Latimer Core Quick Reference Guide

This document is intended to be an easy-to-read reference the currently recommended terms of the Latimer Core Standard. This document is not part of the standard. It draws on the term names and definitions from the normative part of the standard and combines them with comments and examples that are not normative, but that are meant to help people to use the terms consistently. The category LatimerCore corresponds to the parent class, which is a special category term used to group the rest of the terms for convenience. Comprehensive metadata for current and obsolete terms in human readable form are found in a list of terms document. List of files and types can be found in the Latimer Core repository.

Requirements

The tables below provides a summary of the required classes and terms in Latimer Core. Term requirements are subject to the use of the parent class where a term that belongs to an optional class are required if and only if, their parent class is in use.

Required Classes
Required Terms

Latimer Core

Address

Label Address
Definition A physical address for an organisational unit or person.
schema:addressCountry Property
Label Address Country
Definition The country. For example, USA. You can also provide the two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary -- e.g. current ISO 3166 Country Codes.
Examples
  • Denmark
  • DK
  • Colombia
  • CO
  • España
  • ES
schema:addressLocality Property
Label Address Locality
Definition The locality in which the street address is, and which is in the region. For example, Mountain View.
Examples
  • Holzminden
  • Araçatuba
  • Ga-Segonyana
  • Mountain View
  • Coventry
  • Tokyo
schema:addressRegion Property
Label Address Region
Definition The region in which the locality is, and which is in the country. For example, California or another appropriate first-level Administrative division.
Examples
  • Missoula
  • Los Lagos
  • Mataró
  • Guangdong
ltc:addressType Property
Label Address Type
Definition A person or organization can have different addresses, for different purposes. For example, a postal address, a loan address, an address for visits and so on. This property is used to specify the kind of address.
Examples
  • Physical
  • Postal
  • Loans
  • Visits
  • Home
  • Work
  • Main
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
schema:postalCode Property
Label Postal Code
Definition The postal code. For example, 94043.
Examples
  • 32308
  • SW7 5HD
  • 10115
  • 3080
schema:postOfficeBoxNumber Property
Label Post Office Box Number
Definition The post office box number for PO box addresses.
Examples
  • PO Box 7169
schema:streetAddress Property
Label Street Address
Definition The street address. For example, 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy.
Examples
  • Invalidenstraße 43
  • 1400 S. Du Sable Lake Shore Dr
  • 960 Carling Avenue
Label Chronometric Age
Definition The age of a specimen or related materials that is generated from a dating assay.
Notes To represent a single age, enter the same value in both earliestChronometricAge and latestChronometricAge. Leaving one or both of these fields blank indicates that the value is unknown, has yet to be recorded or is not applicable to the material being described. We recommend that you do not use this class to indicate chronostratigraphy: it is intended to be used to reflect a chronometric age or range of ages determined via one or more named analytical protocols, methods or techniques.
chrono:chronometricAgeProtocol Property
Label Chronometric Age Protocol
Definition A description of or reference to the methods used to determine the chronometric age.
Examples
  • Radiocarbon dating using an Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
  • Pb-Pb Dating
  • 41Ca - 41K Chronometer
  • U-Pb Dating using a Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer
  • U-Pb Radiometric Dating
  • Thermoluminescence
  • Paleomagnetism
  • Pb-Pb Chronometer as described in Amelin et al. (2002) Science 297, 1678-1683
chrono:chronometricAgeRemarks Property
Label Chronometric Age Remarks
Definition Notes or comments about the ChronometricAge.
Examples
  • Beta Analytic number: 323913 One of the Crassostrea virginica right valve specimens from North Midden Feature 17 was chosen for AMS dating, but it is unclear exactly which specimen it was.
chrono:chronometricAgeUncertaintyInYears Property
Label Chronometric Age Uncertainty In Years
Definition The temporal uncertainty of the earliestChronometricAge and latestChronometicAge in years.
Notes The expected unit for this field is years. The value in this field is number of years before and after the values given in the earliest and latest chronometric age fields within which the actual values are estimated to be.
Examples
  • 100
chrono:earliestChronometricAge Property
Label Earliest Chronometric Age
Definition The maximum/earliest/oldest possible age of a specimen as determined by a dating method.
Notes The expected unit for this field is years. This field, if populated, must have an associated earliestChronometricAgeReferenceSystem.
Examples
  • 100
chrono:earliestChronometricAgeReferenceSystem Property
Label Earliest Chronometric Age Reference System
Definition The reference system associated with the earliestChronometricAge.
Examples
  • kya
  • mya
  • BP
  • AD
  • BCE
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
chrono:latestChronometricAge Property
Label Latest Chronometric Age
Definition The minimum/latest/youngest possible age of a specimen as determined by a dating method.
Notes The expected unit for this field is years. This field, if populated, must have an associated latestChronometricAgeReferenceSystem.
Examples
  • 27
chrono:latestChronometricAgeReferenceSystem Property
Label Latest Chronometric Age Reference System
Definition The reference system associated with the latestChronometricAge.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary.
Examples
  • kya
  • mya
  • BP
  • AD
  • BCE
chrono:verbatimChronometricAge Property
Label Verbatim Chronometric Age
Definition The verbatim age for a specimen, whether reported by a dating assay, associated references, or legacy information.
Notes For example, this could be the radiocarbon age as given in an AMS dating report. This could also be simply what is reported as the age of a specimen in legacy collections data.
Examples
  • 27 BC to 14 AD
Label Collection Status History
Definition A record of current and past statuses of the object group and the reason for status changes.
Notes Use this class to record the history of and reason for changes in the status of the described collection. Types of status described by this class may, for example, include ownership, management, accessibility or accrual policy over time. Dates reflecting the start and end of the status described by this class should be recorded using an instance of TemporalCoverage. If temporalCoverageEndDateTime is empty, the status should be inferred to be the current status of the collection.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:hasTemporalCoverage Property
Label Has Temporal Coverage
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the TemporalCoverage class.
ltc:status Property
Label Status
Definition The development status of the collection during a specified period.
Notes The values/vocabularies for a status are predicated by the statusType. The in the examples mentioned terms are a cumulative list of terms associated with several different statusTypes.
Examples
  • Complete
  • In part
  • Developing
  • Closed
  • Active growth
  • Consumable
  • Decreasing
  • Lost
  • Missing
  • Passive growth
  • Static
ltc:statusChangeReason Property
Label Status Change Reason
Definition An explanation of why the collection transitioned to the value set in the status property.
Notes statusChangeReason should be aligned with the value of statusType.
Examples
  • Pest infestation
  • Exchange
  • Transfer
  • Return to country of origin
  • Worldwide pandemic
  • moved to secure off-site storage
  • reorganisation, no access from 2020-2023
ltc:statusType Property
Label Status Type
Definition A top-level classification of the different categories of status that can be applied to the collection.
Notes statusType forms the top level of a two-level hierarchy with the status property. Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary.
Examples
  • Stewardship
  • Accessibility
  • Completeness
  • Growth Status
  • Organisational
Label Contact Detail
Definition Details of a method by which an entity such as a Person or OrganisationalUnit may be contacted.
Notes The Address class should be used to store physical or postal addresses. For all other types of contact details, this class should be used.
ltc:contactDetailCategory Property
Label Contact Detail Category
Definition The method of contact to which the contact detail applies.
Notes Recommended practice is to use a controlled vocabulary.
Examples
  • Email
  • Phone (mobile)
  • Phone (home)
  • Twitter handle
  • GitHub handle
ltc:contactDetailFunction Property
Label Contact Detail Function
Definition A brief label describing the nature of the enquiry or enquiries that are appropriate to direct to the contact detail.
Examples
  • Loan requests
  • General enquiries
  • Data issues
ltc:contactDetailValue Property
Label Contact Detail Value
Definition The value of the contact detail, such as the phone number or email address.
