Introduction to Controlled Vocabularies - Marine Metadata ...

Introduction to 

Controlled Vocabularies 

• A Marine Metadata Interoperability Project 

Training Session

Overview 

• Semantic interoperability 

• Definition and types of controlled vocabularies 

• Benefits of implementing controlled vocabularies 

• Marine Metadata Interoperability (MMI) resources

Different representations 

for one concept 

SST, sea water temperature, water temperature, temp ...

A concept (like ‘SST’) could 

mean more than one thing 

SST Records. 

1978 formed 

Record Label 

Supersonic 

transport (SST)

Semantic Interoperability

Semantic Interoperability 

System A


System B 

System A


System B 

System A 

System C


I Need SST data 

System B 

System A 

System C


I have SST data 


System B 

System A 

System C




System B 

System A 

I have Water Temp data 

System C




System A 

Please give me SST data 

System B 


System C




System A 


System B 


System C




System A 


System B 


System C




System A 


sure, here you go 

System B 


System C




System A 



System B 


System C




System A 



System B 



System C




System A 



System B 



System C




System A 



System B 



sorry I don’t have any 

System C

Solution 1: Rename 


I need SST data 

System B 

System A 

I have Water SSTTemp 

data 

System C

Solution 2: Mapping 

I need SST data 

which I know 

is a type of 

Water Temp data 

System B 


System A 


System C

Both solutions needed 

I wonder what 

vocabularies systems A 

and C are using 

System B 

The 

vocabulary I use is 

from manual X 

System A 

The vocabulary I use is 

from convention Y 

System C

Controlled Vocabulary 

• a set of restricted terms 

• agreed by a community 

• used for: 

• describing resources 

• discovering resources 

• avoids: 

• inconsistencies 

• misspellings 

International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The official name is Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions. 

ISO 3166 was first published in 1974. It has been modified over the years, with subsequent editions published in 1981, 1988, and 1993. The most 

recent edition, its fifth, was published between 1997 and 1999. 

Country codes are a fundamental component of modern computing infrastructure: major operating systems, postal services, business applications, 

identification and security systems, 

email address etc.. etc..

Common characteristics 

Key Term Abbreviated 

Term 

Definition 

Modification 

Time

Types of Vocabularies

Library of Congress 

Code Lists

Alexandria Digital Library 

Thesaurus

Ontologies 

Hierarchies 

Ad-hoc Relations 

MMI Platform Ontology 

Axioms


Hierarchies 



Axioms


Hierarchies 



Axioms

Controlled vocabularies 

are good for semantic 

interoperability. What 

are other benefits?

Putting your house 

in order 

Definitions force people to 

reevaluate and homogenize 

their vocabularies.

Better user 

interfaces 

Computer programs 

can use the controlled 

vocabularies to provide 

better choices in pick 

lists (for example, with 

drop down and 

selection menus).

How MMI Can Help You 

http://marinemetadata.org

Find 

> 60 ontologies available at: http://marinemetadata.org/allont

http://marinemetadata.org/guideontpro

Workshops

“Advancing Domain Vocabularies” 

MMI workshop Aug 2005 

823 relations 

3,023 total mappings

Tools 

Stand alone: 

– VINE 

– Voc2OWL 

Web: 

– Voc2RDF 

– SEMOR 

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References 

MMI is an international collaboration to promote the 

exchange, integration and use of marine data. Your 

input and participation is always welcome. 

For copies of this and related presentations visit 

http://marinemetadata.org/oceansciences08 

For references visit 

http://marinemetadata.org/trainingrefs 

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Introduction to Controlled Vocabularies - Marine Metadata ...

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