Settlement / Urban Form
Describe a settlement and its time-qualified spatial anatomy and urban form without conflating it with an administrative unit or a statistical class.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
6 bundles · 12 layers · 12 findings · 48 questions
Identity and classification Persistent place identity and qualified scheme assignments.
Identity and names
Settlement identity is stable across names and representations. Unresolved local places may have provisional IDs; matching names or shapes alone never proves equivalence.
Identity and names
Settlement identity is stable across names and representations. Unresolved local places may have provisional IDs; matching names or shapes alone never proves equivalence.
- Which master namespace and identifier distinguish this settlement from similarly named places? identity
- What inhabited-place concept and inclusion rule define the subject of this record? definition
- Which sources support each official, local, historical or alternative name? provenance
- Who is accountable for this record and who can resolve disputed identity assertions? ownership
Classification assertions
Settlement type is an assertion under a named scheme and version. National legal designation, local terminology and statistical urban-rural classes can coexist without forced equivalence.
Classification assertions
Settlement type is an assertion under a named scheme and version. National legal designation, local terminology and statistical urban-rural classes can coexist without forced equivalence.
- Which scheme, version, territorial unit and class does each assignment use? classification
- Is the assignment official, analytically derived or provisional, and who supports that status? authority
- For which reference date and validity interval does the classification apply? temporal
- How are conflicting or unmapped national and statistical classes preserved? exception
Spatial anatomy Alternative extents and optional subdivision schemes.
Extent representations
Preserve alternative observed, estimated, statistical, administrative-reference and planned geometries with explicit purpose. No single footprint is universally the settlement boundary.
Extent representations
Preserve alternative observed, estimated, statistical, administrative-reference and planned geometries with explicit purpose. No single footprint is universally the settlement boundary.
- Which extent, coordinate reference system, axis order and geometric resolution are being used? spatial
- What delineation rule and source support this extent rather than an administrative or planned boundary? evidence
- Which gaps, positional uncertainty, disconnected parts or disputed limits affect the extent? quality
- Which observation epoch, valid interval and publication revision qualify the geometry? temporal
District and block schemes
Administrative districts, analytic neighborhoods and blocks are optional scheme-specific units. Completeness, non-overlap and parcel alignment must be tested rather than assumed.
District and block schemes
Administrative districts, analytic neighborhoods and blocks are optional scheme-specific units. Completeness, non-overlap and parcel alignment must be tested rather than assumed.
- Which district or block scheme and member references describe the internal anatomy? composition
- Does this scheme claim full coverage or a partition, and what gaps or overlaps violate that claim? constraint
- How are block edges related to streets, natural edges and parcels without asserting automatic alignment? relationship
- What predecessor and successor references explain a redrawn, split or merged subdivision? lifecycle
Morphology and density Qualified physical and population-derived measurements.
Built-form properties
Geometry-derived measures are proposed observations with explicit definitions and support. Building coverage, floor area, height and volume are distinct quantities; one cannot substitute for another.
Built-form properties
Geometry-derived measures are proposed observations with explicit definitions and support. Building coverage, floor area, height and volume are distinct quantities; one cannot substitute for another.
- Which built-form quantity, unit, formula and spatial support does each value represent? measurement
- Which resolution, level of detail, vertical datum and uncertainty limit the height or volume estimate? quality
- Which building or raster inputs, transformations and exclusions produced the measurement? provenance
- What checks prevent footprint coverage, floor area ratio and building volume from being conflated? validation
Population and density support
Density is tied to a population definition, area denominator and reference time. Aggregate population estimates are references; residents and households remain outside this model.
Population and density support
Density is tied to a population definition, area denominator and reference time. Aggregate population estimates are references; residents and households remain outside this model.
- Which population estimate and area denominator define this density value? measurement
- How are census dates, model epochs and geometry dates aligned or marked incomparable? temporal
- What allocation assumptions, exclusions, uncertainty and no-data coverage affect the population estimate? quality
- What aggregation or suppression review permits release without exposing identifiable residents? privacy
Relations and evidence External references and observation provenance.
External spatial and service relations
Containment, overlap, adjacency and service coverage are typed evidence-bearing relations. Geographic intersection creates neither legal jurisdiction nor asset ownership.
External spatial and service relations
Containment, overlap, adjacency and service coverage are typed evidence-bearing relations. Geographic intersection creates neither legal jurisdiction nor asset ownership.
