Data Standards in brief

Data standards are simply a pre-defined format and field name for a value or attribute. Using the same attribute fields and formats across the Service increases the re-usability of our data, both internally and externally. For example, when the the date or year is collected in a dataset, the standard field name is YEAR, and the format is YYYY where Y represents a number 0 to 9.

All FWS approved data standards are detailed here.

Some common data standards are listed below.

Attribute Description	Field Name	Format
Calendar Date	DATE	MMDDYYYY
County Name	COUNTY
County Numeric Code	COUNTYCODE	NNN
Dun Universal Numbering System	DUNS	NNNNNNNNN
Ecosystem Unit Name	ECOSYSTEM
Ecosystem Unit Number	ECONUM	NN
Fire Unit Identifier	FIREUNITID	AAAAA or AAANA
Fiscal Year	FY	YYYY
Geographic Area Name	GEONAME	see list
Geopolitical Name & Code	CNTYNAME, CNTYCODE
Latitude & Longitude	LAT, LONG
Wind Direction	WINDDIR	see list
Wind Speed	WINDSPEED	NN

Where N is a numeric value from 0 to 9 and A is a alphabetical value.