Proposed V2.0 Changes

[m-markovic]

General tracker for changes please reply to individual comments about specific items

Items for Discussion

• Item 1: Review ecfo:hasEmissionSource and ecfo:hasEmissionTarget properties
• Item 2: Handle GWP Conversion Factors
• Item 3: Handle Dimensionless Conversion Factors (e.g., fractions)
• Item 4: Expand modelling of activities
• Item 5: Handle links between conversion factors (e.g., conversion factors for individual portions of other gases linked to an aggregate Co2e conversion factor)
• Item 6: Review the ecfo:hasTag property

[m-markovic]

Item 1: Review ecfo:hasEmissionSource and ecfo:hasEmissionTarget properties

To something like this:

graph LR
    EmissionConversionFactor -- hasSource --> Element
    EmissionConversionFactor -- hasTarget --> Element
    Element -- hasUnit --> Unit
    Element -- hasMatter --> Matter

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or like this:

graph LR
    EmissionConversionFactor -- hasSource --> Source
    EmissionConversionFactor -- hasTarget --> Target
    Source -- rdfs:subClassOf --> Element
    Target-- rdfs:subClassOf --> Element
    Element -- hasUnit --> Unit
    Element -- hasMatter --> Matter

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[m-markovic]

Perhaps we should remove the reference to "emission" in the name of the property to accommodate the conversion factors that convert for example one type of emissions into another type (e.g., N2O -> N2O-N, CH4-> CO2e, etc.) and not just activity data into emissions.

[stefanogermano]

On the "operational" side, I suggest to include a brief 'description' to each new comment about an item for discussion (in addition to the 'title') in order to ensure everyone is on the same page and minimize potential misunderstandings.
I did it for this one, but please feel free to modify it if you meant something different.

[stefanogermano]

In this case, I think the suggested change could not only help to have a better structure, but also to facilitate the development of a more advanced representation for some of these aspects, potentially helping with some issues we currently have (e.g., IPCC units).

[dgarijo]

I would not remove "emission" as of now. It's a major rename of the project.
The ontology URIs, the w3ids... everything is impacted by it.

[m-markovic]

Just to clarify I was suggesting only to rename the properties e.g., ecfo:hasEmissionSource to ecfo:hasSource or similar

[m-markovic]

Item 2: Handle GWP Conversion Factors

[dgarijo]

We are working on this. Will have a solution soon, importing 6-10 GWP factors and associating them to the corresponding conversion factors. Also, will fix the "N2O of CO2E" by adding that as a new quantity and linking the GWP

[m-markovic]

Handle Dimensionless Conversion Factors (e.g., fractions)

[m-markovic]

Item 4: Expand modelling of activities

[m-markovic]

Item 5: Handle links between conversion factors (e.g., conversion factors for individual portions of other gases linked to an aggregate Co2e conversion factor)

[dgarijo]

We are working on this. Will push soon

[m-markovic]

Item 6 : Review the ecfo:hasTag property

I propose this property to change to ecfo:hasCategory with range skos:Concept (or ecfo:Category which is a subclass of skos:Concept as shown in the Formal / Semi-Formal Hybrids -- Part OWL, Part SKOS pattern in https://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/SKOS/skos-and-owl/master.html#Going1). This then enables to link ECF to taxonomies of different categories (e.g., the IPCC 2006 https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/EFDB/find_ef.php). skos:exactMatch, skos:related , and skos:closeMatch can then be used to link ECF classifications from different publishers. We have previously discussed that the hierarchical categories (e.g., from BEIS) cannot be modelled as ontologies because subClassOf relationship doesn't always apply. And because we cannot change the classification systems of the publishers, SKOS could be the right solution to model these categories.

[dgarijo]

Tag is a skos:Concept, so we essentially support this.

[m-markovic]

Renaming to "Category" could still be beneficial to align with GHG domain terminology

[stefanogermano]

It might also be interesting to explore how these relate to 'activities' (with this term I mean the 'thing' an ECF refers to); even if we might want to keep the two concepts separate.