The following concepts underpin data upload on HESTIA. For a broader overview, see The HESTIA Data Standard.
- Nodes: data in HESTIA are organised into nodes, and all uploaded data must fit into one or more of these nodes. Each node has a unique identifier. If the node has already been indexed on the platform, the identifier is
@id (e.g., cycle.@id). If the node is being created for the first time, the identifier is id in the upload file. Nodes must be linked using identifiers (e.g., cycle.site.id links a Cycle to a Site).
- Glossary of Terms: to support data harmonisation and sharing, HESTIA maintains a Glossary of Terms containing standard names for entities in the agri-food system. Uploaded data must use these Terms. New terms can be suggested through the platform. Terms can be referenced in upload files using their
@id or name.
- Default Units: each Term defines the units in which data must be provided (e.g., kilograms of nitrogen). For terms with percentages as units, values should be on a
0 to 100 scale (e.g., 86 for 86%, not 0.86).
- Data Completeness: there are thousands of possible items in the food system, and it would be impractical to create a database with thousands of items and many zeros. Therefore, only data describing things that were used or produced during the Cycle need to be added. A Completeness assessment must then be provided to state whether the data are a complete representation of the production Cycle.
- Private data: nodes can be marked as
private, meaning they will only be visible to the uploader, anyone the file is shared with, and platform administrators.