Geodatabase Template

Geodatabase Template

An essential element of ArcGIS for INSPIRE is the Enterprise Geodatabase (GDB) template, which is used as source data by the ArcGIS Server Extension. The GDB implements the application schemas of the abstract INSPIRE data models, per Annex I Theme. This includes the application schemas of the INSPIRE Annex I themes as well as the available preliminary application schemas for some Annex II/III themes which are needed for making use of the Annex I data. In addition, the INSPIRE Geodatabase covers the cross-theme application schemas for networks and INSPIRE base types.

The INSPIRE application schemas are modeled in UML in accordance with the ISO 19100 series of International Standards and the INSPIRE Generic Conceptual Model.

Installation

To install the ArcGIS for INSPIRE Geodatabase, follow instructions in the InstallationGuide_ArcGISForINSPIRE_GDB_10_1_EN.pdf, or for SP1 the InstallationGuide_ArcGISForINSPIRE_GDB_10_1_SP1_EN.pdf document. After installation, see the use case documentation for how to setup and use INSPIRE View Services, INSPIRE Feature Download Services, and INSPIRE Predefined Dataset Services.

Basic rules for the INSPIRE Geodatabase implementation

The conversion of the INSPIRE application schemas in the geodatabase follows encoding rules that guarantee INSPIRE data can be fully represented in the INSPIRE Geodatabase. Since Esri geodatabases do not have native support for several modelling constructs used in the ISO 19100 and INSPIRE models, a product-specific encoding rule is applied. The focus of the conversion is direct support for providing access to the data via INSPIRE network services. In this section, the main encoding rules are listed and discussed.

Rule

Examples

An INSPIRE spatial object is typically represented as a feature class in the geodatabase. In cases where a spatial object does not have a geometry property, an object class is used instead.

The INSPIRE spatial object type AdministrativeUnits::AdministrativeUnit is stored in the geodatabase in the feature class auAdmUnitS.

The INSPIRE spatial object type Addresses::Address is stored in the geodatabase in the object class adAddress.

Names of feature classes, object classes, and fields are limited to 30 characters in the geodatabase. There is no such limit in the INSPIRE application schemas. The names from the application schemas are therefore typically shortened in the geodatabase. To simplify the mapping between the names and to guarantee uniqueness, all names in the geodatabase start with the short code of the application schema that contains the type.

The INSPIRE spatial object type AdministrativeUnits::AdministrativeUnit is stored in the geodatabase in the feature class auAdmUnitS. The short code for the application schema "AdministrativeUnits" is "au".

Each feature or object class has two fields with identifiers. Both are integers. The field OBJECTID is an internal identifier, used only for the management within the geodatabase. It is automatically set by the database upon insert. The field IFCID is the identifier used in foreign key relationships. It must be set upon insert into the database by the transformation process adding data to the geodatabase. It must be unique for the feature/object class within the geodatabase and for the INSPIRE spatial object type.

NA

Attributes of an INSPIRE spatial object type with a maximum multiplicity greater than one are converted into their own object class. The attribute values are associated with the spatial object through foreign key references (field RID) to the associated Feature or object class (field IFCID). Only by using this mechanism is it possible to have a general representation of multiple attribute values in a geodatabase.

The Attribute "name" of the INSPIRE spatial object type AdministrativeUnits::AdministrativeUnit is converted to the object class auAdmUnitS_name. The object class contains all information from the value data type of the attribute. In addition, it contains the field RID which references the entry in the feature class auAdmUnitS to which the name belongs.

INSPIRE distinguishes between properties where the value is unknown to a data owner (value type "void") and where the data owner knows that the property is not applicable for the particular spatial object (e.g., a road without a road name). These cases have to be distinguished also in the geodatabase. In the INSPIRE application schemas such properties are marked with the stereotype <<voidable>>. An additional field with the suffix "_void" is added to the geodatabase in such cases.

