EPOS-DCAT-AP - Version 3.0

Overview

This document contains version 3.0 of the specification for EPOS-DCAT-AP, an extension of the DCAT application profile for Research Infrastructures which allows to increase findability, accessibility, and usability of multidisciplinary resources to researchers and other stakeholders.

Context

The European Plate Observing System [[EPOS]] is a pan-European Research Infrastructure (RI) for solidEarth sciences included in the Environmental Research Infrastructure Cluster (ENVRI).
A major challenge in EPOS is the integration of multi-disciplinary, multi-organisational, distributed resources and community resources into a single overarching Research Infrastructure - the EPOS Integrated Core Services (ICS). ICS aggregate and harmonise descriptions of datasets, data products, software and services provided by different Thematic Core Services (TCS). TCS adopt heterogeneous formats, vocabularies, protocols, and standards to represent and make their assets available. In order to capture, organise and harmonise information from different sources and to enable semantic interoperability through exchanges of metadata between ICS and TCS, an application profile based on DCAT-AP has been developed, namely EPOS-DCAT-AP [[EPOS-DCAT-AP]].
EPOS-DCAT-AP is the result of a collaborative work that brought together diverse expertise which aims at increasing accessibility and usability of multidisciplinary data to researchers and other stakeholders.

EPOS-DCAT-AP is adopted successfully in EPOS, however, the set of requirements addressed make this model suitable to be adopted by other Research Infrastructures and to be applied in different contexts.

Scope of this document

The purpose of this document is to align EPOS-DCAT-AP version 2.0 with DCAT-AP version 3 [[DCAT-AP-3]].

A DCAT-AP extension

The EPOS-DCAT-AP specification is designed as an extension of DCAT-AP in conformance with the guidelines for the creation of DCAT-AP extensions [[DCAT-AP-EG]].

The DCAT-AP Application Profile on which this document is based is the DCAT-AP specification v3 [[DCAT-AP-3]].

Profile Encoding

The encoding of the EPOS-DCAT-AP [[EPOS-DCAT-AP]] provides the technical aspects used for data representation and exchange, ensuring interoperability. An influential choice for achieving interoperability across diverse systems is the adoption of RDF (Resource Description Framework) and the Turtle format. RDF's structure allows for a flexible and standardized representation of data, promoting a harmonized approach to information exchange.

The preference for Turtle [[Turtle]] as a data exchange format is based on its simplicity and human-readable nature. This choice is crucial for promoting a consistent and clear representation of data, fitting well with the RDF model.

Finally, a Turtle document serves as a textual representation of an RDF graph, offering a compact yet expressive format for articulating the complexities of the graph. An RDF graph, built on triples consisting of a subject, predicate, and object, forms the backbone of this interoperable and standardized representation.

Profile Validation

To verify if the data exchange is (technically) conformant to DCAT-AP, the Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) [[SHACL]] is defined.

SHACL is designed to provide constraints and validation for RDF graphs and offering several advantages:

Extensibility: SHACL allows for the precise definition of constraints on RDF data. It is designed to be extensible, enabling users to define custom constraint components, which can be reused across multiple shapes and datasets.
Scalable and efficient: SHACL is structured for efficient validation, making it suitable for use with large datasets and complex data models.
Widely adopted: SHACL is a W3C Recommendation for expressing constraints on a RDF knowledge graph, it enjoys broad support among data management tools and libraries, promoting interoperability and reusability. This makes it a more natural fit for data models that need to interoperate with other semantic web resources and standards.

The SHACL constraints for EPOS-DCAT-AP are available at:

https://github.com/epos-eu/EPOS-DCAT-AP/blob/EPOS-DCAT-AP-v3.0/docs/epos-dcat-ap_v3.0.0_shacl.ttl

They represent a set of integrity constraints used to validate instance shapes with respect to:

cardinality constraints, both for properties that have a minimum occurrence greater or equal to than 1 (for example, there needs to be at least one occurrence of the mandatory property title of a Dataset) and properties that have an explicit maximum occurrence (for example, there can be a maximum of one licence for a Distribution)
restrictions concerning ranges (expressed as sh:nodeKind) of properties to avoid that properties, irrespective of whether they are mandatory, recommended or optional, are provided that violate range declarations.

Revision history

In 2023, the adoption of W3C DCAT 3 triggered a new alignment for DCAT-AP. W3C DCAT 3 extends the profile with the Dataset Series notion, deprecates the use of some URIs and introducing new URIs in the DCAT namespace for the use case of Dataset versioning.

