I-ADOPT Framework ontology
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I-ADOPT Framework ontology

Release: May 28, 2025

This version:
https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/1.1.0
Latest version:
https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/
Previous version:
https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/1.0.3
Revision:
1.1.0
Authors:
Barbara Magagna, GO FAIR Foundation, NL
Sirko Schindler, Institute of Data Science, German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Maria Stoica, University of Colorado, Boulder
Gwenaelle Moncoiffe, National Oceanography Centre, British Oceanographic Data Centre, UK
Anusuriya Devaraju, Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), University of Queensland, Australia
Alison Pamment, National Centre for Atmospheric Science / Centre for Environmental Data Analysis, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK
Contributors:
John Graybeal, Stanford University, School of Medicine, USA
Robert Huber, University Bremen, Germany
Simon J D Cox, CSIRO Land and Water, Australia
Download serialization:
JSON-LD RDF/XML N-Triples TTL
License:
http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/cc-by4.0
Visualization:
Visualize with WebVowl
Cite as:
Barbara Magagna, Sirko Schindler, Maria Stoica, Gwenaelle Moncoiffe, Anusuriya Devaraju, Alison Pamment, I-ADOPT Framework ontology, Retrieved from: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/1.1.0
Provenance of this page
Ontology Specification Draft

Abstract

The I-ADOPT Framework is an ontology primarily designed to facilitate interoperability between existing variable description models (including ontologies, taxonomy, and structured controlled vocabularies). One of the challenges in representing semantic descriptions of variables is getting people to agree about what they mean when describing the components that define the variables. The I-ADOPT ontology addresses this by providing core components and their relations that can be applied to define machine-interpretable variable descriptions that re-use FAIR vocabulary terms. It was developed by a core group of terminology experts and users from the Research Data Alliance (RDA) InteroperAble Descriptions of Observable Property Terminology (I-ADOPT) Working Group.

Changelog

  • The first published versions of the ontology up to v0.9.1 satisfied the basic cross-domain interoperability requirements.
  • Version v1.0 of the ontology includes exactly the same original components plus an extension which is designed to support the aggregation of variables using a range of user-defined coarser concepts to facilitate dataset discovery and aggregation into products.
  • Version v1.1 introduces the concept of Systems for any entity role, the StatisticalModifier, and allows constraints to constrain any description component.

Table of contents

Introduction back to ToC

The research community is creating or collecting ever-larger volumes of data to understand phenomena via their observable properties at various scale. Our ability to exploit these data as a common resource is hampered by a lack of interoperability in how we describe the data variable observed or measured. A large collection of independent terminology resources related to variables and tools across research domains and communities has emerged. Their complexity and diversity often overwhelm data managers and users, ironically posing barriers to data interoperability.

Great progress has already been made in providing machine-readable descriptions of sensors and their observation types through the OGC's Sensor Web Enablement SensorML, Observations and Measurements (Cox 2017) or the W3C's/OGC's Semantic Sensor Network (SSN) ontology or its lightweight ontology called SOSA (Sensor, Observation, Sample, and Actuator). However, "deep metadata" that further contextualizes observations (e.g. methodology, variables, parameters) is typically represented as coarsely qualified classes (e.g. "Procedure" or "Observed property"). What exactly falls into these classes is currently unconstrained and could be anything ranging from unstandardized free-text to standardized descriptions accessible via fully resolvable URIs. The Scientific Variables Ontology (Stoica and Peckham 2018, 2019) is one known existing principled ontological framework for decomposing and representing scientific variables in a machine-readable form.

The RDA InteroperAble Descriptions of Observable Property Terminology (I-ADOPT) WG set itself the objective to produce an Interoperability Framework, co-developed through inputs from a diverse community of terminology experts and users, for representing observable properties. This effort has a strong focus on variables observed in environmental research because it leverages existing efforts to accurately encode what was measured, observed, derived, or computed in relation to the Earth systems. But many of the principles it leans on will be relevant to or connected with other domains. The construction of the framework has been informed by a review of current practices used in the community. The working group is also iteratively testing and refining the framework through a set of in-depth use cases. Much like a generic blueprint, the refined conceptual framework will be a basis upon which terminology developers can formulate or refine their local design patterns, in alignment with others. With these, they may leverage their local resources in a collective attempt to represent complex properties observed across the environmental sciences (from marine, atmospheric, and terrestrial Earth sciences, as well as biodiversity).

