Re: Lightweight RDF to Map Various Semantic Representations of Species

I have updated the examples below to match the SKOS-topic type usage. (See
Below)

There are several "key" type datatypes in these for use as Bernard
suggested.

I am still not sure I want to abandon the idea of using skos:closeMatch etc.
to link these.

Would it make sense to use a different vocabulary for linking these?

In a sense these are actually record level void datasets.

Also what about the following pattern:

Non-SKOS RDFS Class for Puma concolor
http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/<http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>
s <http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>es/v6n7p<http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>

An instance of the SpeciesTopic
http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/<http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>
s <http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>es/v6n7p<http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>
#topic

VOID-like record level map
http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/<http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>
s <http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>es/v6n7p<http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>
#RecordMap

These could all be defined in the same view (URL)
http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf

  <txn:SpeciesConcept rdf:about="http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p">
  </txn:SpeciesConcept>

  <txn:SpeciesTopic rdf:about="http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p#topic">
  </txn:SpeciesTopic>

  <void:Dataset rdf:about="http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p#RecordMap">
  </void:Dataset>

*Below is the Skos topic usage, where each species is an instance of
txn:Species.*

RDF Example  http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf

<http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>Ontology
http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ont/txn.owl

<http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ont/txn.owl>Ontology Doc
http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ont/txn_doc/index.html

VOID              http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ont/void.rdf

One way to tag these to webpages about species
http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/webpages/v6n7p.rdf

All these example RDF and OWL files are combined into one RDF file that can
be loaded into Protege from the URI.

http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/taxonconcept.rdf

- Pete

On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 5:10 PM, Peter DeVries <pete.devries@gmail.com>wrote:

