OR/13/042 Introduction

Hughes, A G, Harpham, Q K, Riddick, A T, Royse, K R, and Singh, A. 2013. Meta-model: ensuring the widespread access to metadata and data for environmental models - scoping report. British Geological Survey External Report, OR/13/042.

Rationale

This work is a response to the challenge posed by the NERC Environmental Data (NED) call. It is designed to address the issue of ensuring that models and the data that are used to drive them and what they produce are properly recorded and made available. This is particularly important given the amount of investment that organisations make in producing both data and models.

This project sought to investigate providing wider accessibility by scoping out how to undertake the following:

1. Ensure that the data used to create models are recorded and their source known. (Input Data)
2. The models produced are themselves available. (Model Engine/Instance)
3. The results produced by these models can be obtained. (Output Data)

Importance of metadata

Data are fed into a model engine and the results produced as data files. The data used to drive process models can come from a variety of organisations, e.g. NERC Centre Surveys. The models used to process these data can be developed in-house or purchased from a software provider. They can also be a collection of linked models; a composition. For this report the term model code is used to describe the algorithm and its encapsulation into a complied code. A model instance is a combination of the model and its input data where it is applied to a particular area.

These models can typically produce a number of data files which can get multiplied if sensitivity analysis or full uncertainty analysis is undertaken. Therefore, methods have to be developed to store how the data used to drive the models, the models themselves and the resulting output files.

This can benefit both single model as well as linked model compositions. The latter can be formed from components, e.g. models that can be found and linked by knowledge of their metadata.

The meta-model NED project aims to scope out how to produce a metadata catalogue which can store the information to solve these problems.

Figure 1    Data flow into and out of a model.

Structure of report

The report has four further sections: ‘Methodology’ describes what was undertaken during the project, ‘Findings’ details what was discovered and what is missing in current practice, ‘Summary of best practice’ provides a summary of best practice and ‘Summary of findings and proposed work’ summarises the main conclusions of the report and outlines what we should do.