Classes alignment EPOS-DCAT-AP v3.0 with DCAT-AP v3.0

Class	Property	DCAT-AP v3.0 action	EPOS-DCAT-AP v3.0 action
Dataset Series	-	Added new class	Aligned

Properties alignment EPOS-DCAT-AP v3.0 with DCAT-AP v3.0

Class	Property	DCAT-AP v3.0 action	EPOS-DCAT-AP v3.0 action
Dataset	Deprecated properties: dct:hasVersion, dct:isVersionOf , owl:isVersionOf.	Replaced the URI with: dcat:hasVersion, dcat:isVersionOf, dcat:version.	Aligned
Distribution	dcat:bytesize	The range is fixed by xsd:nonNegativeInteger	Aligned
Location	locn:geometry	The range is changed with locn:Geometry	Aligned
Catalog	dct:creator	Updated cardianlity 0..1	Aligned
Catalog	dct:temporal	Added property	Aligned
Catalog	dcat:themeTaxonomy	Applied new usage notes for Catalog themes	Aligned
CatalogRecord	dct:conformsTo	Lift the max cardinality for property application profile for Catalogue Record	Aligned
DataService	dct:description	Optional	Recommended as in the previuos version
DataService	dct:format	The property added to represent the structure that can be returned by querying the endpointURL.	Aligned
DataService	dcat:landingpage	The property added to represent the landing page at the original data service provider.	Aligned
Dataset	dct:accessRights	Adjust the definition of access rights by replacing the policy notion ‘Open Data’ with a neutral term.	Aligned
Dataset	dct:description	Optional, cardinality 0..n	Mandatory, cardinality 1..n as in the previuos version
Dataset	dct:identifier	Optional, cardinality 0..n	Mandatory, cardinality 1..1 as in the previuos version
Dataset	dcat:spatialResolutionInMeters	Updated cardianlity 0..n	Aligned
Dataset	dcat:temporalResolution	Updated cardianlity 0..n	Aligned
Dataset	dct:type	Updated cardianlity 0..n	Aligned
Distribution	dcatap:availability	Optional	Recommended as in the previuos version
Distribution	dct:description	Optional	Recommended as in the previuos version
Distribution	dcat:spatialResolutionInMeters	Updated cardianlity 0..n	Aligned
Distribution	adms:status	Replaced mandatory Distribution status controlled vocabulary	Aligned
Distribution	dcat:temporalResolution	Updated cardianlity 0..n	Aligned

Terminology used in the Application Profile

A Vocabulary s a specification that determines the semantics of terms (classes and properties) in a broad context of information exchange. The defined terms are highlyhigly reusable.

An Application Profile is a specification that re-uses terms from one or more base standards (vocabularies), adding more specificity by identifying mandatory, recommended and optional elements to be used for a particular application, as well as recommendations for controlled vocabularies to be used.

In the following sections, classes and properties are grouped under headings ‘mandatory’, ‘recommended’ and ‘optional’. These terms have the following meaning:

Mandatory class: a receiver MUST be able to process information about instances of the class; a sender MUST provide information about instances of the class.
Recommended class: a receiver MUST be able to process information about instances of the class; a sender SHOULD provide information about instances of the class; a sender of data MUST provide information about instances of the class, if such information is available.
Optional class: a receiver MUST be able to process information about instances of the class; a sender MAY provide the information but is not obliged to do so.
Mandatory property: a receiver MUST be able to process the information for that property; a sender MUST provide the information for that property.
Recommended property: a receiver MUST be able to process the information for that property; a sender SHOULD provide information for that property; a sender MUST provide information for that property, if such information is available.
Optional property: a receiver MUST be able to process the information for that property; a sender MAY provide the information for that property but is not obliged to do so.

The meaning of the terms MUST, MUST NOT, SHOULD and MAY in this section and in the following sections are as defined in [[RFC2119]].

Namespaces

The namespace for EPOS-DCAT-AP is: https://www.epos-eu.org/epos-dcat-ap

The namespace prefix is: epos

The Application Profile reuses terms from various existing specifications, following established best practices [[?DWBP]]. The following table indicates the full list of corresponding namespaces used in this document.

Prefix	Namespace URI	Specification
`adms`	`http://www.w3.org/ns/adms#`	[[VOCAB-ADMS]]
`dcat`	`http://www.w3.org/ns/dcat#`	[[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
`dcatap`	`http://data.europa.eu/r5r/`	[[DCAT-AP]]
`dct`	`http://purl.org/dc/terms/`	[[DCTERMS]]
`dctype`	`http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/`	[[DCTERMS]]
`dqv`	`http://www.w3.org/ns/dqv#`	[[VOCAB-DQV]]
`epos`	`https://www.epos-eu.org/epos-dcat-ap#`	[[EPOS]]
`foaf`	`http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/`	[[FOAF]]
`gsp`	`http://www.opengis.net/ont/geosparql#`	[[GeoSPARQL]]
`http`	`http://www.w3.org/2006/http#`	[[HTTP]]
`hydra`	`http://www.w3.org/ns/hydra/core#`	[[HYDRA]]
`locn`	`http://www.w3.org/ns/locn#`	[[LOCN]]
`oa`	`http://www.w3.org/ns/oa#`	[[ANNOTATION-VOCAB]]
`owl`	`http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#`	[[OWL-REF]]
`rdf`	`http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#`	[[RDF11-CONCEPTS]]
`rdfs`	`http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#`	[[RDF-SCHEMA]]
`schema`	`http://schema.org/`	[[?SCHEMA-ORG]]
`skos`	`http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#`	[[SKOS-REFERENCE]]
`spdx`	`http://spdx.org/rdf/terms#`	[[SPDX]]
`time`	`http://www.w3.org/2006/time#`	[[OWL-TIME]]
`vcard`	`http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#`	[[VCARD-RDF]]
`xsd`	`http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#`	[[XMLSCHEMA11-2]]

Application Profile Overview

shows a UML diagram of the classes and properties included in the EPOS-DCAT-AP.

Application Profile Classes

Mandatory Classes

Class name	Usage note for the Application Profile	URI	Reference
Agent	An entity (e.g., an individual or an organization) that is associated with Catalogs, Catalog Records, Data Services, or Datasets. If the Agent is an organization, the use of the Organization Ontology [[VOCAB-ORG]] is recommended.	`foaf:Agent`	§ Class: foaf:Agent [[FOAF]]
Catalog	A catalog or repository that hosts the resources (as Data Services, Datasets, or other Catalogs) being described.	`dcat:Catalog`	§ 7.2 Catalog [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
Dataset	A conceptual entity that represents the information published.	`dcat:Dataset`	§ 7.7 Dataset [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
Literal	A literal value such as a string or integer; Literals may be typed, e.g. as a date according to `xsd:date`. Literals that contain human-readable text have an optional language tag as defined by [[BCP47]].	`rdfs:Literal`	§ 3.3 Literals [[RDF11-CONCEPTS]]
Resource	Anything described by RDF.	`rdfs:Resource`	§ 2.1 rdfs:Resource [[RDF-SCHEMA]]

Recommended Classes

Class name	Usage note for the Application Profile	URI	Reference
Category	A subject of a Catalog, Dataset, or Data Service.	`skos:Concept`	§ 8.4 Concept [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
Category scheme	A concept collection (e.g. controlled vocabulary) in which the Category is defined.	`skos:ConceptScheme`	§ 8.5 Concept Scheme [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
Distribution	A physical embodiment of the Dataset in a particular format.	`dcat:Distribution`	§ 7.10 Distribution [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
License Document	A legal document giving official permission to do something with a resource.	`dct:LicenseDocument`	§ Term name: LicenseDocument [[DCTERMS]]

