Technical Issues of Connecting GeoData within and Between

Governmental Agencies: Focus on NSF Research Data

CYNDY CHANDLERBIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY DATA

MANAGEMENT OFFICEWOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

GeoData 2014 ~ 18 June 2014 ~ NCAR Center Green Campus, Boulder, Colorado

Scope: NSF GeoData• NSF funded, hypothesis-driven, ocean science

research projects from Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE)• OCE Biology and Chemistry

Division of Polar Programs (PLR)• Antarctic Research

ANT Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems

Connectivity Challenges• Goals:

linking content at distributed repositories improved interoperability

• Technical strategies/solutions: metadata content standards controlled vocabularies Linked Data

• Not just technical cultural conditions, behaviors research data lifecycle “proposal to preservation”

An example

• A researcher reads a paper We have already assumed they have found and

are able to retrieve the paperhttp://www.pnas.org/content/111/22/8089.fullPatrick Martin, Sonya T. Dyhrman, Michael W. Lomas, Nicole J. Poulton, and Benjamin A. S. Van Mooy (2014) “Accumulation and enhanced cycling of polyphosphate by Sargasso Sea plankton in response to low phosphorus” PNAS 2014 111 (22) 8089-8094; published ahead of print April 21, 2014, doi:10.1073/pnas.1321719111

Example (cont’d)

there is a data supplement

DOI

What do I Know?

• Publication: PNAS, has a DOI, has data suppl.• Person name (author): Benjamin Van Mooy• Dates of activity: 2010 and 2012• Location keywords: Sargasso Sea• Cruise: on vessel Knorr • Data keywords: plankton, polyphosphate, lipid

general knowledge

domain specific

Research is a

game of Connect the Dots

• the dots are entities of information and data from distributed repositories

• Some catalogs or repositories are already connected making it easier to “connect the dots”

Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots

• Some catalogs (repositories) are already connected making it easier to “connect the dots”

• Dot #3 is a piece of information held in common (e.g. cruise ID)

• Some catalogs or repositories are already connected

Connect the Dots

• Some catalogs or repositories are already connected

Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots

Persistent identifiers• for publications

(DOI)• for data (DOI)• for people (ORCID)

• metadata• negotiated, shared,

common IDs• persistent IDs from

authoritative sources• controlled

vocabularies

local terms mapped to community-wide terms identified by URIs

Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots

• metadata• negotiated, shared,

common IDs• persistent IDs from

authoritative sources• controlled

vocabularies• semantic markup to

provide context and establish relationships

context matters

Semantic Web technologies can help

Connect the Dots

• Technical strategies/solutions: metadata … more metadata standards-compliant metadata globally unique persistent identifiers from

authoritative sources controlled vocabularies (local & community-wide) semantic markup Linked Data*

• Support transition from human to machine clients

*Linked Data: Bizer, Heath, Berners-Lee, 2009; 10.4018/jswis.2009081901

Progress since 2011

What has made the difference? Program manager involvement• Consequences for PIs for not making data available • Long-term commitment (funding, active engagement)

Changing expectations from originators• Marine ecosystem research requires access to many

different kinds of data

Progress since 2011

What has made the difference?Community organizations• NSF EarthCube: funding to establish partnerships with

other data managers, computer scientists and geoscientists

• ESIP: opportunity to work with people from other communities doing similar work discussions focus on challenges, activities deliver results

• RDA: global organization to foster data sharing• International efforts with a domain focus (e.g. ocean)

Modern data Semantic Webinfrastructure requires Technologies involve

inspired by (2013)