Examples
  • 01234 567891
  • someone@example.org
  • @github_user
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
Label Ecological Context
Definition The ecological and/or biogeographic classification of the region from which objects associated with the ObjectGroup were collected, or where an Event took place.
Notes There is some conceptual overlap with the GeographicContext class with respect to geographic locations. This class should be used for biogeographic and ecological concepts, whereas for physical, political and administrative geographic locations, the GeographicContext class is more appropriate. Specific information about the habitat and ecological conditions that applied at the time that an event took place should be recorded in the `habitat` property of the Event class.
ltc:biogeographicRealm Property
Label Biogeographic Realm
Definition The broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land and marine surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial and marine organisms.
Notes This term may commonly be used in a biogeographic hierarchy above marineProvince (marine only), ecoregion and ecosystem. It is recommended to use controlled vocabularies such as those adopted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) / Global 200 (Olson et at. 1998).
Examples
  • Afrotropical
  • Australasian
  • Indomalayan
  • Nearctic
  • Arctic
  • Temperate Northern Atlantic
  • Temperate Northern Pacific
ltc:biome Property
Label Biome
Definition A biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate.
Notes This property can be used to record terrestrial, freshwater and marine biomes. It is recommended to use controlled vocabularies such as those adopted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) / Global 200 (Olson et at. 1998).
Examples
  • Deserts and xeric shrublands
  • Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
  • Open sea
  • Deep sea
  • Littoral/Intertidal zone
  • Salt marsh
  • Estuaries
  • Large lakes
  • Large river deltas
  • Polar freshwaters
  • Tropical and subtropical coastal rivers
  • Tropical and subtropical floodplain rivers and wetlands
ltc:biomeType Property
Label Biome Type
Definition A top level classification of the type of biome from which objects were collected or where an event took place.
Notes The biomeType is positioned at a level between the biosphere (the global sum of all ecosystems on Earth) and the more detailed terrestrial, marine and freshwater biomes. The latter should be recorded using the EcologicalContext.biome property.
Examples
  • Terrestrial
  • Marine
  • Freshwater
ltc:bioregion Property
Label Bioregion
Definition An ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem.
Notes This is analagous with the marine province concept for marine regions. It is recommended to use controlled vocabularies such as those adopted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) / Global 200 (Olson et at. 1998), from which this concept originated.
Examples
  • Western Africa and Sahel
  • New Guinea and Melanesia
  • Indian subcontinent
  • South China Sea
  • Mediterranean Sea
  • Central Indian Ocean Islands
ltc:ecoregion Property
Label Ecoregion
Definition An ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species.
Notes It is recommended to use controlled vocabularies such as those adopted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) / Global 200 (Olson et at. 1998).
Examples
  • Albertine Rift montane forests
  • Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests
  • Irrawaddy freshwater swamp forests
  • Adriatic Sea
  • Cortezian
  • Ningaloo
  • Ross Sea
ltc:ecosystem Property
Label Ecosystem
Definition A specific kind of ecological classification that considers all four elements of the definition of ecosystems: a biotic component, an abiotic complex, the interactions between and within them, and the physical space that they occupy.
Examples
  • Orjen, vegetation belt between 1,100 and 1,450 m, Oromediterranean zone, nemoral zone (temperate zone)
ltc:habitat Property
Label Habitat
Definition A description of the type of environment in which an organism lives.
Examples
  • oak savanna
  • pre-cordilleran steppe
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
Label Event
Definition An action that occurs at some location during some time.
Notes Derived from dwc Class event (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/version/Event-2018-09-06). This class has been defined under the ltc namespace because it only has a subset of the properties of DwC:Event. All ltc:Event properties are borrowed from and reference the dwc namespace. Examples of an Event include: A specimen collection process. A camera trap image capture. A marine trawl.
ltc:eventName Property
Label Event Name
Definition The name commonly used to identify or refer to the event.
Examples
  • Trawl 3.42
  • Voyage of the Rattlesnake 1846-1850
  • Donner-Reed Party
ltc:hasEcologicalContext Property
Label Has Ecological Context
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the EcologicalContext class.
ltc:hasGeographicContext Property
Label Has Geographic Context
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the GeographicContext class.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasParentEvent Property
Label Has Parent Event
Definition This property refers to one or more related parent instances of the Event class.
ltc:hasPersonRole Property
Label Has Person Role
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the PersonRole class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:hasTemporalCoverage Property
Label Has Temporal Coverage
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the TemporalCoverage class.
dwc:samplingProtocol Property
Label Sampling Protocol
Definition The names of, references to, or descriptions of the methods or protocols used during an Event.
Notes The primary use of this property is to describe the methods or protocols used to gather objects in the collection.
Examples
  • UV light trap
  • mist net
  • bottom trawl
  • ad hoc observation
  • Penguins from space: faecal stains reveal the location of emperor penguin colonies, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2009.00467.x
  • Takats et al. 2001. Guidelines for Nocturnal Owl Monitoring in North America. Beaverhill Bird Observatory and Bird Studies Canada, Edmonton, Alberta. 32 pp., http://www.bsc-eoc.org/download/Owl.pdf
dwc:verbatimEventDate Property
Label Verbatim Event Date
Definition The verbatim original representation of the date and time information for an Event.
Examples
  • spring 1910
  • Marzo 2002
  • 1999-03-XX
  • 17IV1934
Label Geographic Context
Definition The geographic location from which objects associated with the ObjectGroup were collected, or where an Event took place.
dwc:continent Property
Label Continent
Definition The name of the continent in which the Location occurs.
Notes Based on best practice Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names. --> http://www.getty.edu/vow/TGNHierarchy?find=&place=&nation=&english=Y&subjectid=7029392. For cultural collections such as economic botany use the Region field to record things like Pacific to replace Oceania.
Examples
  • Africa
  • Antarctica
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • North America
  • Oceania
  • South America
dwc:country Property
Label Country
Definition The name of the country or major administrative unit in which the Location occurs.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Examples
  • Angola
  • Denmark
  • Colombia
  • Españax
dwc:countryCode Property
Label Country Code
Definition The standard code for the country in which the Location occurs.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use an ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 country code.
Examples
  • AR
  • SV
dwc:county Property
Label Second Order Division
Definition The full, unabbreviated name of the next smaller administrative region than stateProvince (county, shire, department, etc.) in which the Location occurs.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names and to leave this field blank if the Location spans multiple entities at this administrative level or is uncertain.
Examples
  • Missoula
  • Los Lagos
  • Mataró
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
dwc:island Property
Label Island
Definition The name of the island on or near which the Location occurs.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names.
Examples
  • Nosy Be
  • Bikini Atoll
  • Vancouver
  • Viti Levu
  • Zanzibar
dwc:islandGroup Property
Label Island Group
Definition The name of the island group in which the Location occurs.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names.
Examples
  • Alexander Archipelago
  • Archipiélago Diego Ramírez
  • Seychelles
dwc:locality Property
Label Locality
Definition The specific description of the place.
Notes Less specific geographic information can be provided in other geographic terms (continent, waterBody). This term may contain information modified from the original to correct perceived errors or standardize the description.
Examples
  • Bariloche, 25 km NNE via Ruta Nacional 40 (=Ruta 237).
dwc:municipality Property
Label Municipality
Definition The full, unabbreviated name of the next smaller administrative region than county (city, municipality, etc.) in which the Location occurs. Do not use this term for a nearby named place that does not contain the actual location.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names.
Examples
  • Holzminden
  • Araçatuba
  • Ga-Segonyana
ltc:region Property
Label Region
Definition The name of a spatial region or named place of any size within an individual or multiple administrative areas.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use this field in situations where the administrative location fields (country, stateProvince, county, etc.) provide insufficient description. For geological collections examples include basins, provinces, and fossil deposits.