For more information about I-ADOPT see the I-ADOPT pages which link also to the Working Group on the RDA website. Comments on this version of the ontology (please specify the version number when commenting) can be made by raising issue tickets in this github repository.

I-ADOPT Framework ontology: Overview back to ToC

This ontology has the following classes and properties.

Classes

Object Properties

hasConstraint
hasMatrix
0..1
hasContextObject
hasObjectOfInterest
hasProperty
hasStatisticalModifier
Variable
Property
hasMember
hasApplicableProperty
hasApplicableMatrix
hasApplicableContextObject
hasApplicableObjectOfInterest
hasApplicableStatisticalModifier
VariableSet
Entity
constrains
Constraint
0..n
1..1
0..n
0..n
0..n
0..n
0..n
StatisticalModifier
0..n
0..n
constrains
0..n
0..n
Entity
SymmetricSystem
System
AsymmetricSystem
constrains
0..n
hasNumerator
hasDenominator
hasSource
hasTarget
hasPart
0..1
1..1

I-ADOPT Framework ontology: Description back to ToC

The I-ADOPT Framework is an ontology designed to facilitate interoperability between existing variable description models (including ontologies, taxonomy, and structured controlled vocabularies). One of the challenges in representing semantic descriptions of variables is getting people to agree about what they mean when describing the components that define the variables. The I-ADOPT ontology addresses this by providing core components and their relations that can be applied to define machine-interpretable variable descriptions that re-use FAIR vocabulary terms. It was developed by a core group of terminology experts and users from the Research Data Alliance (RDA) InteroperAble Descriptions of Observable Property Terminology (I-ADOPT) Working Group. The first published versions of the ontology up to v0.9.1 satisfied the basic cross-domain interoperability requirements. It defines four classes or "concepts" (Variable, Property, Entity, Constraint), and six object properties (hasProperty, hasObjectOfInterest, hasContextObject, hasMatrix, hasConstraint, constrains). The Variable is the top concept. It represents the description of something observed or mathematically derived. It minimally consists of one entity (the ObjectOfInterest) and its Property; a Property being a type of characteristic (i.e. a quantity or a quality). More complex variables can involve additional entities, for example an entity may have the role of Matrix and/or of ContextObject(s). The framework does not capture units, instruments, methods, and geographical location information; however its usage recommendation will make explicit reference to these by connecting the I-ADOPT framework to existing and complementary ontologies.

Version v1.0 of the ontology adds one optional new class (VariableSet) and four optional new object properties (hasApplicableProperty, hasApplicableObjectOfInterest, hasApplicableMatrix, hasApplicableContextObject). This was necessary in order to enable flexibility in assigning optional and user-defined machine-interpretable categorizations of I-ADOPT variables under one or multiple coarser grouping concepts to facilitate dataset discovery and dataset aggregation. With the introduction of these concepts and properties, the framework enables different user communities or product developers to develop their own grouping criteria. While the Variable class must be connected to at least two classes via the mandatory properties hasProperty and hasObjectOIfInterest, the VariableSet class can have either of the new properties. Additionally, the VariableSet class can also be optionally connected to the Variable class using the property ro:hasMember from the OBO Relations Ontology.

Based on the experience from two modelling workshops with domain experts in 2025, the core team decided to publish this new version with the following additions: Constraints can now constrain any description components, not only entities; a new class (StatisticalModifier) with its object property (hasStatisticalModifier) was added; and the option to describe Entities that have multiple components (System, AsymmetricSystem, SymmetricSystem) with corresponding object properties. Especially in AsymmetricSystem, object properties are intended to be used in pairs: hasNumerator and hasDenominator for ratios as well as hasSource and hasTarget for flows or fluxes. In SymmetricSystem, hasPart shall be used at least twice.

Cross-reference for I-ADOPT Framework ontology classes, object properties and data properties back to ToC

This section provides details for each class and property defined by I-ADOPT Framework ontology.

