Geocode

GEOCODEs are used to geo-reference the origin of data values in space and time. In the data numeric and data text tables of Pangaea, each value is geo-referenced, using some of the geocodes listed below (with ID in brackets). Geocodes are written in capital letters, are defined as Real values and thus can be configured to any precision (an exception is DATE/TIME, see below).

The list of GEOCODEs can be downloaded from Pangaea in html or text format. (Example files are given with DOI).

Most important and mandatory geocodes for georeferenced data are the geographical coordinates:
 * LATITUDE (1600)
 * LONGITUDE (1601)
 * For data sets from a single location the coordinated latitude and longitude are defined through the event.
 * For data sets from many locations or horizontal profiles a fully georeferenced data set is imported, which contains the coordinates (in decimal degree) for each line in two columns.

For the third spatial dimension the system provides different options. Only one of the following geocodes can be used at a time: In case it is scientificaly important to know the relative distance from ground (e.g. bottom water samples or a flight close to the ice surface), a parameter
 * DEPTH, depending on the origin of the data use:
 * DEPTH, sediment [m] (1 or m or cm) depending on the unit of the import data.
 * DEPTH, water [m] (1619)
 * DEPTH, ice [m] (5059)
 * ELEVATION [m] (8128) for samples taken on the earth surface, relative to sea level (above s.l. + positive, below s.l. - negative)
 * ALTITUDE [m] (4607) for measurements in meter above ground (not above sea level), i.e. in the air; example:
 * Height above ground/altitude (21893) may be used (which is NOT a geocode). In most cases also the absolute geocode should be calculated and added to the data.

Not real spatial geocodes, but to be used for a relative spatial orientation of data, are:
 * DISTANCE [cm] (2920) relative measure in an object, e.g. coral, tree, shell, nodule
 * POINT DISTANCE from start [m] (26097) relative distance along a horizontal transect
 * SECTION, height [m] (25539) relative hight of a vertical profile
 * ORDINAL NUMBER (6262) may be used, if no third dimension is given and samples should just kept in order.

A data set can only have ONE vertical spatial geocode but may ALSO have a time geocode:
 * AGE [kyr] (2205) for geological ages
 * Age, minimum/young (6167) and
 * Age maximum/old (6168) are NOT geocodes but may be used if a time span needs to be defined more precisely.
 * DATE/TIME (1599) for time series. The export format follows the ISO-standard 8601; example: 2006-02-18T14:45:41. Any fraction of the full ISO can be defined on the config card of a data set in the format menue. Also format for week of the year (YYYY-Www) and quartal of the year (YYYY-Qq) are provided. If a relative time is needed, e.g. for experiments, use hh:mm:ss. The DATEPART-formats will reduce a date to e.g. year or day. For the import of events date and time are in two fields and should have the format as defined through the operating system. When importing data sets, date/time are given in one field/column (headed by the ID 1599) and may have any valid format. DATE/TIME is defined in Sybase as a date/time-field and thus any valid format will be converted automaticaly to ISO.
 * Date/time start (7020) and
 * Date/time end (7021) are NOT geocodes but may be used if more date/time fields are required to precisely define a time span. Both are just text parameters and thus should be imported already in the appropriate ISO-format.

Logos for different geocodes: