The intent is to define a generic data structure that can be useful on any hardware and software system, and that can be sent on any electronic network or file transfer system. The Intersite Archive File structure was defined in order to facilitate the need for an orderly approach to the design and implementation of a data management capability for environmental research. Note that file type refers to the general nature of the data in the file, and not to data typing such as floating point, integer, or character. The general categories of data in an Intersite Archive File is as follows. An abstract may be included here to allow automatic extensions of data dictionaries from archive directories.
File type refers to the basic nature of the data.
Statistical files are typically rows by columns tables of numeric or character data. Text files include bibliographic data, abstracts, or any prose. Graphics data refers to files that you can write to a plotter or a printer. File typing currently includes statistical, text, PostScript, genome, and image. Other file types are possible and can be added as necessary.