RE: Suggested revision to class definitions in, section 5

?  dcat:DataService<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Data_Service> represents a data service in a catalog. A data service is a collection of operations, accessible through an interface (API) that provides access to one or more datasets. Example data services include data distribution services and data discovery services.

?  dcat:DataDistributionService<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Data_Distribution_Service> represents a data service that provides access to one or more datasets or extracts of datasets.

The reason for separating these two classes is that DataService might be a data-transformation or data-processing service, such as coordinate transformation, pedo-transfer function service. Yes, the service still delivers a dataset, but it is not a dataset that already exists. That's why the relation "serves-dataset" is associated to DataDistributionService, not DataService. I'm not sure if this would be understood by the phrase "that provides access to one or more datasets".

Either need to make it clear that specific datasets are not necessarily tightly bound to a service, or that the 'dataset' might be virtual, being the result of some computation, or just say "that provides access to one or more datasets or data processing functions".

From: AZ Stephen Richard [mailto:smrtucson@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, 29 November, 2018 10:14
To: public-dxwg-comments@w3.org
Subject: Suggested revision to class definitions in, section 5

Revised text to clarify that these classes represent things in the catalog, use consistent language, and define concepts immediately. Some definitions are repeated in subsequent text, but that shouldn't be a problem.  If these are accepted, I can troll through the rest of the document to check for consistent usage.


dcat:Catalog<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Catalog> represents a catalog, which is a dataset in which each individual data item is a metadata records describing some resource; the scope of dcat:catalog is collections of metadata about datasets or data services.
dcat:Resource<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Resource> represents an individual item description in a catalog; each description carries the properties defined in this model. DCAT specifies that the described resources in a catalog are published or curated by a single agent. This class is the parent class of dcat:Dataset<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Dataset>, dcat:DataService<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Data_Service> and dcat:Catalog<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Catalog> in the DCAT vocabulary. A specific sub-class should be used when available.
dcat:Dataset<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Dataset> represents a dataset in a catalog. A dataset is a collection of data, published or curated by a single agent.
dcat:DataService<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Data_Service> represents a data service in a catalog. A data service is a collection of operations, accessible through an interface (API) that provides access to one or more datasets. Example data services include data distribution services and data discovery services.
dcat:DataDistributionService<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Data_Distribution_Service> represents a data service that provides access to one or more datasets or extracts of datasets.
dcat:DiscoveryService<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Discovery_Service> represents a data service that provides access to one or more catalogs to support discovery functions.
dcat:CatalogRecord<https://rawgit.com/w3c/dxwg/dcat-issue431/dcat/index.html#Class:Catalog_Record> represents a metadata item in the catalog, primarily concerning the registration information such as who added the item and when

(distribution is in separate message)

Steve

Minerals, Cactus, and Guitar
Tucson Arizona
smrTucson@gmail.com<mailto:smrTucson@gmail.com>