Discussion with UnitsML TC by David A. Wheeler (chair, Office formula subcommittee)

[Bob Dragoset <dragoset@nist.gov>]

Dear UnitsML TC members,

The message below was sent to me by David Wheeler (who spoke at our 
February 14, 2007 TC meeting). He asked that I post his discussion to 
the UnitsML TC members.    -Bob


Robert A. Dragoset, physicist
Physics Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology

NIST
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8400
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
Phone: 301-975-3718
Email: dragoset@nist.gov
Website: http://physics.nist.gov


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David A. Wheeler is the chair of the OASIS office formula 
subcommittee, and attended the UnitsML TC teleconference on Feb. 14, 
2007.  He wanted to coordinate the office formula ("OpenFormula") 
subcommittee with the UnitsML TC, and in particular make sure that 
the resulst from these two groups do not conflict.

Mr. Wheeler made three requests; here are those requests, and his 
understanding of the responses from the UnitsML members:

1. Would someone from the UnitsML TC be willing to review 
OpenFormula's CONVERT function, to make sure that it's accurate and 
give suggestions?
Robert Dragoset (UnitsML chair and who works at NIST) said he'd be 
willing to do that review.

2. Could we (the OpenFormula sucommittee) gain access to related 
measurement information, in particular NIST's UnitsDB and ISO 31?
Robert Dragoset will send Mr. Wheeler information on how to view the 
draft of UnitsDB. Mr. Dragoset warned that UnitsDB is still a draft, 
and has some known errors. ISO 31 is not an open access document, and 
is extremely expensive.  Robert Dragoset has a personal copy of ISO 
31, which he received from a previous user. All agreed that Mr. 
Dragoset could not simply send a photocopy to Mr. Wheeler.   Since 
both Mr. Dragoset and Mr. Wheeler live in the Washington, DC area, 
Mr. Dragoset said he'd be willing to let Mr. Wheeler visit to look at 
Mr. Dragoset's copy of the ISO 31 document at NIST.

3. Would the UnitsML group be willing to add a place in its scheme so 
that the OpenFormula symbol could be recorded in a UnitsML-compliant file?
Robert Dragoset wasn't sure if the current schema allowed this yet, 
but stated that they very much intend to include the ability to 
include maps to other code lists.  Mr. Wheeler got the impression 
that Mr. Dragoset would ensure that the final UnitsML schema would 
have this kind of capability.

Mr. Wheeler thanked everyone in the UnitsML TC for their time.