 1.84. Contact element description

ESPON MetadataNameContact
Name literalContact
ParentDataset Information
Obligation / conditionDepends on the respective property of the Dataset Information element.
Multiplicity

Depends on the respective property of the Dataset Information element.

DescriptionDescribes a contact: person and/or organization with an email address that can be used to communicate with.
Data typeThis is a composite element
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo direct INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

A Contact element is characterized by the following properties: Individual Name, Organization Name, Position Name, Role, Phone Number, Email Address, as well as by a postal address grouping the necessary values (Delivery Point, City, Administrative Area, Postal Code and Country).

1.7.1.1. Individual Name Property

Table 1.85. Individual Name property description

ESPON MetadataNameIndividual Name
Name literalIndividualName
ParentContact
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionName of the person to contact.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 64 characters
Example(s)"SMEETH, Nathan Edwyn", "KIM, Sabrina"
INSPIREReferenceNone
Name-
Observations

The recommended pattern for this property value is the uppercase last name of the person, followed by a comma and the first names with the initial letters capitalized, for example: WARNER, Charley.

This property exists in ISO 19115 contact element, but not detailed in INSPIRE Directive. In ESPON Metadata model, this property became mandatory.


1.7.1.2. Organization Name Property

Table 1.86. Organization Name property description

ESPON MetadataNameOrganization Name
Name literalOrganizationName
ParentContact
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionName of the organization with which the person is related.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 128 characters
Example(s)"Regional Statictical Office", "UNESCO"
INSPIREReferenceNone
Name-
ObservationsThis property is made mandatory by the INSPIRE Directive.

1.7.1.3. Position Property

Table 1.87. Position property description

ESPON MetadataNamePosition
Name literalPosition
ParentContact
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
DescriptionFunction that the person executes in the cited organization or the function that the person executed in relation with the dataset.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 128 characters
Example(s)"manager", "analyst"
INSPIREReferenceNone
Name-
Observations 

1.7.1.4. Role Property

Table 1.88. Role property description

ESPON MetadataNameRole
Name literalRole
ParentContact
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionStatus of the contact regarding the dataset.
Data typeCharacter string restricted to a list of values
Example(s)"author", "originator"
INSPIREReference[Part B 9.2]
Name[Responsible party role]
Observations According to [7], the following values can be applied to the Role property:
  • Resource Provider - party that supplies the resource.

  • Custodian - party that accepts accountability and responsibility for the data and ensures appropriate care and maintenance of the resource.

  • Owner - party that owns the resource.

  • User - party who uses the resource.

  • Distributor - party who distributes the resource.

  • Originator - party who created the resource.

  • Point Of Contact - party who can be contacted for acquiring knowledge about or acquisition of the resource.

  • Principal Investigator - key party responsible for gathering information and conducting research.

  • Processor - party who has processed the data in a manner such that the resource has been modified.

  • Publisher - party who published the resource.

  • Author - party who authored the resource.


1.7.1.5. Phone Number Property

Table 1.89. Phone Number property description

ESPON MetadataNamePhone Number
Name literalPhone
ParentContact
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... *
DescriptionPhone number that may be used to contact the person or the organization.
Data typeCharacter string restricted to a pattern, with max length of 32 characters
Example(s)+33476827225
INSPIREReferenceNone
Name-
Observations Phone numbers must be specified in international format: ["+" sign][country phone code][phone number]. No spaces or other characters should be used between the digits composing the phone number. Please see the Phone Numbers Constraints for phone number character string format.

1.7.1.6. Email Address Property

Table 1.90. Email Address property description

ESPON MetadataNameEmail Address
Name literalEmail
ParentContact
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1... *
DescriptionEmail address that may be used to contact the person or the organization.
Data typeCharacter string restricted to a pattern, with max length of 128 characters
Example(s)[email protected]
INSPIREReferenceNone
NameelectronicMailAddress
ObservationsThe value must be a valid existing email address. Please see the Email Addresses Constraints for email character string format.

1.7.1.7. Address Property

The following properties describe the postal address of a Contact element. Postal addresses are optional in the ESPON Metadata. The only mandatory occurence of this property is the address indicated for the Distributor contact. The Address is made a separate property because all the wrapped values must be specified if an Address is specified for a Contact.

Table 1.91. Address property description

ESPON MetadataNameAddress
Name literalAddress
ParentContact
Obligation / conditionOptional for all Contacts except for the Distributor.
Multiplicity0... 1 for all, but 1 for Distributor
DescriptionPostal address of the contact point.
Data typeThis is a composite element
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNone
Name-
Observations 

1.7.1.7.1. Delivery Point Property

Table 1.92. Delivery Point property description

ESPON MetadataNameDelivery Point
Name literalDeliveryPoint
ParentAddress
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
DescriptionPostal point of delivery: number, street, mailbox, etc.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 64 characters
Example(s)UCRP HT - P.O. Box 144
INSPIREReferenceNone
Name-
Observations 

1.7.1.7.2. City Property

Table 1.93. City property description

ESPON MetadataNameCity
Name literalCity
ParentAddress
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionCity where the contact person or organization is situated.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 64 characters
Example(s)Esch-sur-Alzette
INSPIREReferenceNone
Name-
Observations 

1.7.1.7.3. Administrative Area Property

Table 1.94. Administrative Area property description

ESPON MetadataNameAdministrative Area
Name literalAdministrativeArea
ParentAddress
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionAdministrative area (ex. region) of the mail address.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 64 characters
Example(s)Cedex 13
INSPIREReferenceNone
Name-
Observations 

1.7.1.7.4. Postal Code Property

Table 1.95. Postal Code property description

ESPON MetadataNamePostal Code
Name literalPostalCode
ParentAddress
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionPostal code of the address.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 32 characters
Example(s)L-4221
INSPIREReferenceNone
Name-
Observations 

1.7.1.7.5. Country Property

Table 1.96. Country property description

ESPON MetadataNameCountry
Name literalCountry
ParentAddress
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionCountry of the address.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 64 characters
Example(s)Luxembourg
INSPIREReferenceNone
Name-
Observations 

1.7.1.8. Summary of the Contact element

The structure of the Contact element can be summarized in the following UML diagram:

Figure 1.7. Contact element structure

Contact element structure

1.7.2. Methodology Property

The Methodology property may be shared between Indicator Identification and Source Reference elements. This may be the case when a long text describes the details of the methodology and it is difficult or impossible to cut it into pieces that describe each element separately.

Table 1.97. Methodology property description

ESPON MetadataNameMethodology
Name literalMethodology
Parent Indicator Identification or Source Reference
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
Description

Describes the methodology used to produce indicator values. This methodology can concern a particular indicator independently of data sources or be specific to a particular source that provided indicator values.

Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations

Generally, for an Indicator Identification element, this property describes the ways used to obtain the values of the indicator. This may be a narrative description of the methodology, mentioning the formulae used for the calculation of the values, listing particular details concerning the values, etc. This property is not required, but it is strongly recommended to fill it in order to increase the reliability of the data.

For a Source Reference element, this property describes a source-specific methodological details that make the data from this source distinct from the data coming from other sources of the dataset.


The Methodology property may be specified either directly, either by making a reference to a URI containing the description, or even using these two ways.

1.7.2.1. Description Property

Table 1.98. Description property description

ESPON MetadataNameDescription
Name literal Description
ParentMethodology
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
DescriptionText explaining the methodology.
Data typeCharacter string without length restriction
Example(s) Values at NUTS2 level are calculated by summarizing the values for NUTS3 children units.
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.7.2.2. Formula Property

Table 1.99. Formula property description

ESPON MetadataNameFormula
Name literal Formula
ParentMethodology
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
DescriptionFormula used to calculate the indicator values.
Data typeCharacter string with max length of 512 characters
Example(s) V = (X + Y) / N
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations 

1.7.2.3. URI Property

Table 1.100. URI property description

ESPON MetadataNameURI
Name literalURI
ParentMethodology
Obligation / conditionOptional
Multiplicity0... 1
DescriptionReference to the resource where a detailed description of the methodology is made. This may be a reference to an online/paper publication or to the name of a file attached to the dataset. If this property specifies a file name, it must be present in the package delivered to the data processors, otherwise the data provider will be requested to supply this file.
Data typeURI, with max length of 256 characters
Example(s)urn:isbn:1234-5678
INSPIREReferenceNo INSPIRE reference
Name-
Observations Please see the URI Values Constraints for URI character string format.

1.7.3. Keyword Property

A keyword defined in conformity with INSPIRE Directive is a composite element, containing not only the keyword itself, but also mentionning the vocabulary to which belongs the keyword.

Table 1.101. Keyword property description

ESPON MetadataNameKeyword
Name literalKeyword
ParentDataset Information or Indicator Identification
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
DescriptionA keyword or a keyword expression characterizing the metadata element.
Data typeThis is a composite property
Example(s)-
INSPIREReferencePart B 3
NameKeyword
Observations

According to the Part B 3 of the Commission Regulation[3], for datasets, "at least one keyword shall be provided from the general environmental multilingual thesaurus (GEMET[5]) describing the relevant spatial data and theme as defined in Annex I, II or III to Directive 2007/2/EC".

Keywors may also exist in free form, without being originated from a vocabulary.


1.7.3.1. Keyword Value Property

Table 1.102. Keyword Value property description

ESPON MetadataNameKeyword Value
Name literalKeywordValue
ParentKeyword or Keyword
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity1
Description A word or an expression taken from the controlled vocabulary, characterizing the metadata element and narrowing the indicated topic categorie(s) or themes.
Data typeCharacter string defined by a vocabulary, with max length of 128 characters
Example(s)"natural dynamics", "climate", "forestry"
INSPIREReferencePart B 3.1
NameKeyword value
ObservationsIn ESPON Metadata model, keywords exist on Dataset Information and Indicator Identification levels.

1.7.3.2. Vocabulary Property

Table 1.103. Vocabulary property description

ESPON MetadataNameVocabulary
Name literalVocabulary
ParentKeyword on dataset level or Keyword on indicator level
Obligation / conditionMandatory for keywords taken from a controlled vocabulary. Empty value may be used for free keywords.
Multiplicity1
DescriptionName of the formally registered thesaurus or a similar authoritative source of keywords.
Data typeCharacter string
Example(s)"GEMET", "GEMET - INSPIRE themes version 1.0", "GEMET Concepts version 2.4", "ESPON"
INSPIREReferencePart B 3.2
NameOriginating controlled vocabulary
Observations 

1.7.4. Temporal Extent Property

Table 1.104. Temporal Extent property description

ESPON MetadataNameTemporal Extent
Name literalTemporalExtent
ParentTemporal Reference or Indicator Identification
Obligation / conditionMandatory
Multiplicity

1 for Temporal Reference

1... * for Indicator Identification

Description

At Dataset Information level, it represents a union of all time periods covered by the dataset indicator values. The value is represented by two date values: the first one is the start date of the earliest time period, the second one is the end date of the latest time period.

At Indicator Identification level, groups temporal references of periods or instances covered by the values of an indicator in the dataset. Each time period covered by the same indicator must be mentioned by the list of Temporal Extent values. This is a very important property that links the metadata with the data part of the dataset.

Semantically, a Temporal Extent property may correspond to a period of time, when the start and the end dates are specified. For example, the value ['2001-01-01', '2010-12-31'] covers a 10-years period of time. By convention, for time periods it is possible to specify in the metadata only the years of the coverage, if the coverage concerns entire years. The cited period is equivalent to the notation ['2001', '2010'].

If there is only one year specified, the value is considered to cover the whole year. For example, the value ['2009'] is equal to ['2009-01-01', '2009-12-31'].

Therefore, a Temporal Extent property may also correspond to an instance in time (a date). This type of value can be expressed by specifying the property by date: ['2011-09-25'] is considered as an instance in time. The same is for the case when the date is repeated for the two values: ['2011-09-25', '2011-09-25'].

The difference between time periods and instances is very important for certain statistical indicators.

Data typeList of two dates or year values: [start, end]
Example(s)[2001-01-01, 2020-12-31], [2010, 2011]
INSPIREReferencePart B 5.1
NameTemporal extent
Observations 

1.8. Summary of the ESPON Metadata Model

The entire ESPON Metadata Model can be summarized by the following UML diagram in Figure 1.8.

Figure 1.8. ESPON Metadata Model

ESPON Metadata Model

Chapter 2. Metadata Model Implementation for the ISO-19115 Standard

2.1. Introduction

The present chapter provides details on the implementation of the Abstract Metadata Model (Chapter 1) in conformity with the ISO-19115 Standard and the INSPIRE Directive. This chapter does not explain the meaning or the structure of the the ESPON Metadata entities, but demonstrates the application of the abstract model in the normalized XML context of the ISO 19115 Standard.

In order to explain the realizations of different metadata entities, this document uses similar table structure for all entities. The template of the table structure is the following:

Table 2.1. Table template describing the ISO 19115 XML implementation of the Abstract Metadata Model

ESPON MetadataReference[The reference to the part of the Abstract Model where the entity is described.]
Name[The name of the entity in the Abstract Model.]
ISO 19115Name[The name of the entity according to the ISO 19115 standard or declared into its ESPON extension.]
XPath[The XPath expression that may be used to select the entity in the XML document.]
Observations[Any comment, remark or observation on the entity implementation.]

Each table is followed by an extract of XML code corresponding to the entity described in the table.

The ISO 19115 Standard is dedicated to represent spatial datasets metadata in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) form, so the present chapter makes a tour of all the nodes of the ISO-conform document and matches them with the Abstract Model.

Terminology

The present chapter uses following terminology:

  • The Model. The shortcut name for the Abstract Metadata Model (Chapter 1).

  • The Implementation. The object of the present chapter (Chapter 2).

  • Specific Constraint, or SC, followed by a number. The INSPIRE Directive specific constraints enumerated in the INSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules[2] on pages 10-11.

2.2. MD_Metadata Node

The MD_Metadata node is the root node of the XML document. It corresponds to the Dataset Information element of the model. This means that there can be only one dataset metadata per an XML document.

Table 2.2. MD_Metadata node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3
NameDataset Information
ISO 19115NameMD_Metadata
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata
Observations

The following namespaces must be declared:

  • ISO 19115 original namespaces: gmd, gco, gml, gsr, gss and gts.

  • ESPON Metadata namespace: esponMD.

  • W3C namespaces: xsi and xlink.

xsi:schemaLocation must point to the URLs where the gmd and esponMD schemas are publicly stored.

The values of the attributes with the namespace and schema URLs should be updated in case of their modifications.

The public URL of the esponMD schema must be confirmed during the Second Phase of the ESPON 2013 Database project.


