Spatial Data Taxonomy Pam Keller Bureau of Land Management
March 2011
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SDT is a comprehensive framework for organizing and
standardizing geospatial data. Photo credits-Bureau of Land
Management, Burns District Office, Mark Armstrong & others
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Wildfire Plant Survey Roads Climate Wilderness Fauna Chemical
Treatment County Vegetation Water Sampling Harvest Watershed
Geology Fencing Recreation Sites Cultural Sites Land Status Energy
Potential Prescribed Fire Urban Zoning
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Wildfire Roads Fauna County Recreation Sites Land Status
Prescribed Fire Wilderness Vegetation Cultural Sites Fencing Urban
Zoning Range GISTimber GIS Recreation GIS Realty GISFuels GIS
Harvest Land Status Chemical Treatment Watershed Water Sampling
Climate Water GIS
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Wildfire Roads Climate Wilderness Fauna Chemical Treatment
County Vegetation Water Sampling Harvest Watershed Fencing
Recreation Sites Land Status Energy Potential Prescribed Fire
Wilderness Vegetation Cultural Sites Climate Roads Fencing Urban
Zoning Range GISTimber GIS Recreation GIS Realty GISFuels GIS
Watershed Harvest Water Sampling Cultural Sites Chemical Treatment
Land Status Recreation Sites Urban Zoning Prescribed Fire Chemical
Treatment Vegetation Climate Fencing Range GIS Water Sampling
Prescribed Fire Chemical Treatment Watershed Vegetation Climate
Water GIS Water Sampling Chemical Treatment Roads
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Design Flaws Perspective too narrowdesigning for current data
and uses Complex data structures, hard to maintain Software
dependent, not robust over time
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SDT Design Principles Well-defined and understood data Holistic
organization Store once, use many Simplify
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Philosophy behind the SDT What is a taxonomy? A system for
describing and representing similarity of properties, behaviors,
relationships and constraints within a particular domain
(group).
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What is spatial data? Both the location & data about the
location. What is geography? Study of the earth & its lands,
features, inhabitants & phenomena. Branches of geography Human
geography Physical geography Environmental geography Translate to
high-level categories of the SDT
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SDT Resources Physical Geography Boundaries Human Geography
Activities Human Geography Environmental Geography
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SDT Domain is Natural Resources
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And their Management
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Haecceity: discrete, unique properties, the essence of a
particular thing (John Duns Scotus) Quiddity: universal, shared
qualities, the whatness of a thing Somewhat like species and genus
(Aristotle) Essence is the set of attributes that make an object
what it is, without which it loses its identity (Leibniz) Ontology:
formal representation of knowledge by a set of concepts within a
domain (Heidegger) These concepts are important in identifying the
lowest level of SDT, the elemental,atomic entities Philosophy of
Categorizing Data
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The Essence of Data Entities in SDT What inherent rather than
interpreted or derived What -- rather than who, how, when, why What
-- the definition of a thing What -- inclusivity and mutual
exclusivity What includes the characteristics that make it a
particular thing and those that it shares Drives the SDT structure
& feature classes
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Wildfire Plant Survey Roads Climate Wilderness Fauna Chemical
Treatment County Vegetation Water Sampling Harvest Watershed
Geology Fencing Recreation Sites Cultural Sites Land Status Energy
Potential Prescribed Fire Urban Zoning
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Wildfire Climate Fauna Chemical County Vegetation Water
Sampling Harvest Watershed Fencing Cultural Sites Land Status
Energy Potential Prescribed Fire Wilderness Roads Recreation Sites
Urban Zoning GIS Resources Boundaries Activities
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SDT Overview Three categories at the highest level. Resources :
physically existing raw materials of natural resource management.
Activities: human activities (physically manifested) associated
with natural resources. Boundaries: human constructs (concept or
description) with no physical existence, bounding areas of
regulation/restriction on resource management.
