Exploiting the Observations and Measurements Standard for interoperability in the Earth Sciences and beyond Lesley Wyborn Simon Cox

Exploiting the Observations and Measurements Standard for interoperability in the Earth Sciences and beyond

Lesley Wyborn Simon Cox

CSIRO 33rd IGC August 2008

Science relies on observations

• Provides evidence & validation• Involves sampling

• This paper is about a domain-independent terminology and information-model

• Raises the question of who is coordinating Geoscience standards

• also of ensuring geoscience standards integrate with related disciplines: chemistry, physics, hydrology etc


A key driver: Our Science is changing

From small scale siloed

studies

To Integration on a global

scale

AtomMolecule

Mineral

Rock

Outcrop

Section

Mountain

Continent

Planet

Source: Office of Integrative Activities NSF


Observations


Back to basics: What is “an Observation”

• Observation act involves a procedure applied at a specific time• The result of an observation is an estimate of some property• The observation domain is a feature of interest at some time

• [0..*] locations may be of interest, associated with the procedure and feature of interest


Examples

• The 7th banana weighed 270gm on the kitchen scales this morning

• The attitude of the foliation at outcrop 321 of the Leederville Formation was 63/085, measured using a Brunton on 2006-08-08

• Specimen H69 was identified on 1999-01-14 by Amy Bachrach as Eucalyptus Caesia

• The image of Camp Iota was obtained by Aster in 2003

• Sample WMC997t collected at Empire Dam on 1996-03-30 was found to have 5.6 g/T Au as measured by ICPMS at ABC Labs on 1996-05-31

• The X-Z Geobarometer determined that the ore-body was at depth 3.5 km at 1.75 Ga

• The simulation run on 2004-09-09 indicated that the pressure in the hanging-wall at 618 Ma was reduced 4 MPa


In “pictures”


Generic pattern for observation data

An Observation is an action whose result is an estimate of the value of some property of the feature-of-interest, obtained using a specified procedure

Where’s the “location”?

In the feature-of-interest, reconciling remote and in-situ observations

Observation

+ samplingTime+ resultTime [0..1]+ procedureOperator [0..1]+ parameter [0..*]+ resultQuality [0..1]

Any{n}

PropertyType

AnyFeature Process

resultobservedProperty

1

propertyValueProvider

0..*

featureOfInterest1

generatedObservation

0..*

procedure1


Domain profile

• feature of interest

• Feature-type taken from a domain-model(e.g. GeoSciML)

• observed property

• Belongs to feature-of-interest-type

• procedure

• Standard procedures, suitable for the property-type

Observation

+ samplingTime+ resultTime [0..1]+ procedureOperator [0..1]+ parameter [0..*]+ resultQuality [0..1]

Any{n}

PropertyType

AnyFeature Process

resultobservedProperty

1

propertyValueProvider

0..*

featureOfInterest1

generatedObservation0..*

procedure1


Sampling features


Proximate vs ultimate feature-of-interest

Ultimate (“project”) thing of interest not directly or fully accessible

1. Proximate feature of interest embodies a sample design• Rock-specimen samples an ore-body or geologic unit• Well samples an aquifer• Profile samples an ocean/atmosphere column• Cross-section samples a rock-unit

2. Sensed property is a proxy• e.g. want land-cover, but observe colour

Sampling designs are common


Sampling featuresDomain feature type

Observation

SamplingFeature

+ samplingTime [0..1]+ parameter [0..*]

AnyFeature

relatedObservation

0..*

Intention

sampledFeature

SamplingPoint

Specimen

+ materialClass+ samplingMethod [0..1]+ samplingLocation [0..1]+ size [0..1]+ currentLocation [0..1]

SpatiallyExtensiveSamplingFeature

SamplingCurve

+ length [0..1]

SamplingSurface

+ area [0..1]

SamplingSolid

+ volume [0..1]