  • If the value is NULL, the property value is not of the "void" type and the value is known to the data owner.
  • If the value is '0', the property value is of the "void" type and the data owner has no further information about the missing information.
  • If the value is '1', the property value is of the "void" type, but the value is provided for other features in the dataset ("unknown").
  • If the value is '2', the property value is of the "void" type, also for all other features in the dataset ("unpopulated").

NA

Attributes with a data type that is marked with the stereotype <<codeList>> in the INSPIRE application schema is converted into two fields.

  • The first field contains the value from the code list, which is represented in the geodatabase in a domain.
  • The second field, with a suffix "_cl", must contain a resolvable URL that contains a representation of the code list. In the future, it is recommended to reference the relevant entry in the INSPIRE code list registry.

The attribute "nationalLevel" of the INSPIRE spatial object type AdministrativeUnits::AdministrativeUnit is converted to the fields "nationalLevel" and "nationalLevel_cl". The field "nationalLevel" contains a value from the code list AdministrativeHierarchyLevel, for example, "1stOrder". The field "nationalLevel_cl" contains, for example, the URL http://services.interactive-instruments.de/download/cl/AdministrativeHierarchyLevel.xml.

Attributes with a data type that is marked with the stereotype <<enumeration>> in the INSPIRE application schema is converted into a single field. The field contains the value from the enumeration, which is represented in the geodatabase in a domain.

The attribute "legalStatus" of the INSPIRE spatial object type AdministrativeUnits::AdministrativeBoundary is converted to the field "legalStatus". It contains a value from the enumeration, for example, "agreed".

For attributes with a value that is a structure data type, i.e. it marked with the stereotype <<dataType>> or <<union>> in the INSPIRE application schema, all attributes of the data type are converted separately. Care should be taken that names are unique.

The attribute "inspireId" of the INSPIRE spatial object type AdministrativeUnits::AdministrativeUnit is converted to the fields "id_localId", "id_namespace", "id_versionId" and "id_versionId_void".

Some INSPIRE spatial object types allow instances to carry a range of different geometry types (e.g., either a point, a line string or a polygon). In the geodatabase this requires using separate feature classes depending on the geometry type. As a result, these INSPIRE spatial object types are converted into multiple feature classes with different geometry types. To maintain uniqueness of the feature class names and indicate the geometry type, a short code is added to the end of the feature class name: "P" for points, "MP" for multi points, "L" for line strings or multiline strings and "S" for polygons or multi polygons.

The property "geometry" of the INSPIRE spatial object type GeographicalNames::NamedPlace is of data type GM_Object - an arbitrary geometry. As a result, the spatial object type is converted in the geodatabase into the feature classes gnNamedPlaceP, gnNamedPlaceMP, gnNamedPlaceL and gnNamedPlaceS.

There are spatial object types in the INSPIRE application schemas which have multiple geometry properties. In the geodatabase, however, every feature class may have only one geometry property. In these cases, an additional feature class is added, which references the main feature class using a foreign key reference (field RID).

The INSPIRE spatial object type CadastralParcels::CadastralParcel has two geometry properties, "geometry" and "referencePoint". The attribute "geometry" is converted to the field SHAPE in the feature class cpParcelS, the attribute "referencePoint" in the field SHAPE in the feature class cpParcelS_refPoint.

Data types with geometry properties are converted to feature classes, not object classes.

The data type AdministrativeUnits::ResidenceOfAuthority is converted to a feature class in the geodatabase, even if instances of the data type conceptually do not have an identity and are just values owned by the parent spatial object type.

Most INSPIRE application schemas make use of generalization relationships between spatial object types. Geodatabases do not support generalization as used in UML models. However, they support the subtype concept that has some similarities and is used for converting generalizations to the INSPIRE Geodatabase. The root class of an inheritance tree is converted to feature and/or object classes and all properties of their subtypes are converted to fields of them. An additional field STYPE distinguishes about the type of each instance. The STYPE field must be set for all such instances. Depending on the instance, only the applicable fields are relevant.

