GeoSciML An XML markup language to enable geoinformatics CGI Interoperability Working Group Data Model Design Task Group

What is interoperability? "The capability to communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among various functional units in a manner that requires the user to have little or no knowledge of the unique characteristics of those units." (ISO/IEC , SC36 Secretariat, 2003)

Requirements Community architecture specification: –Registry/directory specification (data discovery) –Standard service profiles (functionality) – Standard interchange formats (e.g. XML encoding) GeoSciML

Data Interchange Interchange schema GSC GeoSciML wrapper USGSU NGMDB GeoSciML wrapper Use of standard markup language means schema mapping (wrapper) only needs to be done once Interchange schema

GeoSciML development Conceptual data model Use to derive logical data model in UML Map to XML schema using OGC GML standard Draw on previous work –Existing geoscience data models, in particular NADM –XMML, Observation and Measurement Use OGC service definitions for delivery (WMS/WFS)

The IUGS/CGI Interoperability Working Group CGI interoperability working group Face to Face meeting May 8-15, 2007, Tucson, AZ Develop version 2 of model Additions: Earth material model Geologic structure with orientation Link to ISO metadata Dale Percival (GA) Oliver Raymond (GA) Steve Richard (AZGS-USGS) Francois Robida (BRGM) Marcus Sen (BGS) Jean-Jacques Serrano (BRGM) Bruce Simons (GSV) Lars Stolen (SGU) Shinji Takarada (GSJ) Leslie Wyborn (GA) GeoSciML development team: Christian Bellier (BRGM) Eric Boisvert (GSC) Boyan Brodaric (GSC) Simon Cox (CSIRO) Tim Duffy (BGS) Yuichiro Fusejima (GSJ) Dominique Janjou (BRGM) Bruce Johnson (USGS) Shinsuke Kodama (AIST) John Laxton (BGS)

GeoSciML v2 Document content—collection of: –Geologic unit –Geologic structure –Mapped feature (lines, polygons) –Earth material description (rock, unconsolidated) –Vocabulary (Collection of terms with definitions) –Events –Relationships

Geologic Unit Classifier– link to lexicon, identifies described unit Body morphology– shape of unit as 3-D body Color— color of unit in exposures Composition category– general composition character of unit; chemical or petrographic Outcrop character — nature of outcrops formed by geologic unit Parts – aggregate geologic units Composition -- lithologic constituents Metamorphic description — facies, grade, peak P, Peak T, protolith Unit thickness Age, geologic history — one or more genetic events in history of unit Bedding character — pattern, style, thickness Physical properties — density, magnetic susceptibility, porosity, permeability Weathering character — degree, products, process, environment Related geologic units and structures – soft typed relationships

Geologic structure Subtypes: –Shear displacement structure, fault, ductile shear zone –Fracture, joint –Contact – boundary between units –Fold, Fold system – collection of related folds –Foliation, layering –Lineation –Non directed structure – soft typed class to represent sedimentary and igneous structures

Faults Displacement-- collection of displacement events –Each has age, process environment, movement type (strike slip, normal…) and sense (normal, right…), may have slip or separation Segmentation, aggregation segmentsfaults Fault system

Structure orientation Planar and linear orientation elements Allow numeric measurement, numeric range, or qualitative text specifier (e.g. steep, northerly) Planar orientation has polarity (facing) Linear orientation may be directed

Earth Material Mass noun, not a feature Subtypes: –Mineral –Inorganic fluid (water..) –OrganicMaterial –CompoundMaterial — material that is an aggregation of constituent parts –Rock, –UnconsolidatedMaterial –MaterialFossil

Rock, Unconsolidated material parts Each part: –role, proportion, type –represents aggregation of particles of some type, which may have a grain size and shape description –composed of some Earth Material Relationships between parts (overgrows, replaces…)

Rock, Unconsolidated material properties Color Composition category – terms for chemical or petrographic character Genetic category – term to characterize geologic history of material Consolidation degree Lithology classifier – kind of material described, from controlled vocabulary Physical properties — density, magnetic susceptibility, porosity, permeability Metamorphic description – facies, grade, peak P, peak T, protolith Fabric description – type, text description Particle geometry – grain size, sorting, shape, aspect ratio

Metadata Uses ISO Feature Level or Dataset level Extensive capability to record –Data processing steps –Source citation –Spatial reference –Maintenance information –Use constraints, availability, point of contact….

Linked packages Observation and measurement –Detailed data acquisition metadata, process, equipment, observation conditions Sampling –Site, Borehole –Specimen Assay data exchange –Specimen splits –Chain of custody Geologic Time –GSSP –Time ordinal era

Related Work CML – components for geochemistry Water ML – components for hydrogeology Mineral Occurrence model – components for economic geology DIGGS – Data interchange for geotechnical and geoenvironmental specialists

GeoSciML use cases Data publication/interchange –Geologic maps –Borehole geology –Specimen descriptions –Earth material substrate for soil map Input/output format for applications –3-D models –Mineral resource assessment –Hazard assessment Shared schema for specifying properties of interest –Queries –Data discovery –Symbolization

What GeoSciML does not do Create information Determine fitness for use Resolve semantic conflicts Not efficient for online display of maps

Semantic interoperability: SAME?

Concept Definition Task Group Specify concepts and property values required to populate GeoSciML document instances Language independent identifiers allow association of these with different words for different communities

Why GeoSciML? Geoinformatics! Discover information resources Utilize existing data Enable automated workflow utilizing geoscience information – Decision making; Research; Education

In Closing Significant challenges –Short term– development of wrappers for mapping to/from interchange format –Service definitions –Longer term– semantic interoperability Through shared vocabulary to start Using computer ontologies for mediation later

The End