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Resource URI:
api.neotomadb.org/v1/data/sites
Returns metadata for one or more sites.
The Sites resource provides information about sites or localities, including name, geographic coordinates, and description. Sites generally have an areal extent and can be circumscribed by a latitude-longitude box. However, site data ingested from legacy databases have included only point locations. The lat-long box can be used either to circumscribe the areal extent of a site or to provide purposeful imprecision to the site location. Site location may be imprecise because of the original description was vague, e.g. “a gravel bar 5 miles east of town,” or because the investigators, land owner, or land management agency may not want the exact location made public, perhaps to prevent looting and vandalism. In the first case, the lat-long box can be made sufficiently large to encompass the true location and in the second case to prevent exact location.
Any of the following parameters may be specified in the call. If no parameters are provided, all sites in the database will be returned. Alternatively, use parameters to filter results to a subset of sites.
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
sitename | Name or partial name of the site. |
altmin | Minimum site altitude in meters. |
altmax | Maximum site altitude in meters. |
loc | Geographic bounding box within which to constrain the search for sites. Coordinates are specified in decimal degrees as a comma-separated list in the following order: longitudeWest, latitudeSouth, longitudeEast, latitudeNorth. |
gpid | Geopolitical entity id in which the sites occur; see below. |
Accepted values are those in the GeoPoliticalID column in the following table: GeoPoliticalUnits.
A site resource is described by the following properties.
Property | Description |
---|---|
SiteID | Unique database record identifier for the site. |
SiteName | Name of the site. |
Altitude | Altitude in meters. |
LatitudeNorth | North bounding latitude, in decimal degrees, for a site. |
LatitudeSouth | South bounding latitude, in decimal degrees, for a site. |
LongitudeEast | East bounding longitude, in decimal degrees, for a site. |
LongitudeWest | West bounding longitude, in decimal degrees, for a site. |
SiteDescription | Free form description of a site, including such information as physiography and vegetation around the site. |
If the sites resource is called with a single site id, the response is augmented to include an array of objects that describes a site's collection units. In turn, the collection unit object(s) include an array of objects that describes the datasets associated with it.
Specify a single site id in in the URL as indicated below. Do not included any query parameters.
api.neotomadb.org/v1/data/sites/<SiteID>
A collection unit object is described by the following properties.
Property | Description |
---|---|
CollectionUnitID | Unique database record identifier for the collection unit. |
Handle | Code name for the collection unit. This code may be up to 10 characters, but an effort is made to keep these to 8 characters or less. Data are frequently distributed by collection unit, and the handle is used for file names. |
CollType | The collection type. Types include cores, sections, excavations, and animal middens. Collection Units may be modern collections, surface float, or isolated specimens. Composite Collections Units include different kinds of Analysis Units, for example a modern surface sample for ostracodes and an associated water sample. |
Datasets | An array of objects that describe datasets associated with a site; see below. |
A dataset object is described by the following properties.
Property | Description |
---|---|
DatasetID | Unique database record identifier for the dataset. |
DatasetType | The dataset type, such as: geochronologic, loss-on-ignition, pollen, plant macrofossils, vertebrate fauna, mollusks, insects, ostracodes, etc. |
Request | Description |
---|---|
http://api.neotomadb.org/v1/data/sites | All sites |
http://api.neotomadb.org/v1/data/sites/526 | Site id 526 |
http://api.neotomadb.org/v1/data/sites?sitename=%2Alake%2A | Sites with names that contain the string “lake” |
http://api.neotomadb.org/v1/data/sites?altmin=100&altmax=500 | Sites with altitude between 100 and 500m |
http://api.neotomadb.org/v1/data/sites?loc=-92.9,46.3,-77.3,55.2 | Sites within a region in Ontario, Canada |
http://api.neotomadb.org/v1/data/sites?gpid=8412 | Sites within geopolitical entity 8412 (Pennsylvania, USA) |
View sample response
View sample response
View sample response
{ "success":1, "data":[ { "SiteID":2933, "SiteName":"Wolsfeld Lake", "Altitude":291, "LatitudeNorth":45, "LatitudeSouth":45, "LongitudeEast":-93.566667, "LongitudeWest":-93.566667, "SiteDescription":"Kettle lake. Physiography: rolling stagnation moraine. Surrounding vegetation: elm-maple-basswood-oak forest." }, { "SiteID":500, "SiteName":"Cottonwood Lake (US:South Dakota)", "Altitude":549, "LatitudeNorth":44.836111, "LatitudeSouth":44.836111, "LongitudeEast":-99.906389, "LongitudeWest":-99.906389, "SiteDescription":"Lake in preglacial stream valley. Physiography: Missouri Coteau, gently rolling. Surrounding vegetation: wheatgrass prairie, small-grain fields." } ] }
View sample extended response
View sample extended response
View sample extended response
{ "success":1, "data":[ { "SiteID":526, "SiteName":"Lagoa da Curuça", "Altitude":35, "LatitudeNorth":-0.766667, "LatitudeSouth":-0.766667, "LongitudeEast":-47.85, "LongitudeWest":-47.85, "SiteDescription":"Lake. Physiography: isolated lake, 15 km from the Atlantic. Surrounding vegetation: Amazon rain forest.", "Notes":null, "CollectionUnits":[ { "CollectionUnitID":526, "Handle":"CURUCAA", "CollType":"Core", "Datasets":[ { "DatasetID":540, "DatasetType":"pollen" }, { "DatasetID":8043, "DatasetType":"geochronologic" } ] }, { "CollectionUnitID":2973, "Handle":"CURUCAB", "CollType":"Core", "Datasets":[ { "DatasetID":3074, "DatasetType":"pollen" }, { "DatasetID":8786, "DatasetType":"geochronologic" } ] } ] } ] }