Dealing with data semantics and information metadata

[fmigneault]

Note

Subject briefly discussed in the 2026-05-11 SWG meeting. This is an reminder issue about possible future explorations/testbed to clarify how this fits with other OGC initiatives about data semantics.

The dataClasses definition was added to Part 1 v2. It is an array of URI(s) that can be used to refer to various data profiles applicable (or required?) by inputs/outputs.

However, data semantics are often more complicated than that, and there are still some ambiguities related to this list. Some items (non-exhaustive to consider):

• Are the URIs "mandatory" or "supported" profiles?
• Are they mutually exclusive definitions, inclusive/union of semantic fields, partially overlapped concepts, etc.?
• Given a certain list of URIs, what should the process do with a certain input in terms of validation?
• If the input is a complex reference like a collection input, how does it apply?
  (for example, two different profiles that respectively apply to different STAC Asset)
• Is there some examples of their application?

These items should be refined and clarified in the specification.
In order to support more complex profile combinations, there might be a need for different data structures under dataClasses.

[bpross-52n]

SWG Meeting from 2026-06-08: Add clarifying examples to Part 1, based on the discussion in this issue.