How can a dataset describe its geographic and time coverage?

Definition: spatialCoverage describes the place or area that a dataset covers. temporalCoverage describes the time interval covered by its data, using the value forms documented by Google Search Central and Schema.org.

Key facts

• Google's Dataset structured data documentation lists spatialCoverage as Text or Place and temporalCoverage as Text.
• spatialCoverage can describe a measurement point, a bounding box, or a named location. Google gives Tahoe City, CA as a named-location value.
• A Place value can contain GeoCoordinates for a point or GeoShape for an area. Google specifies latitude before longitude in the shape coordinates.
• temporalCoverage uses ISO 8601 for time points and intervals. Google's examples include 2008, 1950-01-01/2013-12-18, and the open-ended interval 2013-12-19/...
• Schema.org describes spatialCoverage as the place or places that are the focus of a CreativeWork, and gives a dataset of New York weather as an example of geographic coverage.

What does spatialCoverage describe?

Use spatialCoverage for the geographic dimension of the dataset. Google says to include it when the dataset has a spatial dimension, such as a single point where measurements were collected or the coordinates of a bounding box. The property accepts text or a Place value.

For a point, Google documents a Place whose geo value is a GeoCoordinates object. For an area, the same structure uses GeoShape; Google's bounding-box example uses the box property. Points inside box, circle, line, or polygon are expressed as space-separated latitude and longitude pairs, in that order.

"spatialCoverage": {
  "@type": "Place",
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoShape",
    "box": "18.0 -65.0 72.0 172.0"
  }
}

The Schema.org spatialCoverage property says that the property is intended for technical and detailed content. For a Dataset, its example is a weather dataset whose place is the state of New York.

What formats does temporalCoverage use?

Use temporalCoverage for a dataset with a temporal dimension. Google's documentation says that Schema.org uses ISO 8601 to describe time intervals and time points. A single year can be written as 2008. A bounded period uses a slash between its start and end values, as in 1950-01-01/2013-12-18.

An open-ended interval uses two periods in place of the missing end date. Google's example is 2013-12-19/...

Schema.org's temporalCoverage property describes the value as either a DateTime or a text string in ISO 8601 interval format. Its dataset example writes a 2011 census period as 2011/2012, and its open-ended example is 2015-11/.., which starts in November 2015 without a specified final date.

How should the two properties appear in JSON-LD?

Put both properties on the Dataset object when the dataset has both dimensions. Google's published example uses 1950-01-01/2013-12-18 for temporalCoverage and a Place containing a GeoShape with a box for spatialCoverage.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org/",
  "@type": "Dataset",
  "temporalCoverage": "1950-01-01/2013-12-18",
  "spatialCoverage": {
    "@type": "Place",
    "geo": {
      "@type": "GeoShape",
      "box": "18.0 -65.0 72.0 172.0"
    }
  }
}

Google's documentation was updated on 8 September 2026. It presents these properties as part of Dataset structured data and identifies JSON-LD with Schema.org syntax as the preferred example syntax.

Related terms

• Dataset structured data
• How does dataset markup link to a downloadable file?
• How can dataset markup describe measured variables and methods?
• How can a dataset expose a version and persistent identifier?

FAQ

Can spatialCoverage be a place name?

Yes. Google documents a text value and gives Tahoe City, CA as its named-location example. Schema.org also describes the property as a place or places that are the focus of the content.

How do you mark an ongoing time range?

Use two periods for the unspecified end, such as 2013-12-19/... Schema.org gives 2015-11/.. as another open-ended date-range example.

Should a bounding box use longitude first?

No. Google's Dataset documentation specifies a space-separated latitude and longitude pair, in that order, for points inside box, circle, line, or polygon.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Dataset (Dataset, DataCatalog, DataDownload) structured data", 8 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "spatialCoverage", undated
3. Schema.org, "temporalCoverage", undated

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