KarstLink Sub-commission

You might have wondered how to find data on caves? How to connect the caves to the documents that speak of them? How to create links between scientific observations, the measurements made by the sensors and the cavities in which these observations were made? How to share data between databases that have been designed independently of each other? How to apply one query to a group of databases even though they are independent and scattered around the world?

In recent years, standards and tools have come available which allow the web to become a web of data instead of just a web of documents - Linked Data on the Semantic Web. This presents an opportunity for us to make our hard-won cave and karst data much more discoverable, useable, queryable and transferable.

Therefore the UIS KarstLink Sub-commission has been created to carry out this work, and to liaise with the various other groups that deal with cave and karst information. Initiated by WikiCaves, the French Federation of Speleology (FFS) and the European Speleological Federation (FSE), the work of the project is being carried out under the International Union of Speleology (UIS) in order to maximise international participation from cave and karst explorers, scientists and managers.

KarstLink is a major international collaborative project and it is important that people from every country contribute their experience, perspective and requirements.

This page is a summary of the project. Its actual work is done via its mailing list and its wiki, which you are encouraged to join.

A slide presentation: en | fr

Vision

An international cooperation for organising and facilitating the machine-readable on-line responsible sharing of reliable cave and karst data.

The use of standardised tools from the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Linked Data and the Semantic Web to describe the cave and karst environment, and thus offer database managers a way to share their work without modifying their existing infrastructure.

The availability of documentation, tools and facilities to make it as easy as possible for database managers to understand and then implement the KarstLink adaptations to their existing databases, thus speeding up the wide availability of shared cave/karst data.

Goals and Activities

1. Set up effective means for communication between project participants and for the collaborative development of the technical details of the project.
2. Gain the participation and co-operation of as many countries and their karst database managers as possible.
3. Create a karst Linked Data ontology on which to base the infrastructure to enable easy Linked Data access to and communication between cave and karst databases and related web applications.
4. Promote the creation of a basic data-sharing recommendation by UIS which can accommodate the varying levels of cave location precision acceptable for data sharing within each country, with the aim of this encouraging each country to address the issue, create a policy, and so better allow them to share their data and co-operate with this project.

5. Liaison and collaboration with other groups that have an interest in systems for cave and karst information, including:

   • GrottoCenter, the web-based global database of caves since 2008.
   • The UIS Dictionary Sub-commission concerning the definitions for cave and karst terms, and incorporate additions and updates as they become available. This sub-commission is working on a term-linkable web-based comprehensive cave and karst glossary, starting with existing well-used glossaries.
   • The UIS Bibliography Commission to optimise the access and use of their extensive abstracts of speleological literature.
   • The UIS Publications Exchange Sub-commission and their network of cave journal librarians.
   • The Karst Information Portal (KIP) to optimise the access and use of their store of speleological publications and data.
   • The World Data System (WDS) of the International Science Council (ISC) concerning the sharing and quality assurance of scientific data (UIS is an Affiliated Member of the ISC). Encourage database managers to follow WDS recommendations with their data.
6. Extend the pilot to provide a practical Linked Data infrastructure for use by karst database managers and users around the world.
7. Produce documentation, tools, on-line tutorials and a go-to enquiry/advice service to help cave and karst database managers and users take advantage of the facility provided.
8. Present the ontology and data transfers at the International Congress of Speleology (ICS) in July 2022 in France. (postoned from 2021)
9. Keep abreast of Linked Data developments and adapt our Linked Data systems accordingly.

10. Deliverables - planned outputs from the project:

    • An infrastructure to facilitate international work and collaboration on the project. (Done)
    • Collaborations with other groups involved with systems for cave and karst information. (In progress)
    • A cave and karst vocabulary/ontology, with documentation and examples, to permit the use of a Linked Data environment. Also a list of associated ontologies. (In progress)
    • A list of cave and karst databases around the world, together with their access requirements.
    • Documentation, tools, on-line tutorials and a go-to enquiry/advice service to help cave and karst database managers and users take advantage of the facility provided. (In progress)
    • A demonstration at the ICS in France in 2022.

