Geospatial metadata provides the ability to include location information for Items added to the Figshare platform. A wide range of disciplines - such as ecology, archaeology, geology and epidemiology, to name a few, rely heavily on geographic context. Capturing accurate geospatial metadata supports the effective reuse of research outputs, helping researchers find relevant datasets and other research outputs, and provides useful contextual information. Knowing where data was collected can be essential for understanding its applicability, limitations, and implications.
This support article outlines how to add geospatial metadata capabilities within Figshare for Institutions, and provides an overview of the user interface and interaction behaviours for its addition, modification, and display.
Configuring a custom field of data type ‘geospatial’
‘Geospatial’ is a data type that can be selected when configuring a custom metadata field. The field can be configured at the Institutional or Group level, following the same behaviour as other custom metadata fields. The standard custom metadata fields options such as: ‘Field name’, ‘Guidance text’ and ‘Mandatory - Y/N’ are retained.
Note: The geospatial metadata field component is exclusive to newer Figshare pages. This means that, as of May 2025, the component will not be supported on the ‘Collection’ or ‘Project’ pages. When ‘Type’ = ‘Geospatial’ is selected, the context ‘Item’ will be preselected. Following the planned upgrade of these pages, the geospatial metadata field will be available more broadly.
Interaction with the geospatial metadata field
The system supports two distinct modes for 1) viewing and 2) interacting with the geospatial metadata field:
- View-only mode - This mode is used for displaying geospatial metadata and is visible on the public Item page when an Item is published. It allows users to view the field content without making any changes.
- Edit mode - When editing an Item users can access this mode, which opens as a full-page modal. This interface is designed to facilitate geospatial metadata creation or modification.
Edit mode - Data input and map interaction
The geospatial metadata input allows users to enter or edit location data either by manually drawing on a map interface, editing the ‘Features’ table or by directly inputting GeoJSON data. This flexibility caters to users who prefer visual interaction as well as those who work directly with geospatial data formats.
GeoJSON is a widely used, open-standard format designed to represent geographic data structures using JSON. Ensuring that GeoJSON is available helps with machine-readability and reuse of location data.
Map interface
When inputting data via the map interface, users can choose from drawing tools for creating different geospatial features. The map interface supports two distinct modes. A ‘Create’ mode allows users to add new geospatial features by drawing, and a ‘Modify’ mode allows users to modify existing features once they are selected.
Drawing tool
These allow users to add new geospatial features. The map offers several tools:
- Points - Mark specific locations.
- Line - Represent linear features, connecting two or more points.
- Rectangle - A rectangle is a specific type of polygon. A rectangle can be defined by two points, representing the southwest and northeast corners of the feature.
- Polygons - Represent areas with multiple connected points forming a closed shape.
Selection tool
Users can directly select a feature and use multi-select (Shift + Mouse). Once selected, a feature can be modified (note: the modification options available depend on the type and number of features selected:
- Create vertex - Place a point between two existing points.
- Move vertex - Select and drag vertices to reshape a feature.
- Remove vertex - Allows the removal of selected vertices.
- Rotate - Rotate the feature around a point.
- Scale - Scale the feature in the vertical or horizontal direction.
- Translate - Move the feature across the map.
- Merge - If multiple features of the same type are selected, union them into a multi-feature.
- Split - If a multi-feature is selected, explode it into component features. Tooltips should be added to each edit tool.
Other options
- Delete - Delete the entire feature.
- Undo/Redo - Functionality to undo/redo changes.
Navigation within the map interface is achieved through standard interaction patterns. Users can Zoom using the relevant icons or mouse scroll. Users can Pan by clicking, holding, and moving the left mouse button. A 'Go to location' feature allows zooming to the user’s current location.
Features table
The ‘Features’ table provides a tabular representation of the features defined by the user. Data added here automatically renders on the map when valid. For each feature, the table displays:
- Expand - Opens a sub-table showing the individual points within a feature.
- Each point is a row with the ability to reorder (via drag and drop and menu).
- Point path (sequential numbering, e.g. 1.1)
- Latitude and longitude.
