The earlier discussion on samples was valuable, especially regarding the subsample/part-of issues when samples are taken apart and the relationships need to be maintained. I saw a talk in the last two weeks by Kerstin Lehnert about the use of identifiers for geologic samples. They seem to have many of the same issues that we do for biological samples. They have created a system called the "International Geo Sample Number", which is a centralized sample registration service. Interestingly, they invented their own syntax rather than using a standard like LSID or DOI. I though it might be interesting background for those of you going to the meeting next week:

http://www.geosamples.org/

and here's a fossil plant sample as displayed in their registry:

http://www.geosamples.org/applications/sesarSearch/view_sample.jsp

Matt -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Matt Jones Ph: 907-789-0496 jones@nceas.ucsb.edu SIP #: 1-747-626-7082 National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) UC Santa Barbara http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecoinformatics ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~