Dear MODS/MADS Community,

This is a reminder the MODS/MADS Editorial Committee is looking for use cases for geospatial information in MODS. Please send any use cases you have to the MODS list - we'd like MODS to evolve to handle this type of information in a way that's useful to you.

Thanks,

Jenn Riley
Chair, MODS/MADS Editorial Committee

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Metadata Object Description Schema List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Riley, Jenn
> Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 9:19 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [MODS] geospatial information in MODS - call for use cases
>
> Dear MODS/MADS community,
>
> In considering changes for future versions of MODS, the MODS/MADS
> Editorial Committee is starting to think about how to better handle
> geospatial information. Detailed geospatial information in the form of
> coordinates, etc. is becoming more and more common and can promote many
> innovative user interactions with resources. Currently MODS has poor
> support for this information.
>
> The committee would like to bring together use cases for supporting
> geospatial access to resources from MODS and/or MADS implementations.
> We are interested both in use cases that you already have in your
> MODS/MADS implementation and that any local geospatial experts you have
> access to can provide, to help us inform how MODS and/or MADS should
> evolve to better handle this information. It should be noted this
> discussion came to the Editorial Committee from the more specific
> geospatial elements (latitude/longitude,
> equinox/epoch) in RDA, although we want to look beyond RDA for guidance
> in this decision.
>
> So far, we have identified the following use cases for geospatial data:
>
> - To allow resources with a geospatial component (interpreted widely)
> to be plotted on an interactive map-based interface
> - Interactively overlaying different maps, including aerial
> photographs, digitized historic maps, and current maps in a GIS
> environment
> - To index coordinate data about the geographic coverage of a resource
> for retrieval purposes
> - To index coordinate data about the geographic origin of a resource
> for retrieval purposes
>
> What others can you provide?
>
> Are there more specific use cases both for geospatial *coverage* (what
> a resource is about or represents) and geospatial *origin* (where a
> resource is from, for example, a soil sample)? This distinction seems
> important but it would be useful to understand what is done differently
> in each case.
>
> There is some question as to whether the appropriate place for this
> information is MODS or MADS - thoughts on this issue? Should MODS/MADS
> be looking to embedding or referencing other standards for this
> information, and, if so, which and where? What is the best balance
> between functionality (and potentially complexity) and ease of
> creation/maintenance/use?
>
> We look forward to hearing discussion on this issue - it's a complex
> but important one that will benefit from community contribution.
>
> Jenn Riley, Chair, MODS/MADS Editorial Committee
>
> ========================
> Jenn Riley
> Metadata Librarian
> Digital Library Program
> Indiana University - Bloomington
> Wells Library W501
> (812) 856-5759
> www.dlib.indiana.edu
>
> Inquiring Librarian blog: www.inquiringlibrarian.blogspot.com