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Place Reference Data Model

Author: George Bruseker, Nicola Carboni

Version: 2.0

The place reference data model provides a list of standard fields that are often found present in the general description of a place. Place here is interpreted as a geometric extent used for locating entities relative to a reference space. The scope of entities that this reference model aims to cover are places as typically documented in gazetteers. Examples of places would be Edmonton (the inhabited city), Alberta (the administrative district), Canada (the country). The aim of this reference model is to cover basic descriptors that are typically employed in the documentation of a place, usually by a gazetteer. This reference model aims to remain at a general level description, providing a consolidated, high-level reference data model of most commonly reused descriptors for a place as such and to provide for these, in turn, a set of standard semantic mappings to the CIDOC CRM. Moreover, each field is marked with regards to its potential functionality with regards to instance matching between overlapping datasets. This level of modelling is seen as a necessary basic reference point on which to build more complex documentation. This reference data model aims to serve a number of functions including:

  1. to support the creation of semantic data entry forms that will create ‘born semantic’ data streams

  2. to serve as a reference guide in designing eventually compatible data structures for feeding into larger aggregations of Cultural Heritage data

  3. to guide mapping processes of extant data sources with common mapping patterns

  4. to be adopted by institutions acting as aggregation hubs in order to create consistent re-expressions of extant reference information in a common CIDOC-CRM based expression.

Sources

There are many good and well known schema for structuring place data. As a reference for this modelling work, we made use of the TGN, Geonames and Schema.org. The latter two especially are highly reused resources in the historical and cultural heritage field and provide an initial view of the basic complexities to be faced.

Acronym Source Name Official Access Point Schema Documentation Maintained by
Schema.org Schema.org http://schema.org nan Schema.org
Geonames nan https://www.geonames.org/ http://download.geonames.org/export/dump/readme.txt GeoNames Team
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names nan http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn/ http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn/tgn_xml_dd.pdf Getty

Model Sections Description

The fields used to describe a place can be functionally grouped according to higher level units in order to allow for an easier approach to the entry and navigation of the data by information category. The information categories identified have been enumerated in the following table.

# Name Function
1 Names and Classifications This category gathers together descriptors used for assigning names and types to a place, both at present and historically.
2 Description This category is used to gather together information regarding significant descriptions given of a place by known authors/sources.
3 Parthood This category is used to bring together information relevant to the mereo-topological relations between a place and its parts.
4 Substance This category gathers together information regarding geospatial documentation of the extent of a place.
5 Documentation This category gathers together different descriptors that provide reference information with regards to a place.

Names and Classifications

The attribution of names and types to a place, as with other entities, is a basic human activity. A chief factor in disambiguating places lies in understanding the various names and identifiers that have been given to them at different moments in their individual histories. Historical places often receive different names according to the groups naming it, as well as receiving different kinds of names according to contexts and during different historical moments. Likewise, additional classifiers of a place, such as how it is has been formally classified, give important distinguishing characteristics. Because the type of a place is a socially related factor, dependent on how the place is appropriated/used in human interaction, the type of a place may change over time. In the model we add the possibility for describing this shift.

identifier Name Description CRM Path used by
place_1_identifier Identifier This field is used to indicate an identifier attributed to the documented place. → P1 → E42[1_1] → P190 → rdfs:Literal Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_2_identifier_type Identifier Type This field is used to indicate the type of an identifier attributed to the documented place. → P1 → E42[1_1] → P2 → E55[2_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_3_identifier_provider Identifier Provider This field is used to indicate the institution providing the documented place it's ID. → P1 → E42[1_1] → P37i → E15[3_1] → P14 → E39[3_2] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_4_identifier_source Identifier Source This field is used to indicate the source based on which the identifier was attributed to the place. → P1 → E42[1_1] → P37i → E15[3_1] → P16 → E73[4_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_17_type Type This field is used to indicate the formal type of place a documented instance of place is classified as. → P2 → E55[17_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_18_type_start_-_date Type - Start Date This field is used to indicate at what date a place type was specified to hold for a place. → P41i → E17[18_1] → P42 → E55[17_1]

→ P41i → E17[18_1] → P4 → E52[18_2] → P82a → xsd:dateTime		 Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_19_type_-_end_date Type - End Date This field is used to indicate at what date a place type was specified to cease to hold for a place. → P41i → E17[18_1] → P42 → E55[17_1]