<gmd:MD_Metadata
xmlns:esponMD="http://www.espon.eu/esponMD"
xmlns:gco="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gco"
xmlns:gmd="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gmd"
xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml"
xmlns:gsr="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gsr"
xmlns:gss="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gss"
xmlns:gts="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gts"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gmd http://www.espon.eu/esponMD">
[...]
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

According to the ISO 19115 standard, children nodes of the MD_Metadata have the following order and multiplicities:

Figure 2.1. Children nodes of the MD_Metadata node

Children nodes of the MD_Metadata node

In the Implentation, some of them are used by the properties of the Dataset information element, others are adapted for the Spatial Binding element. Several nodes are not used by the current implementation, while some of the nodes are extended by the ESPON Metadata Extension of the ISO 19115 Standard (they introduce Indicator Identification and Source Reference elements). The Implementation does not mention the nodes of the ISO XML schema that are not used.

The order of the children nodes of the MD_Metadata must be the same as shown in Figure 2.1 in order to respect the XML schema.

2.2.1. fileIdentifier Node

The gmd:fileIdentifier node is the first child of the XML root node. Its value identifies the dataset in the ESPON Database with a standard UUID pattern.

This property is not included into the Model, because it characterizes the metadata conformant with the ISO 19115 standard, and especially the XML file that contains the metadata, but does not have enough of meaning for the entire Model.

A UUID is a character string of 32 hexadecimal values, with several hiphen separators: aaaaaaaa-bbbb-1111-2222-ccccddddeeee (respectively 8, 4, 4, 4 and 12 digits). There is no general convention or rule for the generation of this kind of identifiers; it may be a random number with random digits allowing to presume that the risk to generate two identical values is very low.

Table 2.3. fileIdentifier node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceNot used in the Model
Name-
ISO 19115Namegmd:fileIdentifier
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:fileIdentifier/gco:CharacterString
Observations 

<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier>
<gco:CharacterString>
c885284b-959a-d2e2-8198-ffffffffffff
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:fileIdentifier>
[...]
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.2.2. language Node

The gmd:language node corresponds to the Metadata Language property of the Model. It is cited in the SC1 of the INSPIRE Directive. The value of the node is a constant for all ESPON datasets.

Table 2.4. language node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.8
NameMetadata Language
ISO 19115Namegmd:language
XPath

/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:language/gmd:LanguageCode

/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:language/gmd:LanguageCode@codeListValue

Observations

See the SC1.

For more interoperability, the eng value should be repeated as an attribute and as a child of the gmd:LanguageCode node.


<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language>
<gmd:LanguageCode
codeList="http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2"
codeListValue="eng">

eng
</gmd:LanguageCode>
</gmd:language>
[...]
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.2.3. characterSet Node

The gmd:characterSet node should be used in the XML document in order to ensure more interoperability for the data. The value of this node denotes the character set used by character strings in the data part of the dataset.

Table 2.5. characterSet node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceNot used in the Model
Name-
ISO 19115Namegmd:characterSet
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:characterSet/gmd:MD_CharacterSetCode@codeListValue
Observations 

<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:characterSet>
<gmd:MD_CharacterSetCode
codeSpace="ISOTC211/19115"
codeList="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/resources/Codelist/gmxCodelists.xml#MD_CharacterSetCode"
codeListValue="MD_CharacterSetCode_utf8">

MD_CharacterSetCode_utf8
</gmd:MD_CharacterSetCode>
</gmd:characterSet>
[...]
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.2.4. hierarchyLevel Node

The gmd:hierarchyLevel node corresponds to the Resource Type property of the Model. The specific constraints SC2 - SC4 of the INSPIRE Directive define the use of this node. For any ESPON dataset stored in the ESPON Database, the value of the node is 'dataset'.

Table 2.6. hierarchyLevel node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.4
NameResource Type
ISO 19115Namegmd:hierarchyLevel
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:hierarchyLevel/gmd:MD_ScopeCode@codeListValue
Observations

This is a mandatory (INSPIRE) node with a constant value.

This node has unbounded multiplicity in the ISO standard. The INSPIRE Directive takes into account only the first instance of the node in an XML document (SC3).


<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:characterSet [...] />
<gmd:hierarchyLevel>
<gmd:MD_ScopeCode
codeList="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/Codelist/gmxCodelists.xml#MD_ScopeCode"
codeListValue="dataset">

dataset
</gmd:MD_ScopeCode>
</gmd:hierarchyLevel>
[...]
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.2.5. contact Node

The gmd:contact node in MD_Metadata represents the entry for the Metadata Contact property of the Dataset Information element. The role of this contact element must be set to pointOfContact according to the SC16 of the INSPIRE Directive.

Table 2.7. contact node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.17
NameMetadata Contact
ISO 19115Namegmd:contact
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contact
Observations 

<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:characterSet [...] />
<gmd:hierarchyLevel [...] />
<gmd:contact>
<gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty>
<gmd:individualName>
<gco:CharacterString>
Stefan Works
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:individualName>
<gmd:organisationName>
<gco:CharacterString>
Berlin Research Center
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:organisationName>
<gmd:positionName>
<gco:CharacterString>
Research director
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:positionName>
<gmd:contactInfo>
<gmd:CI_Contact>
<gmd:phone>
<gmd:CI_Telephone>
<gmd:voice>
<gco:CharacterString>
+492411234567
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:voice>
<!-- may be followed by other phone numbers in gmd:voice tags -->
</gmd:CI_Telephone>
</gmd:phone>
<gmd:address>
<gmd:CI_Address>
<gmd:electronicMailAddress>
<gco:CharacterString>
[email protected]
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:electronicMailAddress>
<!-- may be followed by other phone numbers in gmd:electronicMailAddress tags -->
</gmd:CI_Address>
</gmd:address>
</gmd:CI_Contact>
</gmd:contactInfo>
<gmd:role>
<gmd:CI_RoleCode
codeList="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/Codelist/gmxCodelists.xml#CI_RoleCode"
codeListValue="pointOfContact">

pointOfContact
</gmd:CI_RoleCode>
</gmd:role>
</gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty>
</gmd:contact>
[...]
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.2.6. dateStamp Node

The gmd:dateStamp node of the MD_Metadata is another part of the "metadata on metadata". It corresponds to the Metadata Date property in the model and must contain the date when the metadata file was created.

Table 2.8. dateStamp node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.9
NameMetadata Date
ISO 19115NamedateStamp
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:dateStamp/gco:Date
Observations

This node is mandatory according to the ISO 19115 standard and the INSPIRE Directive.


<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:characterSet [...] />
<gmd:hierarchyLevel [...] />
<gmd:contact [...] />
<gmd:dateStamp>
<gco:Date>2011-08-30</gco:Date>
</gmd:dateStamp>
[...]
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.2.7. identificationInfo Node

The gmd:identificationInfo node wraps the most of the contents describing the Dataset Information element of the Model. This node is detailed in the Section 2.3 of the Implementaion.

2.2.8. contentInfo Node

The gmd:contentInfo node wraps the information about the indicators and the sources of the data in the dataset. It is detailed in the Section 2.4 of the Implementaion.

2.2.9. distributionInfo Node

The gmd:distributionInfo node is the entry for the Distributor property of the Dataset Information element of the Model. It contains the ESPON Coordination Unit contact data and postal address.

Table 2.9. distributionInfo node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.18
NameDistributor
ISO 19115Namegmd:distributionInfo
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:distributionInfo/gmd:MD_Distribution/gmd:distributor
Observations

The values wrapped in this element are constant and must be present in any ESPON XML metadata document.


<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:characterSet [...] />
<gmd:hierarchyLevel [...] />
<gmd:contact [...] />
<gmd:dateStamp [...] />
<gmd:identificationInfo [...] />
<gmd:contentInfo [...] />
<gmd:distributionInfo>
<gmd:MD_Distribution>
<gmd:distributor>
<gmd:MD_Distributor>
<gmd:distributorContact>
<gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty>
<gmd:individualName>
<gco:CharacterString>
Marjan van Herwijnen
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:individualName>
<gmd:organisationName>
<gco:CharacterString>
ESPON Coordination Unit
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:organisationName>
<gmd:contactInfo>
<gmd:CI_Contact>
<gmd:phone>
<gmd:CI_Telephone>
<gmd:voice>
<gco:CharacterString>
+352545580700
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:voice>
<gmd:voice>
<gco:CharacterString>
+352545580701
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:voice>
</gmd:CI_Telephone>
</gmd:phone>
<gmd:address>
<gmd:CI_Address>
<gmd:deliveryPoint>
UCRP HT - P.O. Box 144
</gmd:deliveryPoint>
<gmd:city>
Esch-sur-Alzette
</gmd:city>
<gmd:administrativeArea>
Cedex 13
</gmd:administrativeArea>
<gmd:postalCode>
L-4221
</gmd:postalCode>
<gmd:country>
GRAND-DUCHE DE LUXEMBOURG
</gmd:country>
<gmd:electronicMailAddress>
<gco:CharacterString>
[email protected]
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:electronicMailAddress>
</gmd:CI_Address>
</gmd:address>
</gmd:CI_Contact>
</gmd:contactInfo>
<gmd:role>
<gmd:CI_RoleCode
codeList="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/Codelist/gmxCodelists.xml#CI_RoleCode"
codeListValue="distributor">

pointOfContact
</gmd:CI_RoleCode>
</gmd:role>
</gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty>
</gmd:distributorContact>
</gmd:MD_Distributor>
</gmd:distributor>
</gmd:MD_Distribution>
</gmd:distributionInfo>
[...]
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.2.10. linkage Node

The gmd:linkage node is a requirement of the INSPIRE Directive for the datasets that have publicly available URLs and may be accessed through them. If this is the case for an ESPON dataset, its URL must be cited by the gmd:linkage node in the distributionInfo section. The value of the gmd:linkage node corresponds to the Resource Locator property of the Dataset Information element.

Table 2.10. linkage node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.5
NameResource Locator
ISO 19115Namegmd:linkage
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:distributionInfo/gmd:MD_Distribution/gmd:transferOptions/*/gmd:onLine/*/gmd:linkage/gmd:URL
Observations 

<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:characterSet [...] />
<gmd:hierarchyLevel [...] />
<gmd:contact [...] />
<gmd:dateStamp [...] />
<gmd:identificationInfo [...] />
<gmd:contentInfo [...] />
<gmd:distributionInfo>
<gmd:MD_Distribution>
<gmd:distributor [...] />
<gmd:transferOptions>
<gmd:MD_DigitalTransferOptions>
<gmd:onLine>
<gmd:CI_OnlineResource>
<gmd:linkage>
<gmd:URL>
http://www.espon.eu/datasets/dataset001.zip
</gmd:URL>
</gmd:linkage>
</gmd:CI_OnlineResource>
</gmd:onLine>
</gmd:MD_DigitalTransferOptions>
</gmd:transferOptions>
</gmd:MD_Distribution>
</gmd:distributionInfo>
[...]
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.2.11. dataQualityInfo Node

The gmd:dataQualityInfo node contains the information about the lineage of the entire dataset and the conformity of the metadata with the implementing rules of the INSPIRE Directive or other specifications.

Table 2.11. dataQualityInfo node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.13 and Section 1.3.1.14
Name Lineage and Conformity
ISO 19115Namegmd:dataQualityInfo
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:dataQualityInfo/gmd:DQ_DataQuality
Observations

The gmd:scope node is mandatory for dataQualityInfo and, in the context of ESPON data, must always have the dataset code value.

According to the SC6, the contents of the dataQualityInfo node "is applicable to the whole resource".


<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:characterSet [...] />
<gmd:hierarchyLevel [...] />
<gmd:contact [...] />
<gmd:dateStamp [...] />
<gmd:identificationInfo [...] />
<gmd:contentInfo [...] />
<gmd:distributionInfo [...] />
<gmd:dataQualityInfo>
<gmd:DQ_DataQuality>
<gmd:scope>
<gmd:DQ_Scope>
<gmd:level>
<gmd:MD_ScopeCode
codeListValue="dataset"
codeList="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/Codelist/gmxCodelists.xml#MD_ScopeCode">

dataset
</gmd:MD_ScopeCode>
</gmd:level>
</gmd:DQ_Scope>
</gmd:scope>
<gmd:report>
<!-- conformity reports data to be placed here -->
</gmd:report>
<gmd:lineage>
<!-- lineage data to be placed here -->
</gmd:lineage>
</gmd:DQ_DataQuality>
</gmd:dataQualityInfo>
[...]
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.2.11.1. report Node

The gmd:report node groups the information about the conformity of the dataset and the metadata with the implementing rules. This information is mandatory according to the INSPIRE Directive.

Table 2.12. report node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.14
NameConformity
ISO 19115Namegmd:report
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:dataQualityInfo/*/gmd:report
Observations

The result of the conformance check uses boolean values: true if the data or metadata are conformant against the cited specification, false otherwise.

If the conformance result is negative (the metadata or data are not conformant), the contents of the gmd:explanation node should explain the reason of the non-conformity. Otherwise, as in the example, the gmd:explanation node may refer to the specification.


<gmd:dataQualityInfo>
<gmd:DQ_DataQuality>
<gmd:scope [...] />
<gmd:report>
<gmd:DQ_DomainConsistency>
<gmd:result>
<gmd:DQ_ConformanceResult>
<gmd:specification>
<gmd:CI_Citation>
<gmd:title>
<gco:CharacterString>
INSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:title>
<gmd:date>
<gmd:CI_date>
<gmd:date>
<gco:Date>
2009-03-02
</gco:Date>
</gmd:date>
<gmd:dateType>
<gmd:CI_DateTypeCode
codeList="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/Codelist/ML_gmxCodelists.xml#CI_DateTypeCode"
codeListValue="publication">

publication
</gmd:CI_DateTypeCode>
</gmd:dateType>
</gmd:CI_date>
</gmd:date>
</gmd:CI_Citation>
</gmd:specification>
<gmd:explation>
<gco:CharacterString>
See the referenced specification
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:explation>
<gmd:pass>
<gco:Boolean>
true
</gco:Boolean>
</gmd:pass>
</gmd:DQ_ConformanceResult>
</gmd:result>
</gmd:DQ_DomainConsistency>
</gmd:report>
<!-- other gmd:report nodes may follow here -->
<gmd:lineage [...] />
</gmd:DQ_DataQuality>
</gmd:dataQualityInfo>

2.2.11.2. lineage Node

The gmd:lineage node contains the general lineage describing the evolution of data processing for the entire dataset.

Table 2.13. lineage node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.13
NameLineage
ISO 19115Namegmd:lineage
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:dataQualityInfo/*/gmd:lineage
Observations 

<gmd:dataQualityInfo>
<gmd:DQ_DataQuality>
<gmd:scope [...] />
<gmd:report [...] />
<gmd:lineage>
<gmd:LI_Lineage>
<gmd:statement>
<gco:CharacterString>
This dataset was produced by aggregating data from the following sources: [...].
After the data aggregation, they were checked with [...] and processed by [...].
The missing indicator values have been interpolated using the method of [...].
The data was then validated by [...].
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:statement>
</gmd:LI_Lineage>
</gmd:lineage>
</gmd:DQ_DataQuality>
</gmd:dataQualityInfo>

2.3. identificationInfo Node

The gmd:identificationInfo node groups different pieces of information corresponding mainly to the Dataset Information Model element properties.

