[Platforms] Attributes

[Roy Lowry]

Hi Marilynn,

I think 'commissioned' and 'decomissioned' do the job because they provide the basis of automated checking the validity of data or metadata such as  ROSCOPs attributed to the ship code. Note that I regard 'commissioned' to be equal to 'date of build' in the absence of any information to the contrary.  So I wouldn't have 'date of build' as well.

I would certainly place no restrictions on the usage of the notes field.  You never know what information will become necessary in the future! 

Cheers, Roy.

>>> Marilynn Sørensen <marilynn at ices.dk> 12/19/08 3:48 PM >>>
> Dear Roy anad Platform group,
> 
> We have had a look at whether or not to add additional attributes. There are a few points to consider:
> 
> *	How often is the attribute used to identify a vessel? 
> *	Who is to look up the information?
> *	Are people supplying it often in the notes?
> 
> Most requests have name, country and call sign as the only initial information. It is first when ICES or Roy start hunting that more attributes are found and conflicts identified. 
> 
> Lloyds and other web sites have lots of attributes that the platform list does not have. For example: Port of registry, Year of build, Owners (past and present), Length, Breadth, Weight, MMSI etc.etc.
> 
> One point of view could be: if there is not an attribute field, we will not add the information to the notes unless it is necessary for identifying the vessel. But sometimes we don't know that there is a problem until we compare the note fields.
> 
> Personally, I would add "Year of Build" since that is often used as the identifyer when multiple hull codes are needed. If length is not often used to identify the vessel, then it shouldn't be an attribute field.
> 
We would like to hear the opinion of more people from the platform group.

Have a peaceful holiday season.
Marilynn

----------------------------------------------------------
Marilynn Sørensen
Data Manager
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
H.C. Andersens Boulevard 44-46, 1553 Copenhagen V.
Denmark

Direct tel: +45 33 38 67 20