Again DarwinCore - possible changes?

[herb]

Hello Phil,

(1)
On DarwinCore internet site https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/ I have seen that a new class (= Exiftool structure) has been introduced:
UseWithIri: which uses also a new namespace dwciri.

This class (structure) contains tags with names that have
- no corresponding name in namespace dwc: (7)
  inCollection, toTaxon, inDescribedPlace, earliestGeochronologicalEra, latestGeochronologicalEra, fromLithostartigrphicUnit, inDataset
- a corresponding name in dwc: (36)
  recordedBy, identifiedBy, georeferencedBy, measurementDeterminedBy, locationAccordingTo, georeferenceProtocol, georeferenceSources,
  samplingProtocol, sex, lifeStage, reproductiveCondition, establishmentMeans, behaviour, occurenceStatus, disposition, verbatimCoordinateSystem,
  verbatimSRS, geodeticDatum, georeferenceVerificationStatus, footprintWKT, footprintSRS, lowestBiostratigraphicZone, highestBiostratigraphicZone,
  identificationVerificationStatus, identificationQualifier, perarations, typeStatus, measurementType, measurementUnit, measurementMethod,
  informationWithheld, dataGeneralizations, habitat, fieldNumber, fieldNotes, recordNumber

As Exiftool supports all DarwinCore classes/structures I think it should also support this new class.

(2)
On internet site https://dwc.tdwg.org/rdf/ it is stated, that the following tags should have a language sign.
They all belong to namespace dwc only: (9)
occurrenceRemarks, eventRemarks, locationRemarks, georeferenceRemarks, identificationRemarks,
taxonRemarks, organismRemarks, relationshipRemarks, measurementRemarks

Current version of Exiftool has dwc:eventsRemark as an alt-lang tag in DarwinCore.pm, but the others not.
I think all should become alt-lang tags.

Best regards
Herb

[Phil Harvey]

It is a pity that the DarwinCore specification doesn't cover XMP.  Some work must be done to interpret what they have done to fit into an XMP schema.  I'll look at this when I get a chance.

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Herb,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this.

I've looked over the DWC RDF guide, and must say that I don't understand the purpose of the dwciri namespace.  It seems to be used only for reference objects, and these properties don't have a value per se.  Also, there is a lot of overlap with the dwc namespace.  I am afraid that I would get it wrong without having an XMP sample of how these are meant to be written.

The existing dwc tags are formatted according to the way they were being written by IDImager.  Of course, this may be wrong, but there is some value in maintaining consistency with this format.  Of the xmp:lang tags you mention, only dwc:eventRemarks was written as a lang-alt tag.  I don't want to change the others without a strong reason because this could cause backward compatibility problems with older IDImager and ExifTool files.

So without some an authoritative DarwinCore XMP sample, and without a pressing need to modify the way Exiftool currently writes DarwinCore, I hesitate to make any changes.

- Phil