Figure 2.2. Children nodes of the identificationInfo node

Children nodes of the identificationInfo node

The following contents of this section describes the children XML nodes of the identificationInfo node that are used to implement the Model.

According to the SC5 of the INSPIRE Directive, only the first instance of the identificationInfo node is considered in the scope of an INSPIRE-conform XML document.

2.3.1. citation Node

The gmd:citation node groups the most general information about the dataset: its name, publication date and other possible identifiers.

2.3.1.1. title Node

The gmd:title node specifies the Name property of the Dataset Information element.

Table 2.14. title node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.1
NameName
ISO 19115Namegmd:title
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/gmd:MD_DataIdentification/gmd:citation/*/gmd:title/gco:CharacterString
Observations 

<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation>
<gmd:CI_Citation>
<gmd:title>
<gco:CharacterString>
Climate Change Data
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:title>
</gmd:CI_Citation>
</gmd:citation>
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification> </gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.1.2. date Node

The gmd:date node specifies the dates associated with the dataset. This is a property belonging to the Temporal Reference property of the Dataset Information element and may correspond to the Upload, Creation or Revision date of the dataset. This means that for import metadata, when the dataset is sent for the first time to the data processors, the Upload or Creation date may be specified. If the data provider makes a correction in a dataset already uploaded, a Revision date should be added to the list of dates.

According to the SC7 of the INSPIRE Directive, no more than one Creation date can be specified.

Table 2.15. date node description

ESPON MetadataReference Section 1.3.1.12.2 or Section 1.3.1.12.3 or Section 1.3.1.12.4
Name Upload Date or Creation Date or Revision Date
ISO 19115Namegmd:date
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:CI_Citation/gmd:date/*/gco:Date
Observations 

<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation>
<gmd:CI_Citation>
<gmd:title [...] />
<gmd:date>
<gmd:CI_Date>
<gmd:date>
<gco:Date>
2011-08-31
</gco:Date>
</gmd:date>
<gmd:dateType>
<!-- example for a revision date: for other types change
the codeListValue and the text content of the node -->

<gmd:CI_DateTypeCode
codeList="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/Codelist/ML_gmxCodelists.xml#CI_DateTypeCode"
codeListValue="revision">

revision
</gmd:CI_DateTypeCode>
</gmd:dateType>
</gmd:CI_Date>
</gmd:date>
<!-- other dates may follow here -->
</gmd:CI_Citation>
</gmd:citation>
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification> </gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.1.3. identifier Node

The gmd:identifier node corresponds to the Unique Resource Identifier property of the Dataset Information element. This property is required by the INSPIRE directive and is requested by the SC8.

Table 2.16. identifier node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.6
NameUnique Resource Identifier
ISO 19115Namegmd:identifier
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:citation/*/gmd:identifier/*/gmd:code/*/gco:CharacterString
Observations

Generally, the expected value of this node should correspond to the one described in Section 1.3.1.6. Therefore, it can be defined using the RS_Identifier ISO 19115 node, that allows to specify additionaly the codeSpace and version values, that can be useful in the case of multiple documents having similar identifiers. Please see the ISO-19115 documentation (part B.2.7.3) for details on this node.


<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation>
<gmd:CI_Citation>
<gmd:title [...] />
<gmd:date [...] />
<gmd:identifier>
<gmd:MD_Identifier>
<gmd:code>
<gco:CharacterString>
DEMIFER_LaborForce_2011_v2_corrected
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:code>
</gmd:MD_Identifier>
</gmd:identifier>
[...]
</gmd:CI_Citation>
</gmd:citation>
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.1.4. collectiveTitle Node

The gmd:collectiveTitle node corresponds to the Project property of the Dataset Information element.

Table 2.17. collectiveTitle node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.2
NameProject
ISO 19115Namegmd:collectiveTitle
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:citation/*/gmd:collectiveTitle/gco:CharacterString
Observations 

<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation>
<gmd:CI_Citation>
<gmd:title [...] />
<gmd:date [...] />
<gmd:collectiveTitle>
<gco:CharacterString>
ESPON 2013 Database Project
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:collectiveTitle>
</gmd:CI_Citation>
</gmd:citation>
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.2. abstract Node

The gmd:abstract node corresponds to the respective property of the Dataset Information element.

Table 2.18. abstract node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.3
NameAbstract
ISO 19115Namegmd:abstract
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:abstract/gco:CharacterString
Observations 

<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation [...] />
<gmd:abstract>
<gco:CharacterString>
Contains data on internal migration trends and demographic changes
on NUTS3 level for all European countries, from 2010 to 2015.
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:abstract>
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.3. pointOfContact Node

The gmd:pointOfContact node is mandatory according to the SC14 of the INSPIRE Directive. This node may have multiple occurences and the first of them represents the main contact point for the entire dataset, that is to say the Responsible Party property of the Dataset Information element. The next gmd:pointOfContact nodes correspond to secondary contact points of the dataset, listed by the Point of Contact property.

Table 2.19. pointOfContact node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.16 and Section 1.3.1.19
Name Responsible Party and Points of Contact
ISO 19115Namegmd:pointOfContact
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:pointOfContact/gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty
Observations 

<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation [...] />
<gmd:abstract [...] />
<gmd:pointOfContact>
<!-- this contact point is mandatory! -->
<gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty>
<!-- the contents is similar to the <gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty>
in <gmd:contact> of the metadata root node -->

</gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty>
</gmd:pointOfContact>
<!-- here may follow other contact points of the dataset -->
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.4. descriptiveKeywords Node

The gmd:descriptiveKeywords node groups the keywords associated with the entire dataset, belonging to the same originating vocabulary. All keywords must be grouped according to their vocabularies and there must be at least one keyword group (with at least one keyword) coming from the GEMET thesaurus, in respect of the SC17 of the INSPIRE Directive.

Table 2.20. gmd:descriptiveKeywords node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.11 and Section 1.7.3
NameKeyword
ISO 19115Namegmd:descriptiveKeywords
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:descriptiveKeywords
Observations

Please note that the originating vocabulary is referenced using a gmd:CI_Citation node.


<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation [...] />
<gmd:abstract [...] />
<gmd:pointOfContact [...] />
<gmd:descriptiveKeywords>
<gmd:MD_Keywords>
<gmd:keyword>
<gco:CharacterString>
Land cover
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:keyword>
<!-- other keywords from the same originating vocabulary may follow here -->
<!-- if the originating vocabulary is not cited, these keywords will be "free" -->
<gmd:thesaurusName>
<gmd:CI_Citation>
<gmd:title>
<gco:CharacterString>
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:title>
<gmd:date>
<gmd:CI_Date>
<gmd:date>
<gco:Date>
2008-06-01
</gco:Date>
</gmd:date>
<gmd:dateType>
<gmd:CI_DateTypeCode
codeList="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/Codelist/ML_gmxCodelists.xml#CI_DateTypeCode"
codeListValue="publication">

publication
</gmd:CI_DateTypeCode>
</gmd:dateType>
</gmd:CI_Date>
</gmd:date>
</gmd:CI_Citation>
</gmd:thesaurusName>
</gmd:MD_Keywords>
</gmd:descriptiveKeywords>
<!-- other groups of keywords from another vocabularies may follow here -->
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.5. resourceConstraints Node

The resourceConstraints node is require by the SC12 and corresponds to the Constraints property of the Dataset Information element. In terms of the ISO 19115 standard, the Constraints property can be specified using two instances of the resourceConstraints node. The first one is dedicated to define the restrictions of the dataset use. The second specifies the classification of the access to the dataset.

2.3.5.1. useConstraints and otherConstraints Nodes

The gmd:useConstraints and gmd:otherConstraints nodes correspond respectively to the Use Constraint and Other Constraints properties of the Model.

Table 2.21. gmd:useConstraints and gmd:otherConstraints nodes description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.15.1 and Section 1.3.1.15.3
Name Use Constraint and Other Constraints
ISO 19115Namegmd:useConstraints and gmd:otherConstraints
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:resourceConstraints/gmd:MD_LegalConstraints
Observations 

<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation [...] />
<gmd:abstract [...] />
<gmd:pointOfContact [...] />
<gmd:descriptiveKeywords [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints>
<gmd:MD_LegalConstraints>
<gmd:useConstraints>
<gmd:MD_RestrictionCode
codeList="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/Codelist/gmxCodelists.xml#MD_RestrictionCode"
codeListValue="copyright">

copyright
</gmd:MD_RestrictionCode>
</gmd:useConstraints>
<gmd:otherConstraints>
<gco:CharacterString>
no limitations
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:otherConstraints>
</gmd:MD_LegalConstraints>
</gmd:resourceConstraints>
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.5.2. useLimitation and classification Nodes

The gmd:classification node corresponds to the Access Classification property of the Model and the gmd:useLimitation one corresponds to the Access Condition property. The gmd:classification node must be used inside a gmd:MD_SecurityConstraints node and corresponds to the Access Classification property of the Model. The gmd:useLimitation may be used as the first child of the gmd:MD_SecurityConstraints node, but also can be placed as the first child of the gmd:MD_LegalConstraints node used in the Section 2.3.5.1.

Table 2.22. gmd:classification and gmd:useLimitation nodes description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.15.2 and Section 1.3.1.15.4
Name Access Condition and Access Classification
ISO 19115Namegmd:useLimitation and gmd:classification
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:resourceConstraints/gmd:MD_SecurityConstraints
Observations 

<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation [...] />
<gmd:abstract [...] />
<gmd:pointOfContact [...] />
<gmd:descriptiveKeywords [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints>
<gmd:MD_SecurityConstraints>
<!-- this node may be placed as the first child of the previous gmd:resourceConstraints node -->
<gmd:useLimitation>
<gco:CharacterString>
No conditions apply
</gco:CharacterString>
</gmd:useLimitation>
<gmd:classification>
<gmd:MD_ClassificationCode
codeList="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/Codelist/gmxCodelists.xml#MD_ClassificationCode"
codeListValue="unclassified">

unclassified
</gmd:MD_ClassificationCode>
</gmd:classification>
</gmd:MD_SecurityConstraints>
</gmd:resourceConstraints>
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.6. language Node

The gmd:language node of the identificationInfo section corresponds to the Dataset Language property of the model (not to be confused with the Metadata Language described in the Section 2.2.2). The value of this node is constant for any ESPON dataset. This node is the SC9 of the INSPIRE Directive.

Table 2.23. gmd:language node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.7
NameDataset Language
ISO 19115Namegmd:language
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:language/gmd:LanguageCode@codeListValue
Observations


<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation [...] />
<gmd:abstract [...] />
<gmd:pointOfContact [...] />
<gmd:descriptiveKeywords [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints [...] />
<gmd:language>
<gmd:LanguageCode
codeList="http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/"
codeListValue="eng">

eng
</gmd:LanguageCode>
</gmd:language>
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.7. topicCategory node

The gmd:topicCategory node corresponds to the Topic Category property of the Dataset Information element. There must be at least one topic category defined for a dataset.

Table 2.24. gmd:topicCategory node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.10
NameTopic Category
ISO 19115Namegmd:topicCategory
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:topicCategory/gmd:MD_TopicCategoryCode
Observations 

<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation [...] />
<gmd:abstract [...] />
<gmd:pointOfContact [...] />
<gmd:descriptiveKeywords [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:topicCategory>
<gmd:MD_TopicCategoryCode>
society
</gmd:MD_TopicCategoryCode>
</gmd:topicCategory>
<!-- other topic categories may follow here -->
[...]
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

2.3.8. extent Node

The gmd:extent node is shared both by the Spatial Binding element and the Temporal Reference property of the Dataset Information element. This node is detailed in the Section 2.5.

2.4. contentInfo Node

The gmd:contentInfo node wraps the metadata on the Indicator Identification and Source Reference elements of the Model. The XML schema definition of these elements is given into the ESPON extension of the ISO 19115 XML standard. They are contained by a esponMD:datasetContentInfo node, that lists the metadata on indicators first and then the one on the sources of data.

2.4.1. indicatorsAggregation Node

If the dataset contains aggregations of indicators, their descriptors must be placed at the beginning of the sequence of children nodes of the esponMD:datasetContentInfo node.

Table 2.25. esponMD:indicatorsAggregation node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.2
NameIndicators Aggregation
ISO 19115NameesponMD:indicatorsAggregation
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorsAggregation
Observations 

An aggregation of indicators is represented as follows:

<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:characterSet [...] />
<gmd:hierarchyLevel [...] />
<gmd:contact [...] />
<gmd:dateStamp [...] />
<gmd:identificationInfo [...] />
<gmd:contentInfo>
<esponMD:datasetContentInfo>
<esponMD:indicatorsAggregation>
<esponMD:code/>
<gco:CharacterString>
POP_BY_AGE
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:code>
<esponMD:name/>
<gco:CharacterString>
Population by age
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:name>
<esponMD:abstract/>
<gco:CharacterString>
Population divided in age groups
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:abstract>
</esponMD:indicatorsAggregation>
<!-- other indicator aggregations definitions follow here -->
[...]
</esponMD:datasetContentInfo>
</gmd:contentInfo>
<gmd:distributionInfo [...] />
<gmd:dataQualityInfo [...] />
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.4.2. indicatorIdentification Node

The esponMD:indicatorIdentification node introduces the metadata on an indicator present in the dataset.

Table 2.26. esponMD:indicatorIdentification node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5
NameIndicator Identification
ISO 19115NameesponMD:indicatorIdentification
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification
Observations 

<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:characterSet [...] />
<gmd:hierarchyLevel [...] />
<gmd:contact [...] />
<gmd:dateStamp [...] />
<gmd:identificationInfo [...] />
<gmd:contentInfo>
<esponMD:datasetContentInfo>
<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<!-- metadata on an indicator is placed here -->
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<!-- other indicators definitions follow here -->
[...]
</esponMD:datasetContentInfo>
</gmd:contentInfo>
<gmd:distributionInfo [...] />
<gmd:dataQualityInfo [...] />
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.4.2.1. code Node

The esponMD:code node corresponds to the respective property of the Indicator Identification element.

Table 2.27. esponMD:code node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.1.1
NameCode
ISO 19115NameesponMD:code
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:code/gco:CharacterString
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code>
<gco:CharacterString>
pop_tot
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:code>
[...]
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>

2.4.2.2. name Node

The esponMD:name node corresponds to the respective property of the Indicator Identification element.

