Sorry Rebecca - I think this is a US-centric problem.
In conventional cartesian geometrical systems, following western
writing systems, we incremenet numbers on the X-axis from left to right.
In geography, this means that longitudes in the Eastern hemisphere are +ve,
while longitudes in the western hemisphere are -ve.
Of course the latter covers USA.
So some local US standards invert this and choose to count
from right to left, so that the longitude values of areas in the US are always +ve.
But I'm afraid that trying to export this to the rest of the world won't
be accepted, for obvious reasons. North and East were carefully chosen to
match conventional cartesian geometry.
Simon
"Rebecca S. Guenther" wrote:
>
> Forwarded as a result of an inquiry I received. Does anyone understand the
> inconsistency here? What might be done to allow for the usage of
> coordinates in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System? Define a new
> qualifier?
>
> Rebecca
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> ^^ Rebecca S. Guenther ^^
> ^^ Senior Networking and Standards Specialist ^^
> ^^ Network Development and MARC Standards Office ^^
> ^^ 1st and Independence Ave. SE ^^
> ^^ Library of Congress ^^
> ^^ Washington, DC 20540-4402 ^^
> ^^ (202) 707-5092 (voice) (202) 707-0115 (FAX) ^^
> ^^ [log in to unmask] ^^
> ^^ ^^
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 15:13:37 -0400
> From: John Kane <[log in to unmask]>
> To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: DCMI point and box
>
> Rebecca:
> As per to our phone conversation this morning:
>
> The DCMI Point scheme ( http://www.dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-point/ )
> lists coordinates as North and East.
>
> The GNIS at USGS (
> http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form ) lists
> coordinates as North and West (i.e. enter Patuxent and Maryland in a query
> to get the coordinates).
>
> I'd expect Dublin Core would want to be consistent with the GNIS since it's
> widely used and could be used to auto-enter coordinates into a Dublin Core
> metadata record form.
>
> John
>
> John Kane PhD
> Information Systems Division [log in to unmask]
> National Agricultural Library ph. 301 504-6400
> fax 301 504-7473
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