- A menu option per row supports the ability to ‘Duplicate’, ‘Move up/down’, ‘Move to top/bottom’ and ‘Remove’ points. Note: Moving points to a new feature is not possible when features are merged. The last point of a polygon is not editable and always reflects the first point.
- # (Feature ID) - A sequential ID assigned to features.
- Type - The type of feature - Line, Point, Polygon.
- Description - The description for a given geometry.
- Related file - The file associated with the Item that relates to the feature.
- Action.
- Edit - Opens a modal for the selected feature. Includes a ‘Description’ field and a ‘Related file’ field. ‘Related file’ supports a lookup against loaded files.
- Locate on map - Centres the map view on the corresponding geometry and selects it.
- Delete - Allows a feature to be deleted.
GeoJSON tab
The GeoJSON tab displays the raw GeoJSON representation of the geographical data for advanced users. As a user edits features on the map, the GeoJSON in this tab will dynamically update. Users can paste GeoJSON data directly into a text box. Valid data will automatically render on the map. If invalid GeoJSON is entered, an error message will prompt the user to correct it. An import button opens an import dialogue that supports the import of a valid GeoJSON file.
Data validation
When editing or adding features, all latitude and longitude inputs will be validated to ensure they are within valid ranges (latitude between -90 and 90; longitude between -180 and 180).
The custom metadata field is stored as text in the database and therefore the input is restricted to a maximum GeoJSON size of 64kb. If this limit is exceeded, a warning message will display advising the user to upload the file separately and provide a link instead. Large geospatial files can be stored as files in independent Items. The Related Materials field can then be used to link the Items, allowing spatial context to be provided.
API and Batch management
- The API supports read and write of geospatial metadata in the same way as any custom field of the type ‘text’.
- The ‘Batch management’ tool supports both setting a geospatial metadata field and returning information on these fields.
Submission page
Please be aware that the new geospatial metadata component is currently exclusive to newer Figshare pages. As of May 2025, this means the geospatial metadata field will not render correctly on the existing ‘Submission’ page.
We strongly advise organisations that are currently using the Submission page to refrain from collecting geospatial metadata through this page. We recommend waiting until the planned upgrade of the Submission page is complete to ensure proper functionality and data capture for geospatial metadata.
This limitation ensures a consistent and reliable user experience with the new geospatial metadata features on supported pages. We appreciate your understanding as we continue to improve the Figshare platform.
RT2 integration with Elements
For organisations utilising the RT2 integration between Elements and Figshare, it is strongly recommended that the geospatial metadata field is not configured for crosswalking from Figshare to Elements. This is because the geospatial metadata field in Figshare stores data as a text field containing GeoJSON. Displaying this raw GeoJSON text within Elements would likely result in an unintuitive and confusing user experience.
Migrating existing data to the geospatial metadata field
It may be the case that your organisation has already collected location information for research outputs within a custom metadata field. For example, your researchers may have captured a city, region, or specific latitude and longitude coordinates associated with an Item. To leverage the new geospatial metadata capabilities, you may want to transfer this existing location data into the dedicated geospatial metadata field. It is recommended that you trial this migration on Stage, prior to your Production instance.
In most cases, the workflow for migrating existing data to a new geospatial metadata field would be as follow:
- Add a new geospatial metadata field - Follow the configuration procedure outlined above to add a new field at the Institutional or Group level.
- Extract the data from the existing field - Data can be exported from the system using the ‘Batch management’ functionality or the API.
- Model data as GeoJSON - Use a free web-based tool (e.g. https://geojson.io/) to generate correspecting GeoJSON.
- Import data into the new geospatial field - Adding data to a custom metadata field and publishing via the API will update the latest version of the Item. Old versions will not be changed.
- Delete the old field - Deleting a custom metadata field from the administration page will not remove the field from previously published public Items, including all their versions. If a public item is republished following the deletion of a custom metadata field, only the latest version will reflect the removal of the custom metadata field.
There are a number of considerations that may influence the approach you choose to take, such as the number of Items that require updating, as well as the format that the location information is stored in e.g. address, latitude and longitude, city/region name. If you have any questions about taking advantage of the new geospatial metadata functionality, please don't hesitate to raise a support ticket and a member of the team would be very happy to run through the options with you.