Optional Classes

Class name	Usage note for the Application Profile	URI	Reference
Catalog Record	A description of a Catalog's, Data Service's, or Dataset's entry in the Catalog.	`dcat:CatalogRecord`	§ 7.3 Catalog Record [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
Checksum	A value that allows the contents of a file to be authenticated. This class allows the results of a variety of checksum and cryptographic message digest algorithms to be represented.	`spdx:Checksum`	§ Checksum [[SPDX]]
Data Service	A collection of operations that provides access to one or more datasets or data processing functions.	`dcat:DataService`	§ 7.6 Data Service [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
Dataset Series	A collection of datasets that are published separately, but share some characteristics that group them.	`dcat:DatasetSeries`	§ 7.9 Dataset Series [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
Document	A textual resource intended for human consumption that contains information, e.g., a Web page about a Dataset.	`foaf:Document`	§ Class: foaf:Document [[FOAF]]
Frequency	A rate at which something recurs, e.g., the publication of a Dataset.	`dct:Frequency`	§ Term name: Frequency [[DCTERMS]]
Identifier	An identifier in a particular context, consisting of the string that is the identifier; an optional identifier for the identifier scheme; an optional identifier for the version of the identifier scheme; an optional identifier for the agency that manages the identifier scheme.	`adms:Identifier`	§ 5.2.6 Identifier [[VOCAB-ADMS]]
Kind	A description following the [[VCARD-RDF]] specification, e.g. to provide telephone number and e-mail address for a contact point. Note that the class `vcard:Kind` is the parent class for the four explicit types of vCards (`vcard:Individual`, `vcard:Organization`, `vcard:Location`, `vcard:Group`).	`vcard:Kind`	§ Kind [[VCARD-RDF]]
Linguistic system	A system of signs, symbols, sounds, gestures, or rules used in communication, e.g. a language.	`dct:LinguisticSystem`	§ Term name: LinguisticSystem [[DCTERMS]]
Location	A spatial region or named place. It can be represented using a controlled vocabulary or with geographic coordinates.	`dct:Location`	§ Term name: Location [[DCTERMS]]
Media type	A media type, e.g. the format of a computer file.	`dct:MediaType`	§ Term name: MediaType [[DCTERMS]]
Period of time	An interval of time that is named or defined by its start and end dates.	`dct:PeriodOfTime`	§ Term name: PeriodOfTime [[DCTERMS]]
Provenance Statement	A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of a resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation.	`dct:ProvenanceStatement`	§ Term name: ProvenanceStatement [[DCTERMS]]
Publisher type	A type of organization that acts as a publisher.	`skos:Concept`	§ 5.3.41 dcterms:type [[VOCAB-ADMS]]
Relationship	An association class for attaching additional information to a relationship between DCAT Resources.	`dcat:Relationship`	§ 7.14 Relationship [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
Rights statement	A statement about the intellectual property rights (IPR) held in or over a resource, a legal document giving official permission to do something with a resource, or a statement about access rights.	`dct:RightsStatement`	§ Term name: RightsStatement [[DCTERMS]]
Role	A role is the function of a resource or agent with respect to another resource, in the context of resource attribution or resource relationships. Note it is a subclass of `skos:Concept`.	`dcat:Role`	§ 8.18 Role [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]
Standard	A standard or other specification to which a Catalog, Catalog Record, Data Service, Dataset, or Distribution conforms.	`dct:Standard`	§ Term name: Standard [[DCTERMS]]
Status	An indication of the maturity of a Distribution or the type of change of a Catalog Record.	`skos:Concept`	§ 5.2.13 Status [[VOCAB-ADMS]]

Additional classes for EPOS-DCAT-AP

The following classes are included in [[EPOS-DCAT-AP]]:

Class name	Usage note	URI	Reference
Address	A postal address of the Kind.	`vcard:Address`	§ Address [[VCARD-RDF]]
Equipment	A generic equipment. E.g. a GPS sensor, a seismic station's channel. Note: it is a subclass of `rdfs:Resource`	`epos:Equipment`	§ 2.1 rdfs:Resource [[RDF-SCHEMA]] § Product [[SCHEMA-ORG]]
Facility	A facility with resources and related services used by the scientific community to conduct top-level research in their respective fields, ranging from social sciences to astronomy, genomics to nanotechnologies. Examples include laboratories, special habitats, libraries, databases, biological archives, etc. A type of facility could be a research infrastructure a higher aggregated entity. Note: it is a subclass of `rdfs:Resource`	`epos:Facility`	§ 2.1 rdfs:Resource [[RDF-SCHEMA]]
IriTemplate	An IRI template with a set of IriTemplateMapping. Note: it is a subclass of `rdfs:Resource`	`hydra:IriTemplate`	§ hydra:IriTemplate [[HYDRA]]
IriTemplateMapping	A mapping from an IRI template variable to a property. The syntax of the template literal is specified by its datatype and defaults to the [[RFC6570]] URI Template syntax, which can be explicitly indicated by hydra:Rfc6570Template. Note: it is a subclass of `rdfs:Resource`	`hydra:IriTemplateMapping`	§ hydra:IriTemplateMapping [[HYDRA]]
Operation	A description of a Data Service operation which includes an IriTemplate. Note: it is a subclass of `rdfs:Resource`	`hydra:Operation`	§ hydra:Operation [[HYDRA]]
PostalAddress	A postal address of a Person or Organization.	`schema:PostalAddress`	§ PostalAddress [[SCHEMA-ORG]]
Project	An associated project for an Organization.	`foaf:Project`	§ Class: foaf:Project [[FOAF]]
PropertyValue	A property-value pair, e.g. representing a feature of a product or place.	`schema:PropertyValue`	§ PropertyValue [[SCHEMA-ORG]]
Publication	A text publication is a resource relating to a dataset, data product or other. Note: it is a subclass of `schema:CreativeWork`	`epos:Publication`	§ CreativeWork [[SCHEMA-ORG]]
Service	A service provided by an Organization. Note: it is a subclass of `schema:Intangible`	`schema:Service`	§ Service [[SCHEMA-ORG]]
SoftwareApplication	A software package, application and program. Note: it is a subclass of `schema:CreativeWork`	`schema:SoftwareApplication`	§ SoftwareApplication [[SCHEMA-ORG]]
SoftwareSourceCode	A computer programming source code. Example: Full (compile ready) solutions, code snippet samples, scripts, templates. Note: it is a subclass of `schema:CreativeWork`	`schema:SoftwareSourceCode`	§ SoftwareSourceCode [[SCHEMA-ORG]]

