Spatial Data Taxonomy

Pam KellerBureau of Land Management

March 2011

SDT is a comprehensive framework for organizing and standardizing geospatial data.

Photo credits-Bureau of Land Management, Burns District Office, Mark Armstrong & others

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

Wildfire

Roads

Fauna

County

Recreation Sites

Land Status

Prescribed Fire

Wilderness

Vegetation

Cultural Sites

Fencing

Urban Zoning

Range GISTimber GIS Recreation GISRealty GISFuels GIS

Harvest

Land Status

Chemical Treatment

Watershed

Water Sampling

Climate

Water GIS

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

Roads

Fencing

Urban Zoning

Range GISTimber GIS Recreation GIS

Realty GISFuels GIS

Watershed

Harvest

Water Sampling

Cultural Sites

Chemical Treatment

Land Status

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

Design Flaws

• Perspective too narrow—designing for current data and uses

• Complex data structures, hard to maintain

• Software dependent, not robust over time

SDT Design Principles

• Well-defined and understood data • Holistic organization

• Store once, use many

• Simplify

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).

• 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

SDT

ResourcesPhysical Geography

BoundariesHuman Geography

ActivitiesHuman Geography

Environmental Geography

SDT Domain is Natural Resources

And their Management

• 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 it’s 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

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 sharesDrives the SDT structure & feature classes

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

Wildfire

Climate

Fauna

Chemical

County

Vegetation

Water Sampling

Harvest

Watershed

Fencing

Cultural Sites

Land Status

Energy Potential

PrescribedFire

Wilderness

Roads

Recreation Sites

Urban Zoning

GISResources

Boundaries

Activities

SDT OverviewThree 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.

Vertical/Inherited Relationships

Resources Activities Boundaries

SpeciesOccurrence

LandscapeCover

PotentialResource

Water

Climate

Terrain

Sampling

Survey

Structures

Treatments

Land Status

Planning Designations

Political

Administrative

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

Horizontal Relationships:Cause&Effect

Interdependence“Business Cases”Activities take place on, in

or with Resources inside some Boundary

Horizontal Relationships between Feature Classes

SpeciesOccurrence:

Survey IDSample ID

Landscape Cover:

Current VegSample ID

Sampling:Sample ID

Survey: Survey ID

Structures:Trtmt IDPlan ID

Treatments: Trtmt IDPlan ID

Special Designation

Area:Plan ID

Planning Area:

Plan ID

Relationships between Feature Classes and External Databases

Resources Activities Boundaries

SpeciesOccurrence

LandscapeCover

PotentialResource

Water

Climate

Terrain

Sampling

Survey

Structures

Treatments

Land Status

Planning Designations

Political

Administrative

Basic - Detailed Relationship

Overlay of Weeds Chemically treated in County X on BLM.

Master -- Derived Relationships

SpeciesOccurrence

Political BoundariesCounty X

Weeds

Land StatusBLM SurfaceJurisdiction

Treatments Chemical

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

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

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.

Questions or Comments?

Contact: Pam Keller (541) 573-4486pkeller@blm.gov

Resources SubcategoriesSpecies 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 , FaultsClimate – Precipitation isolines and zones, Lightning, Air Quality, Wind Zone, Temperature Zone,

Solar InsolationCultural Sites – location of archeological findsTerrain – Entities describing the shape of the earth’s surface. Elevation contours and zones,

Landform, Viewshed, Aspect , Slope, Hydrologic Unit (watershed), Physiographic ProvincePotential 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.

Activities SubcategoriesTreatment – 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.

Boundaries SubcategoriesPolitical & 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/¼ ¼ , 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.