Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to boost multidisciplinary research by the building of an integrated catalogue or research assets metadata. Such an integrated catalogue should enable researchers to solve problems or analyse phenomena that require a view across several scientific domains.Design/methodology/approachThere are two main approaches for integrating metadata catalogues provided by different e-science research infrastructures (e-RIs): centralised and distributed. The authors decided to implement a central metadata catalogue that describes, provides access to and records actions on the assets of a number of e-RIs participating in the system. The authors chose the CERIF data model for description of assets available via the integrated catalogue. Analysis of popular metadata formats used in e-RIs has been conducted, and mappings between popular formats and the CERIF data model have been defined using an XML-based tool for description and automatic execution of mappings.FindingsAn integrated catalogue of research assets metadata has been created. Metadata from e-RIs supporting Dublin Core, ISO 19139, DCAT-AP, EPOS-DCAT-AP, OIL-E and CKAN formats can be integrated into the catalogue. Metadata are stored in CERIF RDF in the integrated catalogue. A web portal for searching this catalogue has been implemented.Research limitations/implicationsOnly five formats are supported at this moment. However, description of mappings between other source formats and the target CERIF format can be defined in the future using the 3M tool, an XML-based tool for describing X3ML mappings that can then be automatically executed on XML metadata records. The approach and best practices described in this paper can thus be applied in future mappings between other metadata formats.Practical implicationsThe integrated catalogue is a part of the eVRE prototype, which is a result of the VRE4EIC H2020 project.Social implicationsThe integrated catalogue should boost the performance of multi-disciplinary research; thus it has the potential to enhance the practice of data science and so contribute to an increasingly knowledge-based society.Originality/valueA novel approach for creation of the integrated catalogue has been defined and implemented. The approach includes definition of mappings between various formats. Defined mappings are effective and shareable.
Highlights
Nowadays, e-science Research Infrastructures (e-RIs) are community or domain specific, not allowing researchers to solve problems or analyse phenomena that require a view across several scientific domains
It was decided to implement a central metadata catalogue that describes, provides access to and records actions on the assets of the e-RIs participating in the eVRE
A prototype eVRE Metadata Catalogue has been implemented using CERIF RDF resource descriptions that have been produced via mappings to a single common schema from several source schemas in use today
Summary
E-science Research Infrastructures (e-RIs) are community or domain specific, not allowing researchers to solve problems or analyse phenomena that require a view across several scientific domains. VRE4EIC was a European Horizon 2020 project charged with the development of a Europe-wide interoperable VRE to empower research communities to perform multidisciplinary research more and effectively, and so accelerate innovation and collaboration in the European research community. This project aims to bridge across existing e-RIs such as EPOS, ICOS and SeaDataNet by taking VREs one step further towards the enhanced-VRE (eVRE) model with a standard reference architecture, generic reusable building blocks for VRE development and explicit cross-e-RI interoperability support. A cross-e-RI metadata catalogue essentially enables scientists to discover and utilize data and services from different communities and domains; the development of such a catalogue requires a context-rich metadata schema which can glue together different metadata schemas from different individual e-RI catalogues
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
