The Spatial Data Transfer Standard, or SDTS, is a robust way of transferring earth-referenced spatial data between dissimilar computer systems with the potential for no information loss. It is a transfer standard that embraces the philosophy of self-contained transfers, i.e. spatial data, attribute, georeferencing, data quality report, data dictionary, and other supporting metadata all included in the transfer.
The SDTS provides a solution to the problem of spatial data transfer from the conceptual level to the details of physical file encoding. Transfer of spatial data involves modeling spatial data concepts, data structures, and logical and physical file structures. To be useful, the data to be transferred must also be meaningful in terms of data content and data quality. SDTS addresses all of these aspects for both vector and raster data structures.
The six parts of SDTS:
Part 1 - Logical Specifications
Part 2 - Spatial Features
Part 3 - ISO 8211 Encoding
Part 4 - Topological Vector Profile
Part 5 - Raster Profile
Part 6 - Point Profile
In 1980, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was designated the lead agency in developing earth science data standards for the federal government. The USGS worked with academic, industrial, and federal, state, and local government users of computer mapping and GIS to develop a standard for transfer and exchange of spatial data. In 1992, after twelve years of developing, reviewing, revising, and testing, the resulting standard--SDTS, was approved as Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 173, known as FIPSPUB 173-1, 1994. The FIPS version has been superceded by current version, known as ANSI NCITS 320-1998 and was ratified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) June 9, 1998.
Compliance with SDTS is now mandatory for federal agencies. SDTS is available for use by state and local governments, the private sector, and research and academic organizations.
SDTS Task Force
U.S. Geological Survey
1400 Independence Road
Rolla, MO 65401
Or call 573-308-3561, FAX 573-308-3652
U.S. Department of the Interior
|| U.S. Geological Survey
1400 Independence Road, Rolla, MO 65401
For general information call: (573)308-3500
Last modified: Monday, 14-Jan-2013 19:33:52 EST
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