Examples
  • Multi-country: North European Plain, Multi-state/Province: Pacific Northwest, Waterbody: Southern, Geological basins and provinces: Michigan Basin
  • Mazon Creek
  • Bundenbach
dwc:stateProvince Property
Label First Order Division
Definition The name of the next smaller administrative region than country (state, province, canton, department, region, etc.) in which the Location occurs.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names and to leave this field blank if the Location spans multiple entities at this administrative level or is uncertain.
Examples
  • Montana
  • Minas Gerais
  • Córdoba
dwc:waterBody Property
Label Water Body
Definition The name of the water body in which the Location occurs.
Notes This is intended to define the lowest water body or aquatic feature that defines the geographical constraints of aquatic collections below ocean. Suggestions for appropriate vocabularies include: HydroLAKES (https://www.hydrosheds.org/page/hydrolakes), a database aiming to provide the shoreline polygons of all global lakes with a surface area of at least 10 ha, the 'water body' term in the OBO ontology (http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000063) and, for marine water bodies, IHO Sea Areas (http://www.vliz.be/en/imis?dasid=5444&doiid=323).
Examples
  • Baltic Sea
  • Hudson River
  • Lago Nahuel Huapi
ltc:waterBodyType Property
Label Waterbody Type
Definition A term that indicates the aquatic order of a waterbody.
Notes Recommendation is to use a controlled vocabulary, such as those fuind at https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/types-water and https://sciencetrends.com/types-bodies-water-complete-list/.
Examples
  • Ocean
  • Sea
  • Lake
  • Pond
  • River
Label Geological Context
Definition Geological information, such as stratigraphy, that qualifies a region or place.
dwc:bed Property
Label Bed
Definition The full name of the lithostratigraphic bed from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabulary: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/search
Examples
  • Beecher Trilobite Bed
  • McAbee Fossil Beds
  • Ashfall Fossil Beds
  • Nut Beds
dwc:earliestAgeOrLowestStage Property
Label Earliest Age Or Lowest Stage
Definition The full name of the earliest possible geochronologic age or lowest chronostratigraphic stage attributable to the stratigraphic horizon from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabularies: https://stratigraphy.org/chart, https://timescalefoundation.org/resources/geowhen/index.html
Examples
  • Atlantic
  • Boreal
  • Frasnian
  • Hirnantian
  • Maastrichtian
  • Bridgerian
dwc:earliestEonOrLowestEonothem Property
Label Earliest Eon Or Lowest Eonothem
Definition The full name of the earliest possible geochronologic eon or lowest chrono-stratigraphic eonothem or the informal name (Precambrian) attributable to the stratigraphic horizon from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabularies: https://stratigraphy.org/chart, https://timescalefoundation.org/resources/geowhen/index.html
Examples
  • Phanerozoic
  • Proterozoic
  • Arechean
  • Hadean
dwc:earliestEpochOrLowestSeries Property
Label Earliest Epoch Or Lowest Series
Definition The full name of the earliest possible geochronologic epoch or lowest chronostratigraphic series attributable to the stratigraphic horizon from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabularies: https://stratigraphy.org/chart, https://timescalefoundation.org/resources/geowhen/index.html
Examples
  • Holocene
  • Pleistocene
  • Ibexian
  • Late Devonian
dwc:earliestEraOrLowestErathem Property
Label Earliest Era Or Lowest Erathem
Definition The full name of the earliest possible geochronologic era or lowest chronostratigraphic erathem attributable to the stratigraphic horizon from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabularies: https://stratigraphy.org/chart, https://timescalefoundation.org/resources/geowhen/index.html
Examples
  • Cenozoic
  • Mesozoic
  • Paleozoic
  • Neoproterozoic
dwc:earliestPeriodOrLowestSystem Property
Label Earliest Period Or Lowest System
Definition The full name of the earliest possible geochronologic period or lowest chronostratigraphic system attributable to the stratigraphic horizon from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabularies: https://stratigraphy.org/chart, https://timescalefoundation.org/resources/geowhen/index.html
Examples
  • Neogene
  • Quaternary
  • Jurassic
  • Devonian
dwc:formation Property
Label Formation
Definition The full name of the lithostratigraphic formation from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabulary: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/search
Examples
  • Notch Peak Formation
  • House Limestone
  • Fillmore Formation
  • Redwall Limestone
dwc:group Property
Label Group
Definition The full name of the lithostratigraphic group from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabulary: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/search
Examples
  • Bathurst
  • Wealden
  • Elk Mound
  • Supai
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
dwc:latestAgeOrHighestStage Property
Label Latest Age Or Highest Stage
Definition The full name of the latest possible geochronologic age or highest chronostratigraphic stage attributable to the stratigraphic horizon from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabularies: https://stratigraphy.org/chart, https://timescalefoundation.org/resources/geowhen/index.html
Examples
  • Atlantic
  • Boreal
dwc:latestEonOrHighestEonothem Property
Label Latest Eon Or Highest Eonothem
Definition The full name of the latest possible geochronologic eon or highest chrono-stratigraphic eonothem or the informal name (Precambrian) attributable to the stratigraphic horizon from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabularies: https://stratigraphy.org/chart, https://timescalefoundation.org/resources/geowhen/index.html
Examples
  • Phanerozoic
  • Proterozoic
dwc:latestEpochOrHighestSeries Property
Label Latest Epoch Or Highest Series
Definition The full name of the latest possible geochronologic epoch or highest chronostratigraphic series attributable to the stratigraphic horizon from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabularies: https://stratigraphy.org/chart, https://timescalefoundation.org/resources/geowhen/index.html
Examples
  • Holocene
  • Pleistocene
dwc:latestEraOrHighestErathem Property
Label Latest Era Or Highest Erathem
Definition The full name of the latest possible geochronologic era or highest chronostratigraphic erathem attributable to the stratigraphic horizon from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabularies: https://stratigraphy.org/chart, https://timescalefoundation.org/resources/geowhen/index.html
Examples
  • Cenozoic
  • Mesozoic
dwc:latestPeriodOrHighestSystem Property
Label Latest Period Or Highest System
Definition The full name of the latest possible geochronologic period or highest chronostratigraphic system attributable to the stratigraphic horizon from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabularies: https://stratigraphy.org/chart, https://timescalefoundation.org/resources/geowhen/index.html
Examples
  • Neogene
  • Tertiary
  • Quaternary
dwc:member Property
Label Member
Definition The full name of the lithostratigraphic member from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommend vocabulary: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/search
Examples
  • Lava Dam Member
  • Hellnmaria Member
  • Francis Creek Shale
ltc:supergroup Property
Label Supergroup
Definition The full name of the lithostratigraphic supergroup from which the cataloged item was collected.
Notes Recommended vocabulary. At time of inclusion this term is in progress of being included as part of dwc tdwg/dwc#234
Examples
  • Karoe
  • Cape
Label Identifier
Definition A numeric, textual value, or reference such as an IRI, that can be used to uniquely identify the object to which it is attached.
Notes Use this class to document stable identifiers that describe the collections and associated entities being represented in the collection description. For example, person identifiers, taxon identifiers, institution identifiers, organisational unit identifiers, gazetteer identifiers. Identifiers represented by this class may be globally unique, or unique within a given context.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:identifierSource Property
Label Identifier Source
Definition The source or creator of the identifier.
Notes This term refers to the organisation, framework, software or database that minted the identifier represented in the identifier property.
Examples
  • Index Herbariorum
  • GBIF Registry of Scientific Collections (GRSciColl)
  • CITES
  • IPEN
  • NHM UK 'Join the Dots' framework
ltc:identifierType Property
Label Identifier Type
Definition The type and format of the value in the identifier field.
Notes This property should be used to help people and software understand how the identifier can be used (e.g. whether it's a resolvable IRI) and validate the identifier based on format and composition (e.g. a valid UUID).
Examples
  • Acronym
  • IRI
  • UUID v4
ltc:identifierValue Property
Label Identifier
Definition A textual or numeric identifier, acronym or IRI that provides an unambiguous reference for an entity within a given context.