Classes

Asymmetric Systemc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/AsymmetricSystem

A system of entities where each Entity acts in a specific role and roles are not mutually interchangeable.
has super-classes
System c
is in domain of
has Denominator op, has Numerator op, has Source op, has Target op

Constraintc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/Constraint

A Constraint limits the scope of the observation and confines the context to a particular state. It describes properties of the involved entities that are relevant to the particular observation.
is in domain of
constrains op
is in range of
has Constraint op

Entityc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/Entity

An object or process that has a role in an observation. An Entity may play one of the following roles: ObjectOfInterest, ContextObject, or Matrix. Whether the involvement of a particular entity is meaningful enough to include in the variable description depends on the specific context.
has sub-classes
System c
is in range of
constrains op, has ContextObject op, has Denominator op, has Matrix op, has Numerator op, has ObjectOfInterest op, has Part op, has Source op, has Target op, has applicable ContextObject op, has applicable Matrix op, has applicable ObjectOfInterest op

Propertyc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/Property

A type of a characteristic of the ObjectOfInterest.
is in range of
constrains op, has Property op, has applicable Property op

Statistical Modifierc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/StatisticalModifier

The statistical modifier describes which statistical measure has been applied.
is in range of
constrains op, has StatisticalModifier op, has applicable StatisticalModifier op

Symmetric Systemc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/SymmetricSystem

A system of entities where the roles of all entities are mutually interchangeable.
has super-classes
System c
is in domain of
has Part op

Systemc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/System

A combination of two or more entities.
has super-classes
Entity c
has sub-classes
Asymmetric System c, Symmetric System c

Variablec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/Variable

A description of something observed or derived, minimally consisting of an ObjectOfInterest and its Property.
is equivalent to
has ObjectOfInterest op exactly 1 Entity c
has Property op exactly 1 Property c
is in domain of
has Constraint op, has ContextObject op, has Matrix op, has ObjectOfInterest op, has Property op, has StatisticalModifier op

VariableSetc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/VariableSet

An aggregation class to group a set of variable for a specific purpose.
is in domain of
has applicable ContextObject op, has applicable Matrix op, has applicable ObjectOfInterest op, has applicable Property op, has applicable StatisticalModifier op

Object Properties

constrainsop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/constrains

A Constraint constrains other components in the Variable description.
has domain
Constraint c
has range
Entity c or Property c or Statistical Modifier c

has applicable ContextObjectop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasApplicableContextObject

A VariableSet has zero or many applicable ContextObjects.
has sub-properties
has applicable Matrix op
has domain
VariableSet c
has range
Entity c

has applicable Matrixop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasApplicableMatrix

A VariableSet has zero or many applicable Matrices.
has super-properties
has applicable ContextObject op
has domain
VariableSet c
has range
Entity c

has applicable ObjectOfInterestop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasApplicableObjectOfInterest

A VariableSet has one or more applicable ObjectOfInterest.
has domain
VariableSet c
has range
Entity c

has applicable Propertyop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasApplicableProperty

A VariableSet has one or more applicable Properties.
has domain
VariableSet c
has range
Property c

has applicable StatisticalModifierop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasApplicableStatisticalModifier

A VariableSet has one or more applicable StatisticalModifier.
has domain
VariableSet c
has range
Statistical Modifier c

has Constraintop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasConstraint

A Variable has a Constraint, that confines an Entity involved in the observation.
has domain
Variable c
has range
Constraint c

has ContextObjectop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasContextObject

A Variable has an Entity that provides additional background information regarding the ObjectOfInterest.
has sub-properties
has Matrix op
has domain
Variable c
has range
Entity c

has Denominatorop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasDenominator

In a system that represents a fraction, this relation assign the role of the denominator.
has domain
Asymmetric System c
has range
Entity c

has Matrixop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasMatrix

A Variable might have an Entity in which the ObjectOfInterest is contained.
has super-properties
has ContextObject op
has domain
Variable c
has range
Entity c

has Numeratorop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasNumerator

In a system that represents a fraction, this relation assign the role of the numerator.
has domain
Asymmetric System c
has range
Entity c

has ObjectOfInterestop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasObjectOfInterest

A Variable has an Entity whose Property is observed.
has domain
Variable c
has range
Entity c

has Partop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasPart

A relation between a system and its part.
has domain
Symmetric System c
has range
Entity c

has Propertyop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasProperty

A Variable has a Property that characterizes an Entity.
has domain
Variable c
has range
Property c

has Sourceop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasSource

In a system that represents a flux or flow, this relation assign the role of the source of that flux or flow.
has domain
Asymmetric System c
has range
Entity c

has StatisticalModifierop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasStatisticalModifier

A Variable might have a StatisticalModifier that was applied to the observed property.
has domain
Variable c
has range
Statistical Modifier c

has Targetop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/hasTarget

In a system that represents a flux or flow, this relation assign the role of the target or sink of that flux or flow.
has super-properties
top Object Property op
has domain
Asymmetric System c
has range
Entity c

Legend back to ToC

c: Classes
op: Object Properties

References back to ToC

S. J. D. Cox (2017): Ontology for observations and sampling features, with alignments to existing models, Semantic Web, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 453–470.

Magagna, B., Moncoiffe, G., Stoica, M., Devaraju, A., Pamment, A., Schindler, S., and Huber, R.: The I-ADOPT Interoperability Framework: a proposal for FAIRer observable property descriptions, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-13155, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-13155, 2021.

Magagna, B., Moncoiffé, G., Devaraju, A., Stoica, M., Schindler, S., Pamment, A., & RDA I-ADOPT WG.: InteroperAble Descriptions of Observable Property Terminologies (I-ADOPT) WG Outputs and Recommendations (1.1.0). https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00071, 2022.

Magagna, B., Moncoiffe, G., Devaraju, A., Stoica, M., Schindler, S. and Pamment, A. (2021) I-ADOPT Framework 1.0.0. In: RDA Virtual Plenary 17. RDA Virtual Plenary 17, 20. - 23.04.2021, virtual.

Magagna, B., Moncoiffe, G., Devaraju, A., Buttigieg, P. L., Stoica, M., and Schindler, S.: Towards an interoperability framework for observable property terminologies, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-19895, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19895, 2020.

Magagna, B., Stocker, M. and Diepenbroek, M.: Towards Interoperability for Observed Parameters: Position Statement of an Emerging Working Group, in: Gaikwad, J., König-Ries, B., & Recknagel, F. (Eds). Proceedings of the ‘10th International Conference on Ecological Informatics: translating ecological data into knowledge and decisions in a rapidly changing world’, Jena, Germany, 24-28 September, 2018.

Stoica, M., & Peckham, S. D. (2018). An Ontology Blueprint for Constructing Qualitative and Quantitative Scientific Variables. In International Semantic Web Conference (P&D/Industry/BlueSky).

Stoica, M., & Peckham, S. (2019, September). Incorporating new concepts into the Scientific Variables Ontology. In 2019 15th International Conference on eScience (eScience) (pp. 539-540). IEEE. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/eScience.2019.00073

Stoica, M., & Peckham, S. D. (2019). The Scientific Variables Ontology: A blueprint for custom manual and automated creation and alignment of machine-interpretable qualitative and quantitative variable concepts. In Modeling the World's Systems Conference.

Changes from last version

Classes

Modified classes
  • https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/Entity
    • Added: rdfs:comment "An object or process that has a role in an observation. An Entity may play one of the following roles: ObjectOfInterest, ContextObject, or Matrix. Whether the involvement of a particular entity is meaningful enough to include in the variable description depends on the specific context."^^xsd:string
    • Deleted: rdfs:comment "An object or process that has a role in an observation. An Entity may play one of the following roles: ObjectOfInterest, ContextObject, Matrix. Whether the involvement of a particular entity is meaningful enough to include in the variable description depends on the specific context."^^xsd:string
  • https://w3id.org/iadopt/ont/Variable
    • Added: rdfs:comment "A description of something observed or derived, minimally consisting of an ObjectOfInterest and its Property."^^xsd:string
    • Deleted: rdfs:comment "A description of something observed or derived, minimally consisting of an ObjectOfInterest and its Property."^^xsd:string
Added classes

Object Properties

Modified object properties
Added object properties

Data Properties

Acknowledgments back to ToC

The authors would like to thank Silvio Peroni for developing LODE, a Live OWL Documentation Environment, which is used for representing the Cross Referencing Section of this document and Daniel Garijo for developing Widoco, the program used to create the template used in this documentation.

Furthermore, the authors like to thank the Research Data Alliance for providing the platform and support that enabled this work.

We would like to acknowledge the contributions from the following people who participated in the Modelling Workshops in Vienna in spring 2025: