[IGSMAIL-8522] Transition to ISO-3166 Alpha-3 codes in the IGS metadata taking place on December 4, 2024

Wed Nov 6 18:26:01 UTC 2024

Dear IGS Community Members,

As an update to yesterday's message (below), please be advised that the *the
planned implementation of IGS updates to Alpha-3 Country/Region codes,
9-Character station identifiers, and other **changes as announced by the
IGS Infrastructure Committee in [IGS-8458
<https://lists.igs.org/pipermail/igsmail/2024/008454.html?_gl=1*1up9h71*_ga*MTg0OTMwNDUxNy4xNzIzNjYwNjgz*_ga_Z5RH7R682C*MTczMDgzODMwMC4zNC4wLjE3MzA4MzgzMDAuNjAuMC4w&_ga=2.140937275.882449497.1730830657-1849304517.1723660683>]
will take place on the 4th of December, 2024. *At this time, the current
/log folder, containing the "old" version logs, will be removed and the
test directory at /log_9char will be moved to /log.

Best regards,
Allison, on behalf of the IGS Central Bureau and Infrastructure Committee

On Tue, Nov 5, 2024 at 12:34 PM IGS Central Bureau <cb at igs.org> wrote:

> Dear IGS Community Members,
>
> *The IGS Central Bureau kindly reminds you that that the planned
> implementation of IGS updates to Alpha-3 Country/Region codes, 9-Character
> station identifiers, and other **changes as announced by the IGS
> Infrastructure Committee in [IGS-8458
> <https://lists.igs.org/pipermail/igsmail/2024/008454.html?_gl=1*1up9h71*_ga*MTg0OTMwNDUxNy4xNzIzNjYwNjgz*_ga_Z5RH7R682C*MTczMDgzODMwMC4zNC4wLjE3MzA4MzgzMDAuNjAuMC4w&_ga=2.140937275.882449497.1730830657-1849304517.1723660683>]
> are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.*
>
> Any questions regarding this transition can be directed to:
>
> Markus Bradke, IGS Infrastructure Committee Coordinator:
> markus.bradke at gfz-potsdam.de
>
> Ryan Ruddick, IGS Infrastructure Committee Vice Coordinator:
> ryan.ruddick at ga.gov.au
>
> Best regards,
> Allison, on behalf of the IGS Central Bureau
>
> On Mon, Apr 15, 2024 at 2:46 AM Markus Bradke <bradke at gfz-potsdam.de>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear IGS/GNSS community,
>>
>> We are going to be making some changes to the way we describe geographic
>> locations in our site logs and related metadata records.
>> These changes will better align our metadata with international
>> geographic standards, such as ISO-3166, ensuring maximum shareability and
>> interoperability, especially in the realm of machine-to-machine
>> communications and machine learning applications, where there is a need to
>> increase the machine readability of IGS metadata as it describes countries,
>> areas, and geographical regions. The change also ensures that our site logs
>> align with other IGS standards such as RINEX and GeodesyML.
>>
>> Governing Board Decision
>>
>> After careful consideration, the IGS Governing Board decided (in December
>> 2021) to modify the term “Country” to “Country or Region” (also written
>> “Country/Region”) when talking about place names in the IGS network and
>> community. This modification will be implemented in order to use vocabulary
>> that is more inclusive to stations in international territories and
>> regions, such as the Antarctic and Arctic. This also seeks to preserve and
>> protect the IGS status as a politically neutral scientific organisation.
>>
>> As such, IGS Governing Board has sanctioned the utilisation of
>> alphabetical three-character (Alpha-3) ISO-3166 country/region codes. An
>> implementation plan has been devised and accepted. Furthermore, the plan
>> has received approval from other international networks, such as APREF and
>> EPN.
>>
>> The assignment of countries, regions, or areas to specific groupings is
>> for technical interoperability and statistical convenience and does not
>> imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries
>> or territories by the International GNSS Service (IGS). The designations
>> employed and the presentation of material on the IGS site do not imply the
>> expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the IGS concerning the
>> legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or of its
>> authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
>>
>> What will change
>>
>> Over the coming months the IGS Infrastructure Committee will implement
>> the decisions made by the Governing Board through changes to the IGS site
>> logs.
>>
>> The blank.log <https://files.igs.org/pub/station/general/blank.log> will
>> be replaced with blank_v2.0.log and the instructions provided in
>> sitelog_instr.txt
>> <https://files.igs.org/pub/station/general/sitelog_instr.txt> will be
>> modified and saved as sitelog_instr_v2.0.log.
>>
>> Furthermore, we will take this opportunity to fully adopt the 9-character
>> station identifiers in both the filename and the metadata files themselves.
>> For example, the filename pots_20240101.log will be changed to
>> pots00deu_20240101.log.
>>
>> Changes to the blank.log
>>
>> The changes to the blank.log are highlighted in blue.
>>
>> XXXX Site Information Form (site log)
>> XXXXMRCCC Site Information Form (site log v2.0)
>>
>> If Update:
>>  Previous Site Log       : (ssss_ccyymmdd.log)
>>  Previous Site Log       : (ssssmrccc_ccyymmdd.log)
>>
>> Four Character ID        : (A4)
>> Nine Character ID        : (A9)
>>
>> Country                  :
>> Country or Region        : (A3)
>>
>> For the station POTS00DEU, the changes will look like this:
>>
>> POTS Site Information Form (site log)
>> POTS00DEU Site Information Form (site log v2.0)
>>
>> If Update:
>>  Previous Site Log       : pots_20230101.log
>>  Previous Site Log       : pots00deu_20230101.log
>>
>> Four Character ID        : POTS
>> Nine Character ID        : POTS00DEU
>>
>> Country                  : Germany
>> Country or Region        : DEU
>>
>> Timeline for changes
>>
>> The implementation of the updates will commence on June 5, 2024,
>> utilising the updated site logs appearing in the existing /log_9char
>> <https://files.igs.org/pub/station/log_9char/> directory.
>> Initially, only the active site logs will be modified, while the archived
>> site logs will remain untouched.
>>
>> The changes are planned to be completed by the end of 2024.
>> Following this, at a date still to be determined, we will remove the
>> current /log folder, which contains the "old" version logs, and relocate
>> the test directory from /log_9char to /log.
>>
>> It's important to note that the implementation timeline pertains
>> specifically to metadata on the IGS servers.
>> The actual implementation, such as folder structure, for other services
>> like APREF and EPN, may differ. Please refer to their respective email
>> correspondences for more details.
>>
>> If you have any questions or requests, do not hesitate to contact us
>> under sitelog-transition at igs.org.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Markus Bradke
>> (on behalf of the IGS Infrastructure Committee)
>>
>> M.Eng. Markus Bradke
>>
>> IGS Infrastructure Committee Coordinator
>>
>> Section 1.1 Space Geodetic Techniques
>> Phone: +49 (0)331/6264-1182
>> Email: markus.bradke at gfz-potsdam.de
>>
>> Helmholtz Centre Potsdam
>> GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
>> Foundation under public law of the federal state of Brandenburg
>> Telegrafenberg, D-14473 Potsdam
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> IGSMail mailing list
>> IGSMail at lists.igs.org
>> https://lists.igs.org/mailman/listinfo/igsmail
>>
>
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