Definitions

This page contains definitions of terms and abbreviations used in the InfoEx application and associated documentation.

Assessment 

An assessment is one of two types of information exchanged in the InfoEx. While an observation only contains objective information that was collected according to the OGRS of the Canadian Avalanche Association, an assessment contains personal judgment and interpretation of observations. Examples of assessments are general descriptions of the local snowpack, PWL assessments, avalanche problem descriptions and hazard assessments.

Keyhole Markup Language (KML)

KML is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within Internet-based, two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML is used in Google Earth to encode location geometries, which can be saved in two different file formats: the compressed KMZ file format and the uncompressed KML file format. The InfoEx system can only read uncompressed KML files.

Observation 

An observations is one of two types information exchanged in the InfoEx. While an assessment contains personal judgment and interpretation, an observation only contains objective information that was collected according to the OGRS of the Canadian Avalanche Association. Examples of observations are weather, field, snowpack and avalanche observations.

OGRS 

Observation Guidelines and Recording Standards of the Canadian Avalanche Association. The most recent version of this standard was published in 2007.

PWL 

Persistent weak layer

Report template 

A report template specifies the content of an InfoEx report.

Workflow 

Workflows are the functionality of the InfoEx application that allows users to define sequences of tasks that they regularly complete during the avalanche hazard assessment process and their interaction with the InfoEx. A workflow consist of a series of tasks or steps than can be chosen from a number of workflow modules. Examples of common workflows are a forecasting session in a highway operation or a morning or evening meeting in guiding operation.

Workflow definition 

A workflow definition specifies the task or steps included in a workflow.

Workflow instance 

A workflow instance is specific realization of a workflow. For example, every morning the guiding team of a backcountry operation complete a new instance of their morning meeting workflow.

Workflow module 

A workflow module is a software component of the InfoEx application that provides the necessary functionality for a task within workflow. For example, the report module offers users the ability to view any predefined InfoEx report within a workflow.