# Finding gridded datasets - GBIF Data Blog

**URL:** <https://discourse.gbif.org/t/finding-gridded-datasets-gbif-data-blog/399>\
**Category:** Data blog\
**Created:** [November 8, 2018, 10:15am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/finding-gridded-datasets-gbif-data-blog/399 "2018-11-08T10:15:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jwaller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@jwaller](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/jwaller)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 10:15am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/finding-gridded-datasets-gbif-data-blog/399/1 "2018-11-08T10:15:59Z")

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Gridded datasets are a known problem at GBIF. Many datasets have an equally-spaced points in a regular pattern. These datasets are usually systematic national surveys or data taken from some atlas (“so-called rasterized collection designs”).

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at [https://data-blog.gbif.org/post/finding-gridded-datasets/](https://data-blog.gbif.org/post/finding-gridded-datasets/)

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**Author:** ![mgrosjean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@mgrosjean](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/mgrosjean)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 10:54am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/finding-gridded-datasets-gbif-data-blog/399/2 "2018-11-12T10:54:22Z")

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Thanks for the post! Did you get a chance to check if any coordinate uncertainty or precision was specified for the occurrences in the gridded dataset? If yes, do you know how many of the gridded datasets use coordinateUncertaintyInMeters or coordinatePrecision? ([https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/#dwc:coordinateUncertaintyInMeters](https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/#dwc:coordinateUncertaintyInMeters))

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**Author:** ![jwaller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@jwaller](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/jwaller)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 10:48am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/finding-gridded-datasets-gbif-data-blog/399/3 "2018-11-13T10:48:26Z")

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No I have not had a chance to look at coordinateUncertainyInMeters.

Probably though footprintWKT would be more meaningful to look at for gridded datasets, but I actually did not know it existed before writing this blog post. [https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/dwc:footprintWKT](https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/dwc:footprintWKT)

Unfortunately, I don’t think footprintWKT is used so often. Around **20M** records have a not **NULL** in the footprintwkt column. I estimated **at least 75M** occurrence records **are gridded**. Also having a not **NULL** in footprintWKT does not necessarily mean the record is gridded above a trivial degree.

You can see that some gridded datasets do have a square footprintWKT.  
Like this point form **EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds**

> **[Occurrence Detail 1658187592](https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1658187592)**
>
> Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Free and Open Access to Biodiversity Data.

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**Author:** ![Salza](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gbif1/user_avatar/discourse.gbif.org/salza/32/1177_2.png) [@Salza](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/Salza)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2024, 9:45am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/finding-gridded-datasets-gbif-data-blog/399/4 "2024-02-01T09:45:35Z")

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Hello there,

Would it be helpful for the dataset to use the following information to fill in the [georeferenceProtocol](https://dwc.tdwg.org/list/#dwc_georeferenceProtocol) field: “_Coordinates represent the centroid of a MGRS UTM 10km grid_” ?

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/gbif1/original/1X/8fc923474e596edd02a5f81faf511594a2037000.png)

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**Author:** ![Salza](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gbif1/user_avatar/discourse.gbif.org/salza/32/1177_2.png) [@Salza](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/Salza)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2024, 10:04am UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/finding-gridded-datasets-gbif-data-blog/399/5 "2024-02-02T10:04:45Z")

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Or is it better to use _[georeferenceRemarks](https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/#dwc:georeferenceRemarks)_ for this purpose?

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**Author:** ![mgrosjean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@mgrosjean](https://discourse.gbif.org/u/mgrosjean)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2024, 12:03pm UTC](https://discourse.gbif.org/t/finding-gridded-datasets-gbif-data-blog/399/6 "2024-02-02T12:03:15Z")

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Hi @Salza  
I think the [georeferenceProtocol](https://dwc.tdwg.org/list/#dwc_georeferenceProtocol) field would fit (you could add something about how the uncertainty is estimated as well). The georeferenceRemarks field can be used for additional information and context.  
Some publishers use both: [Occurrence Detail 3436435467](https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/3436435467)