Equivalent classes for EPOS-DCAT-AP

The following classes are defined as equivalent classes for [[EPOS-DCAT-AP]]:

Class name	Usage note	URI	Reference	DCAT-AP equivalent class
ContactPoint	A contact point of a resource.	`schema:ContactPoint`	§ Class: ContactPoint [[SCHEMA-ORG]]	`vcard:Kind`
Organization	A kind of Agent corresponding to social instititutions such as companies, societies etc.	`schema:Organization`	§ Class Organization [[SCHEMA-ORG]]	`foaf:Organization` subclass of `foaf:Agent`
Person	A kind of Agent corresponding to a Person.	`schema:Person`	§ Class Person [[SCHEMA-ORG]]	`foaf:Person` subclass of `foaf:Agent`

Application Profile Properties per Class

A quick reference table of properties per class is included in 4.37 Quick Reference of Classes and Properties. The list of included properties contains all the properties in [[DCAT-AP]], plus a selection of properties from other vocabularies on which EPOS-DCAT-AP expresses additional constraints or on which EPOS-DCAT-AP wants to emphasise their usage.

Examples on the use of these properties, encoded in [[Turtle]], are included in the relevant sections and available from a separate folder.

Class: Address

Class name	Address
Obligation	Optional
URI	`vcard:Address`
Usage note	A postal address of the Kind.
Reference	§ Address [[VCARD-RDF]]

Mandatory properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
country-name	`vcard:country-name`	`rdfs:Literal`	The country. For example, USA. You can also provide the two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code.	1..1
locality	`vcard:locality`	`rdfs:Literal`	The locality in which the street address is, and which is in the region. For example, Mountain View.	1..1
postal-code	`vcard:postal-code`	`rdfs:Literal`	The postal code. For example, 94043.	1..1
street-address	`vcard:street-address`	`rdfs:Literal`	The street name and civic number of an Address.	1..1

Example

Class: Agent

Class name	Agent
Obligation	Mandatory
URI	`foaf:Agent`
Usage note	An entity (e.g., an individual or an organization) that is associated with Catalogues, Catalogue Records, Data Services, or Datasets. If the Agent is an organization, the use of the Organization Ontology [[VOCAB-ORG]] is recommended.
Reference	§ Class: foaf:Agent [[FOAF]] [[VOCAB-ORG]]

Mandatory property

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
name	`foaf:name`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a name of the Agent. This property can be repeated for different versions of the name (e.g. the name in different languages) .	1..n

Recommended property

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
type	`dct:type`	`skos:Concept`	This property refers to a type of the Agent that makes the Catalog, Catalog Record, Data Service, or Dataset available	0..1

Class: Catalog

Class name	Catalog
Obligation	Mandatory
URI	`dcat:Catalog`
Usage note	A catalog or repository that hosts the resources (as Data Services, Datasets, or other Catalogs) being described.
Reference	§ 7.2 Catalog [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]

Mandatory properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
description	`dct:description`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a free-text account of the Catalog. This property can be repeated for parallel language versions of the description .	1..n
publisher	`dct:publisher`	`foaf:Agent` or `schema:Organization`	This property refers to an entity (organization) responsible for making the Catalog available.	1..1
title	`dct:title`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a name given to the Catalog. This property can be repeated for parallel language versions of the name .	1..n

Recommended properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
dataset	`dcat:dataset`	`dcat:Dataset`	This property links the Catalog with a Dataset that is part of the Catalog.	0..n
issued	`dct:issued`	`rdfs:Literal` typed as `xsd:date` or `xsd:dateTime`	This property contains the date of formal issuance (e.g., publication) of the Catalog.	0..1
homepage	`foaf:homepage`	`foaf:Document`	This property refers to a Web page that acts as the main page for the Catalog.	0..1
language	`dct:language`	`dct:LinguisticSystem`	This property refers to a language used in the textual metadata describing titles, descriptions, etc. of the resources documented in the Catalog (Data Services, Data Sets, and other Catalogs). This property can be repeated if the metadata is provided in multiple languages .	0..n
license	`dct:license`	`dct:LicenseDocument`	This property refers to the license under which the Catalog can be used or reused.	0..1
modified	`dct:modified`	`rdfs:Literal` typed as `xsd:date` or `xsd:dateTime`	This property contains the most recent date on which the Catalog was modified.	0..1
service	`dcat:service`	`dcat:DataService`	This property refers to a site or end-point (Data Service) that is listed in the Catalog.	0..n
spatial	`dct:spatial`	`dct:Location`	This property refers to a geographic area covered by the Catalog.	0..n
themeTaxonomy	`dcat:themeTaxonomy`	`skos:ConceptScheme`	This property refers to a knowledge organization system used to classify the Catalog's Datasets.	0..n

