Re: [dxwg] DCAT: Proposal for an updated definition for the concept “dataset” (#1195)

As the OGC is a member-driven organisation I cannot make a definitive statement at this stage about what process or steps the OGC can and should take, however as the OGC staff member managing the OGC Definitions Server (Registry Infrastructure) [1]  I can offer to participate in these discussions and seek to  implement appropriate standards.  

The Definitions Server delegates governance to artefacts managed by OGC working Groups - and uses a consistent view of definitions based on SKOS - so at this level the "Dataset" is a SKOS ConceptScheme - although single standards may include models and codelists - so the concept of relationships between Datasets is a significant one.  I plan to implement DCAT metadata views using the Content-negotiation-by-profile mechanism for these datasets.

The trigger to implement DCAT views is a DCAT profile that specifies a canonical set of relationships between Datasets - I could implement this now in OGC controlled namespace using the PROF vocabulary and SHACL - but such a profile has a wider scope than the OGC, so we're at the "wait and see" stage. 

The second part of the puzzle is how OGC specifications refer to the concept of Dataset - and the opportunity here is to publish mappings between terms uses in OGC standards and other environments., such as the DCAT profile postulated. 

In 2020 I will be actively seeking to instigate a community of practice across standards organisations to establish interoperability for definitions publication infrastructures.  I believe your concerns could be met through profiling DCAT for distinctly different Use Cases, and using  hierarchies in the profile models  to identify what is common and what is distinct. In this context the loosening or clarification of the underlying definition makes sense, and can be informed best by establishing the set of relatively simplified profiles needed to describe the cases of interest.  OGC can implement these profiles simply by adding them to the knowledge graph in the definitions server and making appropriate assertions about how OGC defined definitions relate to them.

[1]  https://www.opengeospatial.org/def-server

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Received on Tuesday, 17 December 2019 21:55:48 UTC