Department of Interior API Vocabulary

vocabulary:
  name: Department of Interior API Vocabulary
  description: >-
    Domain vocabulary for the U.S. Department of the Interior APIs, covering
    water resources, national parks, earthquake hazards, mineral resources,
    geospatial federal lands, and scientific data management.
  version: '1.0'
  created: '2026-06-13'
  modified: '2026-06-13'

domains:
  - name: Water Resources
    description: USGS water monitoring and hydrology terminology
    source: https://api.waterdata.usgs.gov
    terms:
      - term: monitoringLocationNumber
        label: Monitoring Location Number
        description: Unique USGS identifier for a water monitoring site (e.g., stream gauge station)
        type: string
        example: '01646500'

      - term: monitoringLocationType
        label: Monitoring Location Type
        description: Classification of monitoring site such as Stream, Lake, Well, or Atmosphere
        type: string
        values: [Stream, Lake, Well, Spring, Atmosphere, Estuary, Ocean, Ice Mass]

      - term: huc8Code
        label: HUC-8 Hydrologic Unit Code
        description: Eight-digit hydrologic unit code identifying the watershed containing the monitoring location
        type: string
        example: '02070008'

      - term: drainageAreaValue
        label: Drainage Area
        description: The area of land that drains to a monitoring location, typically in square miles or square kilometers
        type: number

      - term: altitudeValue
        label: Altitude
        description: Elevation of the monitoring location above a vertical datum (e.g., NGVD29, NAVD88)
        type: number

      - term: parameterCode
        label: Parameter Code
        description: USGS numeric code identifying a specific water quality or quantity measurement parameter
        type: string
        example: '00060'

      - term: statCd
        label: Statistical Code
        description: USGS code indicating the statistical type (e.g., 00001=maximum, 00002=minimum, 00003=mean)
        type: string

      - term: agencyCode
        label: Agency Code
        description: Code identifying the agency responsible for collecting the water data
        type: string
        example: USGS

  - name: National Parks
    description: NPS parks and recreation site terminology
    source: https://developer.nps.gov/api/v1
    terms:
      - term: parkCode
        label: Park Code
        description: Unique four-letter code identifying a National Park Service site
        type: string
        example: yose

      - term: designation
        label: Park Designation
        description: Official NPS designation type such as National Park, National Monument, or National Recreation Area
        type: string
        values: [National Park, National Monument, National Recreation Area, National Seashore, National Historic Site, National Forest]

      - term: states
        label: States
        description: Comma-separated list of state abbreviations where the park is located
        type: string
        example: CA,NV

      - term: latLong
        label: Latitude/Longitude
        description: Geographic coordinates for the park or facility centroid
        type: string

  - name: Earthquake Hazards
    description: USGS seismic data terminology
    source: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1
    terms:
      - term: magnitude
        label: Magnitude
        description: Quantitative measure of the size of an earthquake on the Richter or moment magnitude scale
        type: number

      - term: depth
        label: Depth
        description: Depth of the earthquake hypocenter below the Earth's surface in kilometers
        type: number

      - term: eventId
        label: Event ID
        description: Unique identifier for a seismic event in the USGS earthquake catalog
        type: string
        example: us7000kg6v

      - term: catalog
        label: Catalog
        description: Source catalog for the seismic event data (e.g., us, ak, ci)
        type: string

      - term: productType
        label: Product Type
        description: Type of earthquake data product such as shakemap, dyfi, moment-tensor
        type: string

  - name: Mineral Resources
    description: USGS mineral deposit and mining terminology
    source: https://mrdata.usgs.gov
    terms:
      - term: commodityCode
        label: Commodity Code
        description: Code identifying the primary mineral commodity at a deposit site
        type: string

      - term: depositType
        label: Deposit Type
        description: Classification of mineral deposit based on geological characteristics
        type: string

      - term: developmentStatus
        label: Development Status
        description: Current operational status of a mineral deposit or mine site
        type: string
        values: [Producer, Past Producer, Prospect, Occurrence]

  - name: Federal Lands
    description: BLM and general federal land management terminology
    source: https://gis.blm.gov/arcgis/rest/services
    terms:
      - term: caseId
        label: Case ID
        description: BLM case identifier for a land or mineral rights action
        type: string

      - term: plss
        label: Public Land Survey System
        description: Legal description of federal land parcels using Township, Range, and Section notation
        type: string

      - term: landUseCategory
        label: Land Use Category
        description: BLM classification of how a parcel of federal land is managed or authorized for use
        type: string

  - name: Scientific Data
    description: USGS ScienceBase data management terminology
    source: https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog
    terms:
      - term: sbId
        label: ScienceBase Item ID
        description: Unique identifier for a data item in the USGS ScienceBase catalog
        type: string

      - term: parentId
        label: Parent Item ID
        description: ScienceBase identifier of the parent collection or community item
        type: string

      - term: provenance
        label: Provenance
        description: Metadata describing the origin, custody chain, and creation methodology of a scientific dataset
        type: object

api_parameters:
  - name: f
    label: Format
    description: Output format for the response (e.g., json, geojson, csv, html)
    source: USGS Water OGC API

  - name: limit
    label: Limit
    description: Maximum number of features to return in a response (max 50000, default 10000)
    source: USGS Water OGC API

  - name: bbox
    label: Bounding Box
    description: Spatial filter as comma-separated min longitude, min latitude, max longitude, max latitude
    source: USGS Water OGC API

  - name: datetime
    label: Datetime
    description: Temporal filter as RFC 3339 date-time value or interval (e.g., 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z/2024-12-31T23:59:59Z)
    source: USGS Water OGC API

  - name: properties
    label: Properties
    description: Comma-separated list of property names to include in the response
    source: USGS Water OGC API

  - name: sortby
    label: Sort By
    description: Property name to sort results by, with optional + (ascending) or - (descending) prefix
    source: USGS Water OGC API