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Please note that the formal membership comment period
for the QUOMOS charter is now open, with a closing date of 7
December.
This will allow us to resolve comments during 8-11
December and potentially announce the meeting in time for 14
December.
Howard Mason
Corporate IT Office
Tel: +44 1252 383129
Mob: +44 780 171 3340
BAE Systems plc
Registered Office: 6
Carlton Gardens, London, SW1Y 5AD, UK
Registered in England & Wales No:
1470151
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To OASIS Members:
A draft TC charter has been submitted to
establish the OASIS Quantities and Units of Measure Ontology Standard (QUOMOS)
Technical Committee (below). In accordance with the OASIS TC Process Policy
section 2.2:
(http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/process-2009-07-30.php#formation)
the proposed charter is hereby submitted for comment. The comment period shall
remain open until 11:45 pm ET on 7 December 2009.
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We encourage
member comment and ask that you note the name of the proposed TC (QUOMOS) in the
subject line of your email message.
Regards,
Mary
Mary
P McRae
Director, Standards Development
Technical Committee
Administrator
OASIS: Advancing open standards for the information
society
email: mary.mcrae@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
web: www.oasis-open.org
twitter:
@fiberartisan #oasisopen
phone: 1.603.232.9090
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OASIS
Quantities and Units of Measure Ontology Standard (QUOMOS) Technical
Committee
The name of the TC:
OASIS Quantities and Units of
Measure Ontology Standard (QUOMOS) Technical Committee
Statement of
purpose:
Ontologies allow the explicit specification of the multiple
possible meanings of concepts so that people can recognize commonalities and
differences in the semantics of the concepts that they use.
Ontologies
can be used to improve the quality of standards, leading to more robust
implementations of the standards and the semantic integration of multiple
standards. The axiomatization of formal ontologies can also support automatic
conformance-checking.
Measurement units and dimensions (or
dimensionality) are essential for the meaningful communication of measurements,
design specifications, scientific data, medical data, environmental data and
regulations, and many commercial transactions. Confusion over measurement units
can lead to disasters such as the demise of the Mars Climate Observer satellite.
An ontology of measurement units and dimensions would have wide utility in many
IT standards.
A number of standards projects and other large-scale
projects are currently developing some kind of ontology for quantities and
measurement units. This will quickly lead to a proliferation of formal
models for quantities and units that are not quite comparable. That in turn will
impede consistent specifications of quantities for publication and information
exchange in many industries. A standard ontology for quantities and units,
adopted at this time, can be incorporated into such projects, or used as a
reference for the symbols they define, thus promoting consistent interpretation
and interworking of specifications and measurements.
Measurement units
include metres, feet, inches, etc. all of which have the dimension of "length",
i.e., length is the "property" of which "metre" is the unit of measure. In the
International System of Quantities (Units) (also called the metric system or SI)
the base dimensions (units) are: length (metre), mass (kilogram), time (second),
electric current (ampere), thermodynamic temperature (kelvin), amount of
substance (mole) and luminous intensity (candela). Derived (or composite)
dimensions are constructed by multiplying or dividing the dimensions when
multiplying or dividing the corresponding quantities. Hence speed has dimension
of length / time. In practice the various base dimensions may have exponents of
-3 to +3. Thus the space of derived dimensions has size of 7 to the 7th power -
approx. 800K possible dimensions. For each dimension there are often
several alternative measurement units - thus the space of all possible
measurement units is huge.
Thus is it is clear that there is need to
specify a framework for constructing derived dimensions / units from base
dimensions and units.
It is therefore proposed to develop an ontology
which would specify the basic concepts of quantities, systems of quantities, and
systems of measurement units and scales, the various base dimensions and units
of the SI system, the various metric prefixes (nano-, micro-, milli-, kilo-,
...), the rules for constructing various derived units, and the designations of
the most common derived units such as joules, watts, ... The ontology should
also address non-metric base and derived units that are commonly used across
multiple industries.
The ontology will be represented in multiple
formats, to allow exploitation via various tools - CLIF (ISO 24707) is currently
proposed as the reference normative form, along with a derived OWL2/DL
representation, although this may not be able to accommodate all CLIF concepts.
It will also be important to construct canonical URIs to reference the
various measurement units and dimensions. Furthermore, the ontology should be
linked to standard representations (names, abbreviations) for the various
measurement units / dimensions, e.g., meters, m, joules, etc., as expressed in
sources such as the OASIS UnitsML project, and the Healthcare Level 7 Uniform
Code for Units of Measure (UCUM).
There are some anomalies which need to
be addressed, notably in the area of "dimensionless units" and derived units
that involve them, such as measurements of concentration, energy v. torque.
Non-linear scales will also be a concern.
Scope of the work of
the TC:
The objective is to develop the draft of an international
ontology standard for expressing "Quantities and Units of Measure" which will be
publicly available, free of charge. The reference normative form of the ontology
will be expressed in the CLIF language, with derived normative representations
in OWL 2.0 DL, and UML.
The work shall include the development of a core
set of ontology modules covering quantities, units, scales, dimensions, base and
derived SI units and their relationships, and extension mechanisms to allow the
later inclusion of non SI units and other measurement systems. The
ontology shall be independent of industry sector and applications, and based on
available specifications and standards, particularly the VIM. Where
ambiguities and contradictions arise between different specifications and
standards, these shall be referred back to the originating organizations for
resolution.
