6 Constructing and using identifiers
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6.0.1 eventID
Using a unique identifier for each physical sample or subsample in your dataset taken at each location and time is highly recommended to ensure sample traceability and data provenance. eventID is an identifier for an individual sampling or observation event, whereas parentEventID is an identifier for a parent event, which is composed of one or more sub-sampling (child) events (eventIDs).
eventID can be used for replicated samples or sub-samples. It is important to make sure each replicate sample receives a unique eventID, which could be based on the unique sample ID in your dataset. Sample ID can also be recorded in materialSampleID, as OBIS does not need to have separate eventIDs and materialSampleIDs. Rather OBIS can treat these two terms as equivalent. Be sure to still fill in the eventID field if you want to use materialSampleID, as OBIS only uses eventID and parentEventID for structuring datasets, not sample ID. This does not prevent you from using the field if you would like to.
If you do not already have a materialSampleID, creating a unique eventID for your data records can be as straightforward as combining different fields from your data.
Note: You should consider carefully what combination of fields will generate a unique event. Combinations including date, time, location, and depth are common elements to help generate such unique codes.
Including the event type can also be useful for datasets with hierarchical sampling methods (e.g., samples taken from a station within a cruise). Repeating the parentEventID in the child event (use : as delimiter) can make the structure of the dataset easier to understand. Nesting event information in this way also allows you to reduce redundancy and still provide information relevant to each level of sampling.
Broadly, an eventID can take the form of [parentEventID]:[sample type]_[sample ID]
Thus to construct a unique eventID for parent and child events, you join relevant sampling information. Possible configurations (with examples) could include:
- Project_cruise_station_date_sample
- STAR_arcticsea_st3520_1989-04-04_s01
- Project_habitat_Genus_species_year_sampletype_samplenumber
- BEE_seamount_Genus_species_2013_cruise_s123
- Institution_year_location_samplemethod_sample
- Concordia_2003_Coast_Station1_seine_s01
- Concordia_2003_Coast_Station1_trap_s01
These examples are not exhaustive and other similarly structured variations that fit your data are acceptable. Consider also including year within your eventIDs to ensure codes remain globally unique in subsequent years, which is particularly useful if your sampling protocol is repeated temporally. Remember, what is the main information about a sampling event that helps you identify it? For instance, it is helpful when we know the location, date, project, habitat. So you can build your eventID code based on this information and ensuring they will not repeat (e.g., will result in a unique identifier).
Information related to your sampling events can be assigned to the highest relevant event level in order to avoid repetition of information. For example, if all samples taken from a station occurred at the same depth, this information can be listed once. Variation between samples (e.g., exact time or coordinates) can also be easily reflected for each event. See the table below for a demonstration.
| eventID | parentEventID | eventRemarks | eventDate | maximumDepthInMeters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cruise_1 | cruise | |||
| cruise_1:station_1 | cruise_1 | station | 15 | |
| cruise_1:station_1:core_1 | cruise_1:station_1 | sample | 2011-03-06T08:35 | |
| cruise_1:station_1:core_2 | cruise_1:station_1 | sample | 2011-03-06T08:52 | |
| cruise_1:station_1:core_1:subsample_1 | cruise_1:station_1:core_1 | subsample |
We recommend using controlled vocabulary for the “type” column. Although no standards have been agreed upon yet, commonly used terms for event type included are cruise, stationVisit, transect, quadrat, sample, subSample.
Consider another example from a real dataset below:
| eventID | parentEventID | eventDate | eventRemarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_crs | cruise | ||
| IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_stat1 | IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_crs | 2000-08 | stationVisit |
| IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_stat2 | IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_crs | 2000-08 | stationVisit |
| IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_s01 | IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_stat1 | sample | |
| IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_s02 | IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_stat2 | sample |
We can see that each record has a similar eventID structure, except for the last part which indicates the event type - documented in the eventRemarks column. In this dataset, records with the eventID IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_crs has information applicable for records with eventIDs ending with _stat1, _stat2, _s01, and _s02 because _crs is their parent event. Similarly, information (e.g., date of station visit, coordinates) documented in records with eventID IOF_benthos_Plominski_zaljev_2000_stat1 is applicable for the two sample records (eventID _s01 and _s02), because these samples were taken at Station 1 (indicated by the parentEventID). These eventIDs could have been nested in another way, such as IOF_benthos_Plominsku_zaljev_2000_crs:stat1:s01 which would embed the parentEventID into the identifier.
See also De Pooter et al. 2017 for an example of an event hierarchy in a complex benthos dataset.
Watch this video for a demonstration on how to construct eventIDs:
6.0.2 occurrenceID
occurrenceID is an identifier for occurrence records. Each occurrence record should have a globally unique identifier. Because occurrenceID is a required term, you may have to construct a persistent and globally unique identifier for each of your data records if none already exists (e.g., if records were not labeled with unique identifiers before, such as during sample processing or image/sensor detection).
There are no standardized guidelines yet on designing the persistence of this ID, the level of uniqueness (from within a dataset to globally in OBIS), and the precise algorithm and format for generating the ID. But in the absence of a persistent globally unique identifier, one can be constructed by combining the institutionCode, the collectionCode and the catalogNumber (or autonumber in the absence of a catalogNumber). This is similar to how eventID is constructed. You may also follow Life Science Identifiers guidelines. Note that the inclusion of occurrenceID is also necessary for datasets in the OBIS-ENV-DATA format.
An important consideration for museum specimens: there is the possibility that the institution a specimen is housed at may change. Therefore you may consider omitting institution identifiers within an occurrenceID, because occurrenceID should not change over time.
See the example below:
| modified | institutionCode | collectionCode |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-02-27 15:47:31 | Ugent | Vegetation_Gazi_Bay(Kenya)1987 |
| 2017-02-27 15:47:31 | Ugent | Vegetation_Gazi_Bay(Kenya)1987 |
| 2017-02-27 15:47:31 | Ugent | Vegetation_Gazi_Bay(Kenya)1987 |
| basisOfRecord | occurrenceID | catalogNumber |
|---|---|---|
| HumanObservation | Ugent_Vegetation_Gazi_Bay(Kenya)1987_7553 | Ugent_Vegetation_Gazi_Bay(Kenya)1987_7553 |
| HumanObservation | Ugent_Vegetation_Gazi_Bay(Kenya)1987_7554 | Ugent_Vegetation_Gazi_Bay(Kenya)1987_7554 |
| HumanObservation | Ugent_Vegetation_Gazi_Bay(Kenya)1987_7555 | Ugent_Vegetation_Gazi_Bay(Kenya)1987_7555 |
Data from Algal community on the pneumatophores of mangrove trees of Gazi Bay in July and August 1987.