TABLE OF CONTENTS
- I. Why is geodata necessary?
- II. How to record the geodata
- III. How to specify the geodata
- IV. Which format should I use?
I. Why is geodata necessary?
Traceability back to the plot (that is, the requirement to record the geographic coordinates of the land on which the raw materials were produced) is necessary to prove that no deforestation is taking place at a particular site.
Where will the geodata be provided later
The geolocation coordinates must be provided in the due diligence declarations that operators must submit to the EU information system before placing the products on the market or exporting them. It is therefore a central component of the Regulation, which prohibits the placing on the market or export of all products falling within the scope of the Regulation whose geolocation coordinates have not yet been recorded and transmitted as part of a due diligence declaration.
II. How to record the geodata
The geolocation coordinates of a property can be collected using cell phones, portable Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) devices and widely available and free-to-use digital applications (for example, Geographic Information Systems (GIS)). These do not require mobile network coverage, but only a solid GNSS signal such as that provided by Galileo.
III. How to specify the geodata
For land with an area of more than 4 hectares used for the production of products other than cattle, the geographical location must be indicated using polygons, i.e., latitude and longitude with six decimal places to describe the perimeter of each plot. Polygons should therefore be used to describe the perimeter of the land on which the raw material was produced. Each polygon should denote a single plot of land, regardless of whether it is contiguous or not. Multiple polygons must be declared in a due diligence declaration if the corresponding product is produced from raw materials from multiple parcels of land. For plots of land with an area of less than 4 hectares, a polygon or a single latitude and longitude (point) with six decimal places may be used for geolocalization. Farms where cattle are kept can be described with a single point of geolocation coordinates.
IV. Which format should I use?
The geolocation data of the plots must be stored in a specific format so that they can be stored in the TRACES system (EU information system).
The format itself is called GeoJSON. GeoJSON is a format based on the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) for encoding a variety of geographical data structures. Each GeoJSON has a "geometry", which describes the shape of the feature (point, polygon), and "properties", which contain the non-spatial attributes
Example:
{ „type“: „FeatureCollection“, „features“: [ { „type“: „Feature“, ‚properties‘: { „PRODUCER_NAME“: Producer 1, „COUNTRY_CODE“: „AR“, ‚PRODUCTION_PLACE‘: „Farm 1“, ‚AREA‘: 3.2 }, „geometry“: { „type“: „Point“, ‚coordinates‘: [ -90.512172, 15.515241 ] }, { „type“: „Feature“, ‚properties‘: { „PRODUCER_NAME“: Producer 1, „COUNTRY_CODE“: „AR“, ‚PRODUCTION_PLACE‘: „Farm 2“, }, ‚geometry‘: { „type“: „Polygon“, ‚coordinates‘: [ [[-90.514071,15.552156],[-90.514076,15.552006], [-90.513985,15.551944],[-90.513856,15.551913], [-90.513829,15.552078], -90.513883,15.552244],[90.514028,15.552259],[-90.514071,15.552156]]]}} ] }
What errors should I check the files for before uploading them?
1. intersecting coordinate lines (e.g., figure-eight shapes or intersecting polygon lines)
2. overlapping sides
3. coordinate shapes with holes (e.g., donut shapes) (remedy: two crescent shapes)
4. "Open" polygons. All polygons must represent closed shapes (i.e., the 1st pair of coordinates is the same as the last)
5. invalid geometry types (e.g., LineString).
6. coordinates that represent straight lines.
7. duplicate coordinates due to rounding of 6 decimal places in the system (e.g., the 2 following points with 10 decimal places become equal after rounding): 12 -5.8227391234 ,144.2567071234 -> -5.822739,144.256707 -5.8227394567,144.2567074567 -> -5.822739,144.256707
8. syntax errors in the file (e.g., missing ")" or "}").
9. invalid property names (e.g., "geomerty" or incorrect capitalization of the property keyword - "productionplace" instead of "ProductionPlace").
10. invalid file format (PDF, txt).
11. invalid coordinate range (outside the value ranges 90/-90 or 180/-180).
12. invalid ISO2 code of the country of production.
13. password-protected files.
14. problems with the data display:
o For example, ""Area"": "3" instead of '"Area": 3 results in area = 0 because the value 3 in quotes is not recognized as a number, which is expected.
o The coordinates for points should be specified as an array and not as an array of arrays. No coordinates are rendered when these files are uploaded.