[tdwg-content] magnification/extent of objects present in images

[Steve Baskauf]

I am cross-posting this to the Live Plant Image email list in addition 
to tdwg-content because this is a subject that was previously discussed 
there.  However, as this is part of the public review of the draft 
Audubon Core TDWG standard, I would request that you reply only to the 
tdwg-content list, so that any additional discussion will take place 
there for the record.  If you aren't on that list and would like to 
reply, please send your responses to steve.baskauf at vanderbilt.edu and I 
will post it for you.

This subject came up as part of a comment on Audubon Core from Andréa 
Matsunaga:

"In iDigBio (http://tinyurl.com/MISC-Media), some people have expressed 
the desire to have information about the magnification being used (to 
have a rough idea of the size of the object, potentially from data that 
is automatically retrieved from the capturing device) as well as the 
real world size depicted by a pixel (for the purposes of allowing one to 
make measurements on the image; this would require one to have a scale 
on an image and perform some arithmetic). Would it be possible to add 
such terms?"

There are terms in the SpatialMetrics terms (section 9.1) of the MIX 
vocabulary (http://www.loc.gov/standards/mix/ ) that can encode this 
kind of information.  However, I would be interested in opinions about 
whether expressing this kind of information is a narrow need that is 
outside the scope of a fairly broad standard like Audubon Core or if the 
need for such terms is perceived as widespread.

Steve

-- 
Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences

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