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opengeospatial
Observer
As a more generic term than EnvironmentalMonitoringFeature, it will encompass both human observers and observing devices. #17 would then be proposed as a kind of Observer
As defined by OMS : "An identifiable entity that can generate Observations pertaining to an observableProperty by implementing an ObservingProcedure."
NOTES: a) Different Observers can follow the same (reusable) observing Procedure for the creation of different Observations; b) The Observer is the entity instance, not the entity type. Pertaining to sensors, the Observer would reference the explicit sensor, while the Procedure would reference the methodology utilized by that sensor type; c) An Observer is closely linked with an observableProperty that it generates results for; d) An Observer can be hosted by one or more Host; e) The Observer is an instance of a sensor, instrument, implementation of an algorithm, or a being such as a person. An Observer responds to a stimulus, e.g., a change in the environment, or input data composed from the results of prior Observations, and generates a result. EXAMPLE Accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers, magnetometers, and so forth are Observers that are typically mounted on a modern smartphone (which acts as Host). Other examples of Sensors include the human eyes.
From my point of view, the Observer object shall not be introduced. Indeed, it seems strange to place the 'human observer' (for a lithology description for example) at an upper level than the borehole itself. So, what I think is to have a borehole object with results of visual observations indicating who observed the data. For the monitoring devices, we can only introduce a 'Monitoring' object which can have a 'Type' property for defining if it is a piezometer, an inclinometer
It seems to me that an observer is an integral component of the process of an observation (like a procedure), - an observation is performed by someone or something and so inherently linked to the result as indicated in c) and d) in the definition. Things like a borehole are not integral to the observation process, but a location (or a location frame of reference or observations space), within which an observation occurs. The observation process.(including the process steps and the observer) can exist independently of the location(s) where the observation is performed.
An observation can be associated to 0..* Observer That's good. This allows for encoding an Observation where who or what made the observation is unknown or unclear.