Table 2.28. esponMD:name node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.1.2
NameName
ISO 19115NameesponMD:name
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:name/gco:CharacterString
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name>
<gco:CharacterString>
Population, total
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:name>
[...]
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>

2.4.2.3. abstract Node

Table 2.29. esponMD:abstract node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.1.3
NameAbstract
ISO 19115NameesponMD:abstract
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:abstract/gco:CharacterString
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract>
<gco:CharacterString>
Data on total population in the specified statistical regions.
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:abstract>
[...]
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>

2.4.2.4. core Node

Table 2.30. esponMD:core node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.4
NameCore
ISO 19115NameesponMD:core
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:core/gco:Boolean
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:core>
<gco:Boolean>
true
</gco:Boolean>
</esponMD:core>
[...]
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>

2.4.2.5. theme Node

Table 2.31. esponMD:theme node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.6
NameTheme
ISO 19115NameesponMD:theme
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:theme
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme>
Labour Market
</esponMD:theme>
<!-- other ESPON themes may follow here -->
[...]
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>

2.4.2.6. keyword Node

Table 2.32. esponMD:keyword node description

ESPON MetadataReference Section 1.5.7 and Section 1.7.3
NameKeyword
ISO 19115NameesponMD:keyword
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:keyword
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword>
<gmd:MD_Keywords>
<!-- the contents is similar to the one of the <gmd:descriptiveKeywords> node in <gmd:identificationInfo> -->
</gmd:MD_Keywords>
</esponMD:keyword>
<!-- other keywords may follow here -->
[...]
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>

2.4.2.7. methodology Node

Table 2.33. methodology node description

ESPON MetadataReference Section 1.5.5 and Section 1.7.2
NameMethodology
ISO 19115NameesponMD:methodology
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:methodology
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure [...] />
<esponMD:methodology>
<esponMD:description>
<gco:CharacterString>
This describes the methodology...
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:description>
<esponMD:formula>
<gco:CharacterString>
V = (X + Y) / N
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:formula>
<esponMD:uri>
http://www.espon.eu/methodology/...
</esponMD:uri>
</esponMD:methodology>
[...]
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>

2.4.2.8. temporalExtent Node

The esponMD:temporalExtent enumerates all the time periods and instances covered by the indicator. Unlike the Temporal Extent property of the entire dataset, this property must cite each time period separately, without making any unions. The time periods for the indicator may appear in any order. Only one time period may be specified by a esponMD:temporalExtent node, so the enumeration of several time periods represents a sequence of esponMD:temporalExtent nodes.

Table 2.34. temporalExtent node description

ESPON MetadataReference Section 1.5.8 and Section 1.7.4
NameTemporal Extent
ISO 19115NameesponMD:temporalExtent
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:temporalExtent
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure [...] />
<esponMD:methodology [...] />
<esponMD:temporalExtent>
<gmd:extent>
<gml:TimePeriod gml:id="8fd9bc7c8be6">
<gml:beginPosition>
1982-01-01
</gml:beginPosition>
<gml:endPosition>
2007-12-31
</gml:endPosition>
</gml:TimePeriod>
</gmd:extent>
</esponMD:temporalExtent>
<!-- other time periods may follow here -->
[...]
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>

<!-- For time instances, the contents of the <esponMD:temporalExtent> node
must conform to the following pattern: -->

<esponMD:temporalExtent>
<gmd:extent>
<gml:TimeInstant gml:id="8fd9bc7c8be6">
<gml:timePosition>
2011-09-26
</gml:timePosition>
</gml:TimeInstant>
</gmd:extent>
</esponMD:temporalExtent>

2.4.2.9. Data Type property

The Data Type property of the model is represented in the XML document without specifying the Type Identifier value. This is made because the role of the type identifier is taken by the corresponding XML tags of the ESPON Metadata extension to the ISO XML schema.

2.4.2.9.1. description Node

The esponMD:decription node corresponds to the respective property of the Data Type element of the Model. This node is mandatory only for otherData tag.

Table 2.35. description node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.10.2
NameDescription
ISO 19115NameesponMD:description
XPath(depends on each data type - see below)
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure [...] />
<esponMD:methodology [...] />
<esponMD:temporalExtent [...] />
<esponMD:textData> <!-- or other dataType tag -->
<esponMD:description>
<gco:CharacterString>
Describe the type here...
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:description>
</esponMD:textData>
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
2.4.2.9.2. integerData Node

Numeric data (Integers and Floats) must contain an esponMD:unitOfMeasure that corresponds to the respective metadata property. If the esponMD:description node is present, the esponMD:unitOfMeasure is placed immediately after it, otherwise the latter must be the first child of an esponMD:integerData or esponMD:floatData nodes.

The esponMD:integerData node must be used to introduce an Integer data type definition.

Table 2.36. esponMD:integerData node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.10.3
NameIntegerData
ISO 19115NameesponMD:integerData
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:integerData
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure [...] />
<esponMD:methodology [...] />
<esponMD:temporalExtent [...] />
<esponMD:integerData>
<esponMD:description [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure>
<esponMD:numeratorName>
inhabitants
</esponMD:numeratorName>
<esponMD:denominatorName>
km2
</esponMD:denominatorName>
<esponMD:numeratorScale>
1000
</esponMD:numeratorScale>
<esponMD:denominatorScale>
1
</esponMD:denominatorScale>
</esponMD:unitOfMeasure>
<esponMD:ranking>
<gco:Boolean>false</gco:Boolean>
</esponMD:ranking>
<esponMD:range>
<esponMD:min>
<gco:Integer>0</gco:Integer>
</esponMD:min>
<esponMD:max>
<gco:Integer>20</gco:Integer>
</esponMD:max>
</esponMD:range>
</esponMD:integerData>
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
2.4.2.9.3. floatData Node

The esponMD:floatData node must be used to introduce a Float data type definition.

Table 2.37. esponMD:floatData node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.10.3
NameFloatData
ISO 19115NameesponMD:floatData
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:floatData
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure [...] />
<esponMD:methodology [...] />
<esponMD:temporalExtent [...] />
<esponMD:floatData>
<esponMD:description [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure>
<esponMD:numeratorName>
inhabitants
</esponMD:numeratorName>
<esponMD:denominatorName>
km2
</esponMD:denominatorName>
<esponMD:numeratorScale>
1000
</esponMD:numeratorScale>
<esponMD:denominatorScale>
1
</esponMD:denominatorScale>
</esponMD:unitOfMeasure>
<esponMD:ranking>
<gco:Boolean>false</gco:Boolean>
</esponMD:ranking>
<esponMD:range>
<esponMD:min>
<gco:Real>0.5</gco:Real>
</esponMD:min>
<esponMD:max>
<gco:Real>2.5</gco:Real>
</esponMD:max>
</esponMD:range>
</esponMD:floatData>
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
2.4.2.9.4. textData Node

The esponMD:textData node must be used to introduce a Text data type definition.

Table 2.38. esponMD:textData node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.10.4
NameTextData
ISO 19115NameesponMD:textData
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:textData
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure [...] />
<esponMD:methodology [...] />
<esponMD:temporalExtent [...] />
<esponMD:textData>
<esponMD:description>
<gco:CharacterString>
This describes the data type...
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:description >
<esponMD:unique>
<gco:Boolean>false</gco:Boolean>
</esponMD:unique>
</esponMD:textData>
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
2.4.2.9.5. enumData Node

The esponMD:enumData node must be used to introduce an Enumerated data type definition.

Table 2.39. esponMD:enumData node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.10.5
NameEnumData
ISO 19115NameesponMD:enumData
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:enumData
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure [...] />
<esponMD:methodology [...] />
<esponMD:temporalExtent [...] />
<esponMD:enumData>
<esponMD:description [...] />
<esponMD:ordered>
<gco:Boolean>
true
</gco:Boolean>
</esponMD:ordered>
<esponMD:enumValue>
<esponMD:valueLabel>
<gco:CharacterString>
L
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:valueLabel>
<esponMD:valueDescription>
<gco:CharacterString>
Low level of activity
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:valueDescription>
</esponMD:enumValue>
<esponMD:enumValue>
<esponMD:valueLabel>
<gco:CharacterString>
H
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:valueLabel>
<esponMD:valueDescription>
<gco:CharacterString>
high level of activity
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:valueDescription>
</esponMD:enumValue>
</esponMD:enumData>
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
2.4.2.9.6. booleanData Node

The esponMD:booleanData node must be used to introduce a Boolean data type definition.

Table 2.40. esponMD:booleanData node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.10.6
NameBooleanData
ISO 19115NameesponMD:booleanData
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:booleanData
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure [...] />
<esponMD:methodology [...] />
<esponMD:temporalExtent [...] />
<esponMD:booleanData>
<esponMD:description [...] />
<esponMD:enumValue>
<esponMD:valueLabel>
<gco:CharacterString>
OFF
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:valueLabel>
<esponMD:valueDescription>
<gco:CharacterString>
the machine is switched off
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:valueDescription>
</esponMD:enumValue>
<esponMD:enumValue>
<esponMD:valueLabel>
<gco:CharacterString>
ON
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:valueLabel>
<esponMD:valueDescription>
<gco:CharacterString>
the machine is switched on
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:valueDescription>
</esponMD:enumValue>
</esponMD:booleanData>
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
2.4.2.9.7. flaggedData Node

The esponMD:flaggedData node must be used to introduce a Flagged data type definition.

Table 2.41. esponMD:flaggedData node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.10.7
NameFlaggedData
ISO 19115NameesponMD:flaggedData
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:flaggedData
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure [...] />
<esponMD:methodology [...] />
<esponMD:temporalExtent [...] />
<esponMD:flaggedData>
<esponMD:description [...] />
<esponMD:ordered [...] />
<esponMD:enumValue [...] />
<esponMD:enumValue [...] />
<esponMD:position>
<gco:CharacterString>
internal flow
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:position>
<esponMD:position>
<gco:CharacterString>
external flow
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:position>
</esponMD:flaggedData>
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
2.4.2.9.8. otherData Node

The esponMD:otherData node must be used to introduce an Other data type definition.

Table 2.42. esponMD:otherData node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.5.10.8
NameOtherData
ISO 19115NameesponMD:otherData
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:indicatorIdentification/esponMD:otherData
Observations 

<esponMD:indicatorIdentification>
<esponMD:code [...] />
<esponMD:name [...] />
<esponMD:abstract [...] />
<esponMD:theme [...] />
<esponMD:keyword [...] />
<esponMD:unitOfMeasure [...] />
<esponMD:methodology [...] />
<esponMD:temporalExtent [...] />
<esponMD:otherData>
<!-- the description is mandatory here! -->
<esponMD:description [...] />
</esponMD:otherData>
</esponMD:indicatorIdentification>

2.4.3. sourceReference Node

The esponMD:sourceReference node introduces the metadata on a data source referenced by the dataset.

Table 2.43. esponMD:sourceReference node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.6
NameSource Reference
ISO 19115NameesponMD:sourceReference
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:sourceReference/
Observations 

<gmd:MD_Metadata [...] >
<gmd:fileIdentifier [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:characterSet [...] />
<gmd:hierarchyLevel [...] />
<gmd:contact [...] />
<gmd:dateStamp [...] />
<gmd:identificationInfo [...] />
<gmd:contentInfo>
<esponMD:datasetContentInfo>
<esponMD:indicatorIdentification [...] />
<esponMD:sourceReference>
<!-- metadata on a single source reference are placed here -->
</esponMD:sourceReference>
<!-- other source references follow here -->
</esponMD:datasetContentInfo>
</gmd:contentInfo>
<gmd:distributionInfo [...] />
<gmd:dataQualityInfo [...] />
</gmd:MD_Metadata>

2.4.3.1. label Node

The esponMD:label node corresponds to the respective property of the Source Reference element of the Model.

Table 2.44. esponMD:label node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.6.1
NameLabel
ISO 19115NameesponMD:label
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:sourceReference/esponMD:label/gco:CharacterString
Observations 

<esponMD:sourceReference>
<esponMD:label>
<gco:CharacterString>
ref1a
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:label>
[...]
</esponMD:sourceReference>

2.4.3.2. provider Node

The esponMD:provider node wraps the information on the data provider (the Provider and inner properties of the Source Reference element).

Table 2.45. esponMD:provider node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.6.3
NameProvider
ISO 19115NameespoMD:provider
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:sourceReference/esponMD:provider
Observations 

<esponMD:sourceReference>
<esponMD:label [...] />
<esponMD:provider>
<esponMD:name>
<gco:CharacterString>
Eurostat
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:name>
<esponMD:uri>
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu
</esponMD:uri>
</esponMD:provider>
[...]
</esponMD:sourceReference>

2.4.3.3. publication Node

The esponMD:publication node wraps the information denoting the source of the data (the Publication and inner properties of the Source Reference element).

Table 2.46. esponMD:publication node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.6.2
NamePublication
ISO 19115NameespoMD:publication
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:sourceReference/esponMD:publication
Observations 

<esponMD:sourceReference>
<esponMD:label [...] />
<esponMD:provider [...] />
<esponMD:publication>
<esponMD:title>
<gco:CharacterString>
Annual Report on Internal European Migrations
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:title>
<esponMD:uri>
http://www.espon.eu/reports/report001.pdf
</esponMD:uri>
<esponMD:reference>
<gco:CharacterString>
page 50
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:reference>
</esponMD:publication>
[...]
</esponMD:sourceReference>

2.4.3.4. date Node

Table 2.47. date node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.6.4
NameDate
ISO 19115NameesponMD:date
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:sourceReference/esponMD:date/gco:Date
Observations 

<esponMD:sourceReference>
<esponMD:label [...] />
<esponMD:provider [...] />
<esponMD:publication [...] />
<esponMD:date>
<gco:Date>2011-09-01</gco:Date>
</esponMD:date>
[...]
</esponMD:sourceReference>

2.4.3.5. copyright Node

Table 2.48. copyright node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.6.5
NameCopyright
ISO 19115NameesponMD:copyright
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:sourceReference/esponMD:copyright/gco:CharacterString
Observations 

<esponMD:sourceReference>
<esponMD:label [...] />
<esponMD:provider [...] />
<esponMD:publication [...] />
<esponMD:date [...] />
<esponMD:copyright>
<gco:CharacterString>
(c) ESPON 2013 Database Project
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:copyright>
[...]
</esponMD:sourceReference>

2.4.3.6. accessRule Node

The value of the esponMD:accessRule node must be taken from the list of the access rules defined in the Model.