> Thanks everyone, I am learning a lot throught this discussion :-)
>
> There seems to be a common pattern emerging in the onlist and offlist
> emails.
>
> I am going to try to see if I understand these correctly, with examples.
>
> It is probably best to think of several different representations of
> species depending on how they will be used.
>
> Below are the three different kinds of representations and some related
> records.
>
> Look close, because there are at least two quasi-humorous assertions. :-)
>
> A SKOS Species Concept
>   <txn:SpeciesConcept rdf:about="http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p">
>     <skos:scopeNote>A SKOS concept for the species Puma concolor, used to
> link documents about this species, via foaf:topic</skos:scopeNote>
>     <txn:hasSpeciesConceptCode>urn:lsid:globalnames.org:
> taxon:603bebac-cc44-4168-bbf7-b11b976f9d79</txn:hasGBIF_ID>
>     <!-- Integer Keys in related databases -->
>     <txn:hasGBIF>13815711</txn:hasGBIF>
>     <txn:hasITIS>552479</txn:hasITIS>
>     <txn:hasEOL>311910</txn:hasEOL>
>     <txn:hasNCBI>9696</txn:hasNCBI>
>     <txn:hasBOLD>12521</txn:hasBOLD>
>     <!-- LSID Keys in related databases-->
>     <txn:CoL_LSID_2009>urn:lsid:catalogueoflife.org:
> taxon:dec52d72-29c1-102b-9a4a-00304854f820:ac2009<txn:CoL_LSID_2009>
>   </txn:SpeciesConcept>
> ======================
>
> An RDFs Class, subclass of Organism, (to cover Plants, Animals, Fungi etc)
>   <geospecies:Species rdf:about="http://lod.geospecies.org/ses/v6n7p">
>     <skos:scopeNote>An RDFs Class for the species Puma concolor, used to
> link observations of individual animals, individual animals are
> instances</skos:scopeNote>
>     <txn:hasSpeciesConceptCode>urn:lsid:globalnames.org:
> taxon:603bebac-cc44-4168-bbf7-b11b976f9d79</txn:hasGBIF_ID>
>     <!-- Integer Keys in related databases -->
>     <txn:hasGBIF>13815711</txn:hasGBIF>
>     <txn:hasITIS>552479</txn:hasITIS>
>     <txn:hasEOL>311910</txn:hasEOL>
>     <txn:hasNCBI>9696</txn:hasNCBI>
>     <txn:hasBOLD>12521</txn:hasBOLD>
>     <!-- LSID Keys in related databases-->
>     <txn:CoL_LSID_2009>urn:lsid:catalogueoflife.org:
> taxon:dec52d72-29c1-102b-9a4a-00304854f820:ac2009<txn:CoL_LSID_2009>
>     <!-- Thinking I should avoid too much subclassing, something like this
> for hierarchy-->
>     <geospecies:inFamily rdf:resource="
> http://lod.geospecies.org/families/gSvIP"/>
>     <geospecies:inOrder  rdf:resource="
> http://lod.geospecies.org/orders/jtSaY#ofHerMajesty"/>
>     <skos:broaderTransitive rdf:resource="
> http://lod.geospecies.org/families/gSvIP"/>
>   </geospecies:Species>
>
> Examples: Individual Organism, an instance of IndividualOrganism and the
> species v6n7p
>   <geospecies:IndividualOrganism rdf:about="
> http://lod.geospecies.org/inds/E7ed79e7-9436-458b-8c71-9765113f4c2e#specimen
> ">
>     <skos:scopeNote>An instance/individual of this species</skos:scopeNote>
>     <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://lod.geospecies.org/ses/v6n7p"/>
>     <geospecies:catalogCode>PJDPO000177<geospecies:catalogCode>
>     <geospecies:hasBasisOfRecord rdf:resource="
> http://rdf.geospecies.org/ont/geospecies#StillImage"/>
>     <geospecies:hasObservationRecord rdf:resource="
> http://lod.geospecies.org/observations/a3c39dad-6756-4129-9a61-fbd32883d369
> "/>
>     <foaa:name>Bob<foaa:name>
>     <skos:prefLabel>Individual Organism: Puma concolor
> E7ed79e7-9436-458b-8c71-9765113f4c2e</skos:prefLabel>
>     <skos:altLabel>Bob the Cougar</skos:altLabel>
>     <geospecies:currentStatus rdf:resource="
> http://rdf.geospecies.org/ont/geospecies#Current_Individual_Status_Presumed_Wild
> "/>
>    <geospecies:IndividualOrganism>
>
> Examples: Individual Observation of a Species, an instance
>   <geospecies:ObservationRecord rdf:about="
> http://lod.geospecies.org/observations/a3c39dad-6756-4129-9a61-fbd32883d369#observation
> ">
>     <skos:scopeNote>An instance of the class ObservationalRecord: who,
> what, when, where, how</skos:scopeNote>
>     <skos:prefLabel>Observation Record for Puma concolor
> E7ed79e7-9436-458b-8c71-9765113f4c2e</skos:prefLabel>
>     <geospecies:Observation_of_Species rdf:resource="
> http://lod.geospecies.org/ses/v6n7p"/>
>     <geospecies:Observation_of_Individual rdf:resource="
> http://lod.geospecies.org/inds/E7ed79e7-9436-458b-8c71-9765113f4c2e#specimen
> "/>
>     <geospecies:determinationMethod rdf:resource="
> http://rdf.geospecies.org/ont/geospecies#DeterminationMethod_Visual_Recognition
> "/>
>     <geospecies:observedBy rdf:resource="
> http://rdf.geospecies.org/ont/people.owl#Jessica_Alba"/>
>     <geospecies:identifiedBy rdf:resource="
> http://rdf.geospecies.org/ont/people.owl#Peter_J_DeVries"/>
>     <geospecies:hasBasisOfRecord rdf:resource="
> http://rdf.geospecies.org/ont/geospecies#StillImage"/>
>     <geospecies:atLocation rdf:resource="
> http://lod.geospecies.org/locations/1bdde98c-2d38-4d20-8da0-19f1f187f31e
> "/>
>     <!-- Need a good way to represent time, that works with instances and
> intervals in imprecise records (not timestamp)-->
>     <geospecies:observationTime>?</geospecies:observationTime>
>     <geo:lat>44.862945</geo:lat>
>     <geo:long>-87.231204</geo:long>
>     <geo:accurateWithinMeters>30</geo:accurateWithinMeters>
>     <geospecies:hasContinent rdf:resource="
> http://sws.geonames.org/6255149/"/>
>     <geospecies:hasCountry rdf:resource="http://sws.geonames.org/6252001/
> "/>
>     <geospecies:hasStateProvince rdf:resource="
> http://sws.geonames.org/5279468/"/>
>     <geospecies:hasCounty rdf:resource="http://sws.geonames.org/5250768/
