observed feature

• CURIE: gmeow:observedFeature
• IRI: https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/observedFeature
• Category: property
• Defined by: gmeow:slices/observations
• Box roles: RBox role (What is this?)

The individual whose property or state is being observed — the feature of interest. The range is intentionally open (owl:Thing) because anything can be observed: a place, a person, an event, a document, a quality value, or a situation. SHACL shapes enforce closed-world constraints per observation kind.

Structure

Property shape: object property; gmeow:Observation -> ?

Practical Pattern

Use gmeow:observedFeature from gmeow:Observation to ? when the relationship itself belongs in the native GMEOW graph.

Example Snippets

These snippets are generated from canonical slice examples and trimmed to the Turtle blocks where this term appears.

Temperature Reading

• Source: slices/core/observations/examples/temperature-reading.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-core-observations-examples-temperature-reading

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Blackcat Informatics® Inc. <paudley@blackcatinformatics.ca>
# SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0
#
# Worked example: a measurement is a reified Observation ( P11). A
# gmeow:Measurement records WHAT was observed (gmeow:observedFeature), HOW
# (gmeow:observationMethod), and from WHERE (gmeow:vantage — the sensor). Its
# result is NOT a bare number on the observation: the scalar lives in an
# entity-valued gmeow:ScalarQuantity wrapper that bundles the value with its UNIT
# and uncertainty, so a temperature is never asserted free-floating (P11 — every
# value carries its frame). The unit is aligned to QUDT by reference (P5).
@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/observations/> .
@prefix xsd:   <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .

# --- The measurement: observed feature, method, vantage, and an entity result.
ex:reading a gmeow:Measurement ;
    gmeow:observedFeature   ex:room ;
    gmeow:observationMethod gmeow:methodInstrumentalReading ;
    gmeow:vantage           ex:sensor ;
    gmeow:observationResult ex:temp .

Spatial Bins

• Source: slices/extensions/aggregation/examples/spatial-bins.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-extensions-aggregation-examples-spatial-bins

# --- The aggregation: average household size over the region, by survey, with a
#     1000-person minimum-population floor for safe publication.
ex:householdAgg a gmeow:SpatialAggregation ;
    gmeow:observedFeature     ex:metro ;
    gmeow:vantage             ex:censusBureau ;
    gmeow:observationMethod   gmeow:methodSurvey ;
    gmeow:aggregationFunction gmeow:aggAverage ;
    gmeow:minimumPopulation   "1000"^^xsd:nonNegativeInteger ;
    gmeow:hasBin              ex:downtownBin ;
    gmeow:observationResult   ex:avgHouseholdSize .

Common Companion Terms

gmeow:Observation

Projects To

External Equivalences

Equivalent or closely aligned targets: crm, iao, oa, oboe, sosa

Linkages

Generated from the canonical mapping DSL. SSSOM files are the generated public interchange form for term equivalences.

Term Equivalences

Projection Coverage

Usage Advice

Use when

• Use to name what an Observation is about — its subject of interest — including from a specialized claim where the local subject property (gmeow:facetSubject, gmeow:usageNamed, gmeow:statementAbout, gmeow:versionMember) bridges here so generic consumers find every observation about X.

Avoid when

• Avoid using it for the produced value (that is gmeow:observationResult) or the observer (gmeow:vantage); and prefer the domain subproperty when one exists rather than asserting the bare super-role, so the feature keeps its local range.

How to use

• Point the Observation at its subject; for typed claims assert the bridging subproperty (facetSubject, usageNamed, statementAbout, versionMember) and read gmeow:observedFeature by inheritance. Keep the range open — do not constrain it in the core; per-kind narrowing is SHACL's job.

Examples

• ex:reading gmeow:observedFeature ex:room.