Workshop: From Field to FAIR: Approaches to Minimal Metadata for Interoperable Near-Surface Geophysical Data
Near-surface geophysical surveys are indispensable for a wide range of scientific applications, including precision agriculture, archaeological surveys and research into hydrological processes in landscapes. Despite the frequent use of comparable measurement methods and sensor technologies, the description and documentation of data through metadata, the underlying metadata structures, and documentation practices remain highly fragmented. To facilitate the exchange, understanding and reuse of geophysical data, we have developed a domain-specific metadata model in the form of an ontology. It provides a foundation for describing near-surface geophysical measurements and makes the associated information comprehensible to both humans and machines. This makes datasets more interoperable, allows them to be shared more efficiently between working groups and disciplines, and enables their more sustainable integration into research data infrastructures. It is therefore a collection that encompasses both method-independent metadata, e.g. location and author, as well as method-specific metadata relating to the measurement methods. The aim is to provide datasets with standardised metadata and thus simplify and improve the exchange and publication of data, e.g. in repositories.
The workshop is divided into two parts. The first part provides an insight into the current state of development of the metadata model https://zenodo.org/records/20138538. The second part is designed to be practical: using test data and a template derived from the ontology, participants will work together to capture metadata. The focus will be on hands-on experimentation, sharing experiences, and discussing use cases and challenges.
The metadata model presented here represents an initial development stage of FAIRagro use case 14, which is based on a joint initiative within the NFDI between FAIRagro, NFDI4Objects and NFDI4Earth, and is recommended for all users of geophysical prospecting methods.
Date: to be confirmed (expected to be in calendar week 49)
Chairs: Ulrike Werban, Till Sonnemann , Johannes Rabiger-Völlmer
Contact: ulrike.werban@ufz.de
Zoom: to be announced