Methodology and communications strategy for retiring old uncertainty metadata tags.

[brian-r-calder]

Background

As described in issue #2 and discussed at the CHC'24 WG meeting (#8), the current metadata enumeration tags for vertical uncertainty in the BAG file are often subject to interpretation, primarily because there wasn't a solid definition of what was intended for each tag. At CHC'24, the WG agreed in principle that it would make sense to recommend that ill-defined vertical uncertainty metadata tags not be used for future products, although to still allow them to be valid for older files. There was also a requirement to communicate any decisions on this topic to the wider user community, particularly because the metadata definitions are in use by, among others, the IHO for S-102.

Actions

In order to develop this topic, the WG is invited to:

1. Agree on language to describe the recommendations ("retired", "deprecated", or "not for future products", etc.)
2. Develop a communications plan for all relevant parties to communicate this decision.
3. Document the recommendations in the BAG FSD.
4. Consider sponsoring a conference (or potentially IHR) paper to make these modifications more widely known.