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Is srsName of "EPSG:4326" spec compliant in GML 3.1 / 3.2?

Geographic Information Systems Asked by BradHards on February 23, 2021

I sometimes see srsName="EPSG:4326" in GML documents (e.g. https://postgis.net/docs/ST_GeomFromGML.html, although my particular source is not public). The intent (except perhaps for axis order that isn’t important here) is clear, and probably interoperable across various systems, but I wonder if that is actually specification compliant.

I’ve looked at the OGC Naming Authority and OGC URN policy, and they use the urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG:d{4,5} form (i.e. it would be urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG:4326).

The GML Point Profile (OGC 05-029r4) uses srsName="urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG:6.6:4326" in examples, and requires that to be “well known”. I don’t see anything in there that actually excludes any particular srsName though.

Is the srsName="EPSG:abcd" form (in particular, srsName="EPSG:4326") specification compliant for a GML 3.1 or 3.2 element (in particular, for Point Profile)?

One Answer

Yes, srsName="EPSG:abcd" is GML-3 compliant but only in an application context where EPSG:abcd points to a CRS definition. As of 2013, OGC best practice (documented here) is to use http URIs of the form http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/4326.

The GML-3.0.0 spec (OCG 02-023r4) section v.2, page xiv states aliasing CRSs is kosher:

in GML we have found it convenient for an identified object to be able to carry several “names” – i.e. labels either assigned by external authorities or commonly used for an object. These may be distinguished from each other by noting the “codeSpace” for a name, which allows a consumer of the information to select the appropriate name for them to use.

The GML-3.2.1 spec (OGC 03-105r1) section 10.1.3.2, page 56 says :

In general the attribute srsName [of type="anyURI"] points to a CRS instance of gml:AbstractCoordinateReferenceSystem (see 12.2.3). For well-known references it is not required that the CRS description exists at the location the URI points to.

While there's no explicit definition of "well-known" within the GML-3 spec, using OGC 05-029r4 (section 4, page 8)'s definition of "well-known" as "not requiring resolution," so long as an application can internally identify a CRS from an URI , you might say the CRS is "well-known." Thus, using GML-3.1 & 3.2's somewhat complicated system of pointing to CRSs by name can be interpreted as the CRSs being well-known, and so EPSG:abcd is perfectly valid. If you want to explore the exact methods with which GML points to a CRS via an srsName, see referenceSystems.xsd in http://schemas.opengis.net/gml/3.1.0/base/ and http://schemas.opengis.net/gml/3.2.1/ .

It is worth noting that after the publication of the white paper "OGC Identifiers-the Case for HTTP URIs" (OGC 10-124r1) came out in 2010, OGC specification documents more or less transitioned to that standard.

Correct answer by Steven Kalt on February 23, 2021

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