GeoSciMLAn XML markup language to enable

geoinformatics

CGI Interoperability Working Group

Data Model Design Task Group

What is interoperability?"The capability to communicate, execute

programs, or transfer data among various functional units in a manner that requires the user to have little or no knowledge of the unique characteristics of those units." (ISO/IEC 2382-01, SC36 Secretariat, 2003)

Requirements

• Community architecture specification:– Registry/directory specification (data discovery)

– Standard service profiles (functionality)

– Standard interchange formats (e.g. XML encoding)

GeoSciML

Web service

GA

BGS

USGS

GSC

USGS

schema

BGS

schema

GA

schema

GSC

schema

GA

BGS

USGS

GSC

GA

BGS

NGMDB

GSC

wrapper

wrapper

wrapper

wrapper

wrapperWeb

ServicesClient

Communication between service providers

and clients takes place using XML mark up.

Data InterchangeInterchange

schema

GSCGeoSciMLwrapper

USGSUSGS NGMDB GeoSciMLwrapper

Use of standard markup language means schema mapping (wrapper) only needs to

be done once

Interchangeschema

GeoSciML development• Conceptual data model• Use to derive logical data model in UML• Map to XML schema using OGC GML

standard• Draw on previous work

– Existing geoscience data models, in particular NADM

– XMML, Observation and Measurement• Use OGC service definitions for delivery

(WMS/WFS)

The IUGS/CGI Interoperability Working GroupCGI interoperability working group

Face to Face meeting May 8-15, 2007, Tucson, AZ

•Develop version 2 of model

•Additions:

•Earth material model

•Geologic structure with orientation

•Link to ISO 19115 metadata

Dale Percival (GA)Oliver Raymond (GA) Steve Richard (AZGS-USGS)Francois Robida (BRGM)Marcus Sen (BGS)Jean-Jacques Serrano (BRGM)Bruce Simons (GSV)Lars Stolen (SGU)Shinji Takarada (GSJ)Leslie Wyborn (GA)

GeoSciML development team:Christian Bellier (BRGM)Eric Boisvert (GSC)Boyan Brodaric (GSC)Simon Cox (CSIRO)Tim Duffy (BGS)Yuichiro Fusejima (GSJ) Dominique Janjou (BRGM) Bruce Johnson (USGS)Shinsuke Kodama (AIST)John Laxton (BGS)

GeoSciML v2• Document content—collection of:

– Geologic unit– Geologic structure– Mapped feature (lines, polygons)

– Earth material description (rock, unconsolidated)

– Vocabulary (Collection of terms with definitions)

– Events– Relationships

Geologic Unit• Classifier– link to lexicon, identifies described unit• Body morphology– shape of unit as 3-D body• Color— color of unit in exposures• Composition category– general composition character of unit; chemical or

petrographic• Outcrop character — nature of outcrops formed by geologic unit • Parts – aggregate geologic units• Composition -- lithologic constituents• Metamorphic description — facies, grade, peak P, Peak T, protolith

• Unit thickness• Age, geologic history — one or more genetic events in history of unit• Bedding character — pattern, style, thickness• Physical properties — density, magnetic susceptibility, porosity, permeability• Weathering character — degree, products, process, environment• Related geologic units and structures – soft typed relationships

Geologic structure• Subtypes:

– Shear displacement structure, fault, ductile shear zone

– Fracture, joint– Contact – boundary between units

– Fold, Fold system – collection of related folds

– Foliation, layering– Lineation– Non directed structure – soft typed class to represent

sedimentary and igneous structures

Faults

• Displacement-- collection of displacement events– Each has age, process environment,

movement type (strike slip, normal…) and sense (normal, right…), may have slip or separation

• Segmentation, aggregationsegments faults

Fault system

Structure orientation

• Planar and linear orientation elements• Allow numeric measurement, numeric

range, or qualitative text specifier (e.g. steep, northerly)

• Planar orientation has polarity (facing)

• Linear orientation may be directed

Earth Material

• Mass noun, not a feature

• Subtypes:– Mineral– Inorganic fluid (water..)– OrganicMaterial

–CompoundMaterial — material that is an aggregation of constituent parts

–Rock, –UnconsolidatedMaterial–MaterialFossil

Rock, Unconsolidated material parts

• Each part:– role, proportion, type– represents aggregation of particles of some

type, which may have a grain size and shape description

– composed of some Earth Material

• Relationships between parts (overgrows, replaces…)

Rock, Unconsolidated material properties

• Color• Composition category – terms for chemical or petrographic

character

• Genetic category – term to characterize geologic history of material

• Consolidation degree• Lithology classifier – kind of material described, from controlled

vocabulary

• Physical properties — density, magnetic susceptibility, porosity, permeability

• Metamorphic description – facies, grade, peak P, peak T, protolith

• Fabric description – type, text description

• Particle geometry – grain size, sorting, shape, aspect ratio

Metadata

• Uses ISO 19115• Feature Level or Dataset level• Extensive capability to record

– Data processing steps– Source citation– Spatial reference– Maintenance information– Use constraints, availability, point of contact….

Linked packages• Observation and measurement

– Detailed data acquisition metadata, process, equipment, observation conditions

• Sampling– Site, Borehole– Specimen

• Assay data exchange– Specimen splits– Chain of custody

• Geologic Time– GSSP– Time ordinal era

Related Work

• CML – components for geochemistry

• Water ML – components for hydrogeology

• Mineral Occurrence model – components for economic geology

• DIGGS – Data interchange for geotechnical and geoenvironmental specialists

GeoSciML use cases• Data publication/interchange

– Geologic maps– Borehole geology– Specimen descriptions– Earth material substrate for soil map

• Input/output format for applications– 3-D models– Mineral resource assessment– Hazard assessment

• Shared schema for specifying properties of interest – Queries– Data discovery– Symbolization

What GeoSciML does not do

• Create information

• Determine fitness for use

• Resolve semantic conflicts

• Not efficient for online display of maps

Semantic interoperability:

SAME?

Concept Definition Task Group

• Specify concepts and property values required to populate GeoSciML document instances

• Language independent identifiers allow association of these with different words for different communities

Why GeoSciML?Geoinformatics!

• Discover information resources

• Utilize existing data

• Enable automated workflow utilizing geoscience information– Decision making; Research; Education

In Closing

• Significant challenges– Short term– development of wrappers for

mapping to/from interchange format– Service definitions– Longer term– semantic interoperability

• Through shared vocabulary to start• Using computer ontologies for mediation later

The End