Table 2.49. esponMD:accessRule node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.6.8
NameAccess Rule
ISO 19115Name
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:sourceReference/esponMD:accessRule
Observations 

<esponMD:sourceReference>
<esponMD:label [...] />
<esponMD:provider [...] />
<esponMD:publication [...] />
<esponMD:date [...] />
<esponMD:copyright [...] />
<esponMD:accessRule>
restricted
</esponMD:accessRule>
[...]
</esponMD:sourceReference>

2.4.3.7. estimation Node

Table 2.50. estimation node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.6.6
NameEstimation
ISO 19115NameesponMD:estimation
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:sourceReference/esponMD:estimation/gco:Boolean
Observations 

<esponMD:sourceReference>
<esponMD:label [...] />
<esponMD:provider [...] />
<esponMD:publication [...] />
<esponMD:date [...] />
<esponMD:copyright [...] />
<esponMD:accessRule [...] />
<esponMD:estimation>
<gco:Boolean>false</gco:Boolean>
</esponMD:estimation>
[...]
</esponMD:sourceReference>

2.4.3.8. qualityLevel Node

The value of the esponMD:qualityLevel node must be taken from the list of the quality levels defined in the Model.

Table 2.51. qualityLevel node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.6.7
NameQuality Level
ISO 19115NameesponMD:qualityLevel
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:sourceReference/esponMD:qualityLevel
Observations 

<esponMD:sourceReference>
<esponMD:label [...] />
<esponMD:provider [...] />
<esponMD:publication [...] />
<esponMD:date [...] />
<esponMD:copyright [...] />
<esponMD:accessRule [...] />
<esponMD:estimation [...] />
<esponMD:qualityLevel> high </esponMD:qualityLevel>
[...]
</esponMD:sourceReference>

2.4.3.9. methodology Node

Table 2.52. methodology node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.6.9 and Section 1.7.2
NameMethodology
ISO 19115NameesponMD:methodology
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:contentInfo/esponMD:datasetContentInfo/esponMD:sourceReference/esponMD:methodology
Observations 

<esponMD:sourceReference>
<esponMD:label [...] />
<esponMD:provider [...] />
<esponMD:publication [...] />
<esponMD:date [...] />
<esponMD:copyright [...] />
<esponMD:accessRule [...] />
<esponMD:estimation [...] />
<esponMD:qualityLevel [...] />
<esponMD:methodology>
<esponMD:description>
<gco:CharacterString>
Values at NUTS2 level are calculated by processing the values for NUTS3 children units. Please see page 278 of the cited publication.
</gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:description>
<esponMD:formula>
<gco:CharacterString>
N = S^2 + b </gco:CharacterString>
</esponMD:formula>
<esponMD:uri>urn:isbn:1234-5678</esponMD:uri>
</esponMD:methodology>
</esponMD:sourceReference>

2.5. extent Node

The gmd:extent node of the identificationInfo one groups the information about spatial and temporal references of the dataset. For this purpose, it wraps respectively a gmd:geographicElement and a gmd:temporalElement nodes.

2.5.1. geographicElement Node

The gmd:geographicElement node corresponds to the Spatial Binding element of the Model. It is also a requirement of the SC10. Its contents must cite the global bounding box of all the spatial units covered by the dataset. According to the SC13, the geographic coordinates defining the bounding box may use any reference system with the Greenwich Prime Meridian.

The ISO 19115 contents of this node has been extended by the ESPON extension to the XML schema in order to adapt the binding to the version of the statistical nomenclature(s) of territorial units used in the dataset. The node esponMD:spatialBinding substitutes the gmd:EX_GeographicBoundingBox node defined in the ISO 19115 standard. The extended node contains the definition of the bounding box and of the statistical nomenclatures of the dataset.

Table 2.53. gmd:geographicElement node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.4
NameSpatial Binding
ISO 19115Namegmd:geographicElement
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:geographicElement/esponMD:spatialBinding
Observations 

<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation [...] />
<gmd:abstract [...] />
<gmd:pointOfContact [...] />
<gmd:descriptiveKeywords [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:topicCategory [...] />
<gmd:extent>
<gmd:EX_Extent>
<gmd:geographicElement>
<esponMD:spatialBinding>
<gmd:westBoundLongitude>
5.65
</gmd:westBoundLongitude>
<gmd:eastBoundLongitude>
5.81
</gmd:eastBoundLongitude>
<gmd:southBoundLongitude>
45.14
</gmd:southBoundLongitude>
<gmd:northBoundLongitude>
45.22
</gmd:northBoundLongitude>
<esponMD:nomenclature>
<esponMD:nomenclatureName>
NUTS
</esponMD:nomenclatureName>
<esponMD:nomenclatureVersion>
2010
</esponMD:nomenclatureVersion>
<esponMD:nomenclatureLevel>
2
</esponMD:nomenclatureLevel>
<!-- other levels of this nomenclature may follow here -->
</esponMD:nomenclature>
<!-- other nomenclature definitions may follow here -->
</esponMD:spatialBinding>
</gmd:geographicElement>
[...]
</gmd:EX_Extent>
</gmd:extent>
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

2.5.2. temporalElement Node

The gmd:temporalElement node describes all the time periods covered by the dataset. This description represents simply the union of all the time periods covered by the data, without detailing each of them separately.

Table 2.54. gmd:temporalElement node description

ESPON MetadataReferenceSection 1.3.1.12.1 and Section 1.7.4
NameTemporal Extent
ISO 19115Namegmd:temporalElement
XPath/gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:extent/gmd:EX_Extent/gmd:temporalElement/gmd:EX_TemporalExtent/gmd:extent/gml:TimePeriod
Observations

Please note that the gml:TimePeriod node has an id attribute that is mandatory in the gml namespace. Its value may represent a hash code of the start and the end dates of the time period.


<gmd:identificationInfo>
<gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
<gmd:citation [...] />
<gmd:abstract [...] />
<gmd:pointOfContact [...] />
<gmd:descriptiveKeywords [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints [...] />
<gmd:resourceConstraints [...] />
<gmd:language [...] />
<gmd:topicCategory [...] />
<gmd:extent>
<gmd:EX_Extent>
<gmd:geographicElement [...] />
<gmd:temporalElement>
<gmd:EX_TemporalExtent>
<gmd:extent>
<gml:TimePeriod gml:id="8fd9bc7c8be6">
<gml:beginPosition>
1982-01-01
</gml:beginPosition>
<gml:endPosition>
2007-12-31
</gml:endPosition>
</gml:TimePeriod>
</gmd:extent>
</gmd:EX_TemporalExtent>
</gmd:temporalElement>
</gmd:EX_Extent>
</gmd:extent>
</gmd:MD_DataIdentification>
</gmd:identificationInfo>

<!-- For time instances, the contents of the <gmd:extent> node
inside <gmd:EX_TemporalExtent> must conform to the following pattern: -->

<gmd:temporalElement>
<gmd:EX_TemporalExtent>
<gmd:extent>
<gml:TimeInstant gml:id="8fd9bc7c8be6">
<gml:timePosition>
2011-09-26
</gml:timePosition>
</gml:TimeInstant>
</gmd:extent>
</gmd:EX_TemporalExtent>
</gmd:temporalElement>

Chapter 3. Tabular Model Implementation

3.1. Introduction

The present chapter describes the implementation of the Abstract Metadata Model(Chapter 1) in a tabular document layout (Microsoft Excel, Open Office...).

This chapter must be used in conjunction with the Abstract Metadata Model (Chapter 1), because it runs through all of its parts and explains how each of the specified elements or properties must be used in a tabular document with the respect of the conventions established by the Model. This chapter does not explain the meaning or the structure of the the ESPON Metadata entities.

Terminology

The present chapter uses the following terminology:

  • The Model. The shortcut name for the Abstract Metadata Model (Chapter 1).

  • The Implementation. The present chapter (Chapter 3).

  • Tabular file format. A file format that represents data in tabular form using a layout divided horizontally in columns and vertically in rows. Each division of such layout is called a cell. The most frequent file formats used for this layout are XLS (Microsoft Excel), CSV (Comma-Separated Values), ODS (Open Document Spreadsheet) and others. The Implementation uses the XLS format when citing examples, but they stay valid for other formats as well.

3.2. Naming conventions

The files containing data and/or metadata must respect some naming conventions that have been created to facilitate the storage of a growing amount of source data and metadata.

Data providers should take into account that during the Second Phase of the ESPON 2013 Database project, when tabular files are used, it is recommended to merge data and metadata into one file, on separate sheets inside the same file.

A tabular file with a dataset must respect the naming convention cited in the Section 1.3.1.6 property of the DatasetInformation element. The name of a dataset file must contain only alphanumeric characters, no spaces. The parts of the file name (project acronym, dataset name etc) must be separated with underscores and the spaces inside the parts must be removed.

For example, the file with a dataset coming from the DEMIFER project, named Labor Force Data, published on the 28th of April, 2010 in its 3rd version should be set to DEMIFER_LaborForceData_20100428_v3.xls.

3.3. General Principles of Data and Metadata Layout

The information belonging to a dataset (data and metadata) must be presented in a tabular file using a short set of general principles allowing to harmonize data exchanges between ESPON projects and to facilitate automatic data processing. This section enumerates these principles.

3.3.1. Labels and Values

In a tabular sheet, the information must be organized in a way that allows, on one hand, the user to read it easily and, on the other hand, the automatic analyzer to parse it without any ambiguity. To reach these objectives, all tabular sheets must respect some conventions when using special tokens or labels. Their role is to mark the position where a piece of information can be read from the document. They must respect the following rules:

  • They are case insensitive: Name and NAME or name are considered to be equal labels.

  • Their style characteristics (font, font size, color, etc) are not taken into account by the analyzer. The data provider is free to choose the style characteristics of labels and values to improve the readability of the document.

  • Their literals must be precise and always respected carefully. They do not tolerate mistypes or spelling errors.

  • In a horizontal layout, the value must be placed in the next cell that follows immediately the cell with the label on the same row, in the next column (Table 3.1). In a vertical layout, the value is placed in the next cell that follows the cell with the label on the same column, in the next row (see the examples in Table 3.3).

  • Each label has the same literal in the document as the name of the corresponding element or property in the Model (unlike the XML document, where entity names are sometimes different from the ones in the Model when they are imposed by the ISO 19115 standard).

To make the layout more clear for reading, all labels in the following examples are represented in bold characters and all values have a normal font weight.

In a horizontal layout, labels are listed in different rows of the same column. To the right of each label, there is a value cell.

Table 3.1. Horizontal layout of a metadata property

 AB
1Dataset Information
2NamePopulation of Europe
3ProjectEuropop Survey
4Upload Date2011-07-10
5Creation Date2011-06-01
6Revision Date 
7Metadata Date2011-07-10
8AbstractProvides the population data on all European countries from 1990 to 2050 (projections).
9Resource Locatorhttp://database.espon.eu/data?dataset=35
10Unique Resource IdentifierEuropop_PopulationEurope_20110710_v1
11Topic CategorySociety

Example of the horizontal layout of metadata properties: each row specifies a metadata property. The cells in the A column contain labels; the cells in the B column contain the values of the respective properties.

If a metadata property can take multiple values, the label of the property must be repeated on each row where the values of this property are present:

Table 3.2. Horizontal layout of a metadata property with multiple values

 AB
11Topic CategorySociety
12Topic CategoryEconomy
13Topic CategoryHealth

If the property cannot take more than one value, but multiple values are erroneously present in the sheet, only the first value found is taken into account by the automatic analyzer.

In a vertical layout, labels are listed in different columns of the same row. The values are grouped by columns on different rows:

Table 3.3. Vertical layout of a metadata property

 ABC
12KeywordsVocabularyKeyword Value
13 GEMETSocial aspects, population
14 GEMETDemography
15 INSPIREpopulation distribution - demography
16  population projections

Example of the vertical layout of metadata properties: the cells A12:C12 contain labels; each cell in B and C column in next rows contain property values.

The vertical layout is introduced to facilitate the specification of composite properties that can take multiple values. It does not need the duplication of labels on each row, as compared with the horizontal one.

The labels used as tokens of elements start have no values associated with them. Each of them occupies a whole row. For metadata sheets, there are only seven labels that can be used as these tokens:

Table 3.4. Metadata element tokens

 AB
 Dataset Information
   
 Spatial Binding
   
 Responsible Party
   
 Metadata Contact
   
 Point Of Contact
   
 Indicator Identification
   
 Source Reference

If the property of a metadata element is mandatory, its label and value must be present in the layout of the element. If it is optional (like Methodology for Indicator Identification and Source Reference), it can be dropped or its value cell may be empty.

3.3.2. Separating Metadata From Data

Data and metadata must be separated inside a tabular document by placing them on separate sheets inside the file.

The names of data sheets should be prefixed with the "Data" prefix. For example, if the dataset has only one data sheet, this sheet should be named "Data". If there are several data sheets, the name of each one should begin with the "Data_" prefix, followed by an identifier of the sheet, chosen by the data provider.

Figure 3.1. Single data sheet naming

Single data sheet naming

Figure 3.2. Several data sheets naming

Several data sheets naming

The data provider is free to choose the names and the number of the metadata sheets, but it is recommended to use three sheets, called "Dataset", "Indicator" and "Source".

The "Dataset" sheet should contain the metadata describing the Dataset Information element of the Model, as well as the Contact and the Spatial Binding ones.

The "Indicator" sheet should contain the metadata describing all the Indicator Identification elements present in the dataset.

The "Source" sheet should contain the metadata describing all the Source Reference elements existing in the dataset. This three-sheets representation will give the following general structure of the spreadsheet:

Figure 3.3. Recommended structure of the tabular document

Recommended structure of the tabular document

For a simple dataset having a low number of indicators and data sources, all the metadata can be presented in a single sheet. That will give the following structure of the spreadsheet:

Figure 3.4. Simple dataset with all the metadata put in one sheet

Simple dataset with all the metadata put in one sheet

3.3.3. Empty Columns and Rows

No sheet of a valid spreadsheet can contain one or more empty columns at the leftmost position, neither one or more empty rows at the upmost position.

If the first row or column in a sheet is(are) empty, the file will be declared as invalid.

Figure 3.5. Invalid start layout of a sheet

Invalid start layout of a sheet

In a valid layout, there are no empty start columns or rows:

Table 3.5. Valid start layout of a sheet

 AB
1Dataset Information
2NamePopulation of Europe
3  
4  

If there are several metadata elements present on the same sheet, they may be separated with an optional empty row, but there should not be empty rows between the properties of the same element (although, it is tolerated). There must not be any empty columns separating labels from values.

Figure 3.6. Empty rows between elements and properties

Empty rows between elements and properties

3.3.4. Missing Values

Due to the fact that many datasets do not cover their entire study area completely for all the indicators and time periods, a number of value cells usually does not contain values inside. When the value is missing, data providers are strongly recommended to to fill such cells with one of the identifiers of a missing value.

The N/A (Not Available) identifier should be used when the value of the indicator is missing for any reason, such as the study did not cover the statistical unit, it was not calculated, or even the value is known, but it cannot be published in the dataset.

The N/R (Not Relevant) identifier should be used when the value cannot exist theoretically for the statistical unit. For example, this can be done when the indicator "Highest ski station altitude" concerns a territorial unit where there are no mountains neither ski stations.

