Abstract

The ISA Programme Location Core Vocabulary provides a minimum set of classes and properties for describing any place in terms of its name, address or geometry. The vocabulary is specifically designed to aid the publication of data that is interoperable with EU INSPIRE Directive. It is closely integrated with the Business and Person Core Vocabularies of the EU ISA Programme, now available in W3C space as, respectively, the Registered Organization vocabulary and ISA Person Core Vocabulary.

Introduction

The ISA Programme Location Core Vocabulary was developed by the EU ISA Programme Core Vocabularies Working Group (Location Task Force). This is the namespace document, generated from the associated RDF schema. Full documentation is provided in the Core Vocabularies Specification document itself. This includes background information, use cases, the conceptual model and full definitions for all terms used.

Namespace

The URI for this vocabulary is

http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#

When abbreviating terms the suggested prefix is locn

Each class or property in the vocabulary has a URI constructed by appending a term name to the vocabulary URI. For example:

http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address

The ISA Programme Location Core Vocabulary includes terms defined in the following namespaces:

http://purl.org/dc/terms/
http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#

Vocabulary Terms at a Glance

Classes (3):

Location (testing)
Address (testing)
Geometry (unstable)

Properties (16):

location (testing)
geographic name (testing)
geographic identifier (unstable)
geometry (testing)
address (testing)
full address (testing)
PO box (testing)
thoroughfare (testing)
locator designator (testing)
locator name (testing)
address area (testing)
post name (testing)
admin unit level 2 (testing)
admin unit level 1 (testing)
post code (testing)
address ID (unstable)

Classes

This section provides the formal definition of each class in the vocabulary.

Class Location

Type of Term	Class
QName	`dcterms:Location`
URI	`http://purl.org/dc/terms/Location`
Term status	testing
Definition	dcterms:Location class fully represents the ISA Programme Location Core Vocabulary class of Location.
Usage Note	This is the key class for the ISA Programme Location Core Vocabulary and represents any location, irrespective of size or other restriction.

Class Address

Type of Term	Class
QName	`locn:Address`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Term status	testing
Definition	An "address representation" as defined in the INSPIRE Data Specification on Addresses, v3.0.1. The locn:addressId property may be used to link this locn:Address to other representations.

Class Geometry

Type of Term	Class
QName	`locn:Geometry`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Geometry`
Term status	unstable
Definition	The locn:Geometry class provides the means to identify a location as a point, line, polygon, etc. expressed using coordinates in some coordinate reference system.
Usage Note	This class defines the notion of "geometry" at the conceptual level, and it shall be encoded by using different formats (see usage note of the locn:geometry property).

Properties

This section provides the formal definition of each property in the vocabulary.

Property location

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:location`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#location`
Term status	testing
Range	`http://purl.org/dc/terms/Location`
Definition	The location property links any resource to the Location Class. Asserting the location relationship implies only that the domain has some connection to a Location in time or space. It does not imply that the resource is necessarily at that location at the time when the assertion is made.

Property geographic name

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:geographicName`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#geographicName`
Term status	testing
Definition	A geographic name is a proper noun applied to a spatial object. Taking the example used in the INSPIRE Data Specification on Geographical Names, v3.0.1 (pages 40-42), the following are all valid geographic names for the Greek capital: Aθnνa (the Greek endonym written in the Greek script) Athína (the standard Romanisation of the endonym) Athens (the English language exonym) For INSPIRE-conformant data, provide the metadata for the geographic name using a skos:Concept as a datatype.

Property geographic identifier

Type of Term	Property
QName	`rdfs:seeAlso`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#seeAlso`
Term status	unstable
Definition	rdfs:seeAlso fully represents the ISA Programme Location Core Vocabulary concept of a geographic identifier.
Usage Note	Used in the ISA Programme Location Core Vocabulary to provide a URI that identifies the location. This should be expressed using the rdfs:seeAlso property unless the identifier is already the subject of the description. Examples include URIs from GeoNames.org and DBpedia such as http://dbpedia.org/resource/ISO_3166-2:XX where XX is the ISO 3166 two character code for a country.

Property geometry

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:geometry`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#geometry`
Term status	testing
Range	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Geometry`
Definition	Associates any resource with the corresponding geometry.
Usage Note	Depending on how a geometry is encoded, the range of this property may be one of the following: a literal (e.g., WKT - string literal -, GML, KML - XML literal) a geometry class, as those defined in the OGC's GeoSPARQL specification, in the W3C's Basic Geo (WGS84 lat/long) vocabulary, and at schema.org; geocoded URIs, as `geo` or GeoHash URIs, treated as URI references. For interoperability reasons, it is recommended using one of the following: Any geometry: WKT, GML, and RDF+WKT/GML, as per the GeoSPARQL specification. KML (Keyhole Markup Language) - note that KML supports the following geometries only: point, line string, linear ring, and polygon. RDF as per the schema.org vocabulary (see classes schema:GeoCoordinates and schema:GeoShape). Points: one of the above, or: RDF as per the W3C Basic Geo (WGS84 lat/long) vocabulary. GeoHash URIs. `geo` URIs.
Example	The following are examples of equivalent statements using different geometry encodings: WKT (GeoSPARQL) :Resource locn:geometry "<http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/OGC/1.3/CRS84> Point(-0.001475 51.477811)"^^ogc:WKTLiteral . GML :Resource locn:geometry "<gml:Point srsName='http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/OGC/1.3/CRS84'> <gml:coordinates>-0.001475, 51.477811</gml:coordinates></gml:Point>"^^ogc:GMLLiteral . RDF+WKT (GeoSPARQL) :Resource locn:geometry [ a ogc:Point; ogc:asWKT "<http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/OGC/1.3/CRS84> Point(-0.001475 51.477811)"^^ogc:WKTLiteral ] . RDF+GML (GeoSPARQL) :Resource locn:geometry [ a ogc:Point; ogc:asGML "<gml:Point srsName='http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/OGC/1.3/CRS84'> <gml:coordinates>-0.001475, 51.477811</gml:coordinates></gml:Point>"^^ogc:GMLLiteral ] . RDF (WGS84 lat/long) :Resource locn:geometry [ a geo:Point; geo:lat "51.477811"; geo:long "-0.001475" ] . RDF (schema.org) :Resource locn:geometry [ a schema:GeoCoordinates; schema:latitude "51.477811"; schema:longitude "-0.001475" ] . `geo` URI :Resource locn:geometry <geo:51.477811,-0.001475;u=0;crs=wgs84> . GeoHash URI :Resource locn:geometry <http://geohash.org/gcpuzgnzvxkp> .

