Using ALTO with METS

ALTO was created for usage with METS. While using METS to wrap ALTO instances is not a requirement, most implementers have chosen to utilize ALTO inside of a METS wrapper. In order to do so, references can be made within the METS <area> element that is used within the METS <structMap>.

<area BETYPE="IDREF" FILEID="ALTO0001" BEGIN="P1_TB00023">

The FILEID attribute on refers to the following structure within the METS <fileGrp> element under <fileSec>:

<fileGrp ID="ALTOGRP">  
  <file ID="ALTO0001" MIMETYPE="text/xml">
    <FLocat LOCTYPE="URL" xlink:href="file://./samplebook-ALTO/samplebook-ALTO0001.xml>
  </file>
...
</fileGrp>

The BEGIN attribute on then points into the ALTO file itself within one of the children of the METS <amdSec>.