Glossary

Anonymized Data

The process of adapting data such that individuals, groups or businesses cannot be identified from it.

API

Application Programming Interface (API) is a language and message format used by an application program to

communicate with the operating system or some other control program such as database management system. For more

information on API click here.

Atom

An atom is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) based file format used to syndicate content. Atoms were created to

be a universal publishing standard for blogs and web sites where content is updated on a regular basis. For more

information on an atom click here.

Atom Feed

With an atom feed, users can visit web sites and discover the "atom.xml" file in the URL. This can be copied and

pasted into an aggregator to subscribe to the feed. For more information on an atom feed click here.

Attribute

Attributes are non-spatial information about a geographic feature. This is often stored in a table and is linked to

the feature by a unique identifier. For more information on attributes click here.

Authoritative

Information provided is to be accurate and trust worthy.

BitTorrent

Is considered a content distribution protocol that provides efficient software distribution and peer-to-peer

sharing of very large files over the web. BitTorrent protocol allows multiple users to join a "swarm" of hosts to

download and upload from each other in a simultaneous order. For more information on BitTorrent click here.

Catalog

A Catalog is collection of datasets or web services.

CKAN

The Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN) is an open source data management system for storage and

distribution of data across the web. For more information on CKAN click here.

Connectivity

Connectivity relates to the ability for communities to connect to the Internet, especially the World Wide Web.

Coordinate System

Coordinate Systems define the exact location of a point on a spherical or planar surface. A geographic coordinate

system is a three-dimensional reference system that locates points on the Earth's surface using latitude and

longitude values. A projected coordinate system is a two-dimensional planar surface. Since the earth is round,

locations are transformed from a three-dimensional space onto a two-dimensional surface. This is known as

projection. For more information on coordinate systems click here.

Copyright

A right for the creators of creative works to restrict others’ use of those works. An owner of copyright is

entitled to determine how others may use that work.

CSV

Comma-Separated Values (CSV) stores tabular data (numbers and text) in plain-text format and can be opened with

applications such as Microsoft Excel. For more information on CSV files click here.

Data Access Protocol

A system that allows outsiders to be granted access to databases without overloading either system.

Dataset

An organized collection of data. Datasets can be presented in tabular format or non-tabular formats such as an

extensible mark-up language file, a geospatial file or an image file, etc. For more information on datasets click

here.

DWG

A DraWinG (DWG) file is a binary file format used for storing two and three dimensional design data and metadata.

It is supported by a wide variety of Computer-aided design (CAD) applications. For more information on DWG files

click here.

End Point

End point of the web service to access a dataset.

Format

The file format or API type of distribution

GDB

Geodatabases (GDB) is the common data storage and management framework for ArcGIS software. It is a collection of

datasets held in a common file system folder such as a Microsoft Access database. For more information on GDB

files click here.

GeoRSS

Geographic Rich Site Summary (GeoRSS) is a way of describing and identifying the physical locations of internet

content. With the use of GeoRSS, you have the ability to search websites based on relevant geographic locations.

For more information on GeoRSS click here.

Hackathon

A social event that brings computer programmers together to share information, improve on existing or build new

software programs. Hackathons provides a chance for organizations to pursue employee-driven, out-of-the-box ideas

in low risk environments. For more information on hackathon click here.

Intellectual Property Rights

Monopolies granted to individuals for intellectual creations.

JSON

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is a text format that is completely

language independent but uses conventions similar to the C, C++ and C# family of languages. For more information

on JSON files click here.

KML

Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is a XML-based language for managing the display of three dimensional data on

applications such as Google Earth. KML has been accepted as an Open Geospatial Consortium Standard. For more

information on KML files click here.

Licence

The licence at which the dataset or API is published.

Linked Data

Term used to expose and share resources connected to an item over a web browser using a URL.

Machine-Readable File

Information or data that is in a format that can be easily read or processed by a computer without human

intervention. This process ensures that no semantic meaning will be lost.

Metadata

Provides background information about data. In other words, metatdata describes how, when and whom a particular

dataset was collected and how the dataset was formatted. For more information on metatdata click here.

OAuth

An open standard for authorization. This allows users to share resources from one site to another without having

to provide credentials such as a username and password. For more information on OAuth click here.

Open Data

Open data is the idea of making data openly available for everyone to use and republish as they wish, without the

restrictions from copyrights and patents.

Open Government Data

Open data produced by the government. This is generally accepted to be data gathered during the course of business

as usual activities which do not identify individuals or breach commercial sensitivity. Open government data is a

subset of Public Sector Information, which is broader in scope. See Open Government Data for details.

Public domain

No copyright exists over the work. This does not exist in all jurisdictions.

Public Sector Information

Information collected or controlled by the public sector.

REST

Representational State Transfer (REST) is considered as a stateless architecture that runs over HTTP. The purpose

of REST is to read a designated web page that contains an XML file. The XML file describes and includes the

desired content. For more information on REST click here.

Re-use

Use of content outside of its original intention.

RSS

Rich Site Summary (RSS) is a format for delivering constantly changing web content. This allows users to stay

informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites that they are interested in. For more information on RSS

click here.

Tags

Keywords that help users discover the dataset of interest.

URL

Uniform resource locator (URL) when used with HTTP is a character string or web address that references a web page.

For more information on URL click here.

Value-Added Information

Value that has been added to raw data to enhance the usefulness and effectiveness for users.

Web API

An API that is designed to work over the Internet.

XML

Extensible Markup Language (XML) defines rules or standards for encoding content in a format that is easily

readable for both human and machine. XML can be used by any individual or group that wants to share information in

a consistent way. For more information on XML click here.