[tdwg-content] Fwd: [dwc] quantity (#12)

[Eamonn O Tuama [GBIF]]

"Tweaking the terminology" as suggested by Simon looks like the solution.
Those more explicit labels should work. I will revise the definitions and
examples accordingly.
Eamonn

> Then is there anything wrong with giving more explicit labels, such as
> "organismQuantity" and organismQuantityType?
>
> On Wed, Dec 17, 2014 at 4:03 PM, Eamonn O Tuama [GBIF] <eotuama at gbif.org>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi John,
>>
>> The intent is to capture just one measurement (i.e.,
>> abundance/density/coverage - however the dataset is reporting
>> quantitative
>> information on organism presence in a sampling event) - hence the
>> proposal
>> to place the terms quantity and quantityType in the Occurrence class as
>> properties on an equal footing with individualCount, etc. By "buried", I
>> was just contrasting with the more generic properties of
>> MeasurementOrFact
>> where you have to look up the value of measurementType to determine the
>> entity. In contrast, our quantityType (i.e., abundanceType) is more
>> direct. I can see that use of the word "quantity" can make quantityType
>> seem very generic but it was the best and most neutral one we came up
>> with
>> to cover the various ways of reporting organism numbers in a sample.
>>
>> Eamonn
>>
>> > Hi Éamonn,
>> >
>> > Your reference to "buried" makes me curious. If you create the terms
>> > quantity and quantityType, they could appear as two "columns" in a
>> Simple
>> > Darwin Core record. That is, they could accommodate only one type of
>> > measurement per record. To do other than that the terms would have to
>> go
>> > into an extension, where they would be exactly as "buried" as they
>> would
>> > if
>> > you used measurementOrFact. Am I missing something?
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> >
>> > John
>> >
>> > On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 9:02 AM, Éamonn Ó Tuama [GBIF]
>> > <eotuama at gbif.org>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Simon's distinction of scaled number vs discrete set could probably
>> be
>> >> captured using DWC MeasurementOrFact properties. However, as
>> discussed
>> >> previously, we felt that because measurements of
>> >> abundance/density/coverage
>> >> were of fundamental importance in field studies, and in the spirit of
>> >> DwC's
>> >> pragmatic approach, they merited their own high level term(s), rather
>> >> than
>> >> "burying" them under MeasurementOrFact - hence the proposal of
>> >> "quantity"
>> >> and "quantityType" where the term "quantity" seems the most inclusive
>> >> label
>> >> for what we are trying to express.
>> >>
>> >> Following John's recommendation, we have removed the references to
>> >> examples in the definitions and expanded the examples in the comment
>> >> section so it is clear how they are to be used.
>> >>
>> >> quantity
>> >>
>> >> #Definition
>> >> A number or enumeration value for the entity being quantified in
>> >> quantityType.
>> >> #Comment
>> >> The terms quantity and quantityType are required to be used as a
>> pair.
>> >> The
>> >> value of quantity is a number or enumeration, e.g.,  “27” for a
>> >> quantityType “individuals”, “12.5” for a quantityType
>> >> “%biomass”, or “r”
>> >> for a quantityType “BraunBlanquetScale”.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> quantityType
>> >>
>> >> #Definition
>> >> The entity to which the number or enumeration reported in quantity
>> >> refers.
>> >> #Comment
>> >> The terms quantity and quantityType are required to be used as a
>> pair.
>> >> The
>> >> value of quantityType (i.e., the entity being measured) is expected
>> to
>> >> be
>> >> drawn from a small controlled vocabulary with terms such as
>> >> “Individuals”,
>> >> “%Biomass”, “%Biovolume”, “%Species”, “%Coverage”,
>> >> “BraunBlanquetScale”,
>> >> “DominScale”. Examples when combined with quantity values: + on
>> >> DominScale;
>> >> 5 on BraunBlanquetScale; 45 for %Biomass.
>> >>
>> >> Éamonn
>> >>
>> >> -----Original Message-----
>> >> From: tdwg-content-bounces at lists.tdwg.org [mailto:
>> >> tdwg-content-bounces at lists.tdwg.org] On Behalf Of Markus Döring
>> >> Sent: 15 December 2014 15:48
>> >> To: Paul J. Morris
>> >> Cc: TDWG Content Mailing List
>> >> Subject: Re: [tdwg-content] Fwd: [dwc] quantity (#12)
>> >>
>> >> "r" is a value for very few individuals in the Braun Blanquet cover
>> >> abundance scale which is used a lot in vegetation studies. It is like
>> >> various others a non continous scale with discrete values. I do not
>> >> think
>> >> we should restrict quantity to contious numeric scales.
>> >>
>> >> Markus
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> > Am 15.12.2014 um 15:36 schrieb Paul J. Morris <mole at morris.net>:
>> >> >
>> >> > Markus can probably answer this question:
>> >> >
>> >> > What would be the expected value of QuantityType for a Quantity of
>> >> "r"?
>> >> >
>> >> > A comment Bob Morris occasionally makes is: "1 is greater than 2
>> for
>> >> > sufficently large values of 1".  If some particular quantity type
>> has
>> >> > a standard set of codes that represent numbers, then it might be
>> >> > appropriate to use those standard codes as values of quantity.
>> >> >
>> >> > -Paul
>> >> >
>> >> > On Mon, 15 Dec 2014 12:48:06 +0100
>> >> > John Wieczorek <tuco at berkeley.edu> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >> Der all,
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I am forwarding this comment from Simon Cox, which was submitted
>> to
>> >> >> the Darwin Core development site on Github.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Cheers,
>> >> >>
>> >> >> John
>> >> >>
>> >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> >> >> From: Simon Cox <notifications at github.com>
>> >> >> Date: Mon, Dec 15, 2014 at 4:47 AM
>> >> >> Subject: Re: [dwc] quantity (#12)
>> >> >> To: tdwg/dwc <dwc at noreply.github.com>
>> >> >> Cc: John Wieczorek <tuco at berkeley.edu>
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >> 'quantity' usually implies an amount, encoded as a scaled number.
>> >> >> In most other domains it does not include a value from an
>> enumerated
>> >> >> set. The latter may be called 'quality'.
>> >> >> Both quantity and quality are subclasses of 'property'.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> —
>> >> >> Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
>> >> >> <https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/12#issuecomment-66946784>.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> > Paul J. Morris
>> >> > Biodiversity Informatics Manager
>> >> > Harvard University Herbaria/Museum of Comparative Zoölogy
>> >> > mole at morris.net  AA3SD  PGP public key available
>> >> > _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
>