[eml-dev] [Bug 2272] New: - Base datatypes in eml-attribute BoundsGroup preclude scientific notation

[bugzilla-daemon@ecoinformatics.org]

http://bugzilla.ecoinformatics.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2272

           Summary: Base datatypes in eml-attribute BoundsGroup preclude
                    scientific notation
           Product: EML
           Version: 2.0.1
          Platform: All
        OS/Version: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P2
         Component: eml - general bugs
        AssignedTo: jones at nceas.ucsb.edu
        ReportedBy: sheldon at uga.edu
         QAContact: eml-dev at ecoinformatics.org


The 'minimum' and 'maximum' elements defined in the eml-attribute BoundsGroup
are currently based on the xml-schema data type 'xs:decimal'; however, this data
type does not support scientific notation so metadata creators are forced to
encode very large (or small) bounds in expanded decimal notation. This
represents an unnecessary burden and could introduce problems if authors are
required to display more digits than are known to be significant. Changing the
base data type to 'xs:float' would accomodate both decimal and scientific
notations so would not introduce backward compatibility issues.