sosa:Sampling
The sosa:Sampling class represents an act of creating a sosa:Sample to be used as a sosa:FeatureOfInterest. In SDL, this includes collecting soil cores, drawing water samples, or extracting air samples for subsequent analysis.
Definition
URI: http://www.w3.org/ns/sosa/Sampling
A sosa:Sampling is an activity whose result is a sosa:Sample that is used as the sosa:FeatureOfInterest in an observation.
Usage in SDL
In SDL, sosa:Sampling is used to:
- Represent the act of collecting or deriving a sample
- Link the resulting sample (prov:generated) to its feature of origin
- Associate agents, times, and locations with the sampling event
Sampling events establish a provenance trail for how sosa:Sample entities came to be.
Properties
| Property | Description | Optional |
|---|---|---|
| prov:generated | The resulting sosa:Sample from the sampling activity | No |
| prov:used | The original sosa:FeatureOfInterest that was sampled | Yes |
| prov:wasAssociatedWith | Agent (person or instrument) involved in sampling | Yes |
| prov:atLocation | Where the sampling occurred | Yes |
| prov:startedAtTime | When the sampling started | Yes |
| prov:endedAtTime | When the sampling ended | Yes |
| dcterms:description | Textual description of the sampling context or method | Yes |
Composition
Sampling is frequently performed prior to an observation and is responsible for producing the sample that is later studied:
ex:plot1 a sosa:FeatureOfInterest .
ex:sampling1 a sosa:Sampling ;
prov:used ex:plot1 ;
prov:generated ex:sample1 ;
prov:wasAssociatedWith ex:fieldTech1 ;
prov:startedAtTime "2024-05-01T08:00:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime .
ex:sample1 a sosa:Sample ;
sosa:isSampleOf ex:plot1 ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy ex:sampling1 .
Example — Subsampling from a Core
ex:sampling2 a sosa:Sampling ;
prov:used ex:coreA ;
prov:generated ex:subAliquot ;
prov:wasAssociatedWith ex:labTech1 .
ex:subAliquot a sosa:Sample ;
sosa:isSampleOf ex:coreA ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy ex:sampling2 .
Related Classes
- sosa:Sample — the result of a sampling
- prov:Activity — superclass of sosa:Sampling
- prov:Entity — used for both input (prov:used) and output (prov:generated)
- sosa:FeatureOfInterest — origin of the sample
See Also
sosa:Sampling defines the critical link between original context and derived material — essential for scientific traceability.