CONTENTS

• Overview
• Using GEODE:
  • How can I find a specific location ?
  • What data is available for a specific area?
  • What data is available for a specific theme?
  • What does a data set look like?
• FGDC MetaData Standard

OVERVIEW

GEODE is designed to improve access to environmental, social and spatial data for university faculty and students. This prototype system contains census and DEM data. Much more content will be added to GEODE in later development phases.

GEODE is designed to answer four questions, depending upon research and teaching needs:

• How can I find a specific location?
  • use GEODE's GIS functionality to focus on specific areas
• What data is available for a specific area?
  • query GEODE to find data sets that cover a specified area
• What data is available for a specific theme?
  • for projects driven by availability of data, location is not as important
• What does a data set look like?
  • survey a data set online to determine if it meets your needs prior to downloading it

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USING GEODE

1. How can I find a specific location?

GEODE offers a suite of navigation tools that allow a researcher to locate an NTS map sheet, an enumeration area, a city/town/village/hamlet and other features in Alberta.

To customize navigation, you can turn map layers on and off or reorder layers in the DISPLAY tab to make viewing easier (just as you can in ArcView or MapInfo). Additionally, you can use the identify tool to click on roads, rivers and parks and have their Feature name pop up in the status bar on the bottom of the screen.

Using the pan and zoom tools you can navigate around the GEODE map. UTM coordinates and scale appear in the status bar. As you zoom, in cities and towns are supplemented by villages, then hamlets then unincorporated locations.

A drop down box on the display tab allows you to load larger layers. These layers are Enumeration Areas (for census geographers) and the 1:100 000 National Topographic Series (NTS) map grid for Alberta. Once these layers are loaded you can click on them in the map and have their feature name appear in the status bar.

These features, in combination, help you generally navigate to an area you are interested in.

Specific navigation is available through the FIND tab. If you have a specific place, NTS map sheet or enumeration area you are interested in, fill in the appropriate drop down box. GEODE is programmed to guess at your input as you type it in. If you hit the find button (binoculars) next to the box, the GEODE map will center on, zoom in to, and highlight your selection.

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2. What data is available for a specific area?

If you are a researcher interested in a particular location, GEODE offers you two ways to search this location:

1. Spatial select: Use the pan and zoom tools to navigate to the area of interest. Once you have navigated to the location, use the spatial select tool to draw a box around the area you want data for. Hit the submit button on the QUERY tab to return a list of the data available in GEODE.

2. Place: Use the placename drop-down box on the QUERY tab to query data by a nearby city, town, village or hamlet. The closer the location, the more accurate your results. GEODE will find which data intersects with your chosen place and return results. The Limit to Local Area box should be clicked if you just want regional data, not Alberta - wide or even national scale data. For instance, with this box checked, GEODE will not return the Alberta provincial census boundary and will just focus upon local boundaries.

Spatial select and place searches can be combined with other thematic elements to narrow your search. If you submit both a spatial query AND a place search, GEODE will use the place as it is of finer scale. To filter by theme, select the data layer you require. To filter by scale of composition (the scale the data was compiled at), chose your range of interest from 1:1 to 1:9000 000. To filter by currency (date of composition), chose your range between Jan 1, 1900 and today. These options are available for users who need to find data at only coarse or fine scales and of a certain age.

You do not have to query by place name or spatial select. If location is not a concern, GEODE also answers "What data is available for a specific theme?".

The results generated by this query are discussed in "What does a data set look like?".

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3. What data is available for a specific theme?

Studying a theoretical problem for which place is not an issue but availability of data is, a researcher will be able to search GEODE in the following manner. For instance, if you wanted to derive hydrology from a digital elevation model, you would not care so much where the study area is but rather what is available in the way of data.

GEODE has both FIND and QUERY capabilities that supports this type of search. On the bottom of the FIND tab, you will see a list box entitled "Show Data Extent". Clicking on a layer here will show the extent to which the system has data for that theme. Wherever possible, GEODE will show a graphical representation of that theme. You can clear the data extent by clearing the layer from the DISPLAY tab.

To query for data, you select the QUERY tab. Tabular query boxes may be used for theme, scale of composition and date of composition. Theme refers to the data type being queried (DEM or census). Scale of composition refines a request to coarse/fine scale data between 1:1 and 1:9000 000. This queries the scale that data is compiled at, not necessarily the scale the data is displayed to. Currency of data refers to the date the data was compiled. For some users, the use of the data will depend upon whether it is recent enough or if it falls within a particular date range being studied.

When the search is finished, one clicks on submit. Leaving any field blank will send a default of "all". For example, if you wanted to generate a hydrology layer from a DEM, you would need a DEM layer of a fine scale but might not be as concerned about currency or place. Therefore, you could select THEME=DEM, Scale="1:1 to 1:50 000" and leave the place and date of composition fields blank.

If you wished also to query for place (with knowledge gleaned from the data extent shown on the FIND tab), spatial queries may be combined with tabular queries. Read "What data is available for a specific area?".

The results generated by a query are discussed in "What does a data set look like?".

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4. What does a data set look like?

Researchers are advised to review the metadata and the browse graphic online before they download files to ensure they are getting what they want. Metadata is data about data. Just as a record in a library online catalogue is metadata about a book, metadata is an entry describing a GIS file. Metadata will describe where the file came from, how it was compiled, its projection and datum and other information one should know before it is used. Often the limits to a file's use, which can affect analysis, are catalogued in the metadata.

Clicking on the submit button results in an annotated list of files which meet the search criteria. These pop up in a second browser window in case you wished to make a second query with the GEODE mapviewer, which is still displayed in the first.

This annotated list will take you to metadata compiled to the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) standards. Click on the file title to view the metadata for that file. The navigation bar which now appears on the top of the screen guides you to different sections of the metadata and the last button, "Browse Graphic" takes you to a graphical image of that file. By scrutinizing this graphic and the listing, you can determine if it meets your needs before going to the bother of adding it to the backpack and downloading it.

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FGDC METADATA STANDARD

Metadata

Metadata is 'data about data'. It provides an overview of the data's characteristics, including detailed information on the content, accuracy, geographic extent, projection specifications and lineage. Metadata assists the prospective user in effectively sharing data, undertaking quality research and reducing data duplication. In order to maximize the access to geospatial data, metadata standards have been designed to provide a common set of terms and definitions for documentation. GEODE complies with the FGDC, Geospatial Metadata Standards.

Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

The FGDC standards became official on June 08 1994. Digital Geospatial data has become increasing cumbersome resulting in a need for consistency in metadata documentation. FGDC standards have been designed to encompass all possible types of geospatial data. The standard includes 244 elements that pertain to the data's characteristics. The standard lists core metadata elements that are mandatory and additional elements that are optional or mandatory if applicable to the data type. GEODE complies with the FGDC, Geospatial Metadata Standards with a few alterations. The optional elements have not been included in the metadata. In the metadata contact section, name and phone numbers were omitted to ensure privacy and the address extents have been amalgamated into one extent for simplicity.

For more information on the FGDC standard, visit the Federal Geographic Data Committee Website.

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