- Which administrative areas, sites, buildings, parcels and networks are linked by which relation types? relationship
- What geometries, time interval and tolerance support each asserted containment or overlap? spatial
- What separate evidence supports a service or jurisdiction claim beyond geometric coincidence? authority
- Which pinned neighbor binding preserves unresolved or partially overlapping references? interoperability
Recognition and observation provenance
Record the evidence and activity behind each assertion. Raster classification, visual interpretation and official records have different purposes; attribution or a digest does not establish truth.
Recognition and observation provenance
Record the evidence and activity behind each assertion. Raster classification, visual interpretation and official records have different purposes; attribution or a digest does not establish truth.
- Which observations or records support recognizing this place as a settlement? evidence
- Who produced each input and which processing activity generated the derived assertion? provenance
- Is the value observed, estimated, interpolated, extrapolated or a planning scenario? classification
- Which validation sample, confidence statement or known bias limits use of the assertion? quality
Change and continuity Comparable change and settlement record lifecycle.
Change and comparability
Changes require compatible definitions, support and dates. A boundary or method revision is not necessarily physical growth, and a future epoch in an older release is not a new observation.
Change and comparability
Changes require compatible definitions, support and dates. A boundary or method revision is not necessarily physical growth, and a future epoch in an older release is not a new observation.
- Which comparable baseline and follow-up observations define the change interval? temporal
- What separate land-area and population changes underlie any reported growth ratio? measurement
- How are zero denominators, population decline, shrinkage and missing observations represented? exception
- What evidence separates physical change from a redelineation, input correction or method change? validation
Lifecycle and record continuity
Settlement continuity is an evidenced identity decision, separate from geometry revisions, reclassification and administrative mergers. Abandonment or redevelopment claims need provenance and do not authorize disposal of source evidence.
Lifecycle and record continuity
Settlement continuity is an evidenced identity decision, separate from geometry revisions, reclassification and administrative mergers. Abandonment or redevelopment claims need provenance and do not authorize disposal of source evidence.
- What current, historical, uncertain or retired record state is supported and by whom? state
- Which evidenced event changed the name, extent, status or continuity of the settlement record? event
- Does a split or merger create new settlement identities or only new representations? lifecycle
- Which retention rule and permitted tombstone preserve references after record retirement or payload deletion? retention
Release and exchange Purpose-limited access, accountable release and profile validation.
Access and accountable release
Public source availability is not blanket permission to release joined fine-scale data. Stewardship of a settlement record is distinct from ownership of land or residents.
Access and accountable release
Public source availability is not blanket permission to release joined fine-scale data. Stewardship of a settlement record is distinct from ownership of land or residents.
- Which recipients may see each geometry, input, aggregate and artifact under the declared purpose? access
- Which sensitive spatial details require restricted views or generalization before export? security
- Which custodian approves licensing, disclosure review and correction requests for this release? ownership
- What source terms, attribution and retention obligations accompany the derived dataset? requirement
Profiles and exchange validation
Conceptual alignment does not implement a standard or certify conformance. Export profiles must preserve identity, spatial support, time, evidence kind, uncertainty and access limits.
Profiles and exchange validation
Conceptual alignment does not implement a standard or certify conformance. Export profiles must preserve identity, spatial support, time, evidence kind, uncertainty and access limits.
- Which versioned target schema and mapping carry the selected settlement projection? interoperability
- Which tests detect missing CRS, lost uncertainty, broken references and incompatible time support? validation
- Which unmapped concepts or qualifiers require refusal instead of silent loss? constraint
- How is a recipient-scoped local export reviewed, versioned and traced to its source revisions? process
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- World Models
- Category
- Physical world and living systems
- Entry kind
- entity
- Navigation path
- NAV.PHY.PLC.SET
- Domain
- PHY.PLC.SET
- Industry
- Cross-industry
- Tags
- settlementurbanformphy.plc.set
- Also called
- U4
What it is Filled
One persistently identified settlement, including a town, village or city and its referenced subdivisions, extent assertions and morphology observations. Urban form is a measured or interpreted view of this entity, not a second root. This proposed research structure supports rural, dispersed and changing forms; it does not require an official city designation or a contiguous built-up polygon.
