Introduction

The NSPIT Data Portal (Figure 1) provides an overview of the different data in the NSPIT Platform as well as further information about these data (metadata). It lets you use various filter and search functions with which you can search for existing data. Many datasets include a WFS link for downloading the data.

The NSPIT Data Portal is one component of the NSPIT Platform. The various components of the NSPIT Platform are mentioned in Table 1.

Table 1: NSPIT Platform Components

Searching Layers

The quickest way to find a layer is to search for it by title. To search a layer by title, use the search form on the start page or on the Advanced Search page and start typing a name. Once you start typing, the layers that match your text will be suggested below the search input (Figure 2):

Note: The text you enter is case-insensitive, so you do not have to pay attention to the text’s case when you enter text.

You can then click a layer title (Figure 3), which automatically forwards you to the layer’s metadata page.

Alternatively, you can click the magnifying glass, which forwards you to the Advanced Search and sets the suggested layer titles as a predefined filter (Figure 4).

Advanced Search

The Advanced Search opens when:

• - the Advanced Search button is clicked (Figure 5)
• - a link under Categories / Datasets by Year (Top 5) / Contributors (Top 3) is clicked

The Advanced Search adds the following elements you can search by:

• - Alternate Title
• - Abstract
• - Contributor
• - Year of creation

Pick what you would like to search by, using the [Pick a Category] dropdown and start typing in the text input next to the dropdown (Figure 6).

Using Filters

You can filter data by category or by geometry.

The filters can be activated by clicking them in the left panel in the Advanced Search page. When clicked, a filter is highlighted and displayed on the right side (Figure 7).

How the filter logic works

When selecting a category, you will be shown all layers that are within that category. In the following example 18 layers were found within Atmospheric Sciences (Figure 8):

When selecting more than one category (Figure 9) you will be shown all layers that fall within either category. In the following example, all layers that are part of the Atmospheric Sciences category and all layers that are part of the Economy category are found.

The geometry filter returns layers that correspond to the filtered geometry type (Figure 10). In the following example, we first search for layers that are in the Atmospheric Sciences or Economy categories and then we add an additional filter that filters the above layers according to their geometry type.

So, although there are 21 layers in Atmospheric Sciences and Economy, not all of them are polygon layers (only 17 of those layers are polygon layers). For that reason, adding a geometry filter to a category filter usually returns fewer results then when using category filters only.

Metadata Page

Overview of the Metadata Page

After selecting a dataset, the layer’s metadata is displayed in a separate page (Figure 11).

On the left side you can see a preview of the layer. In some cases, the layer is not available. If this happens, the preview map will show the layer’s bounding box instead. If available Categories and Type of the layer is shown.

On the right side the page includes a table that displays the entire layer’s metadata. The NSPIT Metadata standard groups the metadata according to the following categories:

• - General
• - Additional
• - Geometry
• - Maintenace
• - Metadata
• - NSPIT

Each category includes multiple pieces of information. Note that the categories can be collapsed and extended by clicking on the category name (Figure 12).

Downloading data

Some data from the NSPIT Portal is freely available for download. To see if a dataset is downloadable scroll to the category NSPIT (Figures 13, 14). If the dataset is downloadable there will be a WFS link under Data URI (Figure 13).

Note that even if a dataset is downloadable, limitations might still aply. The category Additional has information on legal constraints and use limitations.