GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnParDis Enabling Parameter Discovery Roy Lowry, Michael Hughes & Laura Bird British Oceanographic Data Centre

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 Background In the 1980s oceanographic data management handled <20 parameters During the 1990s the number of parameters handled increased dramatically, largely due to JGOFS BODC adopted a controlled vocabulary approach to parameter management A parameter dictionary with >9000 entries has been developed EnParDis is a project to build on this

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 Background BODC’s data holdings are marked up with controlled vocabulary codes Mark-up requires copious quantities of skilled labour In an ideal world the data would be marked up by scientists using a standard dictionary This won’t happen unless scientists can see benefits, such as improved data access EnParDis aims to address this

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnParDis Objectives Enhance the BODC Parameter Dictionary into a worthy international standard vocabulary. Develop interoperability between the BODC Parameter Dictionary and other organisations’ dictionaries. Examine the potential of semantic and ontological tools for dictionary management and parameter discovery.

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnParDis Work Outline Work Package 1  Map biological entities in the dictionary to ITIS  Implement ITIS taxonomy as a dictionary parameter grouping tool

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnParDis Work Outline Work Package 2  Develop keyword group mappings (SeaSearch and GCMD)  Investigate feasibility of user- definable groupings  Investigate techniques to support parameter interconversions (e.g. unit conversions)

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnParDis Work Outline Work Package 3  Expand the BODC dictionary to cover other known dictionaries  SISMER (France)  SMHI (Sweden)  DOD (Germany)  Pangaea (Germany)  Rijkwaterstaat (Netherlands)  US JGOFS  MEDS (Canada)  BIO (Canada)  ICES Contaminants Database  CF?  Any others I can find

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnParDis Work Outline Work Package 3 (continued)  Review the current dictionary  Revise implementation structure – Eliminate classification that is hard- coded into data markup  Improve the clarity of parameter descriptions  Improve the valid parameter value ranges stored in the dictionary  Investigate if dictionary could be mapped through a data model into an ontology

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnParDis Progress WP1 Progress  ITIS database installed at BODC  Initial mapping between dictionary biological entities and ITIS  Over 100 spellings in the dictionary standardised to ITIS  A couple of errors in ITIS identified and their correction agreed  163 additional genera/species submitted to go to ITIS. A further 81 identified for submission  Access and Web taxonomic browser demonstrators developed

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnParDis Progress WP1 Taxonomic Browser  Driven by two tables  Map between BODC code and ITIS code plus parameter measured  Implementation of ITIS Taxonomy – ITIS code plus taxonomy (27 levels) encoded in a 216-byte string  Allows all BODC codes for a given parameter to be extracted at any taxonomic level (eg abundance in water column for all species of a given genus)

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnParDis Progress WP1 Next Stage  Operational implementation of ITIS mapping  Revision of map design to facilitate operation with RIKZ DONAR and WADI data models  Map maintenance protocols  ITIS database update protocols  Incorporation of demonstrator technology into BODC data retrieval tools

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnParDis Progress WP2 Progress  First-cut mapping to GCMD parameter valids  SEASEARCH groupings implemented (in June) WP2 Next Stage  Consultations with GCMD on their parameter valids  Implementation of GCMD groupings as an alternative to SEASEARCH  Look into potential of RDF or OWL for parameter classification management

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 EnparDis Progress WP3 Progress  Work commenced on RIKZ, SISMER and US JGOFS manual mappings  Dictionary entries in preparation to fill gaps identified by mappings  Units abbreviated titles standardised (NPL)  Revised dictionary structure implemented WP3 Next Stage  Continue mappings and dictionary extension  Research more elegant techniques for large scale mappings (semantic analysis?)  Data model mapping and ontology research

GE/BCDMEP Meeting March 2004 Contacting EnParDis An discussion list has been set up for EnParDis List address is: URL for subscription to the list: mailman.nerc-bidston.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/enpardis