Mining districts are important entities we are working to bring some clarification to through the GeoKB. We are starting with the work in USMIN as an important source where subject matter experts have been working through sources for mining district identification and characterization in USGS sources. We also need to use the GeoKB to capture work to harmonize or integrate with other sources.
Sources
- USMIN via MRData deposits
Discussion Points
The following are key points for discussion where we need experts in the field to weigh in.
Geo Context
In working through the USMIN source, we have geospatial footprints for named mining districts, and we've seen similar (multi)polygon features in other sources we may want to bring together in the GeoKB. We will provide a URL/ExternalID type of property that links directly to a service end point (e.g., OGC-WFS) that can be used to pull the geometry for use. But it may also be useful to add in links to geographic place names through a little bit of geo-processing with the spatial footprints. Initial thoughts are to add what we already have in the GeoKB, which would include the following:
- country
- state/province (including CA and MX at this point)
- U.S. county or equivalent
- Native American and Alaska Native tribal boundaries/Census-designated places
However, there may be other or more meaningful named/identified geographic features we should consider bringing into the GeoKB and using in this case.