Location

Definition

The <Location> field specifies the name of a place on Earth, a location within the Earth, a vertical location, or a location outside of Earth. The <Location> keywords are a 5-level hierarchy of controlled keywords under the following Categories:

Continent: specifies continents:

Africa
Antarctica
Asia
Australia/New Zealand
Europe
North America
South America

Ocean: specifies an ocean body:

Arctic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Indian Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Southern Ocean

Geographic Region: specifies a region on Earth (e.g., Polar)
- Arctic
- Eastern Hemisphere
- Equatorial
- Eurasia
- Global
- Global Land
- Global Ocean
- Mid-latitude
- Northern Hemisphere
- Oceania
- Polar
- Sahel
- Southern Hemisphere
- Tropics
- Western Hemisphere
Solid Earth: specifies a region within the Earth:

Core
Crust
Mantle

Space: specifies a region outside of Earth, particularly regions of Earth-Sun interactions:

Earth Magnetic Field
Solar Region

Vertical Location: specifies a region in the vertical direction, either in the atmosphere or under the oceans:

Boundary Layer
Ionosphere
Land Surface
Mesosphere
Sea Floor
Sea Surface
Stratosphere
Thermosphere
Troposphere

Syntax

<Location>
   <Location_Category>Location Category keyword
   </Location_Category>
   <Location_Type>Location type keyword</Location_Type>
   <Location_Subregion1>Location Subregion1 keyword</Location_Subregion1>
   <Location_Subregion2>Location Subregion2 keyword</Location_Subregion2>
   <Location_Subregion3>Location Subregion3 keyword</Location_Subregion3>
   <Detailed_Location>Text</Detailed_Location>
</Location>

<Detailed_Location> can contain up to 80 characters.
Characters may be selected from the UTF-8 character set.

Usage

The <Location> field is highly recommended and repeatable.
The <Location> subfields are not repeatable within the <Location> field.
Location keywords must be selected from the set of controlled Location keywords.
<Detailed_Location> allows authors to include any location keywords that are not available in the controlled keyword list.

Example

<Location>
    <Location_Category>CONTINENT</Location_Category>
    <Location_Type>NORTH AMERICA</Location_Type>
    <Location_Subregion1>UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
    </Location_Subregion1>
    <Location_Subregion2>MARYLAND</Location_Subregion2>
    <Location_Subregion3>BALTIMORE</Location_Subregion3>
    <Detailed_Location>Middle River</Detailed_Location>
</Location>

Visit GCMD website

This document should be cited as:
Directory Interchange Format (DIF) Writer's Guide, 2008.
Global Change Master Directory. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. [http://gcmd.nasa.gov/User/difguide/].