Notes This may be a simple value or resolvable IRI, and can reflect any identifier used to identify an entity (such as a collection, taxon, institution or person) included in the Collection Description.
Examples
  • http://grscicoll.org/institutional-collection/osteology
  • https://www.gbif.org/grscicoll/collection/64232ca4-fd5a-4a3d-a1d5-ef812107472c
  • https://www.gbif.org/grscicoll/institution/52827361-5e82-43b7-b92a-f6ad98367fa5
  • http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/ih/herbarium-details/?irn=126969
  • 10.5072/example-full
  • NHMUK-Verts
  • BGBM
Label Latimer Core Scheme
Definition A grouping of multiple ObjectGroups for a particular use case, purpose or implementation.
Notes Where the same objects within the same collection might be described by more than one ObjectGroup for different purposes (for examples, a 'Darwin Fossil Mammals' collection description might overlap with a 'Offsite Palaeontology' collection description), this class can be used to distinguish between them and avoid double-counting of metrics in queries against the data.
ltc:basisOfScheme Property
Label Basis Of Scheme
Definition A summary of the basis or purpose for the LatimerCoreScheme.
Notes This property is intended to summarise the reason for grouping a number of ObjectGroups within the LatimerCoreScheme, and the purpose for which the data is intended to be used. This may also be reflected in the terms and metrics defined using the SchemeTerm and SchemeMeasurementOrFact classes respectively. Using this approach, standard and reusable profiles within the wider Latimer Core standard may be constructed for common collection descriptions use cases.
Examples
  • Accession
  • Inventory
  • Expedition
  • Digitisation planning
  • Collections assessment
  • Institution
  • Collections registry
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasObjectGroup Property
Label Has Object Group
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the ObjectGroup class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:hasSchemeMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Scheme Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the SchemeMeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasSchemeTerm Property
Label Has Scheme Term
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the SchemeTerm class.
ltc:isDistinctObjects Property
Label Is Distinct Objects
Definition A flag to designate whether a physical object may be described by more than one ObjectGroup within the LatimerCoreScheme.
Notes If isDistinctObjects is set to 'true', then no collection object should be covered by more than one object group within the LatimerCoreScheme. This is important for aggregating and reporting on metrics such as object counts, as it prevents any physical object from being counted more than once.
Examples
  • true
  • false
ltc:schemeName Property
Label Scheme Name
Definition A short descriptive name given to the LatimerCoreScheme.
Examples
  • NHM Collections Inventory
  • Index Herbariorum
  • European Darwin Collections
Label Measurement or Fact
Definition A measurement of or fact about a class within the standard, or a relationship between the ObjectGroup and an associated class.
Notes This class can be used to apply measurements, facts or narratives to the ObjectGroup as a whole, or used to qualify the relationship between the ObjectGroup and an associated attribute. For example, an ObjectGroup may contain 100 objects, of which 40 are from Europe and 60 from Africa. In this example, one MeasurementOrFact (count of 100) would be attached to the ObjectGroup, and one to each of the two relationships between the ObjectGroup and GeographicContext (Europe: count of 40, Africa: count of 60).
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
dwc:measurementAccuracy Property
Label Measurement Accuracy
Definition The description of the potential error associated with the measurementValue.
Examples
  • 0.01
  • Normal distribution with variation of 2 m
  • Reported
  • Estimated
ltc:measurementDerivation Property
Label Measurement Derivation
Definition An indicator as to whether the measurement, fact, characteristic, or assertion being applied to the collection was derived from reported figures or aggregated/calculated from underlying data.
Notes If there is more detailed information about the method by which a measurement or fact was derived, this should be captured using the measurementMethod property.
Examples
  • Reported
  • Calculated
ltc:measurementFactText Property
Label Fact or Narrative Text
Definition The value of the qualitative fact, characteristic, or assertion being made about the collection.
Notes This property should also be used for storing textual information about the collection within a particular context, such as narratives or comments about digitisation readiness.
Examples
  • UV-light
  • Extra large
  • Level 1
  • Re-curation of this collection would be required prior to digitisation, requiring an estimated two weeks of curator time.
dwc:measurementMethod Property
Label Measurement Method
Definition A description of or reference to (publication, IRI) the method or protocol used to determine the measurement, fact, characteristic, or assertion.
Examples
  • DiSSCo MIDS level
  • CD Standard Metric
  • https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3465285
dwc:measurementRemarks Property
Label Measurement Remarks
Definition Comments or notes accompanying the MeasurementOrFact.
Examples
  • Does not include on-loan material
  • Footprint includes housing
dwc:measurementType Property
Label Measurement Type
Definition The nature of the measurement, fact, characteristic, or assertion.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary.
Examples
  • Imaged Level Percentage
  • Storage Volume
  • Object Count
  • MIDS-0 Object Count
  • Historical narrative
dwc:measurementUnit Property
Label Measurement Unit
Definition The units associated with the measurementValue.
Notes For some use cases, this property can also be used to reflect the type of value being stored (e.g. a count, or a percentage).
Examples
  • mm
  • C
  • km
  • ha
  • count
  • percentage
  • category
dwc:measurementValue Property
Label Measurement Value
Definition The value of the measurement, fact, characteristic, or assertion.
Notes In the Collection Description standard, this field is constrained to only accept numeric values in order to better support the aggregation of quantitative metrics. For any non-numeric values, and metrics where the scale is a numeral that cannot be used in any calculations the measurementFactText property should be used instead.
Examples
  • 45
  • 20000
  • 1
  • 14.5
Label Object Classification
Definition An informal classification of the type of objects within the ObjectGroup, using a hierarchical structure.
Notes This class is used to categorise the ObjectGroup according to an informal, self-referential hierarchy. For example, this can be used to create a hierarchy encompassing biological, geological and anthropological collections, where a single formal taxonomy isn't appropriate.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasParentObjectClassification Property
Label Has Parent Object Classification
Definition This property refers to one or more related parent instances of the ObjectClassification class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:isTopParent Property
Label Is Top Parent
Definition A flag to indicate that the current instance of ObjectClassification is at the top of the hierarchy represented by multiple nested instances of the class.
Examples
  • true
  • false
ltc:objectClassificationLevel Property
Label Object Classification Level
Definition The level of the ObjectClassification in the hierarchy.
Notes It is up to the user to name the levels to be relevant to the hierarchical classification scheme that they are defining.
Examples
  • Domain
  • Discipline
  • Category
ltc:objectClassificationName Property
Label Object Classification Name
Definition A short title describing this ObjectClassification as a class, unit or grouping.
Notes This is a user-determined name given for classifying their collection. This name, expressing an assigned classification, can be part of a self-referential hierarchy.
Examples
  • Zoology invertebrates
  • Palaeontology
  • Extra-terrestrial
  • Archaeology
  • Seed plants
  • Birds
  • Agriculture
  • Veterinary
  • Viruses
Label Object Group
Definition An intentionally grouped set of objects with one or more common characteristics.
ltc:alternativeCollectionName Property
Label Alternative Collection Name
Definition One or more short titles different to the one given in ObjectGroup.collectionName used to summarise the collection objects contained within the ObjectGroup.
Examples
  • Darwin's fossil mammal collection
  • The Hubricht Molluscan Collection
ltc:baseTypeOfObjectGroup Property
Label Base Type Of Object Group
Definition High-level terms describing the fundamental nature of objects in the ObjectGroup.
Notes For natural history collections baseTypeOfObjectGroup describes types of material entities and may constrain the values available in objectType. Notes for ObjectGroups where baseTypeOfObjectGroup is 'InformationArtefact': subsequent ‘type’ properties could include hierarchical Audubon Core/Dublin Core terms – e.g. dc:type (http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/type), ac:subtype / ac:subtypeLiteral (http://rs.tdwg.org/ac/terms/subtypeLiteral), or (proposed) ac:3DResourceType.