Missing values labels may be associated with source references if the data provider wishes to indicate and describe the reason for the value missing. It can be done using the methodology field of the corresponding Source Reference element, where the publication and provider data will refer to the dataset and the data originator.

During the automatic analyzis of the dataset, a value cell with no data inside will be considered as a cell containing the label N/A.

3.4. Metadata Elements Layout

All the metadata elements specified in an ESPON dataset must be presented in conformity with the Implementation. An incorrect presentation can be the cause of data/metadata losses, invalid interpretations or even impossibility to integrate the dataset into the ESPON Database.

This sectionn describes the layout of all existing metadata elements in a tabular form. For each element, the optional and multiple properties that can affect the layout, are commented.

The order of the labels appearing in the document is strict and must be respected by all tabular files.

3.4.1. Dataset Information Element

The Dataset Information element must be presented like follows in a tabular sheet:

Table 3.6. Dataset Information element layout

 ABC
1Dataset Information
2NamePopulation of Europe 
3ProjectEuropop Survey 
4Upload Date2011-07-10 
5Creation Date2011-06-01 
6Revision Date  
7Metadata Date2011-07-10 
8AbstractProvides the population data on all European countries from 1990 to 2050 (projections).
9Resource Locatorhttp://database.espon.eu/data?dataset=35 
10Unique Resource IdentifierEuropop_PopulationEurope_20110710_v1 
11Topic CategorySociety 
12KeywordsVocabularyKeyword Value
13 GEMETSocial aspects, population
14 GEMETDemography
15 INSPIREpopulation distribution - demography
16  population projections
17LineageLineage description specified here...
18Resource Typedataset 
19Dataset Languageeng 
20Metadata Languageeng 
21Temporal Extentstartend
22 19902050
23ConformityConformancetrue
24 SpecificationINSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules
25 Specification Date2011-05-06
26ConstraintsUse ConstraintCopyright
27 Access ConditionSee the Terms&Conditions Agreement of the ESPON Database Web Application
28 Other Constraintsno limitations
29 Access Classificationunclassified

Optional properties: Resource Locator and Conformity.

Multiple properties: Topic Category and Vocabulary + Keyword Value.

The values at rows 18-20 (Resource type, Dataset Language and Metadata Language) are constants and must not be modified.

3.4.1.1. Contact Information

The contact information is represented by the contact elements Responsible Party, Metadata Contact and Point Of Contact. The first two are mandatory, while the third one can have multiple optional occurrences in the document.

The contact properties may be presented as follows:

Table 3.7. Contact element layout

 ABC
31Responsible Party
32Individual NameANDRE, Ronald 
33Organization NameESPON Research Centre 
34RolePointOfContact 
35Email[email protected] 
36   
37Metadata Contact
38Individual NameBURTON, Patrick 
39Organization NameESPON Research Centre 
40Positionmanager 
41RolePointOfContact 
42Email[email protected] 
43Phone+3312345678 
44Point Of Contact
45Individual NameBRUCKERS, Stella 
46Organization NameESPON Research Centre 
47Positionresearcher 
48RoleAuthor 
49Email[email protected] 
50Phone+3312345679 
51Distributor
52Individual NameVAN HERWIJNEN, Marjan 
53Organization NameESPON Coordination Unit 
54RolePointOfContact 
55Email [email protected] 
56Phone+352545580700 
57Delivery PointUCRP HT - P.O. Box 144 
58CityEsch-sur-Alzette 
59Postal CodeL-4221 
60Administrative AreaCedex 13 
61CountryGrand-Duché de Luxembourg 

Optional properties: Position and Phone.

Multiple properties: Phone and Email.

3.4.2. Spatial Binding Element

The Spatial Binding element should follow the Dataset Information element on the same sheet of the spreadsheet. It classifies the nomenclatures used in the dataset and lists their respective versions and levels. This element must respect the following layout:

Table 3.8. Spatial Binding element layout

 ABC
63Spatial Binding
64Geographic LocationNorth70.09
65 South34.56
66 West-10.58
67 East34.59
68Nomenclature NameNomenclature VersionNomenclature Level
69NUTS20100
70  1
71Nomenclature NameNomenclature VersionNomenclature Level
72NUTS20060
73  1
74  2
75Nomenclature NameNomenclature VersionNomenclature Level
76EFTACC20082

The order of appearance of nomenclature names entries is not relevant, neither the order of versions and levels inside a nomenclature entry.

Optional properties: none.

Multiple properties: Nomenclature Name, Nomenclature Version and Nomenclature Level.

The dataset of the example contains statistical units of the NUTS nomenclature, of its 2006 and 2010 versions. The NUTS statistical units of the dataset belong to the 0th, 1st and 2nd levels of the nomenclature. This dataset also contains units from the EFTACC nomenclature, of its version of 2008. These units are present only at the 2nd level of the EFTACC nomenclature. Please note that a combination of the values of the Nomenclature Name and the Nomenclature Level properties is used to identify units, as shown in Section 3.5.1.

3.4.3. Indicator Identification Element

All the Indicator Identification and Indicator Aggregation elements present in a dataset should be put in a single separate sheet of the spreadsheet. This should be done to facilitate the analyzis of the metadata.

The Indicator Aggregation element must respect the following layout:

Table 3.9. Indicator Aggregation element layout

 ABC
1Indicators Aggregation
2Aggregation CodePOP_BY_AGE 
3Aggregation NamePopulation by age 
4Aggregation AbstractPopulation divided in age groups
5CodePOP_0-24 
6CodePOP_0-64 
7CodePOP_65+ 

A singular Indicator Identification element must use the following layout:

Table 3.10. Indicator Identification element layout

 ABC
1Indicator Identification
2CodeNameAbstract
3PCTPDPopulation Development, TotalThe annual evolution of the total population of the specified territorial unit, both natural and migratory change.
4PolicyEU2020 
5CoreTRUE 
6Nat TypeRR 
7ThemePopulation and living conditions 
8KeywordsVocabularyKeyword Value
9 GEMETdemography
10  population growth
11MethodologyDescription 
12 Formula 
13 URIhttp://espon.eu/reports/report111031.pdf
14Temporal Extentstartend
15 20092009
16 20102010
17 20112011
18Data TypeType Identifierinteger

Optional property: Methodology.

Multiple properties: Code (Name and Abstract), Theme, Vocabulary + Keyword Value, start + end.

The Code, Name and Abstract properties use vertical layout because it allows to optimize the representation of similar indicators that share all the other fields. This is, for example, the case of the indicators concerning the population structure by ages, when the indicators "Population, males, 20-24 y.o.", "Population, females, 20-24 y.o.", etc share all the properties but the three cited ones. In this case the element can be layouted as follows:

Table 3.11. Indicator Identification element layout for several indicator with shared properties

 ABC
1Indicator Identification
2CodeNameAbstract
3POP_0-24Population, young (0 - 24 y.o.)Total number of persons of 0 - 24 years old.
4POP_25-64Population, adult (25 - 64 y.o.)Total number of persons of 25 - 64 years old.
5POP_65+Population, old (65 y.o. and more)Total number of persons of 65 and more years old.
6PolicyEU2020 
7CoreTRUE 

All the indicator codes listed in this layout must be also enumerated in the respective Indicators Aggregation element.

The Temporal Extent properties may be specified in several ways. If the time period covers several years, both the start and the end years are mandatory. If it concerns only one year, it may be specified as follows:

Table 3.12. Layout of a Temporal Extent property covering one year

 ABC
14Temporal Extentstartend
15 20092009
16 2010
17 2011 

If the temporal value is an instance (a day), the exact date of the instance must be specified:

Table 3.13. Layout of a Temporal Extent property for a time instance

 ABC
14Temporal Extentstartend
15 2011-09-25 
16 2011-09-252011-09-25
17 2011-09-25

Data Types Layout

This section describes the layout to be used to specify the Data Type property of the Indicator Identification element.

The Type Identifier and Description properties use the same layout for all data types:

Table 3.14. Layout of the shared properties of the Data Type element

 ABC
18Data TypeType Identifierinteger
19 DescriptionThe value denotes the year when the country ratified the Convention on...

The Description property is mandatory only for the Other data type.

Numeric data (Integer or Float) must use the following layout:

Table 3.15. Numeric Data Types layout

 ABC
18Data TypeType Identifierinteger
19 Description 
20Unit of MeasureNumerator / Denominator Nameinhabitants
21 Numerator / Denominator Scale1000
22 Rankingfalse
23 Min 
24 Max 

If the numeric data is bound to a range, the minimun and/or the maximum values of the range must be specified.

For the Unit Of Measure property, name and scale properties are mixed for numerators and denominators of fractional units, which must be separated by the "/" sign or the "per" preposition in the cell. For example, the fractional unit "births per 100000 inhabitants" must be presented as "births per inhabitants" or "birth / inhabitants". The scale property must be specified as "1 per 10000" or "1 / 10000".

For Text data, the properties to specify are the Unique boolean (mandatory) and an optional Description:

Table 3.16. Text Data Type layout

 ABC
18Data TypeType Identifiertext
19 DescriptionThis text describes the...
20 UniqueFALSE

If the Enumerated data are used, the layout must contain the description of all the elements of the enumeration:

Table 3.17. Enumerated Data Type layout

 ABC
18Data TypeType Identifierenum
19 Description 
20 OrderedTRUE
21 Value LabelValue Description
22 VLVery low rate of activity
23 LLow rate of activity
24 MMedium rate of activity
25 HHigh rate of activity
26 VHVery high rate of activity

Please note that an ordered enumeration is described in ascending order of elements, but the order of elements is not meaningful for an unordered enumeration. See also the paragraph entitled Important: constraints regarding the enumeration type.

The Boolean data type represents a particular case of an ordered enumeration of two elements:

Table 3.18. Boolean Data Type layout

 ABC
18Data TypeType Identifierboolean
19 Description 
20 Value LabelValue Description
21 OFFThe machine is switched off
22 ONThe machine is switched on

The Flagged data type is an extended enumeration of elements.

Table 3.19. Flagged Data Type layout

 ABC
18Data TypeType Identifierflagged
19 Description 
20 OrderedFALSE
21 Value LabelValue Description
22 IThe migration is increasing
23 DThe migration is decreasing
24 NThe rate is impossible to calculate
25 Position 
26 1Characterizes the net migration
27 2Characterizes the internal migration
28 3Characterizes the international migration

Please note that the indices in the list of positions must begin from the smallest and increment to the largest one and each position must be described in the cell next to the index.

The Other data type is represented as follows:

Table 3.20. Other Data Type layout

 ABC
18Data TypeType Identifierother
19 DescriptionThe value represents the name of an image file enclosed to the dataset.

The Description is mandatory for this data type.

3.4.4. Source Reference Element

All the Source Reference elements present in a dataset should be put in a single separate sheet of the spreadsheet. This should be done to facilitate the analyzis of the metadata.

The Source Reference element must use the following layout:

Table 3.21. Source Reference element layout

 ABC
1Source Reference
2Label1 
3Date2011-10-31 
4Copyright(c) ESPON 
5ProviderNameESPON 2013 Database Project
6 URIhttp://www.espon.eu
7PublicationTitleESPON Report on ...
8 URIhttp://www.espon.eu/reports/report111031.pdf
9 Referencepage 228
10MethodologyDescription 
11 Formula 
12 URIhttp://espon.eu/reports/report111031_method.pdf
13Access Rulepublic 
14Estimationfalse 
15Quality Levelhigh 

Optional properties: URI, Reference and Methodology.

Multiple properties: Provider.

3.5. Data Layout

This section details the tabular layout of information in the data part of a dataset. In this part of a dataset, the information is represented mostly using the vertical layout: several rows of labels are followed by unlimited number of value rows.

The layout of data sheets is divided in two parts. The left side is dedicated to statistical units references. The right side is dedicated to indicator values.

Figure 3.7. Two parts of a data sheet

Two parts of a data sheet

The links between the data and the metadata parts are made using the values specified in the header of the sheet, in the statistical units part and in the columns referencing data sources. All these links are summarized in the Figure 3.8:

Figure 3.8. The links between the data and the metadata parts

The links between the data and the metadata parts

The spatial bindings are placed to the left of an indicator value. The indicator and temporal bindings are placed to the top of it. The source reference link is to the right of each value.

3.5.1. References to statistical units

The A Column. The first column of a data sheet must refer to the codes of the spatial (statistical) units covered by the dataset. These must be their official codes, in upper or lower case, without any other characters or spaces added. Only one spatial (statistical) unit can be referenced per cell. If the indicator values are associations between two or more spatial units, please see their representation below. The A3 cell must be filled with the label Unit code.

The B Column. This column must refer to the type of the statistical objects used and to their level of nomenclature. The B3 cell must contain the label Object Type. The values of the cells below must contain character strings composed of the acronym of the nomenclature and the label of the level of the unit in this row of data, declared in the Spatial Binding element. For example, possible values for the B column cells in the context of the Spatial Binding cited above(Section 3.4.2) are NUTS0, NUTS1, NUTS2 and EFTACC2.

The C Column. This column must refer to the version of the statistical units nomenclature to which belongs each of the spatial units. The C3 cell must contain the label Version. The values of the cells below must contain a nomenclature version name label declared in the Spatial Binding element. For example, possible values for the B column cells in the context of the Spatial Binding cited above(Section 3.4.2) are 2006, 2010 (for NUTS) and 2008 (for EFTACC).

The D Column. This column is the only optional column for statistical units referencing. It may contain the names of statistical units in order to improve the clearness of the spreadsheet. If the column with units names is present in the document, the D3 cell must contain the label Name.

The cells A1:D2 are empty or may be filled with any additional information. The entire layout of spatial units references may be presented as follows:

Table 3.22. Statistical (spatial) units references in a data sheet

 ABCD
1    
2    
3Unit CodeObject TypeVersionName
4AT1NUTS12006Ostosterreich
5AT2NUTS12006Sudosterreich
6AT3NUTS12006Westosterreich
7CH0EFTACC12008Switzerland
8DE1NUTS12006Baden-Wurttemberg
9DE2NUTS12006Bayern
10DE3NUTS12006Berlin
11DE4NUTS12006Brandenburg
12DE5NUTS12006Bremen

Several ESPON indicators have values that characterize associations between two or more statistical units (this may be useful, for example, to denote distances between units, or amounts of commercial flows, etc). The Implementation takes into account such associations in order to implement the support of this type of indicators in the ESPON Database. If the indicator represents an association between statistical units, the data layout must respect the following rules:

Figure 3.9. Association between two statistical units

Association between two statistical units

Each of the units composing the association must appear in a separate sequence of columns "Unit code - Object type - Version" (the "Name" column stays optional). The order of the columns must be respected. The number of units composing the association is not limited (there may be any number of sequances of the four columns).