Optional properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
catalog	`dcat:catalog`	`dcat:Catalog`	This property refers to a Catalog whose contents are of interest in the context of this catalog.	0..n
creator	`dct:creator`	`foaf:Agent`	This property refers to the Agent primarily responsible for producing the catalog.	0..1
hasPart	`dct:hasPart`	`dcat:Catalog`	This property refers to a related Catalog that is part of the described Catalog.	0..n
isPartOf	`dct:isPartOf`	`dcat:Catalog`	This property refers to a related catalog in which the described cata is physically or logically included.	0..1
record	`dcat:record`	`dcat:CatalogRecord`	This property refers to a Catalog Record that is part of the Catalog.	0..n
rights	`dct:rights`	`dct:RightsStatement`	This property refers to a statement that specifies rights associated with the Catalog.	0..1
temporal	`dct:temporal`	`dct:PeriodOfTime`	This property refers to a temporal period that the Catalogue covers.	0..n

Class: CatalogRecord

Class name	CatalogRecord
Obligation	Optional
URI	`dcat:CatalogRecord`
Usage note	A description of a Catalog's, Data Service's, or Dataset's entry in the Catalog.
Reference	§ 7.3 Catalog Record [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]

Mandatory properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
modified	`dct:modified`	`rdfs:Literal` typed as `xsd:date` or `xsd:dateTime`	This property contains the most recent date on which the Catalog Record was changed or modified.	1..1
primaryTopic	`foaf:primaryTopic`	`dcat:Dataset` or `dcat:Dataservice` or `dcat:Catalog`	This property links the Catalog Record to the Dataset, Data service or Catalog described in the record.	1..1

Recommended properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
conformsTo	`dct:conformsTo`	`dct:Standard`	This property refers to an Application Profile that the catalog Record conforms to	0..n
identifier	`dct:identifier`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains the main identifier for the Catalog Record.	0..1
issued	`dct:issued`	`rdfs:Literal` typed as `xsd:date` or `xsd:dateTime`	This property contains the date on which the Catalog Record was included in the Catalog.	0..1
status	`adms:status`	`skos:Concept`	This property refers to the type of the latest revision of a catalog Record.	0..1

Optional properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
description	`dct:description`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a free-text account of the Catalog Record. This property can be repeated for parallel language versions of the description .	0..n
language	`dct:language`	`dct:LinguisticSystem`	This property refers to a language used in the textual metadata describing titles, descriptions, etc. of the Catalog Record. This property can be repeated if the metadata is provided in multiple languages .	0..n
source	`dct:source`	`dcat:CatalogRecord`	This property refers to the original metadata record that was used in creating the Catalog Record.	0..1
title	`dct:title`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a name given to the Catalog Record. This property can be repeated for parallel language versions of the name .	0..n

Class: Category

Class name	Category
Obligation	Recommended
URI	`skos:Concept`
Usage note	A subject of a Catalog, Dataset, or Data Service.
Reference	§ 8.4 Concept [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]

Mandatory properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
definition	`skos:definition`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a statement or formal explanation of the meaning of a concept.	1..1
inScheme	`skos:inScheme`	`skos:ConceptScheme`	Relates a resource (for example a concept) to a concept scheme in which it is included. This property MAY be used to specify the Category Scheme to which the Category belongs.	1..1
prefLabel	`skos:prefLabel`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a preferred label of the Category. This property can be repeated for parallel language versions of the label .	1..1

Recommended properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
notation	`skos:notation`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property refers to uniquely identify a concept within the scope of a given concept scheme.	0..n

Optional properties

Example

To assert that one concept is broader in meaning (i.e. more general) than another, the skos:broader property is used.
The skos:narrower property is used to assert the inverse, namely when one concept is narrower in meaning (i.e. more specific) than another.