Station

Section

MapHorizonMineLevel

Mine

Traverse

Borehole

Traverse

0..*Complex

relatedSamplingFeature 0..*


Specimens and “outcrops”


Motivation for developing a common model

• Cross-domain data discovery and fusion• Re-usable service interfaces


Governance


Development and validation of O&M

• Developed in the context of • Geochemistry/Assay data• Sensor Web Enablement – environmental and remote sensing

• Subsequently applied in• Water resources/water quality• Oceans & Atmospheres • Natural resources• Taxonomic data• Geology field data

• Status• OGC RWG Adopted Specification in late 2007• ISO Standard – 2008-9?• Adopted as a key aspect of GeoSciML


• need information transfer standards for• Geochemistry • Geochronology• Geophysics• Geodesy• Seismology• Hydrogeology• Marine• Ecology • Biogeology

• But need to coordinate these standards (including ontologies) to avoid uncontrolled growth of YAML (Yet Another Markup Language)

http://www.datastrategyjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=1

Application to other science disciplines




Standard Describes Governance Type

Chemical ML Molecules, atoms, isotopes IUPAC

Info

rm-

atio

n

GeoSci ML Earth materials IUGS:CGI

Geography ML Location, time, people OGC & ISO

Te

chn

ical

Observations & Measurements

Observation patterns and processes

OGC (& ISO)

Sensor MLSensor and instrument metadata

OGC

If we can leverage Chemical ML for geochemistry, can we leverage physics standards for geophysics, and so on…..?

An example of reuse (beg, borrow & steal)

GA Geochronology Data Transfer Model:


• GeoUnions• IUGS, International Union of Geological Sciences (CGI - GeoSciML)• IUGG, International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (Commission for Data)• IUSS, International Union of Soil Sciences • IGU, International Geographical Union• INQUA, International Union for Quaternary Research• ISPRS International Union for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

• Not GeoUnions• International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (Chemical ML)

• International Hydrographic Organization (S-57, MarineML)

• WMO (BUFR, Metar, Hydrology?)

• Maybe we need ICSU, CODATA, SCID for coordination and governance

• March 2008 Rome workshop

• 21 representatives from Geoscience agencies

Governance and coordination for data exchange standards?


http://www.seegrid.csiro.au

A Starting Point for Collaboration: SEEGrid TWIKI

• Solid Earth & Environment community web site

• Started in 2003

• 15 communities now

• In 2007 – 48,264 unique visits– 1,170,567 hits– 52.52GB download

• AppSchemas web

http://www.seegrid.csiro.au/

Thank you

Exploration & MiningSimon CoxResearch Scientist

Phone: +61 8 6436 8639Email: [email protected]: www.csiro.au/em

Contact UsPhone: 1300 363 400 or +61 3 9545 2176

Email: [email protected] Web: www.csiro.au


Procedure vs. observedProperty

• observedProperty supports discovery by observation users• “show me all the observations of temperature and wind-speed”

• procedure provides strict definition• “how was that value obtained?”

• …or provider-centric discovery• “show me all the data collected by instrument X”


Some properties vary within a feature

• colour of a Scene or Swath varies with position• shape of a Glacier varies with time• flow at a Station varies with time• rock density varies along a Borehole

• Variable values may be described as a Function on some axis of the feature

• Corresponding Observation/result is a Function • If domain is spatio-temporal, also known as coverage or map


Variable property coverage valued result

«FeatureType»PointCov erageObserv ation

«FeatureType»Observ ation

«FeatureType»DiscreteCov erageObserv ation

CV_DiscreteElementCov erage

«FeatureType»ElementCov erageObserv ation

CV_DiscreteTimeInstantCov erageCV_DiscretePointCov erage{n}

CV_Coverage

CV_DiscreteCov erage{n}

«FeatureType»TimeSeriesObserv ation

result

result result result

Documents

Exploiting the Observations and Measurements Standard for interoperability in the Earth Sciences and beyond Lesley Wyborn Simon Cox