Examples
  • MaterialEntity
  • InformationArtefact
  • AbstractConcept
ltc:collectionManagementSystem Property
Label Collection Management System
Definition The collection management system which is used to hold and manage the primary data for the objects contained within the ObjectGroup.
Notes This should reflect the system or database in which the object-level records reside, rather than the source of the Collection Description data.
Examples
  • Specify 7
  • DINA
  • Axiell EMu
  • Arctos
  • EarthCape
  • BRAHMS
ltc:collectionName Property
Label Collection Name
Definition A short title that summarises the collection objects contained within the ObjectGroup.
Examples
  • The Leslie Hubricht Molluscan Collection
  • NHM Algae, Fungi and Plants collection
  • Crustacea – Cirripedes, Decapoda
  • Global Mesozoic and Paleozoic mollusc faunas/samples
ltc:conditionsOfAccess Property
Label Conditions of Access
Definition Information about who can access the collection being described or an indication of its security status.
Notes If available, this should be a URL to a stable policy page. For example, https://www.fieldmuseum.org/science/research/area/fossils-meteorites/fossils-meteorites-policies.
Examples
  • Open to the public
dwc:degreeOfEstablishment Property
Label Degree of Establishment
Definition The degree to which an Organism survives, reproduces, and expands its range at the given place and time.
Notes Some preserved collections are specifically created from cultivated or captive organisms, or perhaps from rare vagrants. Recommended best practice is to use controlled value strings from the controlled vocabulary designated for use with this term, listed at http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/doc/doe/. For details, refer to https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.3.38084.
Examples
  • native
  • captive
  • cultivated
  • released
  • failing
  • casual
  • reproducing
  • established
  • colonising
  • invasive
  • widespreadInvasive
ltc:description Property
Label Description
Definition A free text description or narrative about the collection.
Notes Use this field to record information about the collection in a human-readable, narrative style to introduce the main characteristics of the collection to someone unfamiliar to it. It may include additional information or re-state information held elsewhere in the collection description record - for example, for more atomic, categorised textual descriptions and narratives the MeasurementOrFact class should be used.
Examples
  • The Chicago Academy of Sciences holds material documenting the biodiversity of Midwest / Western Great Lakes region from the 1830s to the present, and includes comparative and historic material collected across North America. These collections include zoology, botany, earth sciences, cultural, audiovisual, and archives. The institutional collection code CHAS was used historically to reference vertebrate and malacology collections at the Academy and was designated as the primary collection code for all the collections.
ltc:discipline Property
Label Discipline
Definition A high level classification of the scientific discipline to which the objects within the collection belong or are related.
Notes The recommendation is to use a controlled vocabulary that is also common across other community collections, object and occurrence standards. Suggested list https://confluence.egi.eu/display/EGIG/Scientific+Disciplines
Examples
  • Anthropology
  • Botany
  • Extraterrestrial
  • Geology
  • Microorganisms
  • Other geo/biodiversity
  • Palaeontology
  • Virology
  • Zoology invertebrates
  • Zoology vertebrates
  • Unspecified
ltc:hasChronometricAge Property
Label Has Chronometric Age
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the ChronometricAge class.
ltc:hasCollectionStatusHistory Property
Label Has Collection Status History
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the CollectionStatusHistory class.
ltc:hasEcologicalContext Property
Label Has Ecological Context
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the EcologicalContext class.
ltc:hasEvent Property
Label Has Event
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Event class.
ltc:hasGeographicContext Property
Label Has Geographic Context
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the GeographicContext class.
ltc:hasGeologicalContext Property
Label Has Geological Context
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the GeologicalContext class.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasObjectClassification Property
Label Has Object Classification
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the ObjectClassification class.
ltc:hasOrganisationalUnit Property
Label Has Organisational Unit
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the OrganisationalUnit class.
ltc:hasPersonRole Property
Label Has Person Role
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the PersonRole class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:hasResourceRelationship Property
Label Has Resource Relationship
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the ResourceRelationship class.
ltc:hasStorageLocation Property
Label Has Storage Location
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the StorageLocation class.
ltc:hasTaxon Property
Label Has Taxon
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Taxon class.
ltc:isCurrentCollection Property
Label Is Current Collection
Definition A flag to indicate whether the collection still exists as a single entity.
Notes Use this to indicate if the record describes the entirety of a known historical collection. If only part of the collection is present the value is 'false'.
Examples
  • true false
ltc:isKnownToContainTypes Property
Label Is Known To Contain Types
Definition Flag property to indicate that the collection is known to include type specimens.
Notes `true` - this collection contains types; `false` - this collections does not contain types
Examples
  • true false
ltc:material Property
Label Material
Definition Material denotes the raw substance(s) from which the object is formed, in whole or in part.
Notes This definition maps roughly to the concept of E57 'material' from the CIDOC CRM: https://cidoc-crm.org/Entity/E57-Material/version-7.1.1. The object, or artefact could contain biological parts, for example jewellery made of amber with insects in, or cloaks made of bird feathers. It should not be used for taxonomic identifications.
Examples
  • Biological body
  • Organism material (cp. objectType = Organism product)
  • Viable cells
  • Protein
  • RNA
  • DNA, etc.
ltc:objectType Property
Label Object Type
Definition High-level terms for the classification of curated objects.
Notes Hands-on, practical attributes classifying the stored curated objects. You will expect to find these kinds and types of objects when you go to and access their storage location. This should not be used for classifying objects by taxon. The best way to do that is to use the Taxon class (formal taxonomy and vernacular names) or ObjectClassification class (informal classification).
Examples
  • if baseTypeOfObjectGroup = MaterialEntity: Specimen
  • Tissue
  • Culture
  • HTS Library
  • Lysate
  • Environmental sample
  • Extracted/Preserved DNA/RNA
  • Microscope slide
  • Spore print
  • Macrofossil
  • Mesofossil
  • Microfossil
  • Oversized fossil; if typeOfObjectGroup = Non-biological: Macro-object
  • Micro-object
  • Oversized object
  • Cut/polished gemstone
  • Core
  • Fluid
  • Hazardous material/object
  • Mixed; if baseTypeOfObjectGroup = InformationArtefact: Text
  • Audio
  • Visual
ltc:period Property
Label Period
Definition Used to describe prehistoric or historic periods.
Notes Often used to describe prehistoric or historic periods, but also geopolitical units and activities of settlements are regarded as special cases of Period. However, there are no assumptions about the scale of the associated phenomena. In particular all events are seen as synthetic processes consisting of coherent phenomena. This property maps to the Period class of the CIDOC-CRM conceptual reference model (http://www.cidoc-crm.org/Entity/e4-period/version-7.1.1).
Examples
  • Neolithic Period
  • Ming Dynasty
  • McCarthy Era
ltc:preparationType Property
Label Preparation Type
Definition A term used to classify or describe an object that indicates the actions that have been taken upon it and/or the processes it has been put through to prepare it for scientific use or study.
Notes These attributes commonly identify the parts or states that are the outcome of the preparation process, which produced the curated object. This can be the same as PreservationMethod (e.g. Bone), but is not always. For cultural collections terms such as 'bowl', 'textile' are appropriate at this level. This should not be used for classifying objects by taxon. The best way to do that is to use the Taxon class (formal taxonomy and vernacular names) or ObjectClassification class (informal classification).
Examples
  • if objectType = Specimen or Part of entity: Bones
  • Eggs
  • Pollen
  • Muscle
  • Leaf
  • Blood
  • Skins
  • Shells
  • Wood, ... ; if typeOfObjectGroup = human-made: Bowl
  • Textile, ...; if typeOfObjectGroup = digital: txt
  • jpg
  • mp4, ...; etc
ltc:preservationMethod Property
Label Preservation Method
Definition A term used to classify or describe an object that indicates the primary or most recent action, measure or process that has been used in order to preserve the objects in the collection for long-term storage.