> "/>
>     <dcterms:created>2009-12-04T13:29:33-0600</dcterms:created>
>     <dcterms:modified>2009-12-04T13:29:33-0600</dcterms:modified>
>   </geospecies:ObservationRecord>
> ===========
>
>
> An RDF instance of class bdwg:Species
>   <bdwg:Species rdf:about="http://lod.bdwg.org/ses/v6n7p">
>     <skos:scopeNote>An RDF instance of the class bdwg:Species for the
> species Puma concolor, for dealing with taxonomic hierarchy
> datasets</skos:scopeNote>
>     <txn:hasSpeciesConceptCode>urn:lsid:globalnames.org:
> taxon:603bebac-cc44-4168-bbf7-b11b976f9d79</txn:hasGBIF_ID>
>     <!-- Integer Keys in related databases -->
>     <txn:hasGBIF>13815711</txn:hasGBIF>
>     <txn:hasITIS>552479</txn:hasITIS>
>     <txn:hasEOL>311910</txn:hasEOL>
>     <!-- Warning!! two last integer keys, might not map as directly as
> might be expected-->
>     <txn:hasNCBI>9696</txn:hasNCBI>
>     <txn:hasBOLD>12521</txn:hasBOLD>
>     <!-- LSID Keys in related databases-->
>     <txn:CoL_LSID_2009>urn:lsid:catalogueoflife.org:
> taxon:dec52d72-29c1-102b-9a4a-00304854f820:ac2009<txn:CoL_LSID_2009>
>   </bdwg:Species>
>
> =============
>
>
> Does it make sense to then have a machine readable RDF or OWL document that
> describes the characteristics and attributes of a particular species?
> One that does not try to answer what a "species" is, but documents "by this
> identifier we mean an organism that matches these properties with some
> percentage match".
>
> Questions:
>
> 1) Do I seem to have understood the earlier comments correctly?
>
> 2) What are the valid links that should be made between these different
> species representations.
>
> 3) How should people decide which version of species they should link to?
>
> 4) Does it make sense to then have a machine readable RDF or OWL document
> that describes the characteristics and attributes of a particular species.
> One that does not try to answer what a "species" is. but documents "by this
> identifier we mean an organism that matches these properties with some
> percentage match".
>
>
> Thanks!
>
> - Pete
>
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 12:52 PM, Bernard Vatant <
> bernard.vatant@mondeca.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Peter
>>
>> Answering to your post with a bit of delay, and apologies for this answer
>> being longer than I expected, but that's what you get from waiting a week
>> ... :)
>> Mostly ignoring the rest of the thread, not that you did not get
>> insightful answers so far, I would like to push a different approach to this
>> issue of what I call *heterogeneous representations* of the same referent
>> / thing / concept ... pick your choice. I liked very much the topic maps
>> notion of "subject" in the sense of "subject of conversation" to indicate
>> whatever we are trying to exchange about, hoping, but never sure (see Quine)
>> that we are speaking about the same one.
>> After this necessary caveat, by heterogeneous representations I mean
>> (re)presentations coming from different perspectives, with different
>> modeling options, each of one supposed to be fit to the purpose at hand.
>> Because there is no representation without purpose. And there is no
>> representation "better" than the other in an absolute way, no One Ring to
>> rule them all etc.
>>
>> If we look at other levels of less formal representations, what do we see
>> practically working? In the natural languages world, we have ages ago
>> (except for some totalitarian dreamers) forgotten the idea of the unique
>> language to rule them all. We have translations, and we have translators. At
>> [1] you will find more about my current readings and thoughts about that
>> translation paradigm. In data bases land we have schema conversions and data
>> migration, in XML land we have XSLT. No One Schema to rule them all, the
>> paradigm here again is translation.
>>
>> Why don't we do the same with ontologies? The model where the species
>> Felis concolor is represented as an instance of a class "Species", and the
>> model in which it is represented as a class, subclass of "Animal", and the
>> model in which it is represented as a skos:Concept, are all pretty much
>> useful, the first to deal with taxonomy evolution, the second to deal with
>> observations in Wisconsin, and the third to deal with library classification
>> of books about animals. We need all those, and certainly other ones.
>>
>> And yes linking them as different representations of somehow the same
>> referent is important. But maybe mapping URIs using skos:match or owl:sameAs
>> or owl:equivalentClass or anything of the kind is not a good idea. Because
>> using any of those leads to mixing and blurring different languages,
>> different schemas, different logics, making the global model difficult for
>> humans to grasp conceptually and for computers to compute :)
>> Neither do I believe any more (although I did until very recently) in any
>> "central neutral representation", which I pushed here and there under the
>> "hubject" meme.
>>
>> What I suggest hereafter is to port the translation paradigm in RDF land.
>> What do we have in RDF land, similar to XSLT for XML? Well, the first coming
>> to mind is SPARQL. Let me make an example.
>>
>> Suppose I have an ontology O1 where species are represented as instances
>> of owl:Class, and an ontology O2 where species are represented as instances
>> of skos:Concept. O1 and O2 leverage the same reference code, say ITIS.
>>
>> In O1 ITIS code is a datatype property o1:ITISCode which can be attached
>> to any individual living creature, and a species class can be defined by
