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Abstract

Encoding is the process of coding geographic information defined by application schemas (Chap. 1) into a system-independent data structure suitable for transport and storage. The inverse process is called decoding. The resulting data structure may be stored on digital media or transferred over a network using transfer protocols. While the data structure is intended to be read and interpreted by computers, it may be in a form that is human-readable. In order to allow for unambiguous encoding and decoding of data without loss of information, rules are needed to specify the types of data to be coded and the syntax, structure, and coding schemes used in the resulting data structure. Such encoding rules decouple the representation of data during transport or storage from the representation for other purposes such as spatial analysis, presentation to the user, etc.

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Abbreviations

CSV:

comma-separated values

Esri:

Environmental Systems Research Institute

FTP:

File Transfer Protocol

GML:

Geography Markup Language

GMLJP2:

GML in JPEG 2000 for Geographic Imagery

GeoRSS:

Really Simple Syndication for geographic information

GeoTIFF:

Geography TIFF 6.0

HTML:

Hypertext Markup Language

HTTP:

Hypertext Transfer Protocol

ISO:

International Organization for Standardization

IT:

information technology

JPEG:

Joint Photographic Experts Group

JSON:

JavaScript Object Notation

KML:

Keyhole Markup Language

MDA:

Model driven architecture

MIF:

MapInfo Interchange Format

MIME:

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

OGC:

Open Geospatial Consortium

OMG:

Object Management Group

OWL:

Web Ontology Language

PDF:

portable document format (Adobe)

PIM:

platform-independent model

PSM:

platform-specific model

RSS:

Really Simple Syndication

SVG:

Scalable Vector Graphics

TC:

Technical Committee

TIFF:

tagged image file format

UML:

Unified Modeling Language

W3C:

World Wide Web Consortium

X3D:

XML-based file format for representing 3D computer graphics

XML:

Extensible Markup Language

netCDF:

network Common Data Form

References

  1. INSPIRE Drafting Team: INSPIRE D2.7, Guidelines for the encoding of spatial data, Version 3.2 (INSPIRE Drafting Team Data Specifications, Ispra 2010) available from http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/Data_Specifications/D2.7_v3.2.pdf

  2. Geography Markup Language (GML): Version 3.2, OGC Document 07-036 (Open Geospatial Consortium, Bloomington 2007) available from http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/gml

  3. ISO 19136:2007: Geographic Information – Geography Markup Language (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva 2007)

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  4. OGC KML, Version 2.2 (Open Geospatial Consortium, Wayland 2011) available from http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/kml

  5. ISO/DIS 19118: Geographic Information – Encoding (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva 2009)

    Google Scholar 

  6. ISO/TS 19139: Geographic Information – Metadata – XML Schema Implementation (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  7. W3C: XML Schema Part 0, XML Schema Part 0: Primer. W3C Recommendation (28 October 2004), available at http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-0/

  8. M. Ashbridge: MIME media type: Application (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), Washington 2006) available from http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml

  9. C. Portele: Technical Committee Policies and Procedures: MIME Media Types for GML (Open Geospatial Consortium Inc., Bloomington 2010) available from http://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=37743

  10. W3C XLink: XML linking language, Version 1.0, W3C Recommendation (2001) available from http://www.w3.org/TR/xlink/

  11. W3C: XML, Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0, 5th edn., W3C Recommendation (26 November 2008), available from http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/

  12. The Unicode Consortium: http://unicode.org/ (Mountain View, 2010)

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Correspondence to Clemens Portele .

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© 2011 Springer-Verlag

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Portele, C. (2011). Encoding of Geographic Information. In: Kresse, W., Danko, D. (eds) Springer Handbook of Geographic Information. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-72680-7_4

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