3.5.2. Indicator values part

The columns containing references to statistical units are followed by columns with statistical data, that are represented as follows:

Figure 3.10. Indicator values and sources column

Indicator values and sources column

Data are presented on two columns. The first one is a column with indicator values. The second column contains references to the data sources.

The first cell of the column with indicator values references the code of the indicator. This is a link between the data sheet and the metadata: each unique indicator code cited in the data sheet must be described by the Indicator Identification elements of the metadata.

The two cells below the indicator code define the time period for which the value of the indicator is valid. The cell in the second row denotes the start year (or date) of the period; the cell in the third row denotes the end year (or date) of the period. If there is only one year mentioned, a period covering this single year is considered for the indicator values. If there is only one date mentioned, the temporal extend of the values in this column is considered as an instant of time.

Each time period covered by an indicator in the data sheet must be referenced using the Temporal Extent property of the Indicator Identification element.

The cells below the covered period (beginning from row 4) contain the values of the indicator. The data type of the values must be described by the corresponding property of the Indicator Identification element.

To the right of each indicator value (in the "source" column), there must be a reference to the source of the data. This reference is made using the Label property of the Source Reference element of the metadata. Each unique reference present in the "source" column must be described in the metadata.

Here is a full layout of a data sheet, covering 14 countries of the European Union in NUTS nomenclature of 2006 version at the 0 level, for the indicator having the code "pop_tot" ("Population, total"), calculated for 2005, 2010 and 2015, referencing 5 data sources.

Figure 3.11. Example of a complete layout of a data sheet

Example of a complete layout of a data sheet

Please note that empty columns (having no values, lables or references) are not accepted in the data sheet. There must not be any empty column between the part referencing statistical units and the data part, neither between values and sources columns, nor between values+sources column pairs. Empty rows are accepted only after the third row of the sheet.

Appendix A. Metadata Property Values Constraints

This annex describes the formal constraints that are applied to validate data values for different metadata properties.

The violation of these recommendations can result in rejecting the metadata and returning it to the data provider. Only the metadata that is checked and validated using the ESPON Metadata Tools will be accepted by the data integrators.

Boolean Values

Boolean values should use the common literals 'true' and 'false', upper or lower case.

Calendar Dates

Any metadata property that stores a calendar date value should use the following format: YYYY-MM-DD. The year is composed of four digits, the month and the day are composed of two digits both. For numbers less than 10, a 0 should be added as the first digit.

When the format is not respected, if the numeric value of the month is inexistent (negative, 0 or greater than 12), the value of 01 will be applied. If the numeric value of the day is inexistent (negative, 0 or greater than the number of days in the month), the value of 01 will be applied. So, for example, when the value "2010" is presented as a date, it will be transformed into "2010-01-01".

Character Strings

Any character string value in the metadata must be clean of leading and trailing spaces. No character strings can be fully capitalized, except for acronyms. Any sentence or proper noun must begin with an uppercase letter. If the property value supposes the use of an expression that does not compose a sentence (a single word or a couple of words forming a semantic entity), they should all be at lower case, except for the first letters of proper nouns or units of measure originating from proper names (e.g. Watt).

All the acronyms used in the expressions should be explained in full words at least once in the metadata.

Email Addresses

Email addresses mentioned in the metadata must respect the general syntax convention for email addresses, they must exist and be functional. They are not case-sensitive: note that any capitalized letter will be transformed to lower case by the database integration tools.

Phone Numbers

Phone numbers mentioned in the metadata must respect a format close to the recommendations of the international notation [8]. They must begin with '+' character, followed by the country identification code, and then by the phone number. Optional digits (for example, digits that should not be used when calling from outside the country, but used from inside) should be dropped. The digits of the number must be cited without any common separator characters ('.', '-' or space). Examples of a validly formatted phone number for France: +33476827200.

Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI)

A detailed description of the syntax to use to represent a Uniform Resource Identifier is given at URI - Wikipedia. Therefore, it may be summarized briefly as follows:

  • URLs can be used directly: http://www.example.com

  • An attachment to a dataset must be referenced using the following pattern: file://{relative/path/}{fileName}, for example:

    • file://attachment1.pdf is a .pdf file attached to the dataset and stored in the same folder with it.

    • file://methodologies/metho1.pdf, is a .pdf file stored in the methodologies folder at the same level than the dataset.

    • file://methodology.zip/metho2.pdf, is a .pdf file stored in the methodology.zip archive placed in the same folder than the dataset.

  • An ISBN or ISSN code can be referenced as follows: urn:isbn:1234-5678, respecting the general URI syntax.

Appendix B. List of Nomenclature Identifiers

The following nomenclature identifiers are expected to be used in the spatial binding elements of a dataset metadata. For further information regarding the supported nomenclatures by the ESPON Database, please consult [12] (supported nomenclatures in the ESPON Database) and [11] (how to propose and define a new nomenclature):

  • NUTS - Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (extended version for ESPON)

    Based on the Eurostat documents about the history of NUTS [13] and EFTACC (European Free Trade Association and Candidate Countries), the following nomenclature versions identifiers are to be used for the ESPON extended NUTS nomenclature:

    • 1999

    • 2003

    • 2006

    • 2010

    The official NUTS versions before 1995 are not public, the version 1995 is currently not supported by the Database.

    The following nomenclature levels identifiers are to be used for the NUTS nomenclatures:

    • 0

    • 1

    • 2

    • 3

    [Note]

    An unofficial version labeled 2/3-2006 has been defined for research purposes (ESPON Map Update project). This nomenclature combines units of NUTS2 and NUTS3 levels into an unique level labeled 2/3. Please consult the documentations [11] and [12] for more details.

  • UMZ - Urban Morphological Zone

    This nomenclature based on urban objects matching the UMZ definition has been introduced in June 2013 delivery.

    Only one version is available in June 2013: Version_1. The spatial units of this nomenclature are defined in one default level only, labeled UMZdefault in the column "Object type" of the sheet "Data".

  • MUA - Morphologic Urban Area

    The MUA (Morphologic Urban Areas) database has been created in 2007 and updated in 2011 by IGEAT (Institut de Gestion de l'Environnement et d'Aménagement du Territoire, Unversité Libre de Bruxelles) in order to associate morphological cores to the FUA_Igeat (Functional Urban Areas) database.

    Only one version is available in June 2013, labeled 2000. The spatial units of this nomenclature are defined in one default level only, labeled MUAdefault in the column "Object type" of the sheet "Data".

  • FUA - Functional Urban Area

    The Functional Urban Areas defined by IGEAT (FUA_Igeat) are based on the analysis of commuting patterns towards morphological urban cores in 2000.

    Only one version is available in June 2013, labeled 2000. The spatial units of this nomenclature are defined in one default level only, labeled FUAdefault in the column "Object type" of the sheet "Data".

Appendix C. List of ESPON Projects

[Warning]

The project with the acronym "ESPON" and the title "ESPON Programme" is used to wrap all future ESPON projects (coming after December 2014).

Table C.1. ESPON Projects

PhasePriorityAcronymTitle
30ESPONESPON Programme
21ARTSAssessment of Regional and Territorial Sensitivity
21ATTREGAttractiveness of European Regions and Cities for Residents and Visitors
21DEMIFERDemographic and Migratory Flows affecting European Regions and Cities
21ECR2Territorial Impact of the Financial and Economic Crisis
21EDORAEuropean Development Opportunities in Rural Areas
21EsaTDOREuropean Seas and Territorial Development, Opportunities and Risks
21ESPON ClimateClimate Change and Territorial Effects on Regions and Local Economies in Europe
21ESPONMapUpdateESPON Map Updates
21ESPON TANGOTerritorial Approaches to New Governance
21ET2050Territorial Scenarios and Visions for Europe
21EU LUPAEuropean Land Use Patterns
21FOCIFuture Orientation for Cities
21GEOSPECSEuropean Perspective on Specific Types of Territories
21GREECORegional Potential for a Greener Economy
21ITANEuropean Neighbor Regions
21KITKnowledge, Innovation, Territory
21ReRiskRegions at Risk of Energy Poverty
21SeGiServices of General Interest
21SGPTDSecondary Growth Poles and Territorial Development in Europe; Performance, Policies and Prospects
21SIESTASpatial Indicators for a ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’ Territorial Analysis
21TERCOEuropean Territorial Cooperation as a Fact of Growth, Jobs and Quality of Life
21TIGERTerritorial Impact of Globalization for Europe and its Regions
21TIPSETerritorial Dimension of Poverty and Social Exclusion in Europe
21TIPTAPTerritorial Impact Package for Transport and Agricultural Policies
21TOWNSmall and Medium Sized Towns in their Functional Territorial Context
21TRACCTransport Accessibility at Regional/Local Scale and Patterns in Europe
22ADESAirports as Drivers of Economic Success in Peripheral Regions
22AMCERAdvanced Monitoring and Coordination of EU R&D Policies at Regional Level
22BEST METROPOLISESBest Development Conditions in European Metropolises: Paris, Berlin and Warsaw
22CAEEThe Case of Agglomeration Economies in Europe
22EATIAESPON and Territorial Impact Assessment
22ESPON TeDiTerritorial Diversity in Europe
22EUROISLANDSThe Development of the Islands – European Islands and Cohesion Policy
22GROSEEGrowth Poles in South East Europe
22KITCASPKey Indicators for Territorial Cohesion and Spatial Planning
22LIVELANDLiveable Landscapes: a Key Value for Sustainable Territorial Development
22LP3LPLandscape Policy for the Three Countries Park
22METROBORDERCross-border Polycentric Metropolitan Regions
22North Sea StarNorth Sea Star – Spreading Transnational Results
22POLYCEMetropolisation and Polycentric Development in Central Europe: Evidence Based Strategic Options
22PURRPotential of Rural Regions
22RISEIdentifying and Exchanging Best Practices in Developing Regional Integrated Strategies in Europe
22SEMIGRASelective Migration and Unbalanced Sex Ratio in Rural Regions
22SMARTISTInstitution Capacity for Territorial Development
22SS-LRSpatial Scenarios: New Tools for Local/Regional Territories
22SURESuccess for Convergions Regions’ Economies
22TPMTerritorial Performance Monitoring
22TRANSMECTransnational Support Method for European Cooperation
22ULYSSESUsing Applied Research Results from ESPON as a Yardstick for Cross-border Spatial Development Planning
23ACC UpdateAccessibility (Air and Multimodal) Update
23BSR-TeMoTerritorial Monitoring in the European Macro Region – A Test for the Baltic Sea Region
23CityBenchESPON CityBench for benchmarking European Urban Zones
23CREA UpdateCreative Workforce Update
23DEMO UpdateDemography and Migration Update
23DeTeCDetecting Territorial Potential and Challenges
23ESPON ATLASESPON Atlas on European Territorial Structures and Dynamics
23ESPON DBESPON Database 2013
23ESPON M4DESPON Database 2013 Phase II - M4D Project
23ESPON TCESPON Typology Compilation
23ETMSEuropean Territorial Monitoring System
23INTERCOIndicators of Territorial Cohesion
23LSP UpdateLisbon Strategy Performance Update
23NH UpdateNatural Hazards Update
23RIMAPESPON Online Mapping Tool
23TEL UpdateTelecommunication and IT-Rollout Update
23TerrEviTerritorial Evidence Packs for Structural Fund Programmes
23UESPONHUpdate of the ESPON HyperAtlas
24CADECCapitalization and Dissemination of ESPON Concepts
24ESPON INTERSTRATESPON in Integrated Territorial Strategies
24ESPONTrainEstablishment of a transnational ESPON training programme to stimulate interest to ESPON2013 knowledge
24NORBANordic-Baltic Dialogues on Transnational Perspectives in Spatial Planning
24SCALESBreakdown and Capitalization of ESPON Results on Different Scales
111.1.1The Role, Specific Situation and Potentials of Urban Areas as Nodes in a Polycentric Development (2002-04)
111.1.2Urban-Rural Relations in Europe (2002-04)
111.1.3Enlargement of the European Union and the Wider European Perspective as Regards Its Polycentric Spatial Structure (2002-06)
111.1.4The Spatial Effects of Demographic Trends and Migration
111.2.1Transport Services and Networks: Territorial Trends and Basic Supply of Infrastructure for Territorial Cohesion (2002-04)
111.2.2Telecommunication Services and Networks: Territorial Trends and Basic Supply of Infrastructure for Territorial Cohesion (2002-04)
111.3.1The Spatial Effects and Management of Natural and Technological Hazards in General and in Relation to Climate Change (2002-04)
111.3.2Territorial Trends of the Management of the Natural Heritage (2002-04)
122.1.1Territorial Impact of EU Transport and Ten Policies (2002-04)
122.1.2Territorial Impact of EU Research and Development Policy (2002-04)
122.1.3The Territorial Impact of Cap and Rural Development Policy (2002-04)
122.1.4Territorial Trends of Energy Services and Networks and Territorial Impact EU Energy Policy
122.1.5Territorial Impacts of European Fisheries Policy (2004-06)
122.2.1Territorial Effects of Structural Funds (2002-05)
122.2.2Territorial Effects of the "AQUIS Communautaire", Pre-Accession Aid and Phare/Tacis/Meda Programmes
122.2.3Territorial Effects of Structural Funds in Urban Areas (2002-04)
122.3.1Application and Effects of The ESDP in Member States (2004-06)
122.3.2Governance of Territorial and Urban Policies from EU to Local Level (2004-06)
133.1Integrated Tools for European Spatial Development (2002-04)
133.2Spatial Scenarios and Orientations in Relation to the ESDP and EU Cohesion Policy (2004-06)
133.3Territorial Dimension of the Lisbon/Gothenburg Process(2004-06)
133.4.1Europe in the world
133.4.2EU economic policies and location of economic activities
144.1Data Navigator
144.1.3Monitoring Territorial Development

Appendix D. ESPON Policies Classification

The following table reproduces the ESPON Policies Classification and introduces the Policy codes to use in the metadata (Indicator Identification element).

Table D.1. The ESPON Policies Classification

Policy groupPolicy titleAbstractMetadata Code
EU2020Europe 2020 - A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth

Key-reference strategy of the EU towards the year 2020. This strategy aims to turn the EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. Europe 2020 sets out a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21st century.

EU2020
Smart growth

One of the pillars of the Europe 2020 Strategy: Developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation. Keywords are: education, innovation and digital society.

EU2020_1
Sustainable growth

One of the pillars of the Europe 2020 Strategy: Promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive economy. Keywords are: competitiveness, resource efficiency, climate change and biodiversity.

EU2020_2
Inclusive growth

One of the pillars of the Europe 2020 Strategy: Fostering a high-employment economy delivering social and territorial cohesion. Keywords are: employment, poverty and exclusion.

EU2020_3
TA2020Territorial Agenda of the European Union 2020

The Territorial Agenda of the European Union 2020 defined six territorial priorities for the EU which should contribute to the successful implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The TA2020 has been agreed upon by the Ministers responsible for spatial planning and territorial development, in cooperation with the European Commission and with the endorsement of the Committee of the Regions.

