Can I combine two itemscopes to describe a single item? - html

Question

I would like to add microdata to a page, but the data for an item is broken up into a couple discontinuous parts of the page. If I have two span elements with an itemscope attribute, is it possible to get search engines to merge the two itemscopes and interpret them as a single item?
For example*:
<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
Hello, my name is <span itemprop="name">Glinda</span>.
</span>
I like to fly around in a giant bubble.
<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
I live in the <span itemprop="location">Land of Oz</span>.
</span>
Is there a way to add something like an itemid attribute to tell a web spider that the two Person itemscopes should be consumed as one item, instead of two?
Maybe something like this.
<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemid="7f6ba1">
Hello, my name is <span itemprop="name">Glinda</span>.
</span>
I like to fly around in a giant bubble.
<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemid="7f6ba1">
I live in the <span itemprop="location">Land of Oz</span>.
</span>
* I understand that in this example I could just use one big span, but I can't do that with the actual page I have to work with.
Edit: Perhaps I need a better example. It's a bit contrived, but demonstrates the problem I have. Remember, reorganizing the page is not an option.
<h1>Locations</h1>
<ul>
<li itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<span itemprop="name">Bob</span> lives in <span itemprop="location">Berkeley</span>
</li>
<li itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<span itemprop="name">Carol</span> lives in <span itemprop="location">Cupertino</span>
</li>
</ul>
<h1>Jobs</h1>
<ul>
<li itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<span itemprop="name">Bob</span> works at <span itemprop="affiliation">Borders</span>
</li>
<li itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<span itemprop="name">Carol</span> works at <span itemprop="affiliation">Capitol One</span>
</li>
<ul>
Is there a way to make this microdata result in two Person items, rather than four?
I want to have Bob, who lives in Berkeley, and works at Borders, and Carol who lives in Cupertino and works at Capitol One.

Answer 1

If I'm reading the W3 itemref properly, you can use the itemref property for this purpose:
<h1>Locations</h1>
<ul>
<li itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemref="bob">
<span itemprop="name">Bob</span> lives in
<span itemprop="homeLocation">Berkeley</span>
</li>
<li itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemref="carol">
<span itemprop="name">Carol</span> lives in
<span itemprop="homeLocation">Cupertino</span>
</li>
</ul>
<h1>Jobs</h1>
<ul>
<li itemprop="affiliation" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization" id="bob">
Bob works at <span itemprop="name">Borders</span>
</li>
<li itemprop="affiliation" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization" id="carol">
Carol works at <span itemprop="name">Capitol One</span>
</li>
<ul>

Answer 2

Yes it is possible if you use the itemref property.
Have a look at this website: IJzerfront 14-18
They link up the information (description and image are separated and are added to the Museum Place).