[DDI-users] Issue 585

[Wendy Thomas]

This is in regard to externalizing the enumerated set of country codes
currently in DDI. Our intent is to externalize this list in a way that
enforces use of ISO 3166 (2ch, 3ch, numeric) both current and former valid
codes.

NOTE REGARDING USAGE ETC.
In working out this issue I have discovered a) this is used ONLY by the
field Country in the ContactInformation of an Organization or Individual,
and b) there is no means of creating a simple country coverage list in
Spatial Coverage.
For the purposes of DDI 3.2 we seem to be talking overkill for a seldom
used field. However, publishing the union set of ISO 2,3 char and numeric
country codes seems a logical thing to do. It would provide an external
authority list for individual GeographicLocation at the country level that
was both stable and inclusive of earlier codes which have changed over
time. (see Issue 585 for particulars)

It also brings to mind Arofan's comment that one can't do a "simple"
SpatialCoverage...I assume that would be a list of country codes as is
possible in 2.5 without doing the full GeographicLocationScheme.
If we are going to do the work for the external controlled vocabulary we
should probably add the following to GeographicCoverageType right after
Description:
<xs:element ref="Country" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
    <xs:annotation>
        <xs:documentation>The identifier for the country level spatial
coverage. If only a portion of a country is covered indicate the parent
country. May be repeated to include multiple countries. The element uses a
predefined external controlled vocabulary that allows for use of the ISO
3166-1 options of 2 character, 3 character, or numeric country codes. The
DDI controlled vocabulary retains former country codes annotating them with
valid dates and information on specific changes.</xs:documentation>
    </xs:annotation>
</xs:element>

Any thoughts on this?
-- 
Wendy L. Thomas                              Phone: +1 612.624.4389
Data Access Core Director                 Fax:   +1 612.626.8375
Minnesota Population Center             Email: wlt at umn.edu
University of Minnesota
50 Willey Hall
225 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
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