Issue 326 Temporal entities Some comments Issue 326: Temporal entities, to be discussed at the 38th CIDOC CRM and 31th FRBR CRM meeting Christian-Emil Ore
CRM top hierarchy and space&time 1 E1 CRM Entity Exx Observable Entity E2 Temporal Entity E52 Time-span E92 Spacetime Volume E53 Place E54 Dimension P160 has temporal projection (1,1:1,1) P161 has spatial projection (1,n:1,1) P4 has time-span (1,1:1,n) E77 Persistent Item I6 Belief E3 Condition State E4 Period E18 Physical Thing The cardinality of P4 has time-span is (1,1:1,n), that is, two or more instances of E2 Temporal Entity can “share” an instance of E52 Time-span. This was introduced in an early stage to model simultaneity. This way of modeling simultaneity is considered obsolete and the cardinality of P4 should be (1,1:1,1)- E2 Temporal Entity and E52 Time-span in an one to one relation E2 Temporal Entity and E92 Spacetime Volume in an one to one relation.
CRM top hierarchy and space&time 2 E1 CRM Entity Exx Observable Entity E2 Temporal Entity E52 Time-span E92 Spacetime Volume E53 Place E54 Dimension P160 has temporal projection (1,1:1,1) P161 has spatial projection (1,n:1,1) P4 has time-span (1,1:1,1) E77 Persistent Item I6 Belief E3 Condition State E4 Period E18 Physical Thing The cardinality of P4 set to (1,1:1,1) has the following consequences E2 Temporal Entity and E52 Time-span in an one to one relation E2 Temporal Entity and E92 Spacetime Volume in an one to one relation. P4 (1,1:1,1) and P160(1,1:1,1) make E2 Temporal Entity, E52 Time-span and E92 Spacetime Volume isomorphic and they could be seen as one single class All instances of subclasses of E2 Temporal Entity have a spatial component.
CRM top hierarchy and space&time 3 E1 CRM Entity Exx Observable Entity E2 Temporal Entity E52 Time-span E92 Spacetime Volume E53 Place E54 Dimension P160 has temporal projection (1,1:1,1) P161 has spatial projection (1,n:1,1) P4 has time-span (1,1:1,1) E77 Persistent Item I6 Belief E3 Condition State E4 Period E18 Physical Thing Have all instances of possible subclasses of E2 Temporal Entity a spatial component? If yes then E4 Period equals E2 Temporal Entity If no then the cardinality of P160 has temporal projection should be adjusted to (1,1:0,1) It is doubtful that I2 Belief (CRMInf) has a spatial component. The function of an instance of I2 Belief is to express the temporal extent of the some actor’s belief that an I4 Proposition Set has an I6 Belief Value.
Case: There exist instances of E4 Temporal Entity without spatial component E1 CRM Entity Exx Observable Entity E2 Temporal Entity E52 Time-span E92 Spacetime Volume E53 Place E54 Dimension P160 has temporal projection (1,1:0,1) P161 has spatial projection (1,n:1,1) E77 Persistent Item I6 Belief E3 Condition State E4 Period E18 Physical Thing Merge E2 Temporal Entity and E52 Time-span into one class All instances of E92 is connected to one and only one instance of this new class through P160 has temporal projection which is an injection. Thus E92 could have been a subclass of the new class. At least for pedagogical reasons this maynot be a good idea Is this a possible solution?