This abstract element serves as the head of a substitution group which may contain any elements whose content model is derived from gml:AbstractFeatureType. This may be used as a variable in the construction of content models. gml:AbstractFeature may be thought of as "anything that is a GML feature" and may be used to define variables or templates in which the value of a GML property is "any feature". This occurs in particular in a GML feature collection where the feature member properties contain one or multiple copies of gml:AbstractFeature respectively.
The attribute gml:id supports provision of a handle for the XML element representing a GML Object. Its use is mandatory for all GML objects. It is of XML type ID, so is constrained to be unique in the XML document within which it occurs.
Source
<element name="AbstractFeature" type="gml:AbstractFeatureType" abstract="true" substitutionGroup="gml:AbstractGML"><annotation><documentation>This abstract element serves as the head of a substitution group which may contain any elements whose content model is derived from gml:AbstractFeatureType. This may be used as a variable in the construction of content models. gml:AbstractFeature may be thought of as "anything that is a GML feature" and may be used to define variables or templates in which the value of a GML property is "any feature". This occurs in particular in a GML feature collection where the feature member properties contain one or multiple copies of gml:AbstractFeature respectively.</documentation></annotation></element>