→ P41i → E17[18_1] → P4 → E52[18_2] → P82b → xsd:dateTime		 Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_5_name Name This field is used to indicate the main name attributed to the documented instance of place. → P1 → E33_E41[5_1] → P190 → rdfs:Literal

→ P1 → E33_E41[5_1] → P2 → E55[5_2]{'preferred terms'}		 Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_6_name_language Name Language This field is used to indicate the language of the name given to the place. → P1 → E33_E41[5_1] → P72 → E56[6_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_7_name_part Name Part This field is used to indicate a specific part of the name attributed to the documented instance of place. → P1 → E33_E41[5_1] → P106 → E41[7_1] → rdfs:label → rdfs:Literal Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_8_name_part_type Name Part Type This field is used to indicate the type of the specific part of the name attributed to the documented instance of place. → P1 → E33_E41[5_1] → P106 → E33_E41[7_1] → P2 → E55[8_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_10_alternative_name Alternative Name This field is used to indicate additional names under which the documented instance of place is known. This can be linked to the additional name type and earliest and latest date of use of that name. → P1 → E33_E41[10_1] → P190 → rdfs:Literal Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_11_alternative_name_type Alternative Name Type This field is used to indicate the type of alternate name that is attributed to the documented instance of place. → P1 → E33_E41[10_1] → P2 → E55[11_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_12_alternative_name_language Alternative Name Language This field is used to indicate the language of the additional name given to the place. → P1 → E33_E41[10_1] → P72 → E56[12_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_13_alternative_name_use_period_-_earliest Alternative Name Use Period - Earliest This field is used to indicate the earliest known date for use of an alternate name for the documented instance of place. → P1 → E33_E41[10_1] → R64i → F52[13_1] → P4 → E52[13_2] → P82a → xsd:dateTime Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_14_alternative_name_use_period_-_latest Alternative Name Use Period - Latest This field is used to indicate the latest known date for use of an alternate name for the documented instance of place. → P1 → E33_E41[10_1] → R64i → F52[13_1] → P4 → E52[13_2] → P82b → xsd:dateTime Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_15_alternative_name_-_attributed_by Alternative Name - Attributed by This field is used to indicate the organization attributing the instance of name use to the place. → P1 → E33_E41[10_1] → P141i → E13[15_1] → P14 → E39[15_2] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_16_alternative_name_-_source Alternative Name - Source This field is used to indicate the source on which the organization attributing the instance of name use based their attribution. → P1 → E33_E41[10_1] → P141i → E13[15_1] → P16 → E73[16_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure

Turtle Encoding
@prefix crm: <http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/> .
@prefix frbroo: <http://iflastandards.info/ns/fr/frbr/frbroo/> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .

<https://example.org/place/E53> a crm:E53_Place ;
    crm:P1_is_identified_by <https://example.org/name/fie_10_1>,
        <https://example.org/name/fie_1_1>,
        <https://example.org/name/fie_5_1> ;
    crm:P2_has_type <https://example.org/type/fie_17_1> ;
    crm:P41i_was_classified_by <https://example.org/event/fie_18_1> .

<http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670> a crm:E55_Type ;
    rdfs:label "preferred terms" .

<https://example.org/actor/fie_15_2> a crm:E39_Actor .

<https://example.org/actor/fie_3_2> a crm:E39_Actor .

<https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_16_1> a crm:E73_Information_Object .

<https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_4_1> a crm:E73_Information_Object .

<https://example.org/event/fie_13_1> a frbroo:F52_Name_Use_Activity ;
    crm:P4_has_time-span <https://example.org/time_span/fie_13_2> .

<https://example.org/event/fie_15_1> a crm:E13_Attribute_Assignment ;
    crm:P14_carried_out_by <https://example.org/actor/fie_15_2> ;
    crm:P16_used_specific_object <https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_16_1> .

<https://example.org/event/fie_18_1> a crm:E17_Type_Assignment ;
    crm:P42_assigned <https://example.org/type/fie_17_1> ;
    crm:P4_has_time-span <https://example.org/time_span/fie_18_2> .

<https://example.org/event/fie_3_1> a crm:E15_Identifier_Assignment ;
    crm:P14_carried_out_by <https://example.org/actor/fie_3_2> ;
    crm:P16_used_specific_object <https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_4_1> .

<https://example.org/name/fie_10_1> a crm:E33_E41_Linguistic_Appellation ;
    frbroo:R64i_was_name_used_by <https://example.org/event/fie_13_1> ;
    crm:P141i_was_assigned_by <https://example.org/event/fie_15_1> ;
    crm:P190_has_symbolic_content "content" ;
    crm:P2_has_type <https://example.org/type/fie_11_1> ;
    crm:P72_has_language <https://example.org/name/fie_12_1> .

