GeoTIFFin

GeoTIFFin is a hypothetical geospatial data packaging standard intended as an extension of the GeoTIFF format. It proposes a standardized, extensible container that embeds richer metadata and supports advanced tiling and temporal dimensions while remaining compatible with existing TIFF-based tools.

Technical approach: GeoTIFFin builds on the TIFF and GeoTIFF metadata model. It adds a dedicated metadata schema called the GeoTIFFin Information Block (GIB) that describes coordinate reference systems, affine transforms, tiling grids, overviews, and data provenance. The GIB is designed to coexist with standard TIFF tags and can be ignored by readers that do not implement GeoTIFFin, ensuring backward compatibility.

Metadata and features: The standard would support extended metadata for sensor details, acquisition time, data quality indicators, processing history, and per-pixel temporal information. It envisions support for multi-resolution pyramids, tiled storage, and the possibility of embedded mosaic and time-series data. Compression options would be compatible with common TIFF compression methods.

Implementation and status: As a proposed concept, GeoTIFFin has seen experimental implementations in research environments and software prototypes. No formal governing body has released an official specification, and it has not achieved widespread industry adoption. Software that reads GeoTIFF and TIFF files would generally not parse GeoTIFFin-specific blocks unless updated.

See also: GeoTIFF, TIFF, geospatial metadata.