Intern:Topologic type

The topologic type of a data set:

Even if all data sets stored in the relational model of pangaea are technically consistent, the sets can have different spatial and temporal coverage and different configurations. If importing or editing the meta-description of a data set in 4th Dimension, the Topologic type has to be set on the ‚Details‘ card to define the type the set belongs to. In principle PANGAEA does not archive any gridded or interpolated data sets.

Type POINT

(1) Event label (station/sample/measurement point) defined by one lat/long pair of coordinates with related data sets having 1 to n parameters measured. Example : 106219, 115194; dimension: 0; type: point

(2) Event label defined by one lat/long pair of coordinates and having a third spatial dimension (depth, elevation, altitude). 1 to n data sets with 1 to n parameters. (This is the most common data set type). Example: 50554, 126430; dimension: 1; type: vertical profile

(3) Event label defined by one lat/long pair of coordinates and having a third temporal dimension (date/time or age). 1 to n data sets with 1 to n parameters can be related. Example: 55684; dimension: 0; type: time series

Type VECTOR

(4) Event label defined by two lat/long pairs of coordinates defining begin and end of a horizontal profile. The related data set(s) are ‚completely georeferenced‘ which means, that data sets include lat and long for each line. A third spatial dimension (depth) can be added. Mostly the temporal geocode date/time is added, sorting the data in time along the vector line. The spatial coverage is calculated by the system during the import; it is given by the coordinates of the upper left and the lower right corner of a rectangle around the vector. Example: 90773; dimension: 2; type: horizontal profile/vector

Type AREA

(5) Randomly distributed points on an area where the data points are related to event labels or just have a georeference in the data set. A third spatial and or temporal dimension (depth/age) might be added to define the vertical position of the area, but must always contain the same value. As in (4) the spatial coverage is calculated by the system during the import; it is given by the coordinates of the upper left and the lower right corner of a rectangle around all data points. Example: 90773; dimension: 2; type: area/2D/surface

(6) Randomly distributed points on an area where the points are event labels or are georeferenced in the data set. A third spatial dimension (depth/distance/elevation) is added to define the vertical position of each value. Example: ?; dimension: 3; type: area/3D

(7) To a three dimensional data set as defined in (6) also the time might be added, forming a four dimensional data set. Example: ?; dimension: 4; type: area/4D

Type NO_GEO

(8) Tables having data without a georeference will only be listed in PangaVista. Data might be results of experiments with a time coding only or just ‚tables‘. (They may have an ordinal number as a sorting criteria included). Those data sets can be related to the event label ‚not_given‘ which has -999.999 used for lat/long and which will not appear in the metaheader. Example: 127230; no dimension; type: uncoded table

(9) If for any reason, a data set can not be imported to the relational system, it can be stored as a flat file on the PANGAEA web server. In this case a data description is defined without a relation to an event. The link to the file (or directory containing the files) must be typed in on the ‚Web‘ card in the URL field and the box ‚static‘ must be checked. No export filename should be given. Example: 82321; no dimension; type: link to flat file

See also an ESRI article about the marine data model and topology of data sets at: http://www.pangaea.de/curator/files/esri_marine_data_model.pdf