Class: CategoryScheme

Class name	CategoryScheme
Obligation	Recommended
URI	`skos:ConceptScheme`
Usage note	A concept collection (e.g. controlled vocabulary) in which the Category is defined.
Reference	§ 8.5 Concept Scheme [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
description	`dct:description`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a description of the category scheme.	0..1
prefLabel	`skos:prefLabel`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a preferred label of the category scheme.	0..1

Optional properties

Example

Class: Checksum

Class name	Checksum
Obligation	Optional
URI	`spdx:Checksum`
Usage note	A value that allows the contents of a file to be authenticated. This class allows the results of a variety of checksum and cryptographic message digest algorithms to be represented.
Reference	§ Checksum [[SPDX]]

Mandatory properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
algorithm	`spdx:algorithm`	`spdx:checksumAlgorithm`	The algorithm used to produce the subject Checksum.	1..1
checksumValue	`spdx:checksumValue`	`rdfs:Literal` typed as `xsd:hexBinary`	This property provides a lower case hexadecimal encoded digest value produced using a specific algorithm.	1..1

Class: ContactPoint

Recommended properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
contactType	`schema:contactType`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains information about the role of the Contact Point.	0..1

Optional properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
availableLanguage	`schema:availableLanguage`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains information about the language used by the Contact Point. Please use one of the language codes from the IETF BCP 47 standard[[BCP47]]	0..n
email	`schema:email`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains the email address of the Contact Point.	0..n
telephone	`schema:telephone`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains the telephone number of the Contact Point.	0..n

Example

Class: DataService

Mandatory properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
endpointURL	`dcat:endpointURL`	`rdfs:Resource`	The root location or primary endpoint of the Service (an IRI).	1..n
identifier	`dct:identifier`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains the main identifier for the Data Service.	1..1
title	`dct:title`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a name given to the Data Service. This property can be repeated for parallel language versions of the name .	1..n

Recommended properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
conformsTo	`dct:conformsTo`	`dct:Standard`	This property refers to the Data Service API Definition URL. E.g., https://www.orfeus-eu.org/data/eida/webservices/station/	0..n
contactPoint	`dcat:contactPoint`	`vcard:Kind` or `schema:ContactPoint`	This property contains contact information that can be used for sending comments about the Data Service.	0..n
description	`dct:description`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a free-text account of the Data Service. This property can be repeated for parallel language versions of the description.	0..n
endpointDescription	`dcat:endpointDescription`	`rdfs:Resource` or `hydra:Operation`	This property contains a description of the Data Services available via the endpoints, including their operations, parameters etc. The property gives specific details of the actual endpoint instances, while `dct:conformsTo` is used to indicate the general standard or specification that the endpoints implement.	0..n
issued	`dct:issued`	`rdfs:Literal` typed as `xsd:date` or `xsd:dateTime`	This property contains the date of publication of the Data Service.	0..1
keyword	`dcat:keyword`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a keyword or tag describing the Data Service.	0..n
modified	`dct:modified`	`rdfs:Literal` typed as `xsd:date` or `xsd:dateTime`	This property contains the most recent date on which the Data Service was modified.	0..1
publisher	`dct:publisher`	`foaf:Agent` or `schema:Organization`	This property refers to an Organization responsible for making the Data Service available.	0..1
servesDataset	`dcat:servesDataset`	`dcat:Dataset`	This property refers to a Dataset that this Data Service can distribute.	0..n
theme	`dcat:theme`	`skos:Concept`	This property refers to a category of the Data Service. A Data Service may be associated with multiple themes.	0..n

Optional properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
accessRights	`dct:accessRights`	`dct:RightsStatement`	This property MAY include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.	0..1
format	`dct:format`	`dct:MediaTypeOrExtent`	This property refers to the structure that can be returned by querying the endpointURL.	0..n
landingPage	`dcat:landingPage`	`foaf:Document`	This property contains a web page that provides access to the Data Service and/or additional information. It is intended to point to a landing page at the original data service provider, not to a page on a site of a third party, such as an aggregator..	0..n
license	`dct:license`	`dct:LicenseDocument`	This property contains the license under which the Data Service is made available.	0..1
spatial	`dct:spatial`	`dct:Location`	This property refers to a geographic region that is covered by the Data Service.	0..n
temporal	`dct:temporal`	`dct:PeriodOfTime`	This property refers to a temporal period that the Data Service covers.	0..n

Example

Class: Dataset

Mandatory properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
description	`dct:description`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a free-text account of the Dataset. This property can be repeated for parallel language versions of the description .	1..n
identifier	`dct:identifier`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains the main identifier for the Dataset, e.g. the URI or other unique identifier in the context of the Catalog.	1..1
title	`dct:title`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a name given to the Dataset. This property can be repeated for parallel language versions of the name .	1..n

