My comments on the BP

Dear Jeremy, dear Linda, dear Payam,

Many thanks for the great work done!

I'm submitting editorial changes via GH - see: 
https://github.com/w3c/sdw/pull/198

Below, I include below a few general comments, that are more about the 
ambiguity / inconsistency of the terminology used. I think it's unlikely 
we can ensure a completely consistent and unambiguous terminology for 
the first version of the BP, but probably we can try and clarify the 
main notions that will be used throughout the document. In particular, 
this applies to the notions of "spatial data" and "spatial thing".

1. I agree with Frans [1] that we should clarify what we mean with 
"spatial data", and that "geospatial" / "geographic(al)" data are just a 
subclass of them.

2. In relation to point (1), the term "geospatial" is frequently used 
just after having talked about "spatial data" (e.g., when talking about 
"geospatial experts"). If not clarified, a reader is very likely to 
(wrongly) infer that "spatial" = "geospatial".

3. The notion of "feature" is clearly defined in Section 6.1 of the BP 
as an information resource describing a real-world thing with 
(geo)spatial characteristics. However, the actual semantics of the 
notion of "SpatialThing", as used in the BP, is ambiguous. Is a spatial 
thing just a real-world thing with spatial characteristics? Or it can 
also be an information resource with spatial characteristics (e.g., what 
is represented in an image file)? And, if this is the case, can a 
feature be a spatial thing?


Thanks!

Andrea

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[1]https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-sdw-wg/2016Jan/0015.html


-- 
Andrea Perego, Ph.D.
Scientific / Technical Project Officer
European Commission DG JRC
Institute for Environment & Sustainability
Unit H06 - Digital Earth & Reference Data
Via E. Fermi, 2749 - TP 262
21027 Ispra VA, Italy

https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/

Received on Friday, 8 January 2016 14:17:26 UTC