<https://example.org/name/fie_12_1> a crm:E56_Language .

<https://example.org/name/fie_1_1> a crm:E42_Identifier ;
    crm:P190_has_symbolic_content "content" ;
    crm:P2_has_type <https://example.org/type/fie_2_1> ;
    crm:P37i_was_assigned_by <https://example.org/event/fie_3_1> .

<https://example.org/name/fie_5_1> a crm:E33_E41_Linguistic_Appellation ;
    crm:P106_is_composed_of <https://example.org/name/fie_7_1> ;
    crm:P190_has_symbolic_content "content" ;
    crm:P2_has_type <http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300404670> ;
    crm:P72_has_language <https://example.org/name/fie_6_1> .

<https://example.org/name/fie_6_1> a crm:E56_Language .

<https://example.org/name/fie_7_1> a crm:E33_E41_Linguistic_Appellation ;
    rdfs:label "content" ;
    crm:P2_has_type <https://example.org/type/fie_8_1> .

<https://example.org/time_span/fie_13_2> a crm:E52_Time-Span ;
    crm:P82a_begin_of_the_begin ""^^xsd:dateTime ;
    crm:P82b_end_of_the_end ""^^xsd:dateTime .

<https://example.org/time_span/fie_18_2> a crm:E52_Time-Span ;
    crm:P82a_begin_of_the_begin ""^^xsd:dateTime ;
    crm:P82b_end_of_the_end ""^^xsd:dateTime .

<https://example.org/type/fie_11_1> a crm:E55_Type .

<https://example.org/type/fie_2_1> a crm:E55_Type .

<https://example.org/type/fie_8_1> a crm:E55_Type .

<https://example.org/type/fie_17_1> a crm:E55_Type .

Description

Places are the subjects of innumerable descriptions that provide a wide range of information with regards to the meaning and use of a place. Such descriptions are of use in a scholarly understanding of a place just in case we are able to track the provenance of such elocutions in a systematic fashion. Such an aim drives the need for the tracking of description information as a separate category. The descriptors necessary to this task are documented in the table below.

identifier Name Description CRM Path used by
place_188_description Description This field is used to indicate a description of the documented instance of place. → P129i → E33[188_1] → P190 → rdfs:Literal Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_189_description_language Description Language This field is used to indicate the language of the description of the documented instance of place. → P129i → E33[188_1] → P72 → E56[189_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_190_description_type Description Type This field is used to indicate the type of description given of the documented instance of place. → P129i → E33[188_1] → P2 → E55[190_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_191_description_author Description Author This field is used to indicate the author of the description given of the documented instance of place. → P129i → E33[188_1] → P94i → E65[191_1]>-P14 → E39[191_2] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_192_description_date_-_earliest Description Date - Earliest This field is used to indicate the ealiest date for the creation of the description of the documented instance of place. → P129i → E33[188_1] → P94i → E65[191_1] → P4 → E52[191_2] → P82a → xsd:dateTime Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_193_description_date_-_latest Description Date - Latest This field is used to indicate the latest date for the creation of the description of the documented instance of place. → P129i → E33[188_1] → P94i → E65[191_1] → P4 → E52[191_2] → P82b —> xsd:dateTime Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_194_description_-_source Description - Source This field is used to document the source of the description of the documented instance of place. → P129i → E33[188_1] → P94i → E65[191_1] → P16 → E73[194_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure

These descriptors should be deployed together in order to provide full context to ‘text blobs’ by means of authorship, type of description as well as the time of articulation.

Turtle Encoding
@prefix crm: <http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/> .

<https://example.org/place/E53> a crm:E53_Place ;
    crm:P129i_is_subject_of <https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_188_1> .

<https://example.org/actor/fie_191_2> a crm:E39_Actor .

<https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_188_1> a crm:E33_Linguistic_Object ;
    crm:P190_has_symbolic_content "content" ;
    crm:P2_has_type <https://example.org/type/fie_190_1> ;
    crm:P72_has_language <https://example.org/type/fie_189_1> ;
    crm:P94i_was_created_by <https://example.org/event/fie_191_1> .

<https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_194_1> a crm:E73_Information_Object .

