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<section id="categorical-variables">
<h1>Categorical Variables</h1>
<p>HARP has special support for categorical variables, which are variables that can be represented by an enumeration type.</p>
<p>Categorical variables are represented in HARP using integer data types that provide an index into a fixed list of
enumeration labels. These enumeration labels are stored as metadata together with a variable. For <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">int8</span></code> data the
labels are stored as a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">flag_meanings</span></code> attribute (together with a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">flag_values</span></code> attribute) in netCDF3, HDF4, and
HDF5 files.</p>
<p>HARP does not impose a rule on which integer value maps to a specific enumeration label. The integer values are
just plain indices into the enumeration label list, and the list can be sorted in any way.</p>
<p>Any integer value in a categorical variable that is outside the range of the available enumeration labels
(<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">value</span> <span class="pre"><</span> <span class="pre">0</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">value</span> <span class="pre">>=</span> <span class="pre">N</span></code>) will be treated as an invalid value (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">valid_min</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">valid_max</span></code> should therefore
always be set to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">0</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">N-1</span></code> respectively for these variables). Invalid values are represented by an empty string
as label.</p>
<p>Operations in HARP on categorical variables will need to primarily use the enumeration label <cite>names</cite>
(and not the <cite>integer values</cite>). Any standardization (such as for the variable names) on the categories for
categorical variables in HARP will thus only be on enumeration names and not on their numbers.</p>
<p>In HARP we distinguish category types and category values. The name of the category type <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><cattype></span></code> is used in the
variable name and the names of the category values <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><catval></span></code> are the enumeration labels. Variables for category
types should generally be called <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><cattype>_type</span></code>. For instance, if we want to classify clouds we would have
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><cattype>=cloud</span></code> and a variable name <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud_type</span></code>, and for land use classification we would have <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">land_type</span></code>.</p>
<p>The enumeration labels for a variable should ideally be fully distinct categories. This means that if you have land
types <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">A</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">B</span></code>, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">C</span></code>, you should try to avoid also having land types for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">A_and_B</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">B_and_C</span></code>,
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">A_and_B_and_C</span></code>, etc.
A <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><cattype>_type</span></code> variable should ideally indicate just a single dominant applicable category.
To deal with mixed presence of multiple categories one can use variables such as <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><catval>_flag</span></code> and
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><catval>_fraction</span></code>.</p>
<p>For instance, for a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">land_type</span></code> variable we could have <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">forest</span></code> as enumeration label, but then also have variables
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">forest_flag</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">forest_fraction</span></code>.</p>
<p>A <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><catval>_flag</span></code> variable in HARP should always be a binary/dichotomous variable (it should contain true/false, 1/0
values). A flag variable denotes whether something is present/applicable/true or not. A flag variable will therefore
generally always have an <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">int8</span></code> data type and is not treated as categorical variable (i.e. it will not have
enumeration labels). Important to note is that <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><*>_flag</span></code> variables in HARP should not be used as bitfield variables
(unlike the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><*>_validity</span></code> variables).</p>
<p>A <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><catval>_fraction</span></code> variable can be used to define the fraction of the area that has the given <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><catval></span></code>
classification. This fraction is a floating point value between 0 and 1.</p>
<p>Note that many other data product formats use bitfields to indicate applicability of multiple classification categories
in order to save storage space. However, the aim of HARP is not to provide a compact data format, but to have data
variables that can be readily used by algorithms. For this reason, combining multiple information elements in a single
variable is discouraged within the HARP conventions.</p>
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