IGSN Descriptive Metadata Version 1.0

IGSN Descriptive Metadata Elements

Version 1.0 of 2015-01-18

NB! This page may be superceded by the documentation in the development branch.

The descriptive metadata schema captures basic characteristics of physical samples and collections.

ID	Element	A/C	Occ	Definition	Description and instructions
resource	Root element	1	The Identifier is a unique string that identifies a resource.	IGSN (International GeoSample Number) registered by an IGSN member. Format should be: "10273/foo"
1	identifier	C
1.1	identifierType	A
2	name		1...1, not nillable	Text string for people to understand what is identified. What would typically be presented in a user interface. Free Text.
3	alternateIdentifiers
3.1	alternateIdentifiers	C
3.1.1	identifierType	A
4	parentIdentifier
4.1	identifierType	A
5	CollectionIdentifier			the IGSN of a set of related resources to which this resource belongs
5.1	identifierType	A
6	relatedIdentifiers
6.1	relatedIdentifier	C	0...n	Link to parent sample, paper, other resource.
6.1.1	identifierType	A
6.1.2	relationType	A
7	description	0...1		Free text, anything else that might be useful to know about the sample at its ‘birth’
8	registrant
8.1	identifier	C
8.1.1	identifierType	A
8.2	name	C
8.3	affiliation	C
8.3.1	identifier	C
8.3.1.1	identifierType	A
8.3.2	name	C
9	collector		1...n, nillable	Who collected the sample. Must be nilable. Ideally want an URI for agent; also need name string. Role: Person who gets credit for picking location, getting funding, selecting and extracting the actual object. (1..N, nilable). ODP chief scientist, field geologist. Synthetic sample--experimentalist is collector.
9.1	identifier	C
9.1.1	identifierType	A
9.2	name	C
9.3	affiliation	C
9.3.1	identifier	C
9.3.1.1	identifierType	A
9.3.2	name	C
10	contributors
10.1	contributor	C
10.1.1	contributorType	A
10.1.1	identifier	C
10.1.1.1	identifierType	A
10.1.1.2	name	C
11	geoLocations		1...1, nillable[reason]	Where was the sample acquired relative to the Earth (or another celestial body...). Some samples might be ‘non-geographic’: mineral specimen, synthetic material.
11.1	geoLocation
11.1.1	geometry
11.1.1.1	geometryType	A
11.1.1.2	sridType	A
11.1.2	toponym
11.1.2.1	identifier	C
11.1.2.1.1	identifierType	A
11.1.2.2	name	c
12	resourceTypes		1...n, not nillable	Describe the basic form of the object that is registered. e.g. polished section; core; pulp; solution, dredge haul in a box, lot, piece of material. Different profiles might have different vocabularies. (1..N, not nillable). Implementation should be a ‘scoped’ name (vocabulary URI, concept/term URI, label for display).
12.1	resourceType	C
12.2	alternateResourceTypes	C
12.2.1	alternateResourceType	C
13	materials		1...n, nillable	Categorize the material that composes to the sample, e.g. water, granite, tissue. Idea is to create a high-level cross-domain vocabulary. (1..N, nillable). ‘lot’ type samples (dredge haul, drill core) may have multiple materials included. Material may be categorized under different schemes. Implementation should be a ‘scoped’ name (vocabulary URI, concept/term URI, label for display).
13.1	material	C
13.2	alternateMaterials	C
13.2.1	alternateMaterial	C
14	collectionMethods		1...1, nillable	term to categorize the process through which the sample was acquired as an independent object.
14.1	collectionMethod	C
14.2	alternatecollectionMethods	C
14.2.1	alternatecollectionMethod	C
15	collectionTime		1...1, nillable[reason]	When was the sample collected. instant or interval. have to determine encoding scheme for interchange, eg.(ISO 19156) (1...1, nillable[reason]). (need specifiction of sample dateTime encoding). YYYY, YYYY-MM, YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM-DDZhh:mm
16	sampleAccess
17	supplementalMetadata		0...n, nillable	Location (URL) of a supplemental metadata records. These records may be more detailed or in other formats and are provided by the repository. This element was introduced to the high-level descriptive metadata kernel to point to richer and more detailed descriptions without bloating the kernel with many optional elements that mostly go unused.
17.1	record	C

A = Attribute, C = Child