Property address

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:address`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#address`
Term status	testing
Range	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Definition	The locn:address property relationship associates any resource with the locn:Address class

Property full address

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:fullAddress`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#fullAddress`
Term status	testing
Domain	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Range	`http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal`
Definition	The complete address written as a string, with or without formatting. The domain of locn:fullAddress is locn:Address.

Property PO box

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:poBox`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#poBox`
Term status	testing
Domain	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Range	`http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal`
Definition	The Post Office Box number. The domain of locn:poBox is locn:Address.

Property thoroughfare

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:thoroughfare`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#thoroughfare`
Term status	testing
Domain	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Range	`http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal`
Definition	An address component that represents the name of a passage or way through from one location to another. A thoroughfare is not necessarily a road, it might be a waterway or some other feature. The domain of locn:thoroughfare is locn:Address.

Property locator designator

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:locatorDesignator`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#locatorDesignator`
Term status	testing
Definition	A number or a sequence of characters that uniquely identifies the locator within the relevant scope(s). The full identification of the locator could include one or more locator designators.

Property locator name

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:locatorName`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#locatorName`
Term status	testing
Definition	Proper noun(s) applied to the real world entity identified by the locator. The locator name could be the name of the property or complex, of the building or part of the building, or it could be the name of a room inside a building.

Property address area

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:addressArea`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#addressArea`
Term status	testing
Domain	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Range	`http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal`
Definition	The name or names of a geographic area or locality that groups a number of addressable objects for addressing purposes, without being an administrative unit. This would typically be part of a city, a neighbourhood or village. The domain of locn:addressArea is locn:Address.

Property post name

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:postName`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#postName`
Term status	testing
Domain	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Range	`http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal`
Definition	The key postal division of the address, usually the city. (INSPIRE's definition is "One or more names created and maintained for postal purposes to identify a subdivision of addresses and postal delivery points."). The domain of locn:postName is locn:Address.

Property admin unit level 2

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:adminUnitL2`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#adminUnitL2`
Term status	testing
Domain	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Definition	The region of the address, usually a county, state or other such area that typically encompasses several localities. The domain of locn:adminUnitL2 is locn:Address and the range is a literal, conceptually defined by the INSPIRE Geographical Name data type.

Property admin unit level 1

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:adminUnitL1`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#adminUnitL1`
Term status	testing
Domain	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Definition	The uppermost administrative unit for the address, almost always a country. The domain of locn:adminUnitL1 is locn:Address and the range is a literal, conceptually defined by the INSPIRE Geographical Name data type.
Usage Note	Best practice is to use the ISO 3166-1 code but if this is inappropriate for the context, country names should be provided in a consistent manner to reduce ambiguity. For example, either write 'United Kingdom' or 'UK' consistently throughout the data set and avoid mixing the two.

Property post code

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:postCode`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#postCode`
Term status	testing
Domain	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Range	`http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal`
Definition	The post code (a.k.a postal code, zip code etc.). Post codes are common elements in many countries' postal address systems. The domain of locn:postCode is locn:Address.

Property address ID

Type of Term	Property
QName	`locn:addressId`
URI	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#addressId`
Term status	unstable
Domain	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#Address`
Range	`http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal`
Definition	The concept of adding a globally unique identifier for each instance of an address is a crucial part of the INSPIRE data spec. The domain of locn:addressId is locn:Address.

Conformance Statement

A conformant implementation of this vocabulary MUST understand all vocabulary terms defined in this document.

Change History

Changes since final draft version released by the EU ISA Programme Core Vocabularies Working Group (Location Task Force)

Revised usage note of class locn:Geometry. The text describing its recommended usage has been moved to usage note of property locn:geometry.
Dropped domain/range restriction for locn:geographicName.
Dropped domain/range restriction for locn:locatorDesignator. Free text definition updated accordingly.
Dropped domain/range restriction for locn:locatorName. Free text definition updated accordingly.
Corrected free text definition of property locn:geometry (its domain is "any resource", and not a "location").
Revised usage note of property locn:geometry to include text about recommended usage, formerly included in the usage note of class locn:Geometry.
Revised usage note and examples of property locn:geometry to include support to geocoded URIs (e.g., geo URIs, GeoHash URIs).
Added term status. All terms have been set to "testing", with the exception of class locn:Geometry and properties rdfs:seeAlso (geographic identifier) and locn:addressId.
Renamed subject in Turtle examples (ex:a → :Resource).
Fixed links and typos, minor revisions made to the textual descriptions.
2013-12-21 (Phila) Update in RDF/XML and turtle schemas - updated voaf namespace, corrected links to different distributions of the schema, removed xml:base and used http://www/w3/org/ns/locn as the schema URI cf. original which used the namespace IRU (with the final # character).

ISA Programme Location Core Vocabulary

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