Glossary

data path

A DataPath serves as an identifier for a data repository which can then contain data of multiple DataClasses and might also "contain" more qualified data paths. The DataPath is a discriminator for data which can take on whatever semantics a user or application needs, such as runs of particular versions of a processing algorithm, intermediate output from processing stages, shared versus user data, internal versus public, field projects, meteorological cases, and so on.

original data

From the system perspective, original data are data which have no derivation history. They have not been dervied from nor are based upon any data which already exists in the system.

data quality report

The final dataset for a project is usually documented and summarized with a data quality report. The report includes whatever information deemed useful or necessary for a researcher to make a useful and meaningful study of the data, such as an overview of the project, details on how the data were processed, edited, or filtered for quality control, and information on the instruments themselves, their problems, anomalies, limitations, and so on. Obviously some of the information is very specific to the conditions of a particular project, and other information, such as general instrument specifications and limitations, can be very general and static.