The INSPIRE spatial object type "Hydro - Physical Waters"::DrainageBasin and the subtype "Hydro - Physical Waters"::RiverBasin are both converted to the feature class hypBasinS.

In some cases, the INSPIRE application schemas use multiple inheritance. In these cases, the properties from the abstract supertypes are propagated to all instantiable subtypes.

The properties "hydroId", "geographicalName" and "relatedHydroObject" from HydroObject are represented in the feature classes of all subtypes, for example, DrainageBasin (hypBasinS).

The conversion of associations between INSPIRE spatial object types depends on the multiplicity of the relationship. For 1:n relationships a field with a foreign key reference is added directly in the feature or object class. An intermediate table (object class) is created for n:m relationships. The relationship class capability of geodatabases is not used to improve performance, in particular during data loading. In addition, geodatabases do not support relationship classes for reflexive associations. The relationship are accessible in ArcMap via other mechanisms.

The 1:n relationship "upperLevelUnit" / "lowerLevelUnit" between instances of AdministrativeUnits::AdministrativeUnit is converted to the field "upperLevelUnit".

The n:m relationship "coAdminister" / "administeredBy" between instances of AdministrativeUnits::AdministrativeUnit is converted to the to the intermediate table auAdmUnit_admBySS.

Additional Notes and Default Values

In this version of ArcGIS for INSPIRE the geodatabase is based on the following special rules and default values in the conversion of the INSPIRE application schemas to the geodatabase:

  • In the conversion process, it may be advisable to apply dataset-dependent rules. A specific case is the mapping of the data type GeographicalNames::GeographicalName. The INSPIRE data specification points out that different profiles may be used depending on the requirements. The complete data type contains a comprehensive model, which will only be relevant for a few datasets. In most datasets a significantly reduced model is sufficient - converting a geographical name to a string. In principle, every profile between the two extremes could be implemented. By default, the geodatabase contains the simplest profile. For cases where a more complex model for geographical names is required, for example, for representing a name in multiple languages and scripts (e.g., "Athen", "Athens", "Athína" and "Αθήνα"), please contact Esri support.
  • By default, the coordinate reference system is set to ETRS89 with geographic coordinates (axis order: latitude, longitude).
  • All geometries are limited to linear interpolation including in the theme Cadastral Parcels, which allows the use of circular arc interpolation.
  • The geodatabase contains by default all INSPIRE application schemas (with the exception of the unused gazetteer schema), even if only selected application schemas are needed.
  • For properties, where values are structured types from ISO 19115, e.g. CI_Citation, the value has to be stored in ISO/TS 19139 XML directly in the geodatabase field. This implies that no structured queries are supported on such attribute values.
  • The property "relatedHydroObject" in all spatial objects that inherit from HydroObject is converted using a special rule. The standard rule would have led to an inappropriate number of intermediate tables for relationships in the geodatabase. The property is converted to a field which must contain the URI of the referenced spatial object instead of the IFCID of the object.

Documentation of the feature and object classes in the INSPIRE Geodatabase

The complete description of the INSPIRE Geodatabase is provided as a collection of linked documents that may be viewed in a web browser. This is available in the ArcGIS for INSPIRE installation folder under the GDB Templates \GDBTemplate folder.

For each feature or object class associated with an INSPIRE spatial object type a separate xml document is provided. In large parts, the documentation is taken directly from the documentation in the INSPIRE application schemas. Each document contains:

  • an index to the sections of the document with links to them
  • a list and documentation of the INSPIRE spatial object types that are converted to the feature or object class; this includes the subtype codes (field STYPE)
  • the fields of the feature or object class with the name of the field, the name of the source property in the INSPIRE application schema, the list of INSPIRE spatial object types for which this field applies, the data type in the geodatabase, and the documentation of the property with additional remarks about the conversion into the geodatabase
  • the dependent feature or object classes (to represent additional geometry properties or multiple attribute values) with documentation and the list of all associated fields
  • the intermediate tables of the n:m relationships

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1/29/2014