WaterML 2.0 - Getting Started

WaterML 2 has a basic hierarchy, that covers the location, method/procedure, data values for in-situ timeseries.

Items you need to know

• Units should be deinfed in UCUM
• Variables/Parameters are observedProperties, and in the interest of exchange, should be from a Vocabulary
• gml:id attributes are scoped to a document, and should not be relied upon to mean anything outside of a document.

The information hierarchy of a WaterML 2 file looks like:

• Collection
  • Metadata
  • localDictionary[[repeatable]e.g. phenomena, quality; censorCode,method]
  • samplingFeatureMember (WaterML2 monitoring point(s))
  • observationMember[repeatable]
    • OM_Observation
      • metadata (properties that apply the result; not all are required)
        • Contact [repeatable]
        • SourceInformation
        • intendedSamplingInterval [optional]
        • status [optional]
        • sampleMedium [optional]
        • maximumGap [optional]
      • phenomenonTime
      • resultTime
      • validTime [optional]
      • procedure (methods; analytic, manual, sensor,
      • observedProperty (refers to phenomena local dictionary)
      • featureOfInterest (WaterML defines a monitoringPoint. This often refers to samplingFeatureMember)
      • result
        • metadata (properties that apply the result; not all are required)
          • spacing and baseTime [optional]
          • cumulative [optional]
          • aggregationDuration [optional]
        • defaultPointMetadata
          • quality
          • qualifier [repeatable; optional]
          • processing [optional]
          • uom
          • interpolationType
        • Point [repeatable]
          • time
          • value
          • TimeValuePairMetadata(defaults may come from above)
            • quality
            • qualifier ( [repeatable; optional] qualifiers, and offsets)
            • processing [optional]
            • uom [optional]
            • interpolationType
            • relatedObservation ([repeatable]used to point to a sample)

Look at the Minimal Example Files, and the Full Example Files

When developling, it is often good look the components of WaterML, rather than focus on
producing a single product. XML fragments are found in ExampleFragments

• Feature of Interest
• ObservationProcess
• ObservationMetadata
• Data Values
• ObservedProperty

From here, you can extend into the deeper issues:

• VocabularyReferences
• URI Reference

-- DavidValentine - 26 Jun 2012