-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Geospatial Format Descriptions Added to LC Format
Sustainability Site
Date:   Tue, 3 Jan 2012 13:37:09 -0800 (PST)
From:   Julie Sweetkind-Singer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:       Julie Sweetkind-Singer <[log in to unmask]>
To:     MAPS-L <[log in to unmask]>



This is being sent to several listservs; please excuse the duplication.

The Library of Congress Office of Strategic Initiatives announces the
availability of 35 descriptions of digital geospatial formats and two
brief accompanying essays. This information is a new segment of the
Library's Format Sustainability Web site
(http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/)
<http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/%29>. This site provides
information about digital content formats, emphasizing the aspects and
features that are relevant for preservation planning. At this writing,
the site provides information about 260 digital formats and subformats
in the seven categories of still image, sound, textual, moving image,
Web archive, datasets, and geospatial. Many additional formats remain to
be described.

Starting with materials developed by the National Geospatial Digital
Archive (http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/partners/ngda/ngda.html)
<http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/partners/ngda/ngda.html%29>, Nancy
Hoebelheinrich (Knowledge Motifs LLC) and Natalie Munn (Content
Innovations LLC) developed this new compilation of geospatial
information during 2010 and 2011. The menu for the geospatial format
descriptions is here:
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/gis_fdd.shtml. The status
is noted in each document: some are "full," some "partial," and some
"preliminary." Meanwhile, the two brief essays are here:
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/content/gis_quality.shtml and
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/content/gis_intro.shtml.

Comments and suggestions are welcome:
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/contact_format.shtml.

Best,

Julie

***
Julie Sweetkind-Singer
Assistant Director of Geospatial, Cartographic and Scientific Data &
Services
Head Librarian, Branner Earth Sciences Library & Map Collections
Stanford University
397 Panama Mall; MC 2211
Stanford, CA 94305
(650)725-1102