Overview
EN ISO 19157-1:2023 - "Geographic information - Data quality - Part 1: General requirements" (ISO 19157-1:2023) is a CEN-endorsed international standard that defines principles, structure and processes for describing and reporting the quality of geographic data. It establishes a coherent system of components and descriptors for data quality, specifies the content structure of data quality measures, describes general procedures for data quality evaluation, and sets principles for data quality reporting. The standard is intended for data producers and users assessing whether datasets meet their product specification and application needs. It does not set minimum acceptable quality levels (those belong in product specifications, e.g., ISO 19131).
Key Topics and Requirements
- Data quality components: Defines a modular model (data quality unit, elements such as completeness, logical consistency, positional accuracy, temporal quality, thematic quality, and metaquality elements) to describe different aspects of quality.
- Data quality measures: Specifies the structure and content for standardized and user-defined measures (identifiers, names, definitions, parameters, value types and structures, examples).
- Evaluation process: Outlines the process flow and steps for direct and indirect evaluation, and covers aggregation and derivation of results.
- Reporting principles: Establishes how to report raw, aggregated, or derived quality results and references to original results, including hierarchy and special-case reporting.
- Extensibility: Provides mechanisms for defining additional, domain-specific components and measures to meet sector-specific needs.
- Conformance & encoding: Defines conformance requirements and requirements for XML encoding of data quality models to support interoperability.
- Normative/informative content: Includes an abstract test suite, data quality concepts, and a data dictionary (annexes).
Applications and Who Uses It
- Data producers (national mapping agencies, cadastral offices, remote sensing providers) use it to document dataset quality and comply with product specifications.
- Data users and integrators (GIS analysts, urban planners, environmental modelers) use the quality information to determine fitness-for-purpose.
- Quality assurance teams implement repeatable evaluation processes, create standardized quality reports, and manage quality metadata.
- Software and metadata tool vendors implement XML encodings and conformance checks to support interoperability in catalogs and data services.
Practical uses include dataset procurement/specification, QA workflows, metadata catalog enrichment, data fusion decision-making, and legal/compliance documentation.
Related Standards
- The standard explicitly references product specification practices such as ISO 19131 for defining dataset requirements. It is part of the ISO/TC 211 suite addressing geospatial information management and interoperability.
Keywords: EN ISO 19157-1:2023, geographic information, data quality, data quality measures, data quality evaluation, positional accuracy, completeness, logical consistency, XML encoding.
