POSC-Caesar FIATECH IDS-ADI Projects

Intelligent Data Sets Accelerating Deployment of ISO15926

Realizing Open Information Interoperability

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RDS/WIP 1.0 Process

This page describes the process by the RDS/WIP 1.0 is used to effect the goals of reference data publishing and distribution. This page (once completed) should cover:

• technical issues:
  • supported input formats
  • supported distribution mechanism
• legal issues:
  • acceptable submission terms of use
  • operator liability limitations
• business issues:
  • who can submit what
  • who can accept submissions
  • how to interact with standards tracks

Overview

The RDS/WIP provides a means of publishing reference data for ISO 15926, and an environment providing access to that reference data.

Publishing Overview

The current publishing process requires ISO 15926 class and template definitions to submitted via electronic means to specific people. A submission is reviewed, and if considered appropriate, it is published via a number of transformation and processing steps, not fully automated.

Published items may be marked as candidates for various different standards tracks using the same process.

A standards track may result in a published item receiving additional marks indicating acceptance, rejection or any other criteria that the standards track has been constructed to assess. Such marks are again published using the same process.

Distribution Overview

Distribution of reference data (all data that can be published via the above mechanism is deemed reference data) is effected by inserting submission items into an RDF triplestore. Different graphs in the triplestore are bound to different URI endpoints. Each endpoint allows access to information in its bound graph.

Thus, each submitted item has an endpoint in which it is resides. The identifier of an item is a URI that includes the endpoint in a derivable fashion. Each endpoint is accessible for query by machines using SPARQL and for query by humans using web pages generated from the triplestore.

The effect of this system is that each item has at one identifier which is a URI that allows both machines and humans to immediately resolve information about the item.

Publishing Detail

@todo talk about the overall steps to publication

Supported Submission Formats

Three different submission formats are supported, each providing different levels of flexibility. The more flexible, the greater the responsibility on the submitter for ensuring correctness.

Because there are only a few people currently tasked with handling submissions, submitters may be asked to provide submissions in specific formats, better able to be easily validated. In the future, the submission process will be automatically validated, and this necessity may disappear.

QMXF

QMXF is an XML format that allows representation of template and class definitions. QMXF has several important features in relation to the reference data submission process:

• it constrains the data that can be submitted to class or template definitions;
• it requires the representation of specific meta-data;
• it provides reasonable defaults for many options;
• it insulates the definition from the precise template instantiation;
• it insulates the definition from the precise OWL/RDF;
• it has a published XSL transform into template instances.

QMXF is useful in that it provides the submitter with distance from instantiated templates and OWL/RDF. This reduces the number of formats and types of technology with which a submitter must be familiar.

Also, since the exact mapping to template instances is remote from the QMXF content, it allows both the template instancing process and the OWL/RDF representation to change, without the need to redefine the input class and template definitions. This feature is seen as being important until ISO 15926 parts 7, 8 and 9 are published.

QXF

QXF is an XML format that allows representation of only template instances. Since all ISO 15926 data (including reference data) is representable as instances of templates, this is sufficient to describe all reference data. QXF has several important features with respect to the reference data publication:

• it constrains submitted data to template instances;
• any template instance has only one consistent form;
• it is flat and non-nested;
• it insulates template instances from the precise OWL/RDF.

These properies allow QXF to be used for easy eye-verification of template instance construction, since there is only one single representation for any specific template instance.

Also, since the exact mapping to OWL/RDF is remote from the QXF content, it allows the OWL/RDF representation to change, without the need to redefine input template instances. This feature is seen as being important until ISO 15926 parts 7, 8 and 9 are published.

OWL/RDF

OWL/RDF is an ontology language (OWL) expressed in terms of a kind of binary relation abstraction (RDF). Given that ISO 15926 part 2 is an ontology expressed in terms of binary relations, OWL/RDF is a useful means of communicating ISO 15926 information. Similarly, OWL/RDF usage has conventions for the representation of n-ary relationships, which fit well with template instances and ISO 15926 part 7.

In the context of reference data publishing, RDF has several important features:

• it identifies concepts primarily with full URIs;
• it has well-supported, freely-available tools on several platforms;
• it has a well-supported, web-oriented query language, SPARQL;
• it is the subject of robust standards process in the W3C.

Together, these features make RDF a potentially useful means for publishing and distributing reference data for any model reducible to relationships.

In the context of reference data publishing for ISO 15926, OWL has several important features:

• it is based on RDF;
• it is founded in formal logics;
• it is the subject of robust standards process in the W3C;
• it is leveraged by the proposed ISO 15926 parts 8 and 9.

These features together make it a natural part of the reference data landscape for ISO 15926.

RDF has several different exchange representations: XML, N3 and N-TRIPLE. All of these formats are acceptable inputs to the submission process. OWL has an exchange representation of its own: OWLX - this is not currently supported as an acceptable input to the submission process.

Submitter Requirements

The RDS/WIP will not accept unsolicited submissions, that is submissions made without prior arrangement. Because of the flexibility offered in terms of input and the responsibility of IDS-ADI (or other nominated body) for the published outcome, submitters must be vetted in some way.

@todo what is the process for vetting a submitter, what does a submitter receive to show proof of having been vetted?

Submission Requirements

Each submission item must provide a copyright statement that allows free use of the content and any implied patents. Copyright need not be transferred from the original party, however, anyone must be guaranteed free and unencumbered use of the information, with the exception of the responsibility to convey the copyright terms.

@todo provide a list of acceptable copyrights - see OSF - suggest BSD 2 clause.

Recommended Process

@todo QMXF -> QXF -> RDF -> IdGen? -> triplestore

Distribution Detail

@todo distribution detail

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