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Vertical/Inherited Relationships Resources Activities
Boundaries Species Occurrence Landscape Cover Potential Resource
Water Climate Terrain Sampling Survey Structures Treatments Land
Status Planning Designations Political Administrative
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Other inherent data qualities Basic who/how/when/why attributes
Spatial characteristics Creation and use of the data Update
frequency (dynamic vs static) Accuracy needs Similarities group
naturally within the SDT hierarchy and already defined atomic
entities
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Horizontal Relationships: Cause&Effect Interdependence
Business Cases Activities take place on, in or with Resources
inside some Boundary
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Horizontal Relationships between Feature Classes Species
Occurrence: Survey ID Sample ID Landscape Cover: Current Veg Sample
ID Sampling: Sample ID Survey: Survey ID Structures: Trtmt ID Plan
ID Treatments: Trtmt ID Plan ID Special Designation Area: Plan ID
Planning Area: Plan ID
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Relationships between Feature Classes and External Databases
Resources Activities Boundaries Species Occurrence Landscape Cover
Potential Resource Water Climate Terrain Sampling Survey Structures
Treatments Land Status Planning Designations Political
Administrative Basic - Detailed Relationship
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Overlay of Weeds Chemically treated in County X on BLM. Master
-- Derived Relationships Species Occurrence Political Boundaries
County X Weeds Land Status BLM Surface Jurisdiction Treatments
Chemical
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Example Implementation: OR/WA BLM Called the Oregon Data
Framework, ODF Taxonomy represented in UML Lowest levels (feature
classes) automatically inherit from higher levels (abstract
classes) Domains shared among many feature classes New data
standards quickly implemented Includes creation of the feature
classes and population from scattered data sources Full framework
more than half implemented
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Benefits Simplified data structures make maintenance easier
Reduced redundancy and inconsistency Improved accuracy and currency
Better defined data and data analyses Data more accessible and
sharable Robust when HW/SW changes
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The art of ranking things in genera and species is of no small
importance and very much assists our judgment as well as our
memory. You know how much it matters in botany, not to mention
animals and other substances, or again moral and notional entities
as some call them. Order largely depends on it, and many good
authors write in such a way that their whole account could be
divided and subdivided according to a procedure related to genera
and species. This helps one not merely to retain things, but also
to find them. Gottfried Leibniz, New Essays on Human Understanding,
1704 The world of spatial data is in need of systematic taxonomy.
The spatial representation of geographical entities, as a whole,
and according to their inherent qualities is still lacking.
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Questions or Comments? Contact: Pam Keller (541) 573-4486
[email protected]
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Resources Subcategories Species Occurrence - Specific locations
of plant and animal species and change over time. Overlapping
polygons. Core attributes include species, discovery date, revisit
date, a link to survey area, accuracy, season of use for fauna and
% cover for flora. Water Inland water on the surface of the earth.
Points, lines and polys. Core attributes include USGS name, local
or special name, flow, fish presence, riparian condition, water
quality, link to water rights data. Landscape Cover Entities that
can be thought of as covering the surface of the earth from wall to
wall such as soil and plant communities. Ecological Potential (Soil
and potential plant community/ecological site) and Current Cover
(dominant plant community). Wildfire Wildland fire started through
natural, accidental or malicious causes. Overlapping polygons and
points for ignition points and very small fires. Core attributes
include name, incident number, date, cause code. Geology
Formations, Faults Climate Precipitation isolines and zones,
Lightning, Air Quality, Wind Zone, Temperature Zone, Solar
Insolation Cultural Sites location of archeological finds Terrain
Entities describing the shape of the earths surface. Elevation
contours and zones, Landform, Viewshed, Aspect, Slope, Hydrologic
Unit (watershed), Physiographic Province Potential Resource Group
of entities for predicting the natural world when direct
measurement is not possible. These are futures or past oriented:
what we think the physical resource looked like in the past or will
look like in the future. Does not refer to a representative model.
These are new entities created from two or more other entities.
Mineral potential, Energy Potential, Wildlife Habitat Potential,
Fire Behavior, Cultural Site Prediction, Flora Site Prediction,
Visual Resources Inventory, Wilderness Characteristics Inventory.
Core attributes include date and method.
