Geoscience data standards Establishing geological map and mineral occurrence data exchange standards Bruce Simons GeoScience Victoria

Geoscience data standards Outline Data exchange requirements (Interoperability) Exchange standard for geological data (GeoSciML) Testing the GeoSciML standard The Mineral Occurrence extension The Future

Geoscience data standards The problem access to Government geoscience information is fragmented and inefficient Delivering Government Digital Geoscience Data 2004 Minerals Exploration Action Agenda … existing information is distributed across eight state and federal agencies each with its own information management systems and data formats up to 80% of time acquiring pre-competitive data is taken up by reformatting disparate data from government sources a disincentive to exploration

Geoscience data standards Why is it so hard? 8 Australian jurisdictions provide digital geoscience map data 8 data structures and delivery systems 2 (at least) proprietary software specific data formats cannot access more than one agency’s data at a time The Solution is “Interoperability” Establish a software-independent DATA TRANSFER STANDARD “the ability of software and hardware on different machines from different vendors to share data”

Geoscience data standards systems syntax schematic semantic interoperability Data Structure (GeoSciML, MineralOccurrences, O&M) Data Content (Ontologies, Vocabularies) Data Language (GML, XML) Data Services (WFS, WMS, WCS) Interoperability Requirements

Geoscience data standards Agree to use Web Services (WFS, WMS, WCS) Software capabilities are limited to simple data models Existing vendor and open source software aim to support OGC web service specifications (e.g. GML and complex features) Ongoing collaborative work with software developers to serve the complex feature model needed for geological information Not all required OGC standards properly specified and tested E.g. Registries, binding WFS to WMS, handling xpath/href links Systems Agreement

Geoscience data standards How do you convert standard representations of complex data models (UML) to standard schema (GML)? Need to establish UML rules (single inheritance, associations must have role names, etc) Need to establish conversion rules (what to do with Union, interface classes etc) Establish name spaces Need software to enable automatic generation of schema Syntax Agreement

Geoscience data standards systems syntax schematic semantic interoperability Data Structure (GeoSciML, MineralOccurrences, O&M) Data Content (Ontologies, Vocabularies) Data Language (GML, XML) Data Services (WFS, WMS, WCS) Interoperability Requirements

Geoscience data standards Victoria South Australia Schematic Agreement CompoundMaterial «Type» EarthMaterial::Rock + consolidationDegree: CGI_Term + lithology: ControlledConcept [1..*] lithology

Geoscience data standards systems syntax schematic semantic interoperability Data Structure (GeoSciML, MineralOccurrences, O&M) Data Content (Ontologies, Vocabularies) Data Language (GML, XML) Data Services (WFS, WMS, WCS) Interoperability Requirements

Geoscience data standards Cainozoic? Palaeozoic? Archaean? Bolindian? Eastonian? Gisbornian? Late? Early? Semantic Agreement Select geologic features where age = “xxx”

Geoscience data standards Geological data is largely text-based and interpretive. Simple numerical data is rare. Compliance to many controlled vocabularies is not a trivial exercise Compliance to vocabularies is crucial to be able to construct standardised requests on distributed data Establish language independent identifiers that local terms and languages can be mapped to GGIC Controlled Vocabularies Working Group and CGI Geoscience Concepts Task Group Semantic Agreement

Geoscience data standards  availability of appropriate technologies  common data structure  software independence  common data content  commitment to these standards Interoperability Requirements - OGC, ISO, W3C - CGI-IUGS - INSPIRE, GGIC Summary

Geoscience data standards Open data standards Efficiencies for government Efficiencies for industry Benefits for the wider geoscience community Interoperability Benefits

Geoscience data standards A Geological Data Model based on real world concepts represents the complexity of geology (hierarchical, relational) tells users what geological information goes where developed by the scientific community internationally agreed builds on established standards such as GML (Geographic Markup Language) uses the ISO ‘feature’ model GeoScience Markup Language the markup language delivers the model to web services is machine readable What is GeoSciML?

Geoscience data standards Committee for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information Australia USA Canada France UK Sweden Italy Japan Interoperability Working Group GeoScience Markup Language