Later ontology modules may include basic concepts for
measurements and uncertainties, and for quantity specifications and tolerances.
While all applications of quantities are one or the other of these, these
disciplines are more complex and may have industry-specific
characteristics.
The TC will liaise and strive to coordinate its
development with the work of BIPM (International Bureau of Weights and
Measures), ISO/IEC 80000, VIM (International Vocabulary of Metrology), UnitsML,
UCUM (Unified Code for Units of Measure) and UNECE Recommendation 20, and take
into account existing quantities and units ontologies based on VIM, such as
Sweet, QUDT and the QUDV component of SysML. It is expected that the scope of
the QUOMOS ontology with respect to specific units will be influenced by the
relationship to UnitsML and UCUM.
Consideration will be given to ensuring
that the methodology used to construct the ontology can be exploited in the
construction of other definitive ontologies.
A list of deliverables,
with projected completion dates:
The TC will produce a core set of
ontology modules covering quantities, units, scales, dimensions, base and
derived SI units and extension mechanisms to allow the later inclusion of non SI
units and other measurement systems. The reference normative ontology will
be expressed in CLIF, with other normative representations may be derived in OWL
2.0 DL, and supported by equivalent UML diagrams.
Further extensions may
be generated using the specified mechanisms.
Specification of the IPR
Mode under which the TC will operate:
Non-Assertion
The
anticipated audience or users of the work:
The proposed ontology will be
applicable to any developer or user of information models or applications that
require an unambiguous definition of units in a digital form that can be
utilised by a wide range of applications, including document markup and data
exchange. It will also highlight logical inconsistencies and ambiguities that
need to be addressed.
The language in which the TC shall conduct
business:
English
Non-normative information regarding the
startup of the TC, which includes:
Identification of similar or applicable
work that is being done in other OASIS TCs or by other organizations:
The
only relevant work in OASIS is the UnitsML activity to provide a markup language
for units. The QUOMOS work should be complementary, in providing an
ontological representation for Units of Measure, and may provide resolution of
ambiguities in the definition of units adopted from elsewhere.
The work
needs to be based on the fundamental internationally agreed definitions from
BIPM and the agreed understanding of derived units, as defined in the ISO/IEC
80000 series of standards. Additional derived units from efforts such as
UCUM and known requirements from other groups may also be taken into account.
Existing agreements on international trade from the UN should also be
taken into consideration.
Requirements are being actively sought from
prospective user organisations in ISO, IEC and UNECE, and the TC welcomes other
relevant contributions.
In order to obtain the broadest possible
perspective, the initiative has been reported to the Management Group of the MoU
on eBusiness between ISO/IEC/ITU/UNECE, at its 12-13 October meeting, with
a request for contributions.
The date, time, and location of the
first meeting, whether it will be held in person or by telephone, and who will
sponsor this first meeting:
The first meeting will be held by
teleconference on Thursday 21 January 2010, from 18.30-20.30 UTC
The
projected on-going meeting schedule:
The TC will meet by teleconference
every two weeks or as decided by the group after it is launched.
Additional face-to-face meetings may be held by consensus.
The
names, electronic mail addresses, and membership affiliations of at least
Minimum Membership who support this proposal and are committed to the Charter
and projected meeting schedule:
* Ed Barkmeyer (edbark@xxxxxxxx) NIST
* Jerry Smith (jerry.smith@xxxxxxxx) US DoD
* Frank
Olken (folken@xxxxxxx) LBNL
* Peter Yim
(peter.yim@xxxxxxxx)
* Howard
Mason (howard.mason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) BAE
Systems
* Pat Hayes (phayes@xxxxxxx)
The name,
electronic mail address, membership affiliation, and statement of support for
the proposed Charter from the Primary Representative.
* Dr David Flater
(dflater@xxxxxxxx) NIST
:Ed Barkmeyer:
NIST has formally approved our participation, that is, both the NIST OASIS
principal and my management.
* Jerry Smith (jerry.smith@xxxxxxxx) US DoD
:We've
reviewed the draft and concur. DoD is a member of OASIS, I am the voting
representative, and we want to participate in this new TC.
* Mary Ann
Piette (mapiette@xxxxxxx) LBNL
:Frank
(Olken) - Sounds ok to me! In the buildings area there are tremendous
measurements issues, measurement of energy, measurement of services
building systems provide, measurement of satisfaction, measurement of indoor air
quality and many more! - Mary Ann
* Howard Mason (howard.mason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) BAE
Systems
:BAE Systems supports the development of the proposed ontology
standard, which should form part of our overall standards
toolbox.
The name of the Convener who must be an Eligible
Person:
* Howard Mason (BAE Systems)
The name of the Member
Section with which the TC intends to affiliate, if any:
* None
The
TC anticipates evaluating the following sources as potential contributions to
the propsoed ontology:
* BIPM (International Bureau of Weights and
Measures)
* VIM (international Vocabulary for Measurement)
* UnitsML
*
UCUM (Unified Code for Units of Measure)
* UNECE Recommendation 20
*
Sweet
* QUDT
* QUDV component of SysML
Optionally, a draft
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document regarding the planned scope of the TC,
for posting on the TC's website.
* None
Optionally, a proposed
working title and acronym for the specification(s) to be developed by the
TC.
* Quantities and Units of Measure Ontology Standard
(QUOMOS)
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