Link to the session recording: https://vimeo.com/743474785
Digital Unit Representation Systems and their Use in Infrastructure”
A Session of the Units Summit*
CODATA Task Group on the Digital Representation of Units of Measurement (DRUM)
The current state of the digital representation of units of measurement (DRUM) across domains is the major issue relative to the interoperability of data. Working toward a solution for digital units that works for machines (in repositories, databases, software, scripts) and humans (websites, books, spreadsheets) is a fundamental component of what is needed for the CODATA Decadal Program on “Making data work for cross-domain grand challenges.”
Across the scientific disciplines there are many unit of measurement representation systems. These have primarily been developed as a consequence of use cases for the digital storage of scientific data. In order to understand the needs of the community relative to the representation of units in digital systems, it is important to uncover the needs that these systems address. In addition, given the current BIPM digitalization and CIPM Task Group work toward a digital SI system, what does the community need relative to such a system.
This session, as part of the ‘Units Summit’ at SciDataCon 2022, will therefore focus on hearing from both developers of unit representation systems and the research community. The following outline for the session provides an overview of the different units related projects currently available, presentation from some of the projects, a panel discussion of identify major issues/pain points and open discussion with the community.
Agenda
Welcome and Survey of Units of Measurement Representation Systems/Encodings, Stuart Chalk (10 min)
A view from infrastructure, in terms of capturing/using units and quantities metadata (which standards or vocabulary is in use) (speakers to be announced) (15 min)
Panel discussion with participants (currently confirmed) from several widely adopted unit representation systems (40 min):
UCUM –Gunther Schadow (NIH)
QUDT – Steve Ray (QUDT)
UDUnits – Steve Emmerson (UCAR)
units-of-measurement.org and NVS P06 – Simon Cox (CSIRO)
UnitsML – Nick Nicolas and Ronald Tse (Ribose Inc.)
General discussion (20 min)
Wrap up and next steps (5 min)
* The other sessions in the ‘Units Summit” are: Interoperable Units of Measurement: International Developments (Robert Hanisch) and BIPM Developments Towards Interoperable Metrology (Susanne Picard).
Unit Representation System Videos
Wolfram “Units, Quantities, Physical Quantities, Physical Dimensions, and Physical Constants in the Wolfram Language”, Michael Trott (18 min)
QUDT “QUDT - Quantities, Units, Dimensions and Types”, Steve Ray (13 min)
IVOA “VOUnits: Astronomy Units in the IVOA”, Norman Gray (9 min)
UDUnits “UDUNITS Introduction”, Steven Emmerson (5 min)
UCUM “The Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM) Overview” Gunther Schadow (10 min)
UnitsML “Introduction to UnitsML” Ronald Tse (9 min)