<https://example.org/event/fie_191_1> a crm:E65_Creation ;
    crm:P14_carried_out_by <https://example.org/actor/fie_191_2> ;
    crm:P4_has_time-span <https://example.org/time_span/fie_192_1> ;
    crm:P63_used_specific_object <https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_194_1> .

<https://example.org/time_span/fie_192_1> a crm:E52_Time-span ;
    crm:P81a_begin_of_the_begin "content" ;
    crm:P81b_end_of_the_end "content" .

<https://example.org/type/fie_189_1> a crm:E56_Language .

<https://example.org/type/fie_190_1> a crm:E55_Type .

Parthood

The mereo-topological breakdown of places is crucial to understanding the relative relations between places. This information category gathers together the basic descriptors typically deployed to this end. In the study and documentation of place, this is a highly researched topic with extremely fine grained analysis available. In this base model, we represent the relation of one place falling within another. This representation allows both for documentation of contemporaneous containment relations but also the expression of a place falling within another place or containing one at a particular historical time.

identifier Name Description CRM Path used by
place_35_has_part Has Part This field is used to indicate individually documented sub places which form part of the documented place. → P89i → E53[35_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_36_is_part_of Is Part of This field is used to indicate that the broader geographic place that the documented place falls within. → P89 → E53[36_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_42_historically_is_part_of_place Historically was Part of Place This field is used to indicate the broader geographic place that the documented place falls within. → P161i → E4[42_1] → P166i → E93[42_2] → P10 → E4[42_3] → P161 → E53[42_4] → P168 → geo:wkt Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_45_historically_is_part_of_place_-_earliest_date_time Historically was Part of Place - Earliest Date Time This field is used to indicate the earliest point during which this instance of place fell within the place that it was historically a part of. → P161i → E4[42_1] → P166i → E93[42_2] → P160 → E52[45_1] → P82a → xsd:dateTime Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_46_historically_is_part_of_place_-_latest_date_time Historically was Part of Place - Latest Date Time This field is used to indicate the latest point during which this instance of place fell within the place that it was historically a part of.This field is used to indicate the latest point during which this instance of place fell within the place that it was historically a part of. → P161i → E4[42_1] → P166i → E93[42_2] → P160 → E52[45_1] → P82b → xsd:dateTime Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_43_name_at_time_of_historically_being_part_of_place Name at Time of Historically Being Part of Place This field is used to indicate the name of the place at the time of containing another historical place. → P161i → E4[19] → P166i → E93[20] → P10i → F52[21] → R64 → E41[22] → P190 → rdfs:Literal

→ P161i → E4[19] → P166i → E93[20] → P10i → F52[21] → P140 → E4[19]

→ P161i → E4[19] → P166i → E93[20] → P164 → E52[25] → P82a → xsd:dateTime

→ P161i → E4[19] → P166i → E93[20] → P164 → E52[25] → P82b → xsd:dateTime		 Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_44_type_at_time_of_historically_being_part_of_place Type at Time of Historically Being Part of Place This field is used to indicate the type of the place at the time of containing another historical place. → P161i → E4[19] → P166i → E93[20] → P10i → E17[23] → P42 → E55[24]

→ P161i → E4[19] → P166i → E93[20] → P10i → E17[23] → P41 → E4[19]

→ P161i → E4[19] → P166i → E93[20] → P164 → E52[25] → P82a → xsd:dateTime

→ P161i → E4[19] → P166i → E93[20] → P164 → E52[25] → P82b → xsd:dateTime		 Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_47_historical_coordinates Historical Coordinates This field is used to indicate the historical coordinates of the geographic place to which the occurrence of the documented instance of place is localized.. → P161i → E4[42_1] → P166i → E93[42_2] → P161 → E53[47_1] → P168 → geo:wkt Swiss Art Research Infrastructure

Turtle Encoding
@prefix crm: <http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/> .
@prefix frbroo: <http://iflastandards.info/ns/fr/frbr/frbroo/> .
@prefix geo: <http://www.opengis.net/ont/geosparql#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .

<https://example.org/place/E53> a crm:E53_Place ;
    crm:P161i_is_spatial_projection_of <https://example.org/event/fie_42_1> ;
    crm:P89_falls_within <https://example.org/place/fie_36_1> ;
    crm:P89i_contains <https://example.org/place/fie_35_1> .

<https://example.org/event/fie_43_1> a frbroo:F52_Name_Use_Activity ;
    frbroo:R64_used_name <https://example.org/name/fie_43_2> ;
    crm:P140_assigned_attribute_to <https://example.org/event/fie_42_1> .

<https://example.org/event/fie_44_1> a crm:E17_Type_Assignment ;
    crm:P41_classified <https://example.org/event/fie_42_1> ;
    crm:P42_assigned <https://example.org/type/fie_44_2> .

<https://example.org/name/fie_43_2> a crm:E41_Appellation ;
    crm:P190_has_symbolic_content "content" .

<https://example.org/place/fie_35_1> a crm:E53_Place .

<https://example.org/place/fie_36_1> a crm:E53_Place .

<https://example.org/place/fie_42_3> a crm:E4_Period ;
    crm:P161_has_spatial_projection <https://example.org/place/fie_42_4> .

<https://example.org/place/fie_42_4> a crm:E53_Place ;
    crm:P168_place_is_defined_by ""^^geo:wkt .

<https://example.org/stv/fie_42_2> a crm:E93_Presence ;
    crm:P10_falls_within <https://example.org/place/fie_42_3> ;
    crm:P10i_contains <https://example.org/event/fie_43_1>,
        <https://example.org/event/fie_44_1> ;
    crm:P161i_is_spatial_projection_of <https://example.org/stv/fie_47_1> ;
    crm:P164_is_temporally_specified_by <https://example.org/time_span/fie_45_1> .

<https://example.org/stv/fie_47_1> a crm:E53_Place ;
    crm:P168_place_is_defined_by ""^^geo:wkt .

<https://example.org/time_span/fie_45_1> a crm:E52_Time-Span ;
    crm:P82a_begin_of_the_begin ""^^xsd:dateTime ;
    crm:P82b_end_of_the_end ""^^xsd:dateTime .

<https://example.org/type/fie_44_2> a crm:E55_Type .

<https://example.org/event/fie_42_1> a crm:E4_Period ;
    crm:P166i_had_presence <https://example.org/stv/fie_42_2> .

Substance

Crucial in the documentation of place is the capturing of geometric estimations of its precise coordinates. These coordinates together with the place entity as a whole form the basis for spatial analysis not only of places themselves but also other entities documented using the SARI reference models.

identifier Name Description CRM Path used by
place_92_coordinates Coordinates This field is used to indicate the coordinates of the geographic place to which the occurrence of the documented instance of place is localized.. → P168 → geo:wkt Swiss Art Research Infrastructure

Turtle Encoding
@prefix crm: <http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/> .
@prefix geo: <http://www.opengis.net/ont/geosparql#> .

<https://example.org/place/E53> a crm:E53_Place ;
    crm:P168_place_is_defined_by ""^^geo:wkt .

Documentation

This information category unites referential information about the documented event, providing contextual data about it.

identifier Name Description CRM Path used by
place_195_image Image This field is used to indicate bibliographic records that stand as reference documentation for the documented archival item. → P138i → E36/D9[195_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_196_citation Citation This field is used to indicate bibliographic records that stand as reference documentation for the documented instance of place. → P129i → E33[196_1] → rdf:value → rdfs:Literal

→ P129i → E33[196_1] → P2 → E55 "Citation"		 Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_197_citation_source Citation Source This field is used to indicate the source used for generating the citation for the documented instance of a place. → P129i → E33[196_1] → P106i → E33[197_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure
place_204_same_as Same As The field is used to record the sameness between the entity described and an external authority → L54 → E1[204_1] Swiss Art Research Infrastructure

Turtle Encoding
@prefix crm: <http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/> .
@prefix crmdig: <http://www.ics.forth.gr/isl/CRMdig/> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .

<https://example.org/place/E53> a crm:E53_Place ;
    crm:P129i_is_subject_of <https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_196_1> ;
    crm:P138i_has_representation <https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_195_1> ;
    crmdig:L54_is_same-as <https://example.org/entity/fie_204_1> .

<https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_195_1> a crm:E36_Visual_Item,
        crmdig:D9_Data_Object .

<https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_196_1> a crm:E33_Linguistic_Object ;
    crm:P106i_forms_part_of <https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_197_1> ;
    crm:P190_has_symbolic_content "content" ;
    crm:P2_has_type <https://example.org/type/fie_196_1> .

<https://example.org/conceptual_object/fie_197_1> a crm:E33_Linguistic_Object .

<https://example.org/entity/fie_204_1> a crm:E1_CRM_Entity .

<https://example.org/type/fie_196_1> a crm:E55_Type ;
    rdfs:label "Citation" .
Last update: December 8, 2020