Schema.org Approach The “variableMeasured” property can document variables included in a “Dataset”... as text or objects that include an identifier, and a structured description using so:PropertyValue, or a simple so:Text value. See detailed discussion document in GitHub Related Issue and discussion in Science On Schema.org github Basic: Use PropertyValue name and description for text description; use propertyID to provide a resolvable identifier for the variable. Rich variable description with Schema.org Recommendations Why? • Support more efficient discovery of data • Help users evaluate data and determine fitness for use Define best practices for use of so:variableMeasured property with so:Dataset Type Goal: In a Nutshell: • Provide Variable name, with text description • Provide Unique identifier for Variable: improve interoperability, avoid ambiguity in identifying the variable. • Support Indexing by Google Dataset Search if expressed as JSON-LD in <HEAD> • Use of only a simple so:Text value with so:variableMeasured is NOT RECOMMENDED Notes on propertyID The propertyID value can be an array, recognizing that there might be identifiers for variables at different conceptual levels, e.g. conceptual, representation/logical, or instance/implementation, or that the property concept might have identifiers in vocabularies used by different communities. propertyID values should include at least one http URI that can be resolved on the Web to yield an in-depth property description such as that included with CF names, EnvO, or a Scientific Variables Ontology, e.g. http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_04000002, ideally including a machine-readable representation. Clients that recognize the propertyID identifier, or extract useful information from its representation, can better understand what the PropertyValue represents. Simple Numeric Data: For variables with numeric values, additional properties of so:PropertyValue defined by schema.org should be used to provide a more complete description useful to support evaluation of a dataset for an intended use unitText. A string that identifies a unit of measurement that applies to all values for this variable. unitCode. Value is expected to be TEXT or URL. We recommend providing an HTTP URI that identifies a unit of measure from a vocabulary accessible on the web. The QUDT unit vocabulary (http://qudt.org/vocab/unit) provides an extensive set of registered units of measure that can be used. minValue. If the value for the variable is numeric, this is the minimum value that occurs in the dataset. Not useful for other value types. maxValue. If the value for the variable is numeric, this is the maximum value that occurs in the dataset. Not useful for other value types. measurementTechnique. A text description of the measurement method used to determine values for this variable. If standard measurement protocols are defined and registered, these can be identified via http URI's. Variable description using an external vocabulary: If a variable Type is well-described in some external vocabulary, such as SWEET, SVO, SSN, DDI, EnvO etc., its URI reference can be given as the so:propertyID of the PropertyValue instance. If this approach is used, the so:PropertyValue/so:description text should contain text describing the variable scope etc. The dcat:conformsTo property can be asserted in the so:PropertyValue to identify a profile used for extending the description. Variables with non-numeric values: Use the Quantity, Units of Measure, Dimensions and Types (QUDT) ontology (http://qudt.org/) qudt:dataType as a property on so:PropertyValue to specify the kind of data value for that property in the described dataset. The qudt schema does not constrain the domain or range of the qudt:dataType property. XML datatypes are recommended to populate the qudt:dataType property for simple literal values. Schema.org also provides Types for describing: Person, Place, Event, Date, DateTime and other common non-numeric