Warning: This specification is deprecated and is only further used for already existing data products and workflows.


The commonly known GeoCSV format extends the CSV format with a geometry column (usually with WKT notation). The O2A GeoCSV specification extends the GeoCSV format with special requirements enabling it to be used in the automated O2A dataflow. Originally it was built upon (but should not be confused with) the NRT Data Format but has undergone major changes since then. Also it's heavily influenced by PANGAEA formats (Geocodes, .tab format).

Version 2.0

When storing data in O2A GeoCSV format, data and metadata go different ways. Data (including their spatio-temporal location) go into a data file and metadata go into a metadata file. Data files and metadata files are linked together by file names. Multiple data files can be linked to the same metadata file.

The concept of parameter URNs (version 1.x) has been dropped.

Data Files (.sdi.tab)

Data files are GeoCSV files using the WKT notation for the description of the geometry. However, there are additional requirements.

An O2A GeoCSV data file starts with five columns holding most of the data's spatio-temporal information. The sixth column holds an event reference. Seventh to last but one column can contain actual data. The last column holds the horizontal coordinates as WKT notation. The following table gives an overview and detailed information.

Also some more general requirements and notes

column
type/group
column ordercolumn headervalue is
mandatory
descriptionexample values
spatio-temporal location1

date_time_start

yesDate and time of measurement in ISO 8601 format notation, using UTC time zone, without fractions of seconds. Or start of time range.

valid:    2019-02-28T15:50:00
invalid: 2019-02-28T15:50:00.000
invalid:
2019-02-28 15:50:00

 

2date_time_endno

End of time range of measurement in ISO 8601 format notation, using UTC time zone, without fractions of seconds.

see above
3elevation [m]no

Elevation in meter. A negative value means below sea level, while positive value means above sea level. See Pangaea Geocode definition.

Note: This is not the height/depth of the measurement (unless it's taken on earth's surface) but the topographical elevation at the lat/lon position.


4z_value [m]noVertical position of the measurement, in meter (third spatial dimension).
5z_typeyes, if
z_value [m]
is given
Pangaea Geocode to describe the type of z_value [m].

valid: "DEPTH, water"
valid: "DEPTH, sediment/rock"
valid: "HEIGHT above ground"
invalid: "HEIGHT above aeroplane"

metadata reference6event_nameyesName of event.

Reference key for metadata. event_name must match one event name in metadata file (if metadata file is used).
PS1010-1
data
<parameter> [<unit>]
no

Arbitrary amount of columns (at least one) with (measurement) data. Each column name has to start with the parameter/phenomenon name followed by a unit in square brackets. <parameter> and [<unit>] are separated by a single whitespace.

Reference key for metadata. <parameter> must match the parameter name in metadata file (if metadata file is used).


spatio-temporal locationlastgeometryyes

Geometry in WKT notation without third spatial dimension. The reference system needs to be EPSG:4326 and the unit is decimal degrees. Longitude comes first, latitude second. The geometry type can be chosen freely. However, a simple POINT is usually the best choice.

POINT (123.45678 -20.12345)

MULTILINESTRING ((8.58 53.55, 8.58 53.56, 8.57 53.55), (8.0 53.0, 9.0 54.0, 8.0 54.0))

Examples

PANGAEA-inspired example

date_time_start			z_value [m]	z_value_type	event_name	Pressure, at given altitude [hPa]	Temperature, air [°C]	geometry
1982-12-29T11:02:00		10    		Altitude		PS01/00001	1035.0								8.3      				POINT(-4.3 49.6)
1982-12-29T11:45:00		956      	Altitude 		PS01/00001	921.4								0.9      				POINT(-4.3 49.6)
1982-12-29T13:21:00		1035    	Altitude 		PS01/00001	912.4								0.2      				POINT(-4.3 49.6)

Inspired by: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.382336

Download of proper example data file: example-1.sdi.tab

Empty file with complete header

date_time_start	date_time_end	elevation [m]	z-value [m]	z-type	event_name	<parameter> [<unit>]	<parameter> [<unit>]	geometry

Download of template data file: template.sdi.tab

Metadata Files (.sdi.meta.json)

Metadata files are JSON files. There's a fixed structure with the possibility to add custom metadata.

On the top-level only these fixed keys/keywords are allowed: version, events, parameters, expeditions, platforms, projects, meta. version holds the used version of this specification, meta holds information valid for the whole dataset and the other keys hold lists of according elements. Those elements have their own fixed keys/keywords, including meta. Some fixed keys reference objects in other lists.

Meta is a special key to hold custom metadata. It has some fixed keywords but you can add as much of your own custom key-value pairs as you like. However, this data will only be displayed but not filterable.

The whole metadata file is optional. If the only metadata you want to have attached to your data is an event name, it is totally sufficient to have that in your data file. When using a metadata file, everything is optional except a version, a list of events with at least one event. Also, every entry in all of your lists (events, parameters, expeditions, platforms, projects) needs to have a name. If one of your list entries references to an entry in one of the other lists (see bullet points above) and that one does not exist it will be interpreted as an entry with just a name (see examples). Keys with empty values (<key> : "") are fine but useless and will be interpreted as if this key-value pair would have been left out.

