With only comments from Bob & Arthur (thanks!), the latest version of
observation definitions is as follows:
"An observation characterizes the evidence for the presence or absence
of an organism or set of organisms through a data collection event at a
location. Observations are not necessarily independent and could be
linked via characteristics such as time, place, protocol, and
co-occurring organisms."
With the following draft elaborations for various terms (many thanks to
Bob Peet for providing most of these draft definitions):
1) occurrence
"Occurrence" has been changed to "evidence for the presence or absence".
The key idea is that the organism or set of organisms was either
detected or not. We also need to provide an opportunity for the
recorder to note the certainty.
As an aside, recall we need to support minimalist protocols (e.g.
"organism/community (not)seen in field", "organism heard in field",
"scat seen in field", "tracks seen in field", "museum collection".)
2) data collection event
An event, during or after which at least the minimum required data were
recorded.
3) location
Ideally, at least geocoordinates plus an accuracy term. Since there is a
considerable amount of historical / legacy data that does not presently
have a georeference yet has valuable information that should be included
in observation databases and shared, we cannot at this time require data
to be in a GIS format.
I (Lynn) suggest:
(a) Location information be required, preferably geocoordinates and
mapping precision, but if not available then a text description and the
finest level of geolocation using the Darwin Core attributes.
(b) Location data include the representation of observations as point,
line, or polygon data (with the necessary spatial metadata).
4) entity
Dropped from the definition of observation.
5) could be linked
Can have a pointer or pointers to other observations, thereby creating
aggregate observations. Note that commonality of date, time, place,
etc. is not sufficient in that the none of the observation authors
explicitly made the connection
Please share your comments / thoughts on all of the above definitions
with this email list.
If people are generally comfortable with the above as working
defintions, then I'd like to propose that we move into the fun part of
identifying attributes to be developed into a schema.
Thank you -
Lynn
Lynn Kutner
Data Management Coordinator
NatureServe
phone: (303) 541-0360
email: lynn_kutner(a)natureserve.org
http://www.natureserve.org/
Hi Lynn
> "An observation characterizes the occurrence of an organism or set of
> organisms through a data collection event at a location. Observations
> are not necessarily independent entities and could be linked via
> characteristics such as time, place, protocol, and co-occurring
> organisms."
>
> As a next step, we propose to develop more fully the definitions for the
> following words or phrases. As we we work through these definitions,
> please keep in mind addressing the issues that have been raised
> regarding topics such as: negative data, protocol, spatial temporal
> issues, and data aggregation.
>
> occurrence
Perhaps change "occurrence" to "evidence for the presence or absence"?
The key idea is that the organism or set of organisms was either detected
or not. We also need to provide an opportunity for the recorder to note
the certainly.
As an aside, recall we need to support minimalist protocols (e.g.
"organism/community (not)seen in field", "organism heard in field", "scat
seen in field", "tracks seen in field", "museum collection".)
> data collection event
= An event, during or after which at least the minimum required data
were recorded.
> location
Ideally, at least geocoordinates plus an accuracy term. We may wish to
support such primitive location indicators as place names, but this is
dangerous and I would prefer to require translation of names into
geocoordinates and precision.
The geocoordinates should also be allowed to be associated with a set of
points that define the edges of an area, or other spatial metadata.
> entity
Deletion of this word from the definition might help
> could be linked
= can have a pointer or pointers to other observations, thereby creating
aggregate observations. Note that commonality of date, time, place, etc.
is not sufficient in that the none of the observation authors explicitly
made the connection
Best,
Bob
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Robert K. Peet, Professor & Chair Phone: 919-962-6942
Curriculum in Ecology, CB#3275 Fax: 919-962-6930
University of North Carolina Cell: 919-368-4971
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3275 USA Email: peet(a)unc.edu
http://www.unc.edu/depts/ecology/http://www.bio.unc.edu/faculty/peet/
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