Geographic Information Systems: An Introduction, 3rd Edition

11.10 Data Quality Overview Elements

The following data quality overview elements are particularly relevant to use in the description of nonquantitative quality data sets:

Purpose

According to ISO (2001), purpose describes the rationale for creating a data set and contain information about its intended use. For example, a land-use database can be established to produce area statistics and to support GIS applications. A data set's intended use is not necessarily the same as its actual use. Actual use is described using the data quality overview element. Information on the purpose of data establishment will give new users an understanding of what the data can be used for.

Usage

Usage describes the application(s) for which a data set has been used. It also describes the intended usage of the data set by the data producer or by other distinct data users. In addition, the actual use of the data will be an important source of information for new users. A land-use database can be used as one of several sources to produce municipal area plans and national topographical maps in scale 1:50 000.

Lineage

Lineage describes the history of the data set, and origin comprises a description of the source material, including date, original application, data capture method, data producer, and treatment method (e.g., transformation algorithms). Digital map data can thus be established on the basis of photogrammetric measurements or by digitizing existing maps. Attribute data can be taken from public ...