Notes Preservation method generally describes the final storage state. Not intended to be used as the fossilization method. Use preservationMode for that. This field is intended to be use where a collection has a single or prominent preservationMethod. We recommend the Arctos PART_PRESERVATION vocabulary (https://arctos.database.museum/info/ctDocumentation.cfm?table=CTPART_PRESERVATION). For herbarium sheets use 'dried_pressed'. If an alcohol collection uses mixed percentages use 'alcohol'.
Examples
  • dried
  • dried_pressed
  • dried_pinned
  • Dried assemblage
  • Dried - not assembled
  • Dry preserved
  • papered/packaged
  • slide box
  • Skeletonized
  • Tanned
  • mounted
  • Slide mount
  • Embedded
  • gum_arabic
  • Blood sampling cards (biomedical)
  • Fluid preserved
  • Alcohol, formaledhyde
  • glycerin
  • EDTA
  • frozen / cryopreserved
  • Cryopreserved / frozen - 80C
  • refrigerated
  • freeze_dried
  • Surface coating
  • SEM stub
  • Stasis
  • cell culture
  • axenic culture
  • viable cells
  • Controlled atmosphere
  • Climate controlled conditions
  • Non climate controlled conditions
  • no_treatment, etc.
ltc:preservationMode Property
Label Preservation Mode
Definition The means by which a palaeontological specimen was preserved or created e.g. body, cast, mold, trace fossil, soft parts mineralised etc.
Notes This property should be only used in association with ObjectGroups that contain paleontological material. It is aligned with the concept of preservationMode in ABCD(EFG) (https://efg.geocase.eu/documentation/html/efg.html#element_PreservationMode_Link03032878).
Examples
  • adpression/compression
  • body
  • cast
  • charcoalification
  • coalified
  • concretion
  • dissolution traces
  • mold/impression
  • permineralised
  • recrystallised
  • soft parts
  • trace
ltc:typeOfObjectGroup Property
Label Type Of Object Group
Definition Additional information that describes the object(s) in the collection.
Notes High-level information that enables the finding of the group and/or its object(s) in searches by users on the web using attributes commonly of interest. Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary. Terms such as soil, pollen, faeces, muscle, genomic DNA are currently put in preparationType.
Examples
  • if baseTypeOfObjectGroup = MaterialEntity: Living
  • Preserved
  • Fossilized
  • Non-biological
  • Human-made; if baseTypeOfObjectGroup = InformationArtefact: Digital
  • Physical
Label Organisational Unit
Definition A unit within an organisational hierarchy which may be at, above or below the institutional level.
Notes This class can represent any level of organisational unit, incorporating institutions (e.g. a museum), higher units (e.g. a university to which a museum belongs) and more detailed structures (e.g the departments and divisions within a museum). It can be used to arrange these different units at different levels into a hierarchical structure. This class combines aspects of both class org:Organization (https://www.w3.org/TR/2014/REC-vocab-org-20140116/#org:Organization) and class org:OrganizationalUnit (https://www.w3.org/TR/2014/REC-vocab-org-20140116/#org:OrganizationalUnit) from the W3C Organization Ontology ORG (https://www.w3.org/TR/2014/REC-vocab-org-20140116/#overview-of-ontology). Recommended best practice is to associate a unique, persistent organisational identifier (PID) with each created organisational unit. This will allow an unambiguous and continual identification of the unit, as well as the creation of organisational hierarchies. Existing providers of PIDs for organisations are, e.g. https://grid.ac/ and https://ror.org/. The provision of organisational PIDs might be extended to intra-organisational units in the future. Properties of Class: Identifier can be used to add identifier information for organisational units.
ltc:hasAddress Property
Label Has Address
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Address class.
ltc:hasContactDetail Property
Label Has Contact Detail
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the ContactDetail class.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasParentOrganisationalUnit Property
Label Has Parent Organisational Unit
Definition This property refers to one or more related parent instances of the OrganisationalUnit class.
ltc:hasPersonRole Property
Label Has Person Role
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the PersonRole class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:organisationalUnitName Property
Label Organisational Unit Name
Definition An official name of the organisational unit in the local language.
Notes Repeatable where there are more than one official local language required for example Belgian Institutions where an official name exists in French, Dutch, German and English. See 'A Collection of Crosswalks from Fifteen Research Data Schemas to Schema.org' (https://www.rd-alliance.org/group/research-metadata-schemas-wg/outcomes/collection-crosswalks-fifteen-research-data-schemas) from RDA for crosswalks for properties with the function of Name, Title, etc. Take into account the note at the class level (Class:OrganisationalUnit) about associating an identifier in addition to a name with the organisational unit.
Examples
  • Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
  • The Field Museum of Natural History
  • Division of Fishes
ltc:organisationalUnitType Property
Label Organisational Unit Type
Definition The type or level of organisational unit within a hierarchy responsible for the management of the collection being described.
Notes Example vocabulary list: https://vocab.org/aiiso/ . This property is likely related to the W3C class org:Role (https://www.w3.org/TR/2014/REC-vocab-org-20140116/#class-role).
Examples
  • Department (A group of people recognised by an organization as forming a cohesive group referred to by the organization as a department), Division (A group of people recognised by an organization as forming a cohesive group referred to by the organization as a division)
Label Person
Definition A person (alive, dead, undead, or fictional).
Notes This concept should map to the Schema.org Person class (https://schema.org/Person), and the prov:Person class (http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#Person) in the PROV ontology. In the latter, it is a subclass of prov:Agent, which through which it can map to the RDA recommendations on attribution (http://dx.doi.org/10.15497/RDA00029). The definition is appropriated from the Schema.org class.
schema:additionalName Property
Label Additional Name
Definition An additional name for a Person, can be used for a middle name.
Examples
  • Stewart
  • Grace
  • Manthey
  • Kwame
schema:familyName Property
Label Family Name
Definition Family name. In the U.S., the last name of a Person.
Examples
  • Jones
  • Keita
  • O'Rourke
  • Carreño Quiñones
abcd:fullName Property
Label Full Name
Definition String of the preferred form of personal name for displaying.
Examples
  • James Ewert Bradshaw
  • T. van Hooijdonk
schema:givenName Property
Label Given Name
Definition Given name. In the U.S., the first name of a Person.
Examples
  • Beth
  • John
  • María José
  • Björn
ltc:hasAddress Property
Label Has Address
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Address class.
ltc:hasContactDetail Property
Label Has Contact Detail
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the ContactDetail class.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
Label Person Role
Definition A qualified association between a Person or OrganisationalUnit and an entity such as an ObjectGroup or MeasurementOrFact that enables the relationship to be contextualised with a specific role and time period.
Notes This class is aligned with the prov:qualifiedAttribution property (http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#qualifiedAttribution). It should be used instead of the Activity and PersonActivity classes to link a Person or OrganisationalUnit to an entity in situations where an activity is not know or is irrelevant, for example for describing a person's role within an organisation. It is not mandatory to link to either a Person or a Role in this class, to support use cases where a role is known but the person who fulfilled it is not, and where a person is known to have been involved but the context is not. However, it's expected that at least one of the hasPerson and hasRole properties is populated.
ltc:hasAddress Property
Label Has Address
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Address class.
ltc:hasContactDetail Property
Label Has Contact Detail
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the ContactDetail class.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasPerson Property
Label Has Person
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Person class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:hasRole Property
Label Has Role
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Role class.
Notes This property maps to the PROV-O property hadRole (http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#hadRole).
ltc:hasTemporalCoverage Property
Label Has Temporal Coverage
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the TemporalCoverage class.
Label Record Level
Definition The machine-actionable information profile for the collection description digital object.
