Subject: The OGIP data quality flag convention (OFWG prelim. recomm p20.3)

From: "Ian M George, Code 668, NASA/GSFC, USA (Usque ad mortem bibendum)" <GEORGE at heagip.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Date: Thu, 12 May 1994 1:18:12 -0400 (EDT)

THE OGIP DATA QUALITY FLAG CONVENTION 
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At a meeting of the OGIP FITS Working Group (OFWG) on 1994 May 11,
a convention was preliminarily approved regarding the values used to 
flag good & bad data within FITS datasets produced by the OGIP.

Since this convention may be of interest to the general community
it is being posted here. Comments from the rest of the community are 
invited. The OFWG plans to take a final vote on this proposal in a 
couple of weeks. 

Ian M George 					
on behalf of the OFWG

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OFWG Prelim Recommendation p20.3

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 	   | THE OGIP DATA QUALITY FLAG CONVENTION |
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						    Version: 1994 May 11

The meaning and use of quality flags is often specific to a given
instrument and/or data type. However, when devising quality flags for new
FITS files, the OFWG recommends that the integer value 0 (zero) be used to
indicate that the data to which the flag refers is of GOOD quality, and is
to be automatically used by downstream software. 

An instrument/dataset/application-specific scale of non-zero quality flag 
values can be used to indicate why the data is considered of bad quality,
the degree of 'badness', and data flagged to be ignored in downstream 
applications by the user.

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Ian M George 					
NASA/GSFC OFWG
1994 May 11