Instrument Name Standards for Marine Data:

Standards Recommendation

Mr. John Graybeal introduced this item and moderated discussions. He reviewed the various lists of institutions that exist. He mentioned that there exist about 14 instrument vocabularies (GCMD, BODC/SDN, NASA, SSDS) but there exist no mappings between these vocabularies. It was noted that there are multiple organizing principles for instruments.

John Graybeal's Summary Presentation

• British Oceanographic Data Center (BODC)
  • BODC Instruments
  • 2-letter codes
  • Includes UNSPECIFIED
  • The BODC code list put up as a candidate has many faults and is in the process of being replaced by the SeaDataNet L05 vocabulary, partly published but still very much under development and strongly influenced by the MMI devices ontology project
• Global Change Master Directory
  • GMCD Instruments Key Words
  • Almost completely concerned with satellite sensors
  • 8-letter codes in many cases
  • In other cases, the code is lacking and the full name of the sensor is the code