Notes Linked to the RDA PID Kernel recommendation (https://www.rd-alliance.org/system/files/RDA%20Recommendation%20on%20PID%20Kernel%20Information_final.pdf)
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class. Every RecordLevel class must contain at least one Identifier, preferably a PID.
ltc:hasObjectGroup Property
Label Has Object Group
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the ObjectGroup class.
ltc:hasPersonRole Property
Label Has Person Role
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the PersonRole class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:hasResourceRelationship Property
Label Has Resource Relationship
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the ResourceRelationship class.
ltc:isDerivedCollection Property
Label Is Derived Collection
Definition A flag to indicate that the collection description has been generated by aggregating data from one or more underlying datasets of its individual objects.
Notes If `true`, the LtC record has been wholly generated through the synthesis of existing digital records, such as by a programmatic aggregation of specimen records. If `false`, the LtC record is known to have been generated through some other method, such as in response to an institutional survey. Leaving this field blank indicates that the method used to construct the record is unknown or has yet to be recorded.
Examples
  • true
  • false
dcterms:license Property
Label License
Definition A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
Notes Recommended practice is to identify the license document with a IRI. If this is not possible or feasible, a literal value that identifies the license may be provided.
Examples
  • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
  • https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
  • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  • https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/
  • http://unlicense.org/
dcterms:rights Property
Label Rights
Definition Information about rights held in and over the resource.
Notes Typically, rights information includes a statement about various property rights associated with the resource, including intellectual property rights. Recommended practice is to refer to a rights statement with a IRI. If this is not possible or feasible, a literal value (name, label, or short text) may be provided.
Examples
  • http://scratchpads.eu/about/policies/termsandconditions
  • All rights reserved by DataOwner Ltd.
dcterms:rightsHolder Property
Label Rights Holder
Definition A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Notes Recommended practice is to refer to the rights holder with a IRI. If this is not possible or feasible, a literal value that identifies the rights holder may be provided.
Examples
  • Smith, Clare
  • Natural History Museum, London
  • https://orcid.org/XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
  • https://ror.org/XXaaaXXXX
Label Reference
Definition A reference to external resources and information related to the class.
Notes In Latimer Core, this class can be used to store references to publications, policies, datasets and other online resources such as websites, related to classes within the standard.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:referenceDetails Property
Label Reference Details
Definition Detailed information about the resource being referenced.
Examples
  • This dataset includes a Darwin Core Archive of the ~8000 specimens digitised to date, of which ~80% also have an associated label image.
  • de Mestier A, Mulcahy D, Harris DJ, et al. (2023) Policies Handbook on Using Molecular Collections. Research Ideas and Outcomes 9: e102908. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.9.e102908
  • Suggested citation: USDA-ARS US National Fungus Collection (2023). USDA United States National Fungus Collections. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/w78rwb accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-04-27.
ltc:referenceName Property
Label Reference Name
Definition A name given to a reference.
Notes If the reference is to a publication, this field should hold the publication title; otherwise any appropriate, short, text label relevant to the resource being referenced may be used.
Examples
  • Digitised specimen records on the NHM Data Portal
  • Using a Collection Health Index to prioritise access and activities in the New Zealand Arthropod Collection
  • BGBM loans policy
  • Herbarium Wikipedia page
  • NMNH website
  • Related sequences in GenBank
ltc:referenceType Property
Label Reference Type
Definition The type of resource being referenced.
Notes This property is intended to be used for a high level categorisation of resource types.
Examples
  • Policy
  • Document
  • Website
  • Dataset
ltc:resourceIRI Property
Label Resource IRI
Definition A preferably resolvable IRI providing access to the resource defined in the reference.
Examples
  • 10.5072/example-full
  • https://examplemuseum.org/policies/loans-policy.pdf
Label Resource Relationship
Definition A relationship of one rdfs:Resource (http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Resource) to another, or to a simple named concept.
Notes Resources can be thought of as identifiable records or instances of classes and may include, but need not be limited to instances of ltc:ObjectGroup, ltc:OrganisationalUnit, ltc:Taxon, ltc:Event, ltc:GeographicContext, ltc:GeologicalContext, ltc:EcologicalContext, or ltc:ObjectClassification. In the context of Latimer Core, the main purposes of this class are 1. to define different semantic and hierarchical relationships between ObjectGroups, and 2. to support quantified and annotated relationships between ObjectGroups and other LtC classes (such as ltc:Taxon and ltc:GeographicContext) and properties (such as ltc:discipline and ltc:objectType) that describe the contents of the ObjectGroup, using the hasMeasurementOrFact property.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
dwc:relatedResourceID Property
Label Related Resource ID
Definition An identifier for a related resource (the object, rather than the subject of the relationship).
Examples
  • dc609808-b09b-11e8-96f8-529269fb1459
ltc:relatedResourceName Property
Label Related Resource Name
Definition A short textual name for the related resource.
Notes This property can be used to list resources related to the source entity which lack an identifier, for example if a separate record for that resource doesn't yet exist. In the Collection Description standard, a use of this is to list named subcollections of a larger collections at a time when the resources might not be available to create a full Collection Description for each of them. If at a later point a Collection Description record is created for the subcollection, an identifier can be added to the relatedResourceID property to maintain the same relationship.
Examples
  • FMNH Mammals
  • TNHC Vertebrates
  • Sloane Herbarium
  • Grant Southwest Ceramics Collection
ltc:relatedResourceType Property
Label Related Resource Type
Definition The class or property within Latimer Core, or class, property or less formal concept outside of the Latimer Core standard, that is represented by the related resource.
Notes This property can be used to explicitly define the type of resource that the ID stored in the relatedResourceID property references, either to support IDs that don’t fully resolve and provide contextual metadata, or just for information purposes. It can also provide context for use cases where the relatedResourceName is used rather than the relatedResourceID to define the target, for example to attach a simple list of the names of related collections to an ObjectGroup.
Examples
  • http://rs.tdwg.org/ltc/terms/ObjectGroup
  • http://rs.tdwg.org/ltc/terms/Taxon
  • http://rs.tdwg.org/ltc/terms/objectType
  • http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Occurrence, Collection
dwc:relationshipAccordingTo Property
Label Relationship According To
Definition The source (person, organization, publication, reference) establishing the relationship between the two resources.
Examples
  • Julie Woodruff
dwc:relationshipEstablishedDate Property
Label Relationship Established Date
Definition The date-time on which the relationship between the two resources was established.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a date that conforms to ISO 8601-1:2019.
Examples
  • 1963-03-08T14:07-0600
  • 2009-02-20T08:40Z
  • 2018-08-29T15:19
  • 1809-02-12
  • 1906-06
  • 1971
  • 2007-03-01T13:00:00Z/2008-05-11T15:30:00Z
  • 1900/1909
  • 2007-11-13/15
ltc:relationshipOfResource Property
Label Relationship Of Resource
Definition The relationship of the resource identified by relatedResourceID to the subject (optionally identified by the resourceID).
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary. https://schema.org/Property
Examples
  • part of
  • contains
  • same as
dwc:relationshipRemarks Property
Label Relationship Remarks
Definition Comments or notes about the relationship between the two resources.
Examples
  • The Darwin fossil collection makes up part of the museum's palaeontology collection.
  • Some of the same Madagascan bryophytes are included in both of these collections.
dwc:resourceID Property
Label Resource ID
Definition An identifier for the resource that is the subject of the relationship.
Examples
  • f809b9e0-b09b-11e8-96f8-529269fb1459
Label Role
Definition The function of a Person with respect to an activity or entity.
Notes While this class contains no mandatory properties, it's recommended that at least one of the roleName and hasIdentifier properties are used to specify the intended role. Where appropriate, the use of controlled vocabularies such as the CRediT contributor roles taxonomy (https://credit.niso.org) is encouraged.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:roleName Property
Label Role Name
Definition A short descriptive name for the role.
Examples
  • Director
  • Chair
  • Record owner
  • Primary Latimer Core record contact
  • Primary collection contact
  • Owner
  • Curator
  • Collection manager
  • Head of department
  • Registrar
  • Data curation
  • Supervision
  • Collecting
  • Curation
  • Conservation
  • Funding
  • Imaging
Label Scheme Measurement Or Fact
Definition A type of measurement or fact used by the LatimerCoreScheme, and the rules relating to its application.
