HIGHLIGHTS OF GEOSCIML VERSION 2

GeoSciML is a geoscience specific, XML-based, GML (Geography Markup Language) application designed for the interchange of geoscience information. It is being developed through the Interoperability Working Group of the Commission for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information (CGI) of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). The group consists of geology and information technology specialists from agencies in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Version 2 of the application schema was completed during a face to face meeting in May, 2007. Major changes to the schema include addition of Earth material description and Geologic Structure description, updates to properties for Geologic units, revised representation of Geologic Age and Geologic Relationships, and inclusion of linkage to ISO 19115 metadata. Earth material includes minerals, inorganic fluids (water), organic materials, and compound materials (rocks, unconsolidated materials, and material fossils). Compound materials represent most geologic materials of interest, and are characterized as aggregations of particles composed of some Earth material. Geologic Structure includes shear displacement structures, fractures, joints, boundaries between units, folds, foliation, layering, lineation and non-directed structures. Shear displacement structure displacement is represented as a collection of displacement events each with age, process environment, movement type, and slip or separation. Segmentation and aggregation of shear displacement structures, and orientation of planar or linear structures may be encoded using the schema. GeoSciML imports packages from other OGC-compliant schema for observation and measurement data, sites, boreholes, and specimens, assay data, and geologic time.

GeoSciML is designed for use cases such as: 1) Data publication/interchange, 2) Input/output for software applications or 3) Specifying properties of interest in queries or feature symbolization for display. GeoSciML is not efficient for real time online display of maps. GeoSciML provides a tool for ensuring schematic and syntactic interoperability, but semantic interoperability and determination of fitness for a particular use must be ensured by external mechanisms.