[QB] ISSUE-32 relation to O&M

ISSUE-32 [1] concerns the relationship between Data Cube and ISO 19156 
Observations and Measurements.

Proposed approach: Address this via a working group Note.

[I had previously proposed a non-normative appendix to the spec, but on 
reflection making this a WG Note allows it to proceed to a separate 
timescale and is then not slowing down LC.]

The note would roughly say ...

o Data Cube can also be used for things like sensor measurements and 
forecasting, it is not limited to statistics.

o A well known standard for measurement information is OGC Observations 
and Measuresments (O&M), ISO19156.

o How does Data Cube relate to O&M?

o Since Data Cube has a concept qb:Observation it might be tempting to 
think of this as being an Observation in the sense of O&M. In some cases 
that may be appropriate but not always.

o O&M provides a representation for a how to describe the measurement 
process, the phenomenon being measured and the domain ("feature of 
interest") over which the observation takes place together with the 
result of the measurement. The result may be a simple value but can be, 
and often is, a set of values (Discrete Coverage) for example over time 
or over space or both.

o Thus one approach to using both specifications together is to use Data 
Cube as a representation for O&M Discrete Coverage. O&M provides the 
contextual metadata describing the measurement process and measured 
phenomena. Data Cube provides the representation for the values which 
result from the observation, allowing us to give e.g. the time, location 
of each sample within the result. The two complement each other.

Dave


[1] http://www.w3.org/2011/gld/track/issues/32

Received on Thursday, 28 February 2013 17:56:21 UTC