Notes This class can be used to specify the qualitative and quantitative metrics that will be included in the LatimerCoreScheme using the MeasurementOrFact class, and dictate whether each will be mandatory and/or repeatable. This information can be used by software and queries to constrain and validate the Latimer Core dataset, and determine how and whether metrics can be aggregated and reported. The schemeMeasurementType property should correspond to the measurementType property of the MeasurementOrFact class in order to make the relevant association between the scheme definition and the stored data.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:isMandatoryMetric Property
Label Is Mandatory Metric
Definition A flag to designate whether it is mandatory or optional for every collection description within the LatimerCoreScheme to include the measurement or fact defined by the schemeMeasurementType property.
Notes This flag can be used for software automation and data validation.
Examples
  • true
  • false
ltc:isRepeatableMetric Property
Label Is Repeatable Metric
Definition A flag to designate whether multiple instances of the same schemeMeasurementType may be attached to a single entity.
Notes For example, this property can be used to stipulate that, using the MeasurementOrFact class, only one 'Object count' may be attached to an ObjectGroup, but multiple 'Curator notes' may be attached to the same ObjectGroup.
Examples
  • true
  • false
ltc:schemeMeasurementType Property
Label Scheme Measurement Type
Definition A category of quantitative metric or qualitative fact that can be included in the LatimerCoreScheme.
Notes The schemeMeasurementType should correspond to, and be used to catalogue and/or constrain, the values that can be used in the measurementType property of the MeasurementOrFact class.
Examples
  • Imaged Level Percentage
  • Storage Volume
  • Object Count
  • MIDS-0 Object Count
  • Historical Narrative
Label Scheme Term
Definition A Latimer Core term used by the LatimerCoreScheme and the rules relating to its application.
Notes This class can be used to define which of the terms (classes and/or properties) within the standard (e.g. GeographicContext, Taxon, preservationMethod) are expected to be used within the scheme, and specify whether they're mandatory and/or repeatable. This information can be used by software and queries to validate the data and understand the rules by which metrics can be reported against the specified term.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:isMandatoryTerm Property
Label Is Mandatory Term
Definition A flag to designate whether it is mandatory or optional for all ObjectGroups in the LatimerCoreScheme to include or be linked to valid data for the class or property defined in the termName property.
Notes This flag can be used for software automation and data validation. For example, if the termName is 'preservationMethod' (a property) and isMandatoryTerm is 'true', then an interface or query should always expect a value for that property, and can validate against that expectation. If the termName is Taxon (a class) and isMandatoryTerm is 'true', then similarly the expectation will be that at least one populated Taxon object is linked to every ObjectGroup. If the isRepeatableTerm property is set to 'false', then the expectation will be that exactly one populated Taxon object is linked to every ObjectGroup and no more.
Examples
  • true
  • false
ltc:isRepeatableTerm Property
Label Is Repeatable Term
Definition A flag to designate whether multiple instances of the Latimer Core class or property defined in the termName property may be attached to a single ObjectGroup.
Notes This property essentially defines whether the property or class is used for a 'tagging' approach (e.g. attaching multiple Taxon records to the same ObjectGroup to reflect the taxonomic scope, or a 'dimensional' approach (e.g. attaching a single GeologicalContext to an ObjectGroup, to show that it represents only objects from the Mesozoic). This has implications on how metrics may be handled, and more information is available in the non-normative guidance.
Examples
  • true
  • false
ltc:termName Property
Label Term Name
Definition The name of a class or property within the Latimer Core standard that is included in the LatimerCoreScheme.
Notes The values of this property are constrained to the names of terms (classes or properties) within the Latimer Core standard.
Examples
  • GeographicContext
  • Taxon
  • preservationMethod
  • discipline
Label Storage Location
Definition A physical location (such as a building, room, cabinet or drawer) within the holding institution where objects associated with the collection description are stored or exhibited.
ltc:hasAddress Property
Label Has Address
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Address class.
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasParentStorageLocation Property
Label Has Parent Storage Location
Definition This property refers to one or more related parent instances of the StorageLocation class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:locationDescription Property
Label Location Description
Definition Short textual description of the storage location of the group of items
Examples
  • Backlog on top of Rosaceae cupboards
ltc:locationName Property
Label Location Name
Definition A label used to identify a place where the collection is stored.
Notes This is the lowest level of storage location for the object group (collection or sub-collection).
Examples
  • Building A
  • Cryptogamic herbarium
  • Cupboard C1
ltc:locationType Property
Label Location Type
Definition The nature of the location where the collection is stored.
Notes This defines the type of storage location named in locationName, and may refer to static locations or moveable containers.
Examples
  • Site
  • Building
  • Floor
  • Room
  • Cabinet
  • Drawer
Label Taxon
Definition A group of organisms (sensu http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/OBI_0100026) considered by taxonomists to form a homogeneous unit.
dwc:genus Property
Label Genus
Definition The full scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified.
Examples
  • Puma
  • Monoclea
ltc:hasIdentifier Property
Label Has Identifier
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Identifier class.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
dwc:kingdom Property
Label Kingdom
Definition The full scientific name of the kingdom in which the taxon is classified.
Notes Examples of controlled vocabularies include http://tdwg.github.io/ontology/ontology/voc/Collection.rdf and https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130114 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-empire_system.
Examples
  • Animalia
  • Archaea
  • Bacteria
  • Chromista
  • Fungi
  • Plantae
  • Protozoa
  • Viruses
dwc:scientificName Property
Label Scientific Name
Definition The full scientific name, with authorship and date information if known. When forming part of an Identification, this should be the name in lowest level taxonomic rank that can be determined. This term should not contain identification qualifications, which should instead be supplied in the IdentificationQualifier term.
Notes If this field is used, then recommended to also complete the taxonRank. This term should not contain identification qualifications.
Examples
  • Coleoptera (order), Vespertilionidae (family), Manis (genus), Ctenomys sociabilis (genus + specificEpithet), Ambystoma tigrinum diaboli (genus + specificEpithet + infraspecificEpithet)
dwc:taxonRank Property
Label Taxon Rank
Definition The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName.
Notes Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary. For example: https://bioportal.bioontology.org/ontologies/TAXRANK?p=summary
Examples
  • subspecies
  • varietas
  • forma
  • species
  • genus
Label Temporal Coverage
Definition The time period during which the related event, activity or status was occurring.
Notes This class can be used to reflect the period of time in which specified activities, events and states occurred. Examples might include the time range of the `Event` in which the objects were collected, the period during a `CollectionStatusHistory` over which the collection was actively growing, or the span of time someone was working in a particular `PersonRole`. If the time period you are trying to describe is better described by a categorical label rather than a date, `GeologicalContext`, `ChronometricAge` or `ObjectGroup.period` may be more suitable.
ltc:hasMeasurementOrFact Property
Label Has Measurement Or Fact
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the MeasurementOrFact class.
ltc:hasReference Property
Label Has Reference
Definition This property refers to one or more related instances of the Reference class.
ltc:temporalCoverageEndDateTime Property
Label Temporal Coverage End Date
Definition Datetime at which the TemporalCoverage finished.
Examples
  • 1886
  • 1984-09
  • 2001-10-22
  • 1997-07-16T19:20+01:00
ltc:temporalCoverageStartDateTime Property
Label Temporal Coverage Start Date
Definition Datetime at which the TemporalCoverage began.
Examples
  • 1886
  • 1984-09
  • 2001-10-22
  • 1997-07-16T19:20+01:00
ltc:temporalCoverageType Property
Label Temporal Coverage Type
Definition The type or context of the described TemporalCoverage.
Notes Recommendation is to use a controlled vocabulary.
Examples
  • Collecting time range
  • Establishment time range
  • Time in post