Glossary

This page includes terms that we use in our wiki, so that you have a reference for how we’re using them.

Application profile is a specification for data exchange for applications that fulfil a certain use case. In addition to a shared semantics, it also allows for the imposition of additional restrictions, such as the definition of cardinalities or the use of certain code lists (source: purl.eu).

Application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other (source wikipedia)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field of study that develops and studies intelligent machines. It includes the fields rule based reasoning, machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). Source: wikipedia

Assimilation is a catchy term indicating the processes involved to combine multiple datasets with different origin into a common dataset, the term is somewhat similarly used in psychology as incorporation of new concepts into existing schemes (source wikipedia). But is not well aligned with its usage in the data science community: updating a numerical model with observed data (source wikipedia)

ATOM is a standardised interface to exchange news feeds over the internet. It has been adopted by INSPIRE as a basic alternative to download services via WFS or WCS.

Carbon sequestration the process of storing carbon (source: wikipedia)

Carbon stock the (predicted) amount of carbon stored in a soil

Catalogue or metadata registry is a central location in an organization where metadata definitions are stored and maintained (source wikipedia)

Code list an enumeration of terms in order to constrain input and avoid errors (source: UN).

Conceptual model or domain model represents concepts (entities) and relationships between them (source wikipedia)

Content negotiation refers to mechanisms that make it possible to serve different representations of a resource at the same URI (source wikipedia)

Controlled vocabulary provides a way to organize knowledge for subsequent retrieval. A carefully selected list of words and phrases, which are used to tag units of information so that they are more easily retrieved by a search (source: Semwebtech). Vocabulary, unlike the dictionary and thesaurus, offers an in-depth analysis of a word and its usage in different contexts (Source: learn grammar)

Cordis is the primary source of results from EU-funded projects since 1990

CSW Catalogue Service for the Web

Dataverse is open source research data repository software

Datacite is a non-profit organisation that provides persistent identifiers (DOIs) for research data.

Datacite metadata schema a datamodel for metadata for scientific resources

Digital exchange of soil-related data (ISO 28258:2013) presents a conceptual model of a common understanding of what soil profile data are

Digital soil mapping is the creation and the population of a geographically referenced soil databases generated at a given resolution by using field and laboratory observation methods coupled with environmental data through quantitative relationships (source: Wikipedia)

Discovery service is a concept from INSPIRE indicating a service type which enables discovery of resources (search and find). Typically implemented as CSW.

Download service is a concept from INSPIRE indicating a service type which enables download of a (subset of a) dataset. Typically implemented as WFS, WCS, SOS or Atom.

DOI a digital identifier of an object, any object — physical, digital, or abstract

Encoding is the format used to serialise a resource to a file, common encodings are xml, json, turtle

Epic in agile software development is a big chunk of work which can be divided into smaller user stories (source: Knowledgehut)

ESDAC thematic centre for soil related data in Europe

EUSO European Soil Observatory

GDAL/OGR software package widely used to interact with a variety of spatial data formats

Geography Markup Language (GML) is an xml based standardised encoding for spatial data.

GeoPackage a set of conventions for storing spatial data a SQLite database

Geoserver java based software package providing access to remote data through OGC services

Global Soil Information System (GLOSIS) is an activity of FAO Global Soil Partnership enabling a federation of soil information systems and interoperable data sets

GLOSIS domain model is an abstract, architectural component that defines how data are organised; it embodies a common understanding of what soil profile data are.

GLOSIS Web Ontology is an implementation of the GLOSIS domain model using semantic technology

GLOSIS Codelists is a series of codelists supporting the GLOSIS web ontology. Including the codelists as published in the FAO Guidelines for Soil Description (v2007), soil properties as collected by FAO GfSD and procedures as initally collected by Johan Leenaars.

Glosolan network to strengthen the capacity of laboratories in soil analysis and to respond to the need for harmonizing soil analytical data

Humboldt Alignment Editor (HALE) java based desktop software to compose and apply a data transformation to data

Harmonization is the process of transforming 2 datasets to a common model, a common projection, usage of common domain values and align their geometries

ISRIC - World Soil Information independent foundation with a mission to serve the international community as a custodian of global soil information

JRC Joint Research Centre. The JRC provides independent, evidence-based science and knowledge, supporting EU policies to positively impact society. Relevant policy areas within JRC are JRC Soil and JRC INSPIRE

Mapserver C based software package providing access to remote data through OGC services

Observations and Measurements (O&M)

OGC API building blocks that can be used to assemble novel APIs for web access to geospatial content

Ontology a way of showing the properties of a subject area and how they are related, by defining a set of concepts and categories that represent the subject. (source: wikipedia)

QGIS desktop software package to create spatial vizualisations of various types of data

REA is the European Research Executive Agency, it’s mandate is to manage several EU programmes and support services.

Relational model an approach to managing data using a structure and language consistent with first-order predicate logic (source: wikipedia)

Resource Description Framework (RDF) a standard model for data interchange on the Web

Representational state transfer (REST) a set of guidelines for creating stateless, reliable web APIs (source: wikipedia)

SensorthingsAPI (STA) is a formalised protocol to exchange sensor data and tasks between IoT devices, maintained at Open Geospatial Consortium.

Sensor Observation Service (SOS) is a formalised protocol to exchange sensor data between entities, maintained at Open Geospatial Consortium.

Soil classification deals with the systematic categorization of soils based on distinguishing characteristics as well as criteria that dictate choices in use (source: wikipedia)

Soilgrids a system for global digital soil mapping that uses many profile data and machine learning methods to predict the spatial distribution of soil properties across the globe

Soil spectroscopy (source: soilspectroscopy.org is the measurement of light absorption. The proportion of the incident radiation reflected by soil is sensed through reflectance spectroscopy.

Unified Modeling Language (UML) a general-purpose modeling language that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system (source: wikipedia)

Use case is a list of actions or event steps typically defining the interactions between a role (or actor) and a system to achieve a goal (source: wikipedia)

User story in agile software development is an informal, natural language description of features of a software system, written from the perspective of a user of a system (source: wikipedia)

View service is a concept from INSPIRE indicating a service type which presents a (pre)view of a dataset. Typically implemented as WMS or WMTS.

Wageningen ENvironmental Research (WENR) qualified and independent research to the realisation of a high quality and sustainable green living environment

Webservice a service offered by a device to another device, communicating with each other via the Internet (source: wikipedia)

WOSIS is a global dataset, maintained at ISRIC, aiming to serve the user with a selection of standardised and ultimately harmonised soil profile data

Web Map service (WMS) is a formalised protocol to exchange geospatial data represented as images

Web Feature Service (WFS) is a formalised protocol to exchange geospatial vector data

Web Coverage Service (WCS) is a formalised protocol to exchange geospatial grid data

XML Schema Definition (XSD) recommendation how to formally describe the elements in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document (source: wikipedia