[DDI-users] Issue 585

[Hoyle, Larry]

If the controlled vocabulary is annotated with dates, should the Country element have some way to include the date of the country name referenced?

From: ddi-users-bounces at icpsr.umich.edu [mailto:ddi-users-bounces at icpsr.umich.edu] On Behalf Of Wendy Thomas
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2013 1:22 PM
To: DDI Structural Reform Working Group.; Data Documentation Initiative Users Group; Alistair Hamilton
Subject: [DDI-users] Issue 585

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<mailto:wlt at umn.edu>
University of Minnesota
50 Willey Hall
225 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
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