Dear John, All,
I wasn't involved with CF before 2006, but I suspect the original reason for creating the region list was based on the idea that CF compliant files should be self-describing. I don't think the existing list of regions, or indeed the most recent proposal of contiguous_united_states are tied to any particular project. Participants in any project needing to use CF can propose new region names, just as they can propose standard names, and I don't think we are according any special status to CMIP5 in that regard.
Maintaining a list of region names as another controlled vocabulary alongside standard names and area types is not a particularly onerous task and I think it can readily be achieved within the existing standard names process. I agree with Roy's point that there will sometimes be a need to describe geographic regions that are not available in other controlled vocabularies and so I think we should retain the ability to add them within CF. I don't have a strong feeling either way as to whether we need to allow the use of external gazetteers, but if we do then I think it should be in addition to the CF list rather than simply replacing it. The standard name and area type tables are version controlled and dated and the same should be done for the region names.
Best wishes,
Alison
------
Alison Pamment Tel: +44 1235 778065
NCAS/British Atmospheric Data Centre Email: alison.pamment at stfc.ac.uk
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
R25, 2.22
Harwell Oxford, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cf-metadata-bounces at cgd.ucar.edu [mailto:cf-metadata-
> bounces at cgd.ucar.edu] On Behalf Of John Graybeal
> Sent: 12 January 2012 17:40
> To: Jonathan Gregory
> Cc: cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
> Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] Request for a region standard_name
>
> i may be missing a key organizational imperative, but it will be
> helpful for all of us to understand I think. To review the bidding:
>
> On Jan 12, 2012, at 07:15, Nan Galbraith wrote:
>
> > Maintaining a gazetteer seems a little outside the scope of CF -
> wouldn't it be preferable to require (or at least allow) an attribute
> for the "region" variable pointing to an external vocabulary?
>
>
> On Jan 12, 2012, at 08:45, Lowry, Roy K. wrote:
>
> > However, in the case of CMIP5 I doubt if any published resource will
> fulfil their requirements because the spatial objects are sections
> defined by the project, which are unlikely to be included in any
> resource originating outside the project. Therefore they need their
> own project-specific resource and I can't see any alternative to this
> being governed and served by CF.
>
> On Jan 12, 2012, at 09:03, Jonathan Gregory wrote:
>
> > Dear Alison
> >
> >> The CMIP5 regions I was thinking of were the names of various sea
> channels and straits.
> >
> > I agree that it makes sense to add the CMIP5 channels and straits to
> the CF region list. Thanks.
>
> What is it about the CMIP5 project that makes it (uniquely?) supported
> by the community resource CF?
>
> Generally, if a project that needs a project-specific resource, the
> project creates that resource, right? In this day and age, creating a
> gazzetteer, or equivalent resource of terms, is pretty trivial even
> without programming expertise.
>
> So I go back to Nan's input, and reply "Yes -- it would be preferable
> to require an attribute for the region variable pointing to the
> external vocabulary." Or at least, pointing to the vocabulary. Even if
> CF is the one that maintains the vocabulary (for its own purposes, or
> for this project), including region names as part of the CF conventions
> seems idiosyncratic rather than systematic.
>
> John
>
>
> John Graybeal <mailto:jgraybeal at ucsd.edu>
> phone: 858-534-2162
> Product Manager
> Ocean Observatories Initiative Cyberinfrastructure Project:
> http://ci.oceanobservatories.org
> Marine Metadata Interoperability Project: http://marinemetadata.org
>
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