sosa:Sample
The sosa:Sample class represents a physical or digital subset or instance of a feature of interest used in observations. In SDL, sosa:Sample is used to model soil cores, water aliquots, air canisters, and other material objects collected for analysis.
Definition
URI: http://www.w3.org/ns/sosa/Sample
A sosa:Sample is a sosa:FeatureOfInterest that is representative of a larger whole and is used in the act of making an observation.
Usage in SDL
In SDL, sosa:Sample is used to:
- Represent a physical entity extracted for analysis
- Serve as a feature of interest in sosa:Observation
- Track relationships between parent and derived samples
- Record sampling locations, agents, and timestamps
Samples are modeled as entities with potential provenance (prov:Entity) and may be cataloged using dcat:Resource.
Properties
| Property | Description | Optional |
|---|---|---|
| sosa:isSampleOf | Links to the feature or system the sample represents | Yes |
| sosa:hasSample | Inverse of sosa:isSampleOf, used for grouping | Yes |
| dcterms:title | Human-readable label | Yes |
| dcterms:description | Description of the sample | Yes |
| dcterms:identifier | Sample ID | Yes |
| dcterms:spatial | Location where the sample was collected | Yes |
| prov:wasGeneratedBy | Activity or event that created the sample | Yes |
| prov:wasAttributedTo | Agent responsible for collecting the sample | Yes |
| prov:atLocation | Collection or storage location | Yes |
| prov:startedAtTime | Time of sampling | Yes |
Composition
Samples in SDL may be:
- Linked to field plots, devices, or features (sosa:isSampleOf)
- Recorded as input to observations
- Reused or split to generate derivative samples
ex:sample1 a sosa:Sample , prov:Entity ;
dcterms:title "Soil Core Sample 1" ;
sosa:isSampleOf ex:plotA ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy ex:sampling1 ;
prov:wasAttributedTo ex:technicianB .
Example — Sample Tracking with Derivation
ex:coreA a sosa:Sample ;
dcterms:title "Soil Core A" ;
sosa:isSampleOf ex:plot1 .
ex:aliquot1 a sosa:Sample ;
sosa:isSampleOf ex:coreA ;
dcterms:title "Subsample for Moisture Content" .
Related Classes
- sosa:Observation — samples are often the feature of interest
- prov:Entity — to support attribution and generation
- dcat:Resource — cataloged and searchable in the system
📘 See Also
sosa:Sample enables SDL to model traceable physical evidence used in scientific observation — critical for reproducibility and material provenance.