In scope
- Qualified settlement identity, names, continuity, steward and source evidence
- Alternative delineations, districts, blocks, constituent references and spatial relations
- Population and built-form measurements, classification assertions, time series, uncertainty and controlled projections
Out of scope
- Administrative authority, cadastral ownership, individual building or network asset masters
- Population microdata, household or resident identity records
- Statutory planning decisions, official boundary changes, funding eligibility determinations and operational infrastructure control
Why it exists Filled
Describe a settlement and its time-qualified spatial anatomy and urban form without conflating it with an administrative unit or a statistical class.
Distinguishing features Derived, awaiting review
- Unlike WM-PLC-004 Administrative Area: An administrative area and a settlement may overlap or span each other. The candidate CONTAINS edge is only a dated spatial assertion, not identity or universal single-parent containment.
- Unlike WM-BLT-008 Site / Campus: A managed site is separately mastered. Candidate containment requires an extent and time test; a site need not be wholly inside a settlement and settlements need not contain a campus.
- Unlike WM-BLT-001 Building / Structure; WM-BLT-003 Infrastructure Network; WM-PLC-002 Land Parcel: Reference external assets and parcels. Analytic blocks do not universally tile parcels or imply property ownership, and network service coverage differs from geometric intersection.
- Unlike WM-XCT-010 Location Referencing / Address; WM-ACT-016 Observed Phenomenon: Gazetteer or address references identify locations; observations identify measurements. Neither a name string nor an observation replaces the settlement identity.
Note: Derived from boundary notes against neighbouring models.
What robots and AI may and may not do Derived, awaiting review
Must not
- Deny unpublished input and fine-scale evidence access unless role, purpose and scope are authorized.
May
- Resolve settlement identity: Proposed operation, not implemented. Compare qualified master IDs and evidenced aliases; return unresolved or ambiguous rather than merge by name or footprint.
- Record a qualified extent: Proposed operation, not implemented. Append an authorized geometry assertion with purpose, CRS, epoch, method and evidence kind. Do not redraw an official boundary.
- Assess subdivision relations: Proposed operation, not implemented. Evaluate only declared scheme invariants and supplied relation evidence; do not assume complete tiling, parcel alignment or legal containment.
- Derive a qualified indicator: Proposed operation, not implemented. Use a pinned formula and compatible inputs; report missing support and undefined denominators. Derived estimates do not become official statistics automatically.
- Compare qualified observations: Proposed operation, not implemented. Check method, geography and epoch compatibility before computing change. Keep separate component rates; flag zero, negative and undefined ratio cases without ranking them automatically.
- Prepare an authorized projection: Proposed operation, not implemented. Apply recipient scope, licensed input terms and disclosure review. Refuse required qualifier loss; generate a local artifact without transmitting or publishing it.
Note: Derived from functions, policies, CRUD and access rules; prohibitions were not authored for agents as such.
Moral aspects Derived, awaiting review
- Dispose of restricted payload under the approved retention rule; do not retain personal data indefinitely as history.
- Hazards include stale baselines, ecological inference, false comparability, vulnerable-population exposure and loss of disputed place names.
Note: Sentences mentioning harm, privacy, consent or similar, collected from the specification.
Owners Filled
Steward
Accountable settlement data steward and evidenced mandate; never infer land ownership from stewardship
Roles
- Settlement data steward
- Maintain identity, scope, evidence and correction route
- Spatial analyst
- Document geometry methods, uncertainty and relation tests
- Statistical reviewer
- Review concepts, denominators, temporal support and comparability
- Release and records officer
- Approve access scope, licenses, confidentiality review and retention
- Community liaison
- Record disputed names, boundaries and local corrections without exposing residents
Links to other meta-models Filled
references
- WM-PLC-004 - Candidate administrative-area relation only; preserve overlap, multiple areas, time and distinct identity.
- WM-BLT-008 - Candidate site or campus reference; dated containment must be evidenced and is not mandatory.
- WM-BLT-001 - Building master reference for morphology inputs; do not duplicate building ownership or lifecycle.
- WM-BLT-003 - Network master reference; separate topology, spatial intersection and service coverage.
- WM-PLC-002 - Parcel master reference; a block is not a cadastral unit or a title assertion.
- WM-XCT-010 - Address and location reference; place names do not uniquely identify the subject.
- WM-ACT-016 - Observation reference with method, time and uncertainty; settlement is not an observation event.
aligned
- CityGML 3.0 - Selected conceptual alignment for city objects and representation detail; no encoding conformance.