Action Plan

1. Prepare a project summary web page (This page - done), inviting participation by April 2020 if possible, and including the gathering of preliminary information from participants. (Done)
2. Prepare a mailing list, a wiki and PURL addresses for the carrying out of the project. (Done)
3. Prepare an article for FSE News and for the UIS Bulletin. (Done)
4. Prepare articles/announcements/invitations for as many country speleo organisations, mailing lists and contacts as possible. (Done)
5. Arrange an invitation letter from UIS to each of its member countries (Done).
6. Encourage development of a basic data-sharing policy by UIS. (In progress; UIS has approved a UISIC Project to prepare a draft proposal.)
7. Instigate collaboration with the other groups associated with cave and karst information as listed above. (In progress)
8. Prepare a list of the cave and karst entities and their relationships that we need to include in our ontology. (Done)
9. Choose and install the tools that will help us build our vocabulary and ontology. (Done)
10. Choose the already existing ontologies that we will use to complement our own ontology of the cave and karst entities that we have identified. (Done)
11. Write up in natural language how these different ontologies will be utilised. (Done)
12. Organize a vote to validate the choices that have been made. (Done)
13. Transcribe the work done into the language of the Semantic Web. (Done)
14. Publish online the ontologies produced. (Done)
15. After this, applications exchanging data using this ontology could be developed. (Realised)
16. Produce the documentation, tools, on-line tutorials and enquiry/advice service needed to help cave and karst database managers and users take full advantage of the facility provided. (Done)
17. Expand the ontology to take into account more entities and relationships, including observations made in the underground environment. (In progress)
18. Improve the documentation etc to make it more usable by database managers not yet familiar with W3C Linked Data.
19. Monitor W3C and other Linked Data progress and adapt our systems accordingly. (Ongoing)
20. Present the ontology and data transfers at the International Congress of Speleology (ICS) in July 2022 in France. (postoned from 2021)

Current timetable:

For the latest timetable, please see the wiki.

Status

Achieved so far:

• the sub-commission has been created
• the project communications infrastructure set up
• the project widely publicised
• the initial ontology decided by vote and put on line
• preliminary user documentation produced
• sample data with a KarstLink interface set up, contributed by several existing databases
• the UIS Speleo Abstracts (BBS/SA), now on GrottoCenter, uses Karstlink to collect and provide data

You can use the ontology now (refer to the online Help), and the project leaders are available to provide any technical assistance you may need.

A lot of data is already available via KarstLink and we will work with anyone who wants to share their data with KarstLink tools.

We are currently working to extend the ontology, including ensuring that the data related to observations made in the underground environment can be described with Karstlink.

We plan also to present the work at the ICS in France in 2022.

If you are interested in using KarstLink or contributing, you can join the project via our wiki and mailing list below.

And you can keep up to date with developments via our News column on this page.

Invitation

Who can be involved? It is important that every interested individual and organisation from every country join the project without delay in order to add their experience, their perspective, and their requirements. Or even just to keep abreast of developments... 😉

How to join:

• Subscribe to the project mailing list.

• Create an account on the KarstLink wiki, log in, and edit whatever of the following pages are relevant:

  • Indicate whether your organisation is becoming a partner in the project and how it would like to participate.
  • Advise us of cave/karst databases in your country and their links and contact details.
  • Consider adding a User Page to the wiki giving a bit of background about yourself, including any experience you might have had in this area, and what you hope to get out of this project and/or contribute to it. (Use the dropdown at your username on the wiki)
  • Help us define in natural language the cave and karst Entities that we need to describe and the relationships that exist between them.
  • Propose your candidacy if you would like to be part of the Management Team.

Contact

To contact the Management Team, please send an email to: KarstLinkMgt at uis-speleo.org

To send a message to the Project, please use the Mailing list

The Management Team:

Eric MADELAINE (France)

Peter MATTHEWS (Australia)

Frédéric URIEN (France)

Wiki  |  Mailing list