OGC seeks public comment on TimeseriesML 1.2 Candidate Standard

Through the use of existing OGC standards, TimeseriesML 1.2 aims at being an interoperable exchange format that may be re-used to address a range of time series data exchange requirements and scenarios.

Example areas of usage are: cross-border exchange of observational data; release of data for public dissemination; enhancing disaster management through data exchange; and exchange in support of national reporting.

TimeseriesML 1.2 defines an XML encoding that implements the OGC Timeseries Profile of Observations and Measurements with the goal of allowing the exchange of such datasets across information communities.

The TimeseriesML 1.2 Candidate Standard is available for public review and comment at portal.opengeospatial.org/files/76112. The downloadable archive contains the Candidate Standard as well as supporting information concerning the revision, including release notes and a presentation outlining in detail the changes. These two changes are denoted below:

1. The National Weather Service (NWS) has a National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) use case where forecast elements have changing time period spacings in between forecast data projections, with no way to describe this. The changes to the proposed standard include rules for encoding metadata to accurately describe the individual segments of a whole irregularly spaced time series that have different time spacings. Previously, the TimeSeriesML Domain-Range schema did not contain metadata support to describe irregularly spaced time series.
2. The NWS has also found issues with a valid time representation used to span a length of time. Previously, only a list of instantaneous time positions was supported. The proposed change allows the encoding of a list of Time Periods, which contain both a Start Time and End Time.

Comments are due by 29 November 2017 and should be submitted online.