Also, please read the JSON specs to know about things like how to escape special characters.

top level
keys
second level
keys
mandatorydescriptionexample values
version
yesused O2A Spatial GeoCSV specification"2.0"
events
yes


nameyesevent name, serves as metadata reference to data file"PS01/00001"

alias
event alias

expedition
name of expedition the event is part of,
references entry in expeditions list
"ANT-I/1"

platform
used platform,
references entry in expeditions list
"Polarstern"

device
used device"Radiosonde (RADIO)"

uri
URI/URL

meta
key-value pairs for custom event metadata
(see next table)

parameters
no


nameyesparameter name (reference key)"Temperature, air"

alias
parameter alias"TTT"

unit
unit of measurement"°C"

method



uri
URI/URL

meta
key-value pairs for custom parameter metadata
(see next table)

expeditions
no


nameyesexpedition name (reference key)"ANT-I/1"

alias
expedition alias"PS01"

uri
URI/URL"https://doi.org/10.2312/BzP_0014_1983"

meta
key-value pairs for custom metadata
(see next table)

platforms
no


nameyesplatform name (reference key)"Polarstern"

alias
platform alias

uri
URI/URL"https://doi.org/10.17815/jlsrf-3-163"

meta
key-value pairs for custom metadata
(see next table)

projects
no


nameyesproject name (reference key)"Meteorological Long-Term Observations @ AWI"

alias
project alias"AWI_Meteo"

uri
URI/URL"http://www.awi.de/en/science/long-term-observations.html"

meta
key-value pairs for custom project metadata
(see next table)

meta
nokey-value pairs for custom dataset metadata
(see next table)

meta
keys
descriptionexample values
pi_namename of principle investigator"König-Langlo, Gert"
pi_emailmail of principle investigator"gert.koenig-langlo[at]awi.de"
pi_urlhomepage of principle investigator"http://www.awi.de/en/about-us/organisation/staff/gert-koenig-langlo.html"
pi_orcidORCID of principle investigator"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6100-4107"
comment
"Height of tropopause 11650 m"
citation
"König-Langlo, Gert (1983): Radiosonde PS01/00001 during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-I/1 on 1982-12-29 11:24h. Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.382336
    In: König-Langlo, G (1983): Upper air soundings during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-I/1. Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.853633"
projectreferences entry in projects list
license
"Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)"
metadata_urllink to metadata"https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.382336?format=metadata_jsonld"
data_urllink to data"https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.382336?format=textfile"
sop_urllink to SOP information

Examples

Minimal example

// Minimal example of a metadata file (.sdi.meta.json), only containing version and one event with an expedition name
{
    "version": "2.0",
    "events": [
        {
            "name": "foo",
            "expedition": "bar"
        }
    ]
}


// Less minimal representation of the same metadata. Both versions are valid.
{
    "version": "2.0",
    "events": [
        {
            "name": "foo",
            "expedition": "bar"
        }
    ],
    "expeditions: [
        {
            "name": "bar",
            "alias": ""
        }
    ],
}

PANGAEA-inspired example

Inspired by: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.382336

{
    "version": "2.0",
    "events": [{
            "name": "PS01/00001",
            "expedition": "ANT-I/1",
            "platform": "Polarstern",
            "device": "Radiosonde (RADIO)",
            "meta": {
                "location": "English Channel"
            }
        }
    ],
    "parameters": [
       {
            "name": "Pressure, at given altitude",
            "alias": "PPP",
            "unit": "hPa",
            "meta": {
                "pi_name": "König-Langlo, Gert",
                "pi_email": "gert.koenig-langlo[at]awi.de",
                "pi_orcid": "https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6100-4107",
                "pi_url": "http://www.awi.de/en/about-us/organisation/staff/gert-koenig-langlo.html",
            }
        }, {
            "name": "Temperature, air",
            "alias": "TTT",
            "unit": "°C",
            "meta": {
                "pi_name": "König-Langlo, Gert",
                "pi_email": "gert.koenig-langlo[at]awi.de",
                "pi_orcid": "https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6100-4107",
                "pi_url": "http://www.awi.de/en/about-us/organisation/staff/gert-koenig-langlo.html",
            }
        }
    ],
    "expeditions": [{
            "name": "ANT-I/1",
            "alias": "PS01",
            "uri": "https://doi.org/10.2312/BzP_0014_1983"
        }
    ],
    "platforms": [{
            "name": "Polarstern",
            "uri": "https://doi.org/10.17815/jlsrf-3-163",
        }
    ],
    "projects": [{
            "name": "Meteorological Long-Term Observations @ AWI",
            "alias": "AWI_Meteo",
            "uri": "http://www.awi.de/en/science/long-term-observations.html",
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "citation": "König-Langlo, Gert (1983): Radiosonde PS01/00001 during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-I/1 on 1982-12-29 11:24h. Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.382336, In: König-Langlo, G (1983): Upper air soundings during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-I/1. Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.853633",
        "license": "Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)",
        "comment": "Height of tropopause 11650 m",
        "metadata_url": "https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.382336?format=metadata_jsonld",
        "data_url": "https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.382336?format=textfile",
        "sop_url": "",
    }
}

Empty file with complete keywords

Download: template.sdi.meta.json

File Naming, File Linking

Metadata files follow this naming pattern: <basename>.sdi.meta.json.

Data files follow this naming pattern: <basename>[@<handle>].sdi.tab.

All data files with the same <basename> are associated with the corresponding metadata file. The @<handle> can be used to have multiple data files with the same <basename>. Files can only have up to one handle, and '@' cannot be used anywhere else in filenames.

Examples

./path/to/data
|-- foo.sdi.meta.json
|-- foo@1999.sdi.tab
`-- foo@2000.sdi.tab

./path/to/data
|-- foo.sdi.meta.json
|-- foo.sdi.tab
|-- bar.sdi.meta.json
`-- bar.sdi.tab

./path/to/data
|-- foo.sdi.meta.json
|-- foo@part1.sdi.tab
|-- foo@part2.sdi.tab
|-- bar.sdi.meta.json
`-- bar.sdi.tab