Dear Robert,

On 10/16/2019 9:39 PM, Robert Sanderson wrote:

Yes, that makes sense, thank you.

One further observation…

> The same reasoning holds for many dimensions, but there is no typical practice as vague as that of providing a point near a place.

I think there’s some very similar practice however of providing multiple values for the same dimension, that at least are roundings from the same measurement.

I wold see this as different. Measurements use some device and procedure. Properly document, we understand their behaviour. A spot marked on a map near something has no particular procedure associated.

For example the Met’s descriptions have “H. 14 5/16 in. (36.4 cm)” and similar [1], ours are the other way around “23 x 16.5 cm (9 1/16 x 6 ½ in.)” [2] as does MFA Boson [3], the NGA [4] and many others.

With P90a and P90b we could give a margin of error, but indeed that is not common practice that I can find.

Well, in natural sciences it is. That's what physicist learn to do... Serious publications require it always.

So while the true place falls_within the declared approximations, we cannot say that both 14 5/16 in. and 36.4 cm are close approximations of the same height. They may have both come from different Measurement activities, rather than one being calculated from the other, so we can’t use that as a joining entity.

> I suggest to regard any dimension as an approximation, except for counting stable aggregates of things.

Do you mean then to remove the “true quantity” description from the scope notes?

Indeed:-)

Many thanks,

Rob

[1] https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/455545?&searchField=All&ft=*&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=12

[2] http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/34663/

[3] https://collections.mfa.org/objects/58904

[4] https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.4217.html

*From: *Martin Doerr <[email protected]>
*Date: *Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 11:18 AM
*To: *Robert Sanderson <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
*Subject: *Re: [Crm-sig] NEW ISSUE: Approximate Dimensions

Hi Robert,

I have been a bit sloppy, as always;-).

A phenomenal place is thought to be recognizable within some fuzzy limits. So, indeed, all spatial coordinates for a phenomenal place are approximations. For those approximations, we normally use the properties "has former or current location" or "falls within", which both include the true place. That means, that the intersection of all those is still includes the true place. With these properties, I can query absolutely where the place is guaranteed not to be, and within which limits I find it. With P189, we mean an approximation of unknown guaranteed relations to the approximated. So, we cannot query yes or no where the real place is in relation to the approximation.

The same reasoning holds for many dimensions, but there is no typical practice as vague as that of providing a point near a place.

On the other side, many dimensions are not stable over time. For those, each measurement provides another dimension. Many measurements are given with statistical deviation values. The scenario intersecting all measurements to get closer to the real value normally does not hold. It will be a combination of measurement deviations and varying "real value", and intrinsic fuzziness of the property measured.

Therefore I suggest to regard any dimension as an approximation, except for counting stable aggregates of things.

Would that make sense:-)?

Best,

Martin

On 10/16/2019 6:54 PM, Robert Sanderson wrote:

    Thanks Martin!  A couple of clarifying questions, please …

    > The point is, that true numerical values of Dimensions do not
    exist for continuous value spaces.

    Could you explain how you see this being different for E53 Place?
    The true Place also doesn’t exist as space is also continuous.
    Doubly so as the definition of place says it is independent of
    matter. No matter how precise I am about a lat/long/altitude, I
    still could be more precise. Or more precise about a location
    relative to an object as a frame of reference; notably as this
    frame of reference would need to be measured … which would mean
    that Place would rely on the Dimensions. So it seems like we can
    reduce the Place approximation to a Dimension approximation, at
    least in the case of relative coordinate spaces.

    > For any approximation with known inclusion or overlap properties
    to the real place, P189 should NOT be used. A "real place" can be
    confirmed by multiple observations for things that do not move or
    have not moved.

    And also for this … how would we have multiple observations of the
    Place, such that it was clear that they were all approximations of
    a single phenomenal place, without using P189?  For example, I
    have a bounding box for my city of birth, and a centroid pin for
    it … I wasn’t born in two places, yet without using P189, I would
    need to have two P7s … no? What am I missing? 😊

    Many thanks,

    Rob

    *From: *Crm-sig <[email protected]>
    <mailto:[email protected]> on behalf of Martin Doerr
    <[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected]>
    *Date: *Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 8:18 AM
    *To: *"[email protected]" <mailto:[email protected]>
    <[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected]>
    *Subject: *Re: [Crm-sig] NEW ISSUE: Approximate Dimensions

    Dear Robert, All,

    Your proposal well taken, but the recent change in the scope note
    was exactly that "The properties of the class E54 Dimension allow
    for expressing the numerical approximation of the values of
    instances of E54 Dimension. ".

