CODATA / TDWG / BioCASE Unit Profile

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CODATA / TDWG / BioCASEUnit Profile

• Introduction to
• The XML Schema
• Version 1.37
• Neil Thomson, The Natural History Museum, London

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Origins

• Initiated by CODATA/TDWG in June 2001
• Chosen for additional use by BioCASE in June
  2002, rather than creating a separate profile
• Based on ABCD, current version is called CTBUP
  v1.37
• Brief introduction followed by walkthrough in
  XMLSpy

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Principles maintained

• Strong typing used
• Meaningful element names used
• Compatibility with existing standards
• Rich data for who / what / where / when with
  emphasis on organism names, places and time
• Extensible
• Policy on optionality
• Use of attributes

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Major changes

• Conversion from DTD to Schema better for
  data-centric documents and can use typing
• Darwin Core 2 compatible
• Removal of geology elements (for current use)
• Reduction of element set
• Recursion eliminated
• Pruning e.g. of images and references
• Addition of structured annotation elements

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STRUCTURED ANNOTATIONS FOR EACH
ELEMENT ltCreatedgt ltAuthor/gt ltDate/gt ltComment/gt
lt/Createdgt ltChangedgt ltAuthor/gt ltDate/gt
ltComment/gt lt/Changedgt ltFullName/gt ltAudiencegtBioCAS
Elt/Audiencegt ltAudiencegtCODATA TDWGlt/Audiencegt ltRev
iewer/gt ltExistingStandards/gt ltContent/gt ltExamples/
gt ltComments/gt ltRules/gt ltNotes/gt
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The Schema will

• Deliver unit-oriented data from databases
  (sources) to web-based services that will
  integrate the data from different sources
• Provide a semantic definition of the data items
  needed for that purpose
• Require identification of access points, through
  which the data may be queried

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The Schema does not

• Serve to define databases
• Include taxon-based information
• Include ecological data, except for the
  description of a gathering site or observation
  site

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RfC - Request for Comment

• Version 1.36 flattened into Excel file
• 11 extracts forwarded to volunteers
• Some suggestions incorporated into v1.37 for this
  meeting
• Schema is available at the TDWG Website
  http//www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/tdwg/CODATA/Schema/

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Top-level structure
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