Geoscience data standards «FeatureType» GeologicFeature::MappedFeature +observationMethod: CGI_TermValue [1..*] +positionalAccuracy: CGI_Value «FeatureType» GeologicFeature::GeologicFeature +observationMethod: CGI_TermValue [1..*] +purpose: DescriptionPurpose = instance «FeatureType» GeologicUnit::GeologicUnit «estimatedProperty» +bodyMorphology: CGI_TermValue [0..*] +compositionCategory: CGI_TermValue [0..1] +exposureColor: CGI_TermValue [0..*] +outcropCharacter: CGI_TermValue [0..*] +rank: ScopedName [0..1] «DataType» GeologicUnit::GeologicUnitPart +role: ScopedName «estimatedProperty» +proportion: CGI_Value «DataType» GeologicUnit::MetamorphicDescription «estimatedProperty» +metamorphicFacies: CGI_TermValue [0..*] +metamorphicGrade: CGI_TermValue [0..1] +peakPressureValue: CGI_NumericValue [0..1] +peakTemperatureValue: CGI_NumericValue [0..1] +protolithLithology: EarthMaterial [0..*] «FeatureType» GeologicUnit::ChronostratigraphicUnit «estimatedProperty» +beddingPattern: CGI_TermValue [0..*] +beddingStyle: CGI_TermValue [0..*] +beddingThickness: CGI_Value [0..*] +definingAge: CGI_Value +unitThickness: CGI_Numeric [0..*] «FeatureType» GeologicUnit:: LithologicUnit «FeatureType» GeologicUnit::LithostratigraphicUnit «estimatedProperty» +beddingPattern: CGI_TermValue [0..*] +beddingStyle: CGI_TermValue [0..*] +beddingThickness: CGI_Value [0..*] +unitThickness: CGI_Numeric [0..*] «FeatureType» GeologicUnit:: LithodemicUnit «DataType» GeologicUnit::PhysicalDescription «estimatedProperty» +density: CGI_Numeric [0..1] +magneticSusceptibility: CGI_Value [0..1] +permeability: CGI_Value [0..1] +porosity: CGI_Value [0..1] «DataType» GeologicUnit::WeatheringDescription «estimatedProperty» +environment: CGI_Term [0..*] +weatheringDegree: CGI_Term [0..1] +weatheringProcess: CGI_Term [0..*] +weatheringProduct: EarthMaterial [0..*] «DataType» GeologicUnit::CompositionPart +role: ScopedName «estimatedProperty» +lithology: ControlledConcept [1..*] +material: CompoundMaterial [0..1] +proportion: CGI_Value AnyDefinition «Type» Vocabulary::ControlledConcept +identifier: ScopedName +name: LocalizedGenericName [1..*] Metadata entity set information:: MD_Metadata {n} «FeatureType» GeologicAge::GeologicEvent +eventAge: CGI_Value +eventEnvironment: CGI_TermValue [0..*] +eventProcess: CGI_TermValue [1..*] +specification1 Description +occurrence 0..* +part 0..* +containedUnit 1 +metamorphicCharacter physicalProperty 0..* +weatheringCharacter composition «estimatedProperty» 0..* +classifier metadata metadata metadata preferredAge0..1 +feature +geologicHistory 0..* Presented as a series of class diagrams which show the properties of, and relationships between, geological features The GeoSciML Data Model Geological unit features composition (earth materials) metamorphism weathering character physical properties spatial representation unit types (lithostratigraphic, chronostratigraphic) age and geological history (events) unit parts (child/parent relations) vocabularies metadata

Geoscience data standards Geological Data Model Benefits data providers need only “map” their own local data structures to the data transfer structure data providers don’t need to change their local database structures to use the transfer standard allows language independent terminology to be used (i.e. controlled vocabularies) is open source software vendor independent

Geoscience data standards GeoSciML Benefits GML Client WMS WFS WMS WFS WMS WFS WMS WFS GeoSciML GA GSV BGS USGS BGS schema GSV schema GA schema USGS schema  a standard GML schema for geological data WMS WFS GeoSciML GSC schema

Geoscience data standards Testing the GeoSciML standard Testbed A borehole demonstrator between UK and France Testbed – A six nation demonstrator delivering geological map data from globally distributed sources using GeoSciML v1.1 Testbed 2 Use cases  display map, query one feature, return attributes in GeoSciML  query several map features, return GeoSciML file for download  reclassify map features based on Age or Lithology

Geoscience data standards GeoSciML Vancouver, CA Uppsala, SV Canberra, AU Ottawa, CA Reston, VA Keyworth, UK Portland, OR Orleans, FR Accessing GeoSciML data using a web client in Canada GeoSciML Testbed2

Geoscience data standards Successfully demonstrated WMS/WFS delivery, display and download of distributed data sources and simple query functions Not previously attempted with such a complex model Identified capabilities and limitations of WFS and OGC standards Highlighted technical challenges to be able to deliver and consume complex features using WFS Highlighted the need to establish well-defined limits for any web data services Reinforced the importance of documentation of the data model to guide participants Lessons Learnt from Testbed2

Geoscience data standards Wide ranging and ambitious use cases Use Case 1 – Render a geological map from multiple data sources symbols based on age or lithology language dependent legend Use Case 2 – Return GML for mapped features in bounding box service profiles may vary to deliver sampling features, mapped features of geologic structures, links to composition or a stratigraphic lexicon Use Case 3 – User defined query (eg “all GeologicUnits of Silurian age”) Use Case 4 – Data transport for import/export from applications GSI3D, GeoModeller, ESRI, dB to dB Use Case 5 – Register of Web, Vocabulary, Symbology services Delivery at IGC33, August 2008 – Oslo, Norway Testbed 3 (in progress)

Geoscience data standards GGIC established standard Extension of GeoSciML Data exchange model for mineral occurrences Develop a standard model that includes reserves and resources Standardised vocabularies The Mineral Occurrences extension

Geoscience data standards Mineral System Mineral Deposit Model Earth Resource Mapped Feature Earth Resource Material Mine Mining Activity Commodity Product Resource Reserve Endowment Mineral System Mineral Deposit Model Earth Resource Mapped Feature Earth Resource Material Mine Mining Activity Commodity Product Resource Reserve Endowment Mineral Occurrences Model

Geoscience data standards Describes Earth Resources independent of associated human activities Caters for descriptions of Earth Resources Utilises GeoSciML MappedFeature to describe spatial representation Utilises GeoSciML EarthMaterial to describe host and associated materials Deliver mineral occurrence data through the Australian Geoscience Portal Real time access to the latest data Mineral Occurrences

Geoscience data standards Where to from here? Within Australia… An Australian Geoscience Portal All government geoscience map data Data served from distributed state and federal sites to a single portal Using the GeoSciML, Mineral Occurrence and Observation & Measurements data transfer standards

Geoscience data standards OneGeology 1:1 million digital world geology of 87 nations Australia – 1:2.5M and 1.1M (east) Other Geoscience “ML’s” currently under development Landslides Geochronology Geochemistry Water Hydrogeology Earthquakes Where to from here?

Geoscience data standards Questions? Web sites CGI Home GeoSciML Data Model Working Group home CGI Data Model Collaboration twiki Testbed 3 Use Cases