    The point is, that true numerical values of Dimensions do not
    exist for continuous value spaces. Therefore, any measurement and
    opinion about the values are approximations.So, there is no need
    for another property. Measurements have typically known
    tolerances, which may be statistical, as mean deviations, or absolute.

    The property P189 was introduced because of the huge number of
    geo-referenced resource with no indication how distant or
    different the approximating area is from the real place. For any
    approximation with known inclusion or overlap properties to the
    real place, P189 should NOT be used. A "real place" can be
    confirmed by multiple observations for things that do not move or
    have not moved.

    This scenario does not exist in the same way for dimensions *in
    general.*

    I recommend to adjust scope notes and guidelines adequately. If a
    dimension is given as 10cm, it is per definitionem an
    approximation, because no natural thing has dimension
    10,00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    cm.

    A fine example of measurement tolerances is the recent problem of
    determining the proton radius:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_radius_puzzle

    See also:

    http://pdg.lbl.gov/2012/reviews/rpp2012-rev-history-plots.pdf

    
https://www.quantamagazine.org/proton-radius-puzzle-deepens-with-new-measurement-20160811/

    I think it is a question of guide lines how to interpret the
    absence of P10a,b.

    Opinions?

    Best,

    Martin


    On 10/15/2019 7:13 PM, Robert Sanderson wrote:

        Dear all,

        In recent history, we have added P189 approximates for the
        practically ubiquitous scenario where we have recorded the
        approximate “declarative” place of an event, but not the exact
        “phenomenal” place. P189 allows us to say that the event took
        place at the phenomenal place, which is then approximated by
        the declarative place.

        Thus:

          Birth_of_Rob a E67_Birth ;

        p7_took_place_at [

         a E53_Place ;

        rdfs:label “The exact place Rob was born” ;

        p189i_approximated_by [

        a E53_Place ;

        rdfs:label “New Zealand” ;

         // …

        ]

            ]

        This gives us two significant advantages:

         1. We can have multiple declarative places associated with
            the single phenomenal place. This allows us to be clear
            that the event took place in one location, but we have
            multiple ways to describe that location in our information
            system.
         2. If we can be precise (enough) about the phenomenal place
            (e.g. we have the GPS coordinates from the digital camera
            that took the photograph), then we do not have a different
            model … we can simply ascribe those coordinate values to
            the phenomenal place.

        While the E53 Place scope notes do not talk about
        approximation, there is another class that does … the very
        next one, E54 Dimension.

        An instance of E54 Dimension represents the true quantity,
        independent from its numerical

        approximation, e.g. in inches or in cm.

        However, there isn’t a property that allows us to use this
        same approximation pattern for Dimensions.

        The same advantages would apply:

         1. We can have multiple declarative dimensions (10 inches, 25
            centimeters) that approximate the true dimension, rather
            than implying there are two different dimensions.
         2. If we do not have this case, because the dimension is
            measured very accurately and has only a single numerical
            representation, then we can simply use a single Dimension.

        This is also useful for conservation when the same dimension
        is measured to different degrees of accuracy with different
        instruments or techniques … there is only a single height (for
        example) but it is measured with a laser, or by estimation.

        Thus I would like to propose the addition of a new property,
        Pxxx_approximates_dimension, that mirrors P189_approximates,
        that would be used to associate true dimensions with their
        approximations.

        It would be used in exactly the same way as P189:

        painting a Human-Made_Object ;

        has_dimension [

            a Dimension ;

        p2_has_type <aat:height> ;

        pxxxi_dimension_approximated_by [

        a Dimension ;

        p90_has_value 10 ;

        p91_has_unit <aat:inches>

            ]

          ]

        Thank you for your consideration of this issue!  I’m happy to
        write up a draft scope note for discussion if the general
        issue is considered to be worthy of inclusion.

        Rob




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    ------------------------------------

      Dr. Martin Doerr

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      Information Systems Laboratory

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      Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH)

      N.Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton,

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------------------------------------
  Dr. Martin Doerr
 Honorary Head of the
  Center for Cultural Informatics
 Information Systems Laboratory
  Institute of Computer Science
  Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH)
 N.Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton,
  GR70013 Heraklion,Crete,Greece
 Vox:+30(2810)391625  Email:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>  Web-site:http://www.ics.forth.gr/isl
        

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 Dr. Martin Doerr

 Honorary Head of the
 Center for Cultural Informatics

 Information Systems Laboratory
 Institute of Computer Science
 Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH)

 N.Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton,
 GR70013 Heraklion,Crete,Greece

 Vox:+30(2810)391625
 Email: [email protected]
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