The geolocation of features on information surfaces and the use of the open and FAIR data principles in the mountain landscape domain and geoheritage

Abstract

This note suggests that decimal latitude/longitude [dLL] locations should be used to identify features of interest, landforms, sample and investigations sites, in an ‘information landscape’ provided by the geomorphological literature. All the information associated with a labelled, or tagged, geolocation should be available for examination as part of information landscapes that can be explored and represented in books, papers and other publications. This note also outlines the ‘open’ and FAIR data that are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable and how the principles can be used to better explain landscapes, especially in the mountain landscape domain. Tors and rock glaciers illustrate [dLL] geolocation to identify sites and inform fieldwork and literature searching. Any [dLL]‐specified location is an identifying label, as are names given to landforms and toponyms. Two letters (digraph) are used as landform labels: TO for tors and RG for rock glaciers. Citations, (author–date–title–source) attributions, are also labels. The note shows how these attributions can be linked to [dLL] geolocations specifying locations in time and space and in the literature. The addition of [dLL] will facilitate future literature searches and modelling to explore ‘unknowns’ in the landscape, and this paper suggests ways in which this can be achieved, including geoheritage and geotourism.