CDI Controlled Vocabularies

Roy Lowry, Karen Vickers (BODC)Michele Fichaut, Catherine Maillard (SISMER)Reinhard Schwabe (DOD)4 June 2003

Objective

To provide vocabularies to describe what was measured

Used to restrict CDI search hit count Vocabulary dynamically generated from

existing data/metadata systems Therefore, bottom-up design rather than top-

down

Scope

CDI requires three vocabularies Platform Instrument Parameter

Platform and instrument vocabularies developed by DOD

Parameter vocabulary developed by BODC and SISMER

Platform Vocabulary

GF3 did a fairly good job (except grids!) Vocabulary based on this How is this going to be distributed and/or

maintained?

Instrument Vocabulary

Vocabulary describes either sample collection or in-situ measuring technique

Compatibility with ROSCOP taken into account

I think we now have an agreed list Again, how is this to be maintained and

distributed?

Parameter Vocabulary

Strategy to develop a set of parameter groups derived from data file parameter codes

Started calling these ‘keywords’ but the word implies a ‘top-down’ design approach

Settled on the name ‘Agreed Parameter Groupings’

Parameter Vocabulary

Initial APG set based on BODC and SISMER dictionaries

Parameter count in each group kept as uniform as possible

Facilitates a list box interface Almost succeeded but species-linked

parameters need further work Further development possible with current

groupings operational

Parameter Vocabulary

36 groupings mapped to the disciplines: Biology Chemistry Physical oceanography Geology and geophysics Meteorology and atmospheric chemistry Multidisciplinary Discipline independent

Discipline indicated by first byte of code

Parameter Vocabulary

The groupings are: Biology

B005 Bacteria and viruses B015 Birds, mammals and reptiles B020 Fish B025 Microzooplankton B027 Other biological measurements B030 Phytoplankton B035 Pigments B040 Zoobenthos B045 Zooplankton

Parameter Vocabulary

The groupings are: Chemistry

C003 Amino acids C005 Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus C010 Carbonate system C015 Dissolved gases C017 Fatty acids C020 Halocarbons (including freons) C025 Hydrocarbons C030 Isotopes C035 Metal concentrations C040 Nutrients C045 Other inorganic chemical measurements C050 Other organic chemical measurements C055 PCBs and organic micropollutants

Parameter Vocabulary

The groupings are: Physical oceanography

D005 Acoustics D010 Currents, sea level and waves D015 Optical properties D020 Other physical oceanographic measurements D025 Sea temperature and salinity

Geology and geophysics G005 Gravity, magnetics and bathymetry G010 Sediment properties G012 Sonar and seismics G015 Suspended particulate matter

Parameter Vocabulary

The groupings are: Meteorology and Atmospheric Chemistry

M005 Atmospheric chemistry M010 Meteorology

Multidisciplinary O005 Fluxes O010 Rate measurements (including production,

excretion and grazing) Discipline independent

Z005 Administration and dimensions

APG Implementation

Groupings incorporated in BODC Oracle dictionary

Dynamic web interface including plain text descriptions to assist group mappings

System is fully dynamic

Problems

Biological entity properties Needs further subdivision Further work once BODC dictionary has been mapped to

ITIS Atmospheric chemistry

Very uncomfortable about this Think through mappings of atmospheric pCO2

Rename as ‘Other atmospheric gases’ and map to chemistry?

Further work as BODC/BADC develop common controlled vocabulary for NERC Data Grid

Problems

Grouping codes Having discipline defined by first byte is a problem Remapping a grouping between disciplines (e.g.

chemistry to multidisciplinary) involves recoding Recoding is an accident waiting to happen Can we drop this rule and manage

mapping/ordering through explicit fields?

Problems

Multidisciplinary This is a ‘catch-all’ that dilutes search

effectiveness Necessary because discipline to APG mapping is

simple one to many Could be replaced by a many to many mapping Implications need to be considered for non-BODC

systems and CDI interface design