>> containing all individuals sharing a given code, e.g.,
>>
>> o1:FelisConcolor a owl:Class
>> owl:equivalentClass
>>   [owl:Restriction
>>     owl:onProperty  o1:ITISCode
>>     owl:hasvalue  '552479' ]
>>
>> In O2 each concept is identified by the code using e.g., a  subproperty of
>> skos:notation, say o2:ITISCode
>>
>> o2:FelisConcolor a  skos:Concept
>> o2:FelisConcolor   o2:ITISCode  '552479'
>>
>> Note that sharing a code value is enough for mapping those two
>> representations, for all pragmatic purpose. I can rely on SPARQL to find all
>> concepts in O2 translating a class in O1 by the following request on the
>> merged graph O1 U O2
>>
>> SELECT  ?cl  ?co
>>
>> WHERE  [
>>               ?cl owl:equivalentClass  ?r.
>>               ?r a owl:Restriction.
>>               ?r  owl:onProperty   o1:ITIScode.
>>               ?r  owl:hasValue   ?n.
>>               ?co   a  skos:Concept.
>>               ?co   o2:ITISCode  ?n.
>>               ]
>>
>> Suppose now you want to translate a class subsumption in O1 into a
>> broader-narrower (transitive) hierarchy in O2.
>> There yo can use a SPARQL CONSTRUCT
>>
>> CONSTRUCT  [?co1   skos:broaderTransitive  ?co2]
>>
>> WHERE  [
>>               ?cl1 owl:equivalentClass  ?r1.
>>               ?r1 a owl:Restriction.
>>               ?r1  owl:onProperty   o1:ITIScode.
>>               ?r1  owl:hasValue   ?n1.
>>               ?co1   a  skos:Concept.
>>               ?co1   o2:ITISCode  ?n1.
>>
>>               ?cl2 owl:equivalentClass  ?r2.
>>               ?r2 a owl:Restriction.
>>               ?r2  owl:onProperty   o1:ITIScode.
>>               ?r2  owl:hasValue   ?n2.
>>               ?co2   a  skos:Concept.
>>               ?co2   o2:ITISCode  ?n2.
>>
>>               ?cl1   rdfs:subClassOf   ?cl2.
>>               ]
>>
>> Granted, it's a bit more intricated than a direct mapping link. But based
>> simply on a shared code value, one can build correspondance tables and
>> constructive queries. And you don't have to wonder any more what is the
>> mysterious semantic nature of the link between the class there and the
>> concept here. It is that you can translate assertions from there to
>> assertions here.
>>
>> More thoughts on this "representation as translation" paradigm on my blog
>> at [1], certainly more technical follow-up in the near future, so stay
>> tuned.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Bernard
>>
>> [1] http://blog.hubjects.com/2009/11/representation-as-translation.html
>>
>> 2009/11/30 Peter DeVries <pete.devries@gmail.com>
>>
>>> Hi LOD'ers :-)
>>>
>>> I am trying to work out some way to map the various semantic
>>> representations for a species, in conjunction with a friendly three letter
>>> organization.
>>>
>>> The goal of these documents is in part to improve "findability" of
>>> information about species.
>>>
>>> The hope is that they will also help serve as a bridge from the LOD
>>> to species information from the three letter organization and it's partners.
>>>
>>> The resources are mapped using skos:closeMatch.
>>>
>>> This should allow consumers to choose those attributes of each species
>>> resource that they think are appropriate.
>>>
>>> It has been suggested to me that more comprehensive documents describing
>>> species should be in the form of OWL documents, so I have included
>>> nonfunctional links to these hypothetical resources.
>>>
>>> I have the following examples, and am looking for comments and
>>> suggestions.
>>>
>>> RDF Example  http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf
>>>
>>> <http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ses/v6n7p.rdf>Ontology
>>> http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ont/txn.owl
>>>
>>> <http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ont/txn.owl>Ontology Doc
>>> http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ont/txn_doc/index.html
>>>
>>> VOID              http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ont/void.rdf
>>>
>>> <http://rdf.taxonconcept.org/ont/txn_doc/index.html>I look forward to
>>> your comments and suggestions, :-)
>>>
>>> - Pete
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Pete DeVries
>>> Department of Entomology
>>> University of Wisconsin - Madison
>>> 445 Russell Laboratories
>>> 1630 Linden Drive
>>> Madison, WI 53706
>>> GeoSpecies Knowledge Base
>>> About the GeoSpecies Knowledge Base
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Bernard Vatant
>> Senior Consultant
>> Vocabulary & Data Engineering
>> Tel:       +33 (0) 971 488 459
>> Mail:     bernard.vatant@mondeca.com
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> Mondeca
>> 3, cité Nollez 75018 Paris France
>> Web:    http://www.mondeca.com
>> Blog:    http://mondeca.wordpress.com
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>
>
>
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> Pete DeVries
> Department of Entomology
> University of Wisconsin - Madison
> 445 Russell Laboratories
> 1630 Linden Drive
> Madison, WI 53706
> GeoSpecies Knowledge Base
> About the GeoSpecies Knowledge Base
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>



-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------
Pete DeVries
Department of Entomology
University of Wisconsin - Madison
445 Russell Laboratories
1630 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706
GeoSpecies Knowledge Base
About the GeoSpecies Knowledge Base
------------------------------------------------------------

Received on Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:42:16 UTC