Sensor data and metadata standards review for UKCEH

This report contains a review and summary of a number of technical specifications originating with the ISO, OGC and W3C standards bodies in the field of earth observations and sensor networks, with the aim of developing a data model appropriate for CEH sensor data. In particular it recommends the development of a JSON-LD based format built around core concepts drawn jointly from ISO19156 Observations and Measurements and W3C Semantic Sensor Networks (SSN)/Sensor, Observation, Sample and Actuator (SOSA); the use of the Complex Property Model for semantically grounded property descriptions; OGC Sensor ML for the description of sensor instances and types; and INSPIRE Environmental Monitoring Facilities for describing sites and their monitoring capabilities. For time series representation it recommends the use of observation collections (a SSN/SOSA extension) which also serve as a point of attachment for property/values shared by all observations in a collection.