Exploiting the Observations and Measurements Standard for interoperability in the Earth Sciences and beyond Lesley Wyborn Simon Cox

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Science relies on observations Provides evidence & validation Involves sampling This paper is about a domain-independent terminology and information-model Raises the question of who is coordinating Geoscience standards also of ensuring geoscience standards integrate with related disciplines: chemistry, physics, hydrology etc

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 A key driver: Our Science is changing From small scale siloed studies To Integration on a global scale Atom Molecule Mineral Rock Outcrop Section Mountain Continent Planet Source: Office of Integrative Activities NSF

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Observations

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Back to basics: What is “an Observation” Observation act involves a procedure applied at a specific time The result of an observation is an estimate of some property The observation domain is a feature of interest at some time [0..*] locations may be of interest, associated with the procedure and feature of interest

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Examples The 7th banana weighed 270gm on the kitchen scales this morning The attitude of the foliation at outcrop 321 of the Leederville Formation was 63/085, measured using a Brunton on Specimen H69 was identified on by Amy Bachrach as Eucalyptus Caesia The image of Camp Iota was obtained by Aster in 2003 Sample WMC997t collected at Empire Dam on was found to have 5.6 g/T Au as measured by ICPMS at ABC Labs on The X-Z Geobarometer determined that the ore-body was at depth 3.5 km at 1.75 Ga The simulation run on indicated that the pressure in the hanging- wall at 618 Ma was reduced 4 MPa

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 In “pictures”

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Generic pattern for observation data An Observation is an action whose result is an estimate of the value of some property of the feature-of-interest, obtained using a specified procedure Where’s the “location”? In the feature-of-interest, reconciling remote and in-situ observations

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Domain profile feature of interest Feature-type taken from a domain-model (e.g. GeoSciML) observed property Belongs to feature-of-interest-type procedure Standard procedures, suitable for the property-type AnyFeature Process resultobservedProperty 1 propertyValueProvider 0..* featureOfInterest 1 generatedObservation 0..* procedure 1

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Sampling features

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Proximate vs ultimate feature-of-interest Ultimate (“project”) thing of interest not directly or fully accessible 1.Proximate feature of interest embodies a sample design Rock-specimen samples an ore-body or geologic unit Well samples an aquifer Profile samples an ocean/atmosphere column Cross-section samples a rock-unit 2.Sensed property is a proxy e.g. want land-cover, but observe colour Sampling designs are common

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Sampling features Domain feature type Observation SamplingFeature +samplingTime [0..1] +parameter [0..*] AnyFeature relatedObservation 0..* Intention sampledFeature SamplingPoint Specimen +materialClass +samplingMethod [0..1] +samplingLocation [0..1] +size [0..1] +currentLocation [0..1] SpatiallyExtensiveSamplingFeature SamplingCurve +length [0..1] SamplingSurface +area [0..1] SamplingSolid +volume [0..1] Station Section MapHorizon MineLevel Mine Traverse Borehole Traverse 0..* Complex relatedSamplingFeature 0..*

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Specimens and “outcrops”

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Motivation for developing a common model Cross-domain data discovery and fusion Re-usable service interfaces

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Governance

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Development and validation of O&M Developed in the context of Geochemistry/Assay data Sensor Web Enablement – environmental and remote sensing Subsequently applied in Water resources/water quality Oceans & Atmospheres Natural resources Taxonomic data Geology field data Status OGC RWG  Adopted Specification in late 2007 ISO Standard – ? Adopted as a key aspect of GeoSciML

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 need information transfer standards for Geochemistry Geochronology Geophysics Geodesy Seismology Hydrogeology Marine Ecology Biogeology But need to coordinate these standards (including ontologies) to avoid uncontrolled growth of YAML (Yet Another Markup Language) Application to other science disciplines

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 StandardDescribesGovernanceType Chemical ML Molecules, atoms, isotopesIUPAC Inform-ation GeoSci ML Earth materialsIUGS:CGI Geography ML Location, time, peopleOGC & ISO Technical Observations & Measurements Observation patterns and processes OGC (& ISO) Sensor ML Sensor and instrument metadata OGC If we can leverage Chemical ML for geochemistry, can we leverage physics standards for geophysics, and so on…..? An example of reuse (beg, borrow & steal) GA Geochronology Data Transfer Model:

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 GeoUnions IUGS, International Union of Geological Sciences (CGI - GeoSciML) IUGG, International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (Commission for Data) IUSS, International Union of Soil Sciences IGU, International Geographical Union INQUA, International Union for Quaternary Research ISPRS International Union for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Not GeoUnions International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (Chemical ML) International Hydrographic Organization (S-57, MarineML) WMO (BUFR, Metar, Hydrology?) Maybe we need ICSU, CODATA, SCID for coordination and governance March 2008 Rome workshop 21 representatives from Geoscience agencies Governance and coordination for data exchange standards?

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August A Starting Point for Collaboration: SEEGrid TWIKI Solid Earth & Environment community web site Started in communities now In 2007 – 48,264 unique visits – 1,170,567 hits – 52.52GB download AppSchemas web

Thank you Exploration & Mining Simon Cox Research Scientist Phone: Web: Contact Us Phone: or Web:

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Procedure vs. observedProperty observedProperty supports discovery by observation users “show me all the observations of temperature and wind-speed” procedure provides strict definition “how was that value obtained?” …or provider-centric discovery “show me all the data collected by instrument X”

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Some properties vary within a feature colour of a Scene or Swath varies with position shape of a Glacier varies with time flow at a Station varies with time rock density varies along a Borehole Variable values may be described as a Function on some axis of the feature Corresponding Observation/result is a Function If domain is spatio-temporal, also known as coverage or map

CSIRO 33 rd IGC August 2008 Variable property  coverage valued result