The LifeWatch ICT Reference Model

The LifeWatch Reference Model builds on principles such as reusability, modularity, portability, interoperability, discoverability, and compliance with standards. It specifies an architectural approach that constitutes a solid conceptual basis for supporting these principles. The architecture is based on mature approaches (Reference Model for the ORCHESTRA Architecture, OGC Reference Model, ISO/IEC 10746) as foundation to equip the infrastructure with: - an iterative design process, distinguishing between abstract and concrete (platform specific) specifications, - a service oriented architecture based on standards, - rules to define information models and services, - purpose?oriented information models for meta?data, - generic interfaces and service types, - a workflow framework for orchestrating service chains, - validation rules to determine the conformance level of concrete specifications and implementations, and - a base application schema as generic information model, which can be extended or refined for domain specific usage. Separating the abstract and the concrete design allows LifeWatch to adapt to technological changes and to provide some amount of freedom for implementations. Pre?defined information models, service interfaces, service types, and specification and validation rules will be supplied for the definition of services as a means to enhance interoperability. The provision of provenance information and scientific workflows will be key distinguishing features of LifeWatch, complemented by mechanisms for semantic mediation and unique identification, offering a new level of support for biodiversity science.