1.1.1.12. Data Formats In and Out

v4.0-beta

Note

Part of the Draft v4 User Guide: under review during beta testing.

WHG accepts and provides data in several formats. Which one to use depends on how rich your data is.

1.1.1.12.1. Spreadsheets and lists

Map your Data reads CSV and TSV, Excel, JSON, GeoJSON, and Google Sheets. It can also pick place names out of free text. It is the easiest way to start: bring a table, match it to WHG, enrich it, and export it again. See Map your Data.

1.1.1.12.2. Linked Places Format (LPF)

The Linked Places Format is the established GeoJSON-LD interchange format for historical place data. It was developed with the Pelagios community and is used by many gazetteer projects.

  • WHG accepts LPF contributions, and exports place data as LPF.

  • LPF remains fully supported in v4. Work towards the next version of LPF is coordinated by the Institute for Spatial History Innovation (ISHI) at the University of Pittsburgh and the Pelagios Place Working Group, and is recorded in the LPF repository.

LPF describes each place as a single object. That suits most gazetteers well.

1.1.1.12.3. PLATO

PLATO, the Place Attestation Ontology, is the formal expression of WHG’s data model. It suits richer data: where several sources make different claims about one place, each with its own dates, certainty and citation, and where you want to keep them apart rather than flatten them into one record.

  • PLATO has a JSON form and an RDF form; PLATO’s JSON-LD context turns one into the other.

  • LPF is PLATO’s single-object profile, so LPF data is valid PLATO. The two are designed to coexist, and neither replaces the other.

  • WHG v4.0 accepts PLATO in two forms for upload: PLATO JSON (place-centric or attestation-centric) and PLATO spreadsheet tables (PLATO’s template, one sheet for each kind of statement). The tables are the easiest way to enter a route, itinerary or network (see Routes, itineraries and networks).

  • WHG v4.0 does not accept RDF (Turtle, say) for upload directly. Convert it to PLATO JSON first.

  • The PLATO tools check and convert PLATO data in your browser.

1.1.1.12.4. Linked Data

Because PLATO is defined in RDF, WHG’s data can be published as Linked Data and queried with standard tools. Each record is available through its identifier (see Identifiers and citation):

  • Today, as JSON-LD in Linked Places Format. Turtle is not served.

  • At the v4 launch, as PLATO JSON-LD or Turtle, by content negotiation, with LPF still offered for existing clients.

1.1.1.12.5. Which should I use?

Your data

Suggested format

A list or table of place names

Map your Data (CSV, Excel, Google Sheet)

A gazetteer with one description per place

LPF

Several sources’ claims per place, kept apart with their own dates and citations

PLATO (JSON or spreadsheet tables)

A route, itinerary or network

PLATO spreadsheet tables

Data already held as RDF

Convert to PLATO JSON, then upload