ScienceBase Updates - Summer 2024
Summer 2024 topics include information on licenses for USGS data releases, uploading files to ScienceBase from an S3 bucket, a tip on the ScienceBase public site, and featured data release on the USGS Geochron database.
Table of Contents
- Featured Data Release: USGS Geochron Database
- Licenses for USGS Data Releases
- Upload Files to ScienceBase Directly from Another S3 Bucket
- Did You Know? ScienceBase Drupal Site
Geochronologic data helps scientists to understand the timing of geological events and processes, such as the formation of mountains, the movement of plates, and the emergence and extinction of different species. This type of data is used in many different fields of science, including paleontology, stratigraphy, tectonics, and sedimentology. For example, by dating the rocks and fossils in a particular area, geologists can determine how long ago certain geological events occurred, such as the glaciation of an area or the eruption of a volcano. This information can then be used to reconstruct the history of that region and to understand how it has changed over time. Overall, geochronologic data is a crucial tool for geologists to research and understand the history of the earth, and to make informed predictions about future geological events and processes.
The USGS Geochron database is comprised of geochronological and thermochronological dates and data. The dataset contains published ages, dates, analytical information, sample metadata including location, and source citations. Since the database was published in 2023, the data release landing page has garnered over 77,000 visits, and over 67,000 file downloads, according to the ScienceBase Data Release Dashboard. The USGS Geochron database also has an application to visualize this data: USGS Geochron Database Explorer.
References
Hillenbrand, I.W., Thomson, K.D., Morgan, L.E., Gilmer, A.K., Engle, Z.T., Slawson, J., Dombrowski, A., Warrell, K.F., Malone, J., Souders, A.K., Hudson, A.M., Cosca, M.A., Paces, J.B., Thompson, R.A., and Park, A.J., 2023, USGS Geochron: A Database of Geochronological and Thermochronological Dates and Data (ver. 3.0, May 2024): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9RZNPIF.
Licenses for USGS Data Releases
Starting Wednesday, June 12, 2024, the USGS Asset Identifier Service began requiring that all published dataset, service, or collection DOIs include a rights field that will:
- specify if the data are in the public domain (CC0-1.0) OR
- provide a Creative Commons license for the data.
Changes to Previously Published DOIs
Datasets, Services, Collections
Previously published DOIs were automatically updated to specify that the data are public domain in the rights field. If you have data that are publicly available but should not be listed as public domain, you will either need to update the DOI in the Asset Identifier Service or email ask-sdm@usgs.gov with the correct Creative Commons license and we can make the update for you.
Software
The rights field will NOT be required for software DOIs, yet, so published software DOIs have not been automatically updated with rights information.
Implementation for newly published DOIs
Datasets, Services, Collections
Moving forward, authors will be required to specify the license before they are allowed to publish a DOI. This can be done through the Asset Identifier Service user interface or API. For data releases that were in progress in ScienceBase prior to June 12th, please let the SBDR team know when you request the data release be made public if it needs an open license instead of public domain. For future data releases, the ScienceBase Data Release Tool has been updated so that authors can specify the license at the time that they request their landing pages and DOIs (see screenshot below), which will help streamline the data release finalization process for new data releases. Note that the default license value is CC0-1.0, the international equivalent of “public domain.” If a more restrictive Creative Commons license is selected for the data release, authors should be prepared to detail the need for the selection, and any appropriate and inappropriate uses of the data, in the Use Constraints section of the dataset metadata.
Software
Even though the rights field will NOT be required for software DOIs, authors may choose to include the rights information, particularly if the software is public domain.
Background
We are required by the OPEN Government Data Act to include these licenses and this change to the Asset Identifier Service required DOI fields is helping us to meet this requirement, in addition to making our data more transparent. Implementation of Creative Commons licenses align with the recommendations of the Federal Data Strategy and the Department’s Data Governance Board and will allow the Bureau to universally communicate how our data may be used.
In order for USGS to be truly transparent when we publicly release our data, it is important for us to clearly communicate how people can use the data we provide. In most cases, USGS data that are publicly released are in the public domain by default and can be used however people would like to use them. The problem with just saying that something is in the public domain is that it can be challenging to interpret across national borders and is not always machine-readable. "Public Domain” is a concept that is specific to the U.S. legal system and is generally not recognized in the copyright laws of other countries. This can make it difficult for international collaborators and research communities to understand if and how data produced by the U.S. Federal government may be used.
The USGS would like to move toward explicitly declaring that data are in the public domain through the use of the Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication (CC0-1.0); use of CC0-1.0 will enable people and machines around the world to understand that there are no restrictions on the use of the data.
Some data released by the USGS need to have open licenses applied instead of the default public domain. This can occur when USGS obtains data produced by non-Federal parties. In these cases, it is necessary to apply a license that clearly describes what people can do with the data. A Creative Commons license other than CC0-1.0 can be used in conjunction with an explicit Use Constraints statement in the metadata that provides details regarding appropriate and inappropriate uses of data not collected by USGS. Since Creative Commons licenses are commonly used for data, those are the other open licenses that we will use in USGS within our data DOIs.
For users working within their own S3 buckets inside the USGS Cloud Hosting Solutions (CHS) environment, it is possible to transfer files into ScienceBase cloud storage directly from those locations after basic bucket level permissions are configured properly. If the S3 bucket administrators grant the ScienceBase application the appropriate ListBucket and GetObject permissions on the bucket, authorized ScienceBase users can navigate to that location, browse, and select files for upload into ScienceBase cloud storage. Files can then be copied into the ScienceBase S3 location, pre-processed by the application, and attached to an item. If you are a developer or CHS admin interested in additional details to set up this capability, please contact the ScienceBase team at sciencebase@usgs.gov .
We’ve updated our website for instructions and documentation. This website is fully public and can be shared with external users or collaborators easily.
Pages that may be of interest to users include:
- Instructions on the data release process now include info about revisions and dynamic data
- Updated info about geospatial services in ScienceBase
- Instructions on building search queries in ScienceBase
- Current and previous ScienceBase Updates