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Activities Subcategories Treatment Deliberate human action for
the purpose of natural resource management that results in
alteration of the landscape. Overlapping polygons track multiple
treatments through time. Core attributes include name, method,
agent, purpose, target, date, and links to the authorizing plan and
planning databases. Prescribed Fire, Harvest, Mechanical,
Revegetation, Chemical, Biological and Protection with feature
classes for both completed and proposed treatment. Proposed
treatments have an attributes for status. Survey Location of
deliberately searched areas. Overlapping polygons track repeated
surveys through time. Core attributes include name, date, method,
surveyor, survey target, found flag. links to Species Occurrence if
found. Flora Survey, Fauna Survey, Weed Survey, Archaeology Survey,
Reforestation Survey. Sampling Deliberately collected data recorded
at specific point locations. Specific data and methodology details
and repeated measurements through time are kept in external, linked
tables. Point data. Includes vegetation sample plots, timber stand
exams, soil pits, stream sample points, prism (climate) plots,
wildlife observation points, treatment monitoring points and many
others. Could all be combined on one feature class. Core attributes
include XY coordinates with projection, general sample type, sample
identifier, method, last sample date, direction, accuracy, and
links to resource feature or treatment feature. One feature class.
Structures Human-built structures, construction. Two feature
classes, Lines and points. Existing and proposed. Polygons created
from lines or points if necessary using radius attribute. Lines
created from points if necessary with side length attribute. Core
attributes include name, special name, structure type, date
constructed, maintenance responsibility, closure status, easement
flag, condition, material, agent, and links to the authorizing plan
and to maintenance and budget databases. Line structures include
roads and trails, pipelines, fences. Point structures include
gates, culverts, water development, towers, toilets, quarries,
buildings, boat ramps, airstrips. Smaller structure features
(picnic tables, signs, spigots, etc) kept in XY tables.
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Boundaries Subcategories Political & Administrative
Boundaries related to public policy and law or to the management of
government entity jurisdictions. Core attributes include name and
information about the authorizing instrument. Feature classes
include Wilderness, declared Roadless Areas, National Historic
Districts, Wild & Scenic River Corridors, National Monuments,
Endangered Species Critical Habitat, Grazing Allotments, Wildhorse
Herd Areas, Urban Growth Boundary, BLM Resource Areas, National
Forests, Counties, Congressional Districts and Census Blocks. New
Political & Administrative boundary proposals are relatively
rare. Special Management Area Boundaries for special areas created
or updated through land use planning efforts. Core attributes
include name, special values, management restrictions, plan name.
Wall-to-wall designation zones for OHV, Mineral Stipulation, Land
Tenure, Right-of-Way Avoidance, Visual Resource Management, Fire
Management. Selected areas for Riparian Preserve, Forest Preserve,
Wildlife Management, Special Recreation Management, Research
Natural Areas, Special Products. Feature classes for proposed SMA
boundaries are created when a new plan is initiated and include an
additional attribute for planning alternative. When the plan is
approved Proposed SMA boundaries are incorporated into existing SMA
boundary features and then archived. Land Status Entities
containing official description of land parcels and the legal
rights and restrictions on land parcels. All features are snapped
to the Geographic Coordinate Database points (survey grid). Feature
classes include Township/Range/Section/ , Surface Jurisdiction,
Subsurface (mineral estate) Ownership, Easement/Right-of-Way areas
and lines, Withdrawals, Claims and Leases, and Land Tenure Transfer
(history of acquisition and disposal). Core attributes include
type, right holder name or code, and case file (serial) number that
links to the legal record. Proposed Land Tenure Transfer updates
Surface and Subsurface ownership as well as existing Land Tenure
Transfer. Encumbrances (easement/right-of-way, withdrawal, claims,
leases ) also have feature classes for proposed and include an
attribute for proposal status. Plan or Project Boundary - Any area
where a multi-year plan for specific action or set of actions will
be analyzed and perhaps undertaken. Many overlapping polygons. Core
attributes include plan name, date, stage, and identifier used as
the link to treatments, surveys, structures and special management
areas authorized by the plan.