- Degree of Urbanisation 2021 - Versioned classification reference; not a universal legal designation.
- PROV-O 2013-04-30 - Derivation and attribution mapping proposal only; no implemented RDF conformance.
neighbor
- WM-PLC-004 Administrative Area - An administrative area and a settlement may overlap or span each other. The candidate CONTAINS edge is only a dated spatial assertion, not identity or universal single-parent containment.
- WM-BLT-008 Site / Campus - A managed site is separately mastered. Candidate containment requires an extent and time test; a site need not be wholly inside a settlement and settlements need not contain a campus.
- WM-BLT-001 Building / Structure; WM-BLT-003 Infrastructure Network; WM-PLC-002 Land Parcel - Reference external assets and parcels. Analytic blocks do not universally tile parcels or imply property ownership, and network service coverage differs from geometric intersection.
- WM-XCT-010 Location Referencing / Address; WM-ACT-016 Observed Phenomenon - Gazetteer or address references identify locations; observations identify measurements. Neither a name string nor an observation replaces the settlement identity.
contains
- WM-BLT-008
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Incomplete
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Authoritative master-system identifier with namespace and revision
- Verified external stable URI and version
- Local opaque UUID with reconciliation state
Direct properties required Missing, in the backlog
Not described yet. This gap is in the card backlog.
Recognition required Missing, in the backlog
Not described yet. This gap is in the card backlog.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Resolve settlement identity: Proposed operation, not implemented. Compare qualified master IDs and evidenced aliases; return unresolved or ambiguous rather than merge by name or footprint.
- Record a qualified extent: Proposed operation, not implemented. Append an authorized geometry assertion with purpose, CRS, epoch, method and evidence kind. Do not redraw an official boundary.
- Assess subdivision relations: Proposed operation, not implemented. Evaluate only declared scheme invariants and supplied relation evidence; do not assume complete tiling, parcel alignment or legal containment.
- Derive a qualified indicator: Proposed operation, not implemented. Use a pinned formula and compatible inputs; report missing support and undefined denominators. Derived estimates do not become official statistics automatically.
- Compare qualified observations: Proposed operation, not implemented. Check method, geography and epoch compatibility before computing change. Keep separate component rates; flag zero, negative and undefined ratio cases without ranking them automatically.
- Prepare an authorized projection: Proposed operation, not implemented. Apply recipient scope, licensed input terms and disclosure review. Refuse required qualifier loss; generate a local artifact without transmitting or publishing it.
Hazards and failure modes required Missing, in the backlog
Not described yet. This gap is in the card backlog.
Standards and interfaces required Derived, awaiting review
- OGC CityGML Part 1: Conceptual Model Standard
- PROV-O: The PROV Ontology
Context of use required Filled
- International statistical methods complement national definitions; no universal urban threshold or legal city status is asserted.
- Global gridded datasets do not establish parcel rights, administrative authority or household-level truth.
Sources Filled
- Applying the Degree of Urbanisation - OECD
- OGC CityGML Part 1: Conceptual Model Standard - Open Geospatial Consortium
- SDG indicator 11.3.1 metadata - United Nations Human Settlements Programme
- GHSL Data Package 2023 - European Commission Joint Research Centre
- PROV-O: The PROV Ontology - World Wide Web Consortium
- Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics: Principle 6 - United Nations Statistics Division
Open questions
- Complete full source and current-version verification, including CityGML, licensing and source-specific method limits; restore independent external review before canonical promotion.
- Develop adopting profiles for dispersed or rapidly changing settlements, disputed names, cross-boundary extents and nonmatching subdivision or parcel schemes, with reviewed disclosure and retention rules.
- Implement and test nested schemas and mappings with zero growth, shrinkage, missing data, mixed epochs, changed boundaries, uncertain geometry, projected values and qualifier-loss refusal cases.
- Independent external review is absent under the owner waiver.
- Live direct HTTP, full CityGML text, current versions, licensing and local applicability remain unverified.
- Nested field schemas, executable geospatial routines, statistical thresholds, conformance mappings and adversarial instance fixtures are not implemented.
- Functional urban areas, detailed accessibility, climate, infrastructure performance, informal tenure and statutory planning need separately bounded profiles or linked models.
Machine files
Provenance
world-models research · reviewable-draft
Built from: models/wm-plc-005-settlement-urban-form/spec.yaml