[Fwd: [Fwd: Re: EML validation]]

[Matt Jones]

Hi Kristin,

You can find the list of units in the eml-attribute.xsd schema document, 
and in the EML Specification:
http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/eml/eml-2.0.1/eml-attribute.html#unitDictionary

There currently is no such list online that is editable.  But our 
tenative plan is to create one and make it so people can contribute to 
it -- possibly with a review process -- but it will require some changes 
to EML that are fairly extensive to do right.  We've partially described 
the issues surrounding units in several bugs and feature requests:
http://bugzilla.ecoinformatics.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1000
http://bugzilla.ecoinformatics.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1605
http://bugzilla.ecoinformatics.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1634

Plus, a related issue on externally defined entity types has brought up 
the issue of generally how to handle externally maintained pick lists 
for things like units and data object formats:
http://bugzilla.ecoinformatics.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1197
We welcome comments on these.

We don't have ppm, ppb, or percentage defined in the standard units. Ppm 
and ppb values are somewhat problematic, as they can't really be 
generically defined (I think).  The ratio doesn't tell you everything 
you need to know -- you need to know what substance the ratios are 
talking about, which is gererally implied by the domain people are 
working in.  Maybe. Or is that semantics?  There is a similar problem 
for percentages.  I think that ppm, ppb, and percentages are 
dimensionless, but like most dimensionless quantities, there's some 
useful information there that still needs to be expressed -- we haven't 
figured out how to deal with these yet.  Any suggestions or opinions 
would be welcome.  You might read the long series of emails on EML-dev 
on unit definitions that led to our current standstill on dimensionless 
things like percentages and ppm.

http://www.ecoinformatics.org/pipermail/eml-dev/

Matt

Saurabh Garg wrote:
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Subject:
> [Fwd: Re: EML validation]
> From:
> Saurabh Garg <sgarg at nceas.ucsb.edu>
> Date:
> Thu, 09 Sep 2004 08:16:12 -0700
> To:
> Kristin Vanderbilt <vanderbi at sevilleta.unm.edu>
> 
> To:
> Kristin Vanderbilt <vanderbi at sevilleta.unm.edu>
> CC:
> morpho-dev at nceas.ucsb.edu
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Kristin
> 
> Earlier, I forgot to forward the email to morpho-dev. I am doing it 
> right now.
> 
> -Saurabh
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Subject:
> Re: EML validation
> From:
> "Saurabh Garg" <sgarg at nceas.ucsb.edu>
> Date:
> Wed, 8 Sep 2004 14:25:41 -0700
> To:
> "Kristin Vanderbilt" <vanderbi at sevilleta.unm.edu>
> 
> To:
> "Kristin Vanderbilt" <vanderbi at sevilleta.unm.edu>
> 
> 
> Hi Kristin,
>  
> I am not aware of any list present online.
> I know that in New Datatable Wizard, an attribute can be defined in 
> Relative or Absolute category and each of these have standard units 
> which can be selected from the menus. I am not sure if delta values are 
> in these menus. But you can define a new unit type in Morpho if you want.
>  
> I am forwarding this mail to morpho-dev in hope of a better response.
>  
> Thanks
> Saurabh 
> 
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *From:* Kristin Vanderbilt <mailto:vanderbi at sevilleta.unm.edu>
>     *To:* 'Saurabh Garg' <mailto:sgarg at nceas.ucsb.edu>
>     *Sent:* Tuesday, September 07, 2004 10:30 AM
>     *Subject:* RE: EML validation
> 
>     Hi Saurabh,
>      
>     Is there a list online somewhere of all the units that one should be
>     able to find in the drop-down lists in Morpho?  I'm looking for
>     parts per thousand or per mil ("/o/oo/"), otherwise known as Delta
>     values when describing stable isotopes.  
>      
>     Is there a library of values that other IMs have described in
>     addition to the ones in Morpho?  
>      
>     Thanks,
>      
>     Kristin   

-- 
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Matt Jones                                     jones at nceas.ucsb.edu
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/    Fax: 425-920-2439    Ph: 907-789-0496
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
University of California Santa Barbara
Interested in ecological informatics? http://www.ecoinformatics.org
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