zTXt

ZTXt, also known as Swiss Text Encoding Initiative, is a text encoding standard that has been developed by the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo) in cooperation with the Federal Office for Metrology and Surveying (BAE). The encoding standard is used for encoding text in the Swiss alphabet of the Swiss codification system, which extends the standard ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code to assign a unique identifier to Switzerland.

The zTXt format serves as a complement to the traditional computational geography and coding systems such as FEATURE by combining geographical data with native language and cultural specifics. The zTXt encoding standard is designed to accommodate non-ISO 8859-1 character sets commonly found in Switzerland. The names of towns and villages, as well as other regional features, are used in the local Swiss German and Romance-based languages, including Alemannic, Italian, French, and Romansh.

zTXt combines text records with explicit geographic features such as coordinates, lengths, and areas. The specific featurecoding elements are defined centrally and resemble feature data codings such as ISO 19115, the International Standard for Geographic Information — Metadata. This creates opportunity for comprehensive annotations. An application for map creation incorporates this data instrumentation which not only computerizes cartographic structures but also affords internal and thematic constrained projections.

Knowledge may be generated and efficiently spanned by applied distributive computing. Explicit constrains of pattern exceeding a variable single photon height enables data articles.