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Example

Class: Dataset Series

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
contactPoint	`dcat:contactPoint`	`vcard:Kind` or `schema:ContactPoint`	This property contains a contact information that can be used for sending comments about the Dataset Series.	0..n
publisher	`dct:publisher`	`foaf:Agent` or `schema:Organization`	This property refers to a responsible for ensuring the coherency of the Dataset Series. The publisher of the dataset series may not be the publisher of all datasets. E.g. a digital archive could take over the publishing of older datasets in the series.	0..1
spatial	`dct:spatial`	`dct:Location`	This property contains the geographic region that is covered by the Dataset Series. When spatial coverage is a dimension in the dataset series then the spatial coverage of each dataset in the collection should be part of the spatial coverage. In that case, an open ended value is recommended, e.g. EU or a broad bounding box covering the expected values.	0..n
temporal	`dct:temporal`	`dct:PeriodOfTime`	This property refers to a temporal period that the Dataset Series covers. When temporal coverage is a dimension in the dataset series then the temporal coverage of each dataset in the collection should be part of the temporal coverage. In that case, an open ended value is recommended, e.g. after 2012	0..n

Optional properties

Class: Distribution

Class name	Distribution
Obligation	Recommended
URI	`dcat:Distribution`
Usage note	A physical embodiment of the Dataset in a particular format.
Reference	§ 7.10 Distribution [[VOCAB-DCAT-3]]

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Example

Class: Document

Class: Equipment

Mandatory properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
description	`dct:description`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a free-text description of the Equipment.	1..1
identifier	`dct:identifier`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains the main identifier for the Equipment.	1..1
title	`dct:title`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a name given to the Equipment.	1..1

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
contactPoint	`dcat:contactPoint` or `schema:contactPoint`	`schema:ContactPoint`	This property contains contact information that can be used for sending comments about the Equipment.	0..n
dynamicRange	`epos:dynamicRange`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains the full-scale measuring ability.	0..1
filter	`epos:filter`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property describes the filter that the instrument uses to produce data.	0..1
isPartOf	`dct:isPartOf`	`epos:Equipment` or `epos:Facility`	This property refers to an Equipment or a Facility in which the described Equipment is included.	0..n
keyword	`dcat:keyword`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains a keyword or tag describing the Equipment.	0..n
landingPage	`dcat:landingPage`	`foaf:Document` or `rdfs:Literal` typed with URI	This property refers to a landing page or document about the Equipment.	0..n
orientation	`epos:orientation`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property describes how the instrument is oriented.	0..1
relation	`dct:relation`	`rdfs:Resource`	This property refers to a related resource (e.g., Dataset, Data Service, Service, etc.).	0..n
resolution	`epos:resolution`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contain the resolution.	0..1
samplePeriod	`epos:samplePeriod`	`rdfs:Literal`	This property contains the sample period.	0..1
spatial	`dct:spatial`	`dct:Location`	This property refers to a geographical location of the Equipment.	0..n
temporal	`dct:temporal`	`dct:PeriodOfTime`	This property refers to a temporal period that the Web Service covers.	0..n
theme	`dcat:theme`	`skos:Concept`	This property refers to a category of the Equipment. An Equipment may be associated with multiple themes.	0..n

Example

Class: Facility

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Example

Class: Identifier

Mandatory properties

Example

Class: IriTemplate

Mandatory properties

Optional properties

Property	URI	Range	Usage note	Card.
mapping	`hydra:mapping`	`rdfs:Literal`	A variable-to-property mapping of the IRI template.	0..n

Example

Class: IriTemplateMapping

Class name	IriTemplateMapping
Obligation	Optional
URI	`hydra:IriTemplateMapping`
Subclass Of	`hydra:Resource`
Usage note	A mapping from an IRI template variable to a property. The syntax of the template literal is specified by its datatype and defaults to the [RFC6570] URI Template syntax, which can be explicitly indicated by hydra:Rfc6570Template.
Reference	hydra:IriTemplateMapping [[HYDRA]]

Abstract

Disclaimer

Overview

Context

Scope of this document

A DCAT-AP extension

Profile Encoding

Profile Validation

Revision history

Classes alignment EPOS-DCAT-AP v3.0 with DCAT-AP v3.0

Properties alignment EPOS-DCAT-AP v3.0 with DCAT-AP v3.0

Terminology used in the Application Profile

Namespaces

Application Profile Overview

Application Profile Classes

Mandatory Classes

Recommended Classes

Optional Classes

Additional classes for EPOS-DCAT-AP

Equivalent classes for EPOS-DCAT-AP

Application Profile Properties per Class

Class: Address

Mandatory properties

Example

Class: Agent

Mandatory property

Recommended property

Class: Catalog

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Class: CatalogRecord

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Class: Category

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Example

Class: CategoryScheme

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Example

Class: Checksum

Mandatory properties

Class: ContactPoint

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Example

Class: DataService

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Example

Class: Dataset

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Example

Class: Dataset Series

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Class: Distribution

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Example

Class: Document

Class: Equipment

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties

Example

Class: Facility

Mandatory properties

Recommended properties

Optional properties