Use Case: Managing Controlled Vocabularies

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Description

GUIDs may provide a mechanism for managing the expected sets of possible values for different elements within data exchange models. For example, the Darwin Core element BasisOfRecord? could be replaced with an element taking only values from a controlled vocabulary. One way to handle this would be simply to define the possible values within the schema definition, but it would be good to have a solution that is more generic and which will accommodate different representations other than XML Schema.

The set of accepted values could be registered in an ontology and each assigned a GUID for use wherever the value occurs. Depending on the nature of the vocabulary, it could be fully closed or allow for different data providers to supply their own additional values identified by GUIDs. Such an approach may provide a means to develop a shared ontology for biodiversity data by gradually populating it with values.

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