[tdwg-content] Darwin Core review

Peter Desmet peter.desmet.cubc at gmail.com
Fri Mar 6 16:21:54 CET 2009


Hi all,

I had a look at the Darwin Core terms
(http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/index.htm) and I have some questions and
remarks.

1. The "Replaces"-links for terms in the "Complete historical record"
(http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/history/index.htm) always link to
themselves.
See for example: HigherGeography
(http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/history/index.htm#HigherGeography-2009-01-21).
The "Replaces"-link links to same 2009-01-21 instead of 2007-04-17
(http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/history/index.htm#HigherGeography-2007-04-17).
And this 2007-04-17 also links to 2007-04-17 instead of the older
2003-06-17.
A link for "Is Replaced By" instead of text would also be useful.

2. As a result, I had some difficulties mapping the terms from DwC 1.4
(http://wiki.tdwg.org/twiki/bin/view/DarwinCore/DarwinCoreDraftStandard)
with the new ones. Update: Until I found the Darwin Core Versions
document (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/history/versions/index.htm).

3. Are the terms StartDayOfYear, EndDayOfYear, StartTimeOfDay,
EndTimeOfDay, YearSampled, MonthOfYear, DayOfMonth necessary if you
can provide this information in EarliestDateCollected,
LatestDateCollected? Or is this to provide e.g. the time at which
something was collected if you don't know the date (I don't know if
you can express this in EarliestDateCollected)? If so, YearSampled can
always be expressed in EarliestDateCollected/LatestDateCollected.

4. Is it possible to provide a different example for SampleRemarks and
SamplingEventRemarks for a clearer difference between the two? Now
both have "found dead on road".

5. Why is ValidDistributionFlag removed? This looked like an
interesting field for all our botanical garden specimens. We now have
to express this in SamplingProtocol, which will need a controlled
vocabulary for sorting these out.

6. Is Behavior an attribute of a SamplingEvent or Sample?

7. I'm happy with addition of the term "PreviousIdentifications". Is
it possible to provide the previous identificators and dates there as
well?

8. Can you add multiple "ResourceRelationship", "SampleAttribute",
"EventAttribute" to one sample? If yes, how does this work in a flat
schema like DwC?

9. The name "SamplingAttributeID"
(http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/index.htm#SamplingAttributeID) should
probably be changed to "SampleAttributeID".

10. What terms are mandatory?


Best regards,


Peter

-- 
Peter Desmet
Biodiversity Informatics Manager / Directeur de l'informatique de la
biodiversité
Montréal Biodiversity Centre / Centre sur la biodiversité de Montréal
Canadensys - www.canadensys.net

Institut de recherche en biologie végétale
Université de Montréal
4101, rue Sherbrooke est
Montréal, Québec, H1X 2B2
Canada

Télé / Phone: 514-872-5249
Télécopie / Fax: 514-872-9406
Email: peter.desmet.cubc at gmail.com



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