Parameter groups to be populated with P231 Vocabulary

[homme]

Once a parameter has been selected, the Parameter Discovery Vocabulary will be populated with related keywords from P021 Vocabulary. A future enhancement will be to add a count to the P021 terms, so that people know how many metadata records are associated with that term. Helen will contact STFC to ask for an interface for this (as with issue #4).

[gaev]

As P021 vocab list is already available on the portal, I presume that an interface is in place? if not, please tell me and I'll get onto it. We need to have a hierarchy above P021 as this is too lengthy as a pull down list. In the spec we suggested P231 which has 12 terms as the coarse grained list (and it is possible that you were not given a mapping between the two lists). There is an alternative, to use P031 above P021 which is already mapped and available (see http://seadatanet.maris2.nl/v_bodc_vocab/vocabrelations.aspx and select one of the P081 terms to go to P031 and then P021). Please tell me what you need us to send / help you with in order to finish this off. As an interim measure it may be worth adding a link to the portal homepage to http://seadatanet.maris2.nl/v_bodc_vocab/vocabrelations.aspx so that they can better find parameters.

[homme]

An interface for the vocabularies is already in place so no need for action on your part there. The vocab functionality is provided by the python-skos module I developed to be shared with the RDBMS tool. This uses the new NERC vocab server. Note that the IDs of the vocabularies in question differ between the two NERC versions:

• P231 => P23 (MEDIN Parameter Discipline Keywords)
• P021 => P02 (SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary)
• P031 => P03 (SeaDataNet Agreed Parameter Groups)
• P081 => P08 (SeaDataNet Parameter Disciplines)

The current vocab list on the portal is already loaded with the P231 vocabulary (although the interface to this is still to be developed along the lines of issue #1) so I am happy to stick with this. P231 is actually linked to P021 via P031, so P031 is still important. I am intending the P231 => P021 linkage on the portal to work along the following lines:

1. User selects a P231 element from the dropdown.
2. This triggers a lookup where all related, synonymous and narrower P031 concepts are retrieved.
3. For each P031 concept retrieved the related, narrower and synonymous P021 terms are retrieved and used in the Parameter search.

Assuming this is ok with you, the question remains of how this is presented to the user. Would you like the selected P231 item to populate a second Parameter dropdown with the linked P021 terms which a user can then select? Or would you like all P021 terms to be automatically included in the search?

Regarding the link, I can work on implementing this issue as a priority over the others (although it is a subset of issue #1) and update the portal with the result, but am happy to add a link in the interm if you would like (just tell me where on the page you would like it).

[pdcotton]

Can a search be triggered at stages 1 and 2? i.e. to cover all P031, P021 terms under a P231 element, or all P021 terms under a P031 concept?

[homme]

Yes we could certainly do this, and it would probably be a better way of handling it than having multiple parameter dropdowns. If I understand you correctly this would mean having a single dropdown representing all P231 terms. The portal would then automatically extend the search to cover all related P031 and P021 terms. This search term expansion would not be visible in the user interface but the additional terms would be submitted to the DWS when requesting results.

[pdcotton]

I was thinking of this as an option, as well as allowing the user to drill down into P031 and P021 if they chose.

[homme]

Ok I'll implement the search term expansion to begin with and then bring in the dropdowns when I revamp the user interface as per issue #1.

[gaev]

Would it be simple to allow the user to select more than one term from any of the lists?

[gaev]

I suggest that updating the parameter search is priority (feedback we have received says the current parameter list is a source of frustration). As an interim, would it be possible to get the current P021 list alphabetically listed?

plus add a link to http://seadatanet.maris2.nl/v_bodc_vocab/vocabrelations.aspx so that users have a guide for choosing a parameter. Please could the following text be inserted on the portal homepage below ‘Leave blank to match everything. (help)’

"HINT As the parameter search function is currently under construction, the full nested list of parameter terms can be found here."

(with 'here' linked to http://seadatanet.maris2.nl/v_bodc_vocab/vocabrelations.aspx)

is that doable with little effort?

[homme]

As discussed during the MEDIN teleconference on 20th December 2012 the data theme query will be implemented using three drop-downs representing a data hierarchy that is in turn derived from the vocabularies P231; P031; P021. An AJAX/REST api will allow the drop-downs to be populated appropriately depending on the choice in the previous drop-down. The drop-downs will look like standard select drop-downs but will be javascript enhanced to allow multiple selection.

The general design will follow the mockup provided by MEDIN.

[gaev]

Yes that was agreed. Also noted in the mock up excel sheet that "For all, the 'Choose a sub theme' and 'Choose a parameter' boxes should only bring up those terms that are used in the db."