TA2020
Polycentric and balanced territorial development

A balanced territorial development policy can foster the competitiveness of the EU territory through a polycentric cooperation pattern, innovative networks of regions and cities, and by reducing polarization and avoiding large regional disparities.

TA2020_1
Integrated development in cities, rural and specific regions

Interdependence between cities, rural and other specific regions should be recognized through an integrated and multilevel governance and planning based on broad partnership and, where appropriate, focusing on functional regions.

TA2020_2
Territorial integration in cross-border and transnational functional regions

Support is to be given to trans-national and cross-border integration in order to better use potentials across borders such as valuable natural, landscape and cultural heritage, city networks and labor markets.

TA2020_3
Global competitiveness of the regions based on strong local economies

Global economic competitiveness can be enhanced by the development of globally integrated economic sectors and strong local economies, using local social capital and territorial assets, and the development of innovation and smart specialization strategies.

TA2020_4
Territorial connectivity for individuals, communities and enterprises

Affordable access to services of general interest, information, knowledge and mobility is essential for territorial cohesion.

TA2020_5
Ecological, landscape and cultural values of regions

Well-functioning ecological systems and protected and enhanced cultural and natural heritage are important conditions for long‐term sustainable development.

TA2020_6
Territorial MonitoringTerritorial Monitoring

TERMON
ESPON Synthesis ReportsESPON Synthesis Reports

ESYNTH
Summer 2010

A report synthesizing the results and showing examples from the major Applied Research projects and Targeted Analyzes undertaken by the ESPON 2013 Programme by the end of 2010. With the title "New Evidence on Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Territories" the aim of this report is to support the use of these results by Member States, regions and cities.

ESYNTH_1
Spring 2013

ESYNTH_2
Indicators for Territorial CohesionIndicators for Territorial Cohesion

INTERC
Synthetic/composite (headline) indicators

Deprecated since revision 1.3 of the document. Only available for compatibility reasons. Please now use metadata codes from INTERC_6 to INTERC_11.

INTERC_1
HeadlineINTERC_2
CoreINTERC_3
AnalyticalINTERC_4
OtherINTERC_5
Access to services, markets and jobs

INTERC_6
Environmental qualities

INTERC_7
Innovative territories

INTERC_8
Economic performance and competitiveness

INTERC_9
Polycentric territorial development

INTERC_10
Social inclusion and quality of life

INTERC_11
Territorial Cooperation and Governance

INTERC_12
Cohesion reportsEU cohesion policy and territorial cohesion

Every three years the Commission publishes a Cohesion report. These reports provide an update on the progress made towards achieving economic, social and territorial cohesion.

COHREP
Second Cohesion Report

Second report on economic and social cohesion (January 2001): "Enlarging solidarity, uniting Europe"

COHREP_1
Third Cohesion Report

Third report on economic and social cohesion (February 2004): "A new partnership for cohesion: convergence competitiveness cooperation"

COHREP_2
Fourth Cohesion Report

Fourth report on economic and social cohesion (May 2007): "Growing regions, Growing Europe"

COHREP_3
Fifth Cohesion Report

Fifth report on economic and social cohesion (November 2010): "Investing in Europe’s future"

COHREP_4

Appendix E. List of Themes Composing the ESPON Thematic Classification

The following table introduces the ESPON Thematic Classification, that is to be used in ESPON indicators metadata:

Table E.1. The ESPON Thematic Classification

CodeTheme
economyFinanceAndTradeEconomy, finance and trade
populationAndLivingConditionsPopulation and living conditions
labourMarketLabour Market
educationEducation
healthAndSafetyHealth and Safety
informationSocietyInformation Society
agricultureAndFisheriesAgriculture and fisheries
transportAndAccessibilityTransport and Accessibility
environmentAndEnergyEnvironment and Energy
scienceAndTechnologyScience and Technology
governanceGovernance
territorialStructureTerritorial Structure

In the metadata, either the code or title of the theme may be used to specify the value.

Appendix F. INSPIRE Topic Categories

This appendix proposes the possible values for the "Topic Category" field described in Section 1.3.1.10. At least one theme must be specified for a dataset, it must be the "main theme(s) of the dataset" [2] (p 2.3.1). According to the INSPIRE directive rules [3] (page 10), the theme must be taken from the INSPIRE Directive theme list. Consequently, the possible codes for the "Topic Category" field (see Section 1.3.1.10) are given in the first column of this Table F.1, whose content is based on the references [2], [3] and [4].

Table F.1. INSPIRE Topic Category

Code

Category

Description

farming

Farming

Rearing of animals and/or cultivation of plants.

biota

Biota

Flora and/or fauna in natural environment.

boundaries

Boundaries

Legal land descriptions.

climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere

Climatology / Meteorology / Atmosphere

Processes and phenomena of the atmosphere.

economy

Economy

Economic activities, conditions and employment.

elevation

Elevation

Height above or below sea level.

environment

Environment

Environmental resources, protection and conservation.

geoscientificInformation

Geoscientific Information

Information pertaining to earth sciences.

health

Health

Health, health services, human ecology, and safety.

imageryBaseMapsEarthCover

Imagery / Base Maps / Earth Cover

Base maps.

intelligenceMilitary

Intelligence / Military

Military bases, structures, activities.

inlandWaters

Inland Waters

Inland water features, drainage systems and their characteristics.

location

Location

Positional information and services.

oceans

Oceans

Features and characteristics of salt water bodies (excluding inland waters).

planningCadastre

Planning / Cadastre

Information used for appropriate actions for future use of the land.

society

Society

Characteristics of society and cultures.

structure

Structure

Man-made construction.

transportation

Transportation

Means and aids for conveying persons and/or goods.

utilitiesCommunication

Utilities / Communication

Energy, water and waste systems and communications infrastructure and services.


Appendix G. List of Literals Defining an Indicator Value Nature

The following table lists the character string values expected for the Nat Type property of the Indicator Identification element.

Table G.1. Indicator Values Nature Types

CodeNameDescriptionSub-type CodeSub-type NameDescription
AAbsoluteThe values represent absolute count numbers.AFAbsolute flowsThe values represent absolute count numbers of flow phenomena.
ASAbsolute stocksThe values represent absolute count numbers characterizing the objects of study.
RRelativeThe values represent relative characteristics of the objects of study.RARankThe values represent rankings of the objects of study among comparable objects.
RCRelative CompositeThe values are relative calculated composite indexes.
RRRelative RatiosThe values are relative calculated ratios.
TTypologyThe values represent a typology of the objects of study.TCTerritory ClassificationThe values represent a typology of spatial/territorial objects.
TSSpecific Territories (geography)The values represent a specific geographical typology of spatial objects.
UUndefined The nature of the values cannot be defined. This value is not considered as a valid metadata value and, if used temporarily, will be replaced for data integration by another value in this list.

Appendix H. Proposal of XLM Data Structure to Store ESPON Data

The present annex contains a proposal of an XML structure that can be used to store data parts of ESPON datasets.

Actually, the only file format to use to represent data parts of ESPON datasets is a tabular (MS Excel) format. For data processing in Web applications on clients' side, it could be useful to propose rules to represent data in XML format. It has never been done during the first phase of ESPON projects, that is why this annex introduces a possible XML structure for data parts of ESPON datasets.

The XML data structure should make part of the esponMD name space and extension of the ISO 19115 standard, to establish more compatibility for external users.

Any data XML file should be separate from the respective metadata XML, though linked with it by the corresponding properties described in the Model. In many cases, the size of a data file will be much larger than the one of a metadata file in a dataset.

We propose the following XML data file structure:

<!-- the root node -->
<esponMD:data> <!-- identifies the dataset: only one instance possible -->
<esponMD:dataset>
<!-- a standard gmd node can be used here to
identify the dataset by name, project and date -->

<gmd:CI_Citation [...] />
<!-- as another possibility, datasets can be
identified by fileIdentifier ISO property -->

</esponMD:dataset>
<!-- introduces the data part -->
<esponMD:values> <!-- only one instance -->
<!-- the data are firstly grouped by nomenclature versions,
linked to the metadata by the label -->

<esponMD:spatial esponMD:versionLabel="NUTS2006"> <!-- at least one instance -->
<!-- the data are then grouped by nomenclature levels -->
<esponMD:level esponMD:levelTitle="NUTS_1"> <!-- at least one instance -->
<!-- then they are grouped by indicators -->
<esponMD:indicatorRef esponMD:code="indic01"> <!-- at least one instance -->
<!-- the last grouping is made by time periods -->
<esponMD:period esponMD:start="2010" esponMD:end="2011"> <!-- at least one instance -->
<!-- finally, the values with source labels references -->
<esponMD:value esponMD:src="ref1a">0.00015246896</esponMD:value> <!-- at least one instance -->
</esponMD:period>
</esponMD:indicatorRef>
</esponMD:level>
</esponMD:spatial>
</esponMD:values>
</esponMD:data>

Appendix I. Main Changes

This appendix proposes a listing of main changes that have occurred between the different revisions of this document.

  • 1.8 (r1683) (2014-02-12)

    In Appendix C, the project with acronym ESPON entitled ESPON Programme was added in order to represent all ESPON projects coming after December 2014.

  • 1.7 (r1411) (2013-09-23)

    In Appendix D, the Territorial Objects policy group has been removed, the INTERCO relevant indicators policy group label has been renamed to Indicators for Territorial Cohesion (this update does not impact the expected codes).

  • 1.6 (r1341) (2013-06-03)

    Regarding the ESPON thematic classification, see Appendix E:

    • Deletion of the column "code" assigning a numeric identifier to a theme. Column names have been renamed.

      • In older versions, a theme was defined like this: "02" (code), "populationAndLivingConditions" (literal), "Population and living conditions" (theme).

      • Now, a theme must be defined like this: "populationAndLivingConditions"(code), "Population and living conditions" (theme)

  • 1.5 (r1209) (2013-06-03)

    Regarding the policy codes, see Appendix D:

    • Update of the labels for the INTERCO classification codes INTERC_6 to INTERC_11.

    • Add of a new INTERCO topic, labeled Territorial Cooperation and Governance, its code is INTERC_12

  • 1.4 (r1032) (2013-04-23)

    Update of the possible values for the nomenclatures references: see Appendix B.

    Add of a few constraints for the definition of indicators of type enumeration, see Important: constraints regarding the enumeration type.

  • 1.3 (r997) (2013-04-03)

    Main changes in this revision of the document:

    1. The list of ESPON Projects given in Appendix C has been updated. Some acronyms have changed (example: OMT is now RIMAP), and the list now includes references to the Projects of the ESPON 2006 Program.

    2. The list of policies classifications in Appendix D has been completed for the INTERCO Relevant Indicators Policy Group. For compatibility reasons, the previous metadata codes from INTERC_1 to INTERC_5 are still available, but please now use the new items referenced by metadata codes from INTERC_6 to INTERC_11, e.g.:

      • Access to services - INTERC_6

      • High ecological values - INTERC_7

      • Innovative territories - INTERC_8

      • Local economies - INTERC_9

      • Polycentric development - INTERC_10

      • Quality of life - INTERC_11

    3. In References, the URLs to the INSPIRE Web Portal have been updated (the previous links have been unavailable for some months). To avoid any missing external references, the Appendix F has been added to this document in order to provide the users with the list of possible values for the "Topic Category" field described in Section 1.3.1.10.

  • 1.2 (r674) (2012-10-16)

    In Table E.1, the theme code 03 has been updated from "Labor Market" to Labour Market". Its associated literal value has also been updated, from "laborMarket" to "labourMarket". The example given in Section 2.4.2.5 has been consequently updated.

References

Regulations and Standards

[1] European Commission. INSPIRE Directive. Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community. March 14th, 2007. European Commission Web Portal (last visit: 2011-08-18). .

[2] Drafting Team Metadata and European Commission Joint Research Centre. INSPIRE Metadata Implementing Rules: Technical Guidelines based on EN ISO 19115 and EN ISO 19119 (Revised edition). MD_IR_and_ISO_20090218.pdf (last visit: 2013-04-02).

[3] European Commission. Commission Regulation (EC) No 1205/2008 of 3 December 2008 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards metadata. Text with EEA relevance. European Commission Web Portal (last visit: 2011-08-18).

[4] European Commission. View Registry Item - INSPIRE Registry. 164. metadata element - Topic category. https://inspire-registry.jrc.ec.europa.eu/registers/GLOSSARY/items/164 (last visit: 2013-04-02).

[5] European Environment Agency (EEA). General Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus. Eionet Web Portal (last visit: 2011-08-19).

[6] International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Geographic information - Metadata. ISO 19115. Available in ISO catalog (last visit: 2011-08-18). .

[7] International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Codelists for description of metadata datasets compliant with ISO/TC 211 19115:2003 and 19139. gmxCodelist (last visit: 2013-04-23).

[8] International Telecommunication Union. Notation for national and international telephone numbers. Recommendation E.123. November 1988. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-E.123-198811-S/en (last visit: 2011-07-21).

[9] ESPON Program. Terms and Conditions of Use. Text of the Agreement (last visit: 2011-08-21).

Other Resources

[10] Claude Grasland and Ronan Ysebaert. The Core Database Strategy – A new paradigm for data collection at regional level. 2012. ESPON 2013 DATABASE Web Application. To be published in June 2012..

[11] ESPON M4D. ESPON Nomenclature Support. ESPON Database Portal (Help section).

[12] ESPON M4D. ESPON Dictionnary of Spatial Units. ESPON Database Portal (Help section).

[13] Eurostat. History of NUTS. Eurostat portal (last visit: 2011-07-21).

About

This document is part of the ESPON 2013 Database Phase 2 project, also known as M4D (Multi Dimension Database Design and Development). It was generated on the 2014-12-19 17:32:09, from the sources of the m4d forge imag project at the svn rev 2420.

The main author of this document is Anton Telechev (LIG STeamer, between July 2011 and September 2012), with the contribution of UMS RIATE and LIG STeamer M4D Partners.

For any comment question or suggestion, please contact .

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Based on DocBook technology [1], this document is written in XML format, sources are validated with DocBook DTD 4.5CR3, then sources are transformed to HTML and PDF formats by using DocBook xslt 1.73.2 stylesheets. The generation of the documents is automatized thanks to the docbench LIG STeamer project that is based on Ant [2], java [3], processors Xalan[4] and FOP [5]. Note that Xslt standard stylesheets are customized in order to get a better image resolution in PDF generated output for admonitions icons: the generated sizes of these icons were turned from 30 to 12 pt.



[1] [on line] DocBook.org (last visit: July 2011)

[2] [on line] Apache Ant - Welcome. Version 1.7.1 (last visit: July 2011)

[3] [on line] Developer Resources For Java Technology (last visit: July 2011). Version 1.6.0_03-b05.

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