The Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS), after nine years of development, was approved on July 29, 1992, as FIPS Publication 173. The SDTS consists of three distinct parts. Part 1 is concerned with logical specifications required for spatial data transfer and has three major components: a conceptual model of spatial data, data quality report specifications, and detailed logical transfer format specifications for SDTS data sets. Part 2 provides a model for the definition of real-world spatial features, attributes, and attribute values and includes a standard but working and expandable list with definitions. Part 3 specifies the byte-level format implementation of the logical specifications in SDTS Part 1 using ISO/ANSI 8211 (FIPS 123), a general data exchange standard.

To increase access to and use of the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SOTS) as Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 173, the U.S. Geological Survey developed software tools that support implementation of the SOTS. The most significant tool is a library of C language functions that can be called by user application programs to read and write files compliant to FIPS 123, the standard used by the SDTS for its physical file implementation. (Any use of trade names and trademarks is for descriptive purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Geological Survey.)

Because the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS), also Federal Information Processing Standard 173, is designed to support any type of spatial data, implementing all of its options at one time is impossible. Instead, the SDTS is implemented through the use of profiles, which are limited subsets of the SDTS. The first profile developed is the Topological Vector Profile. This profile supports geographic vector data with geometry and topology. It does not support raster data, graphic representation modules, and geometry-only vector data. This profile was tested in 1992 in order to validate it. It will be submitted to the National Institute of Standards and Technology as an amendment to the SDTS.

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