Geographic Ontologies: Survey and Challenges

A research agenda for geographic information science, 2005

Ontology has gained increased attention among researchers in geographic information science in recent years, and in the present paper we argue that ontology can play an important role in establishing robust theoretical foundations for geographic information science in the future. The growth of interest in the topic of geospatial ontology is documented by such activities as:

ISO/TC 211/WG 7/PT 19150 Expected action: For information and consideration at the 28th ISO/TC 211 plenary meeting in Molde, NorwayISO/ ISO TC 211/SC /WG 7 Secretariat: SN Geographic information -Ontology -Project 19150 -Preliminary stage (00.60) Information géographique -Ontologie -Projet 19150 -Stade préliminaire (00.60)

2011

From the previous definitions of SDI it can be derived that one of the main objectives of SDIs is to make the work with geospatial data more efficient Nebert 2001), avoiding problems that occur with conventional GIS technology and geographic data sets. remarks that there are two major problems with traditional GIS stand-alone applications: first, data sets exist in a plethora of different data formats (datasets in different formats often have to be converted in order to be used in a different system); and second, these data are often not (sufficiently) documented (it is difficult or even impossible for outside users to discover data sets and to assess whether a given data set is useful for their tasks). In other words, what these authors are meaning is the inability of

1998

An ontology of geographic kinds is designed to yield a better understanding of the structure of the geographic world, and to support the development of geographic information systems that are conceptually sound. This paper first demonstrates that geographical objects and kinds are not just larger versions of the everyday objects and kinds previously studied in cognitive science. Geographic objects are not merely located in space, as are the manipulable objects of table-top space.

International Conference on Formal Ontology in Information Systems, 2000

In this paper we describe the results of our current efforts to establish a foundation for combining spatial ontologies. We draw on the state of the art in compu- tational ontological engineering, ontologies for geographic information systems and qualitative reasoning in order to build a framework within which these, and other, ap- proaches may be placed. The skeleton of the

2010

The performance of some tasks in Information Retrieval is strongly related to the extent and quality of the geographic knowledge about named places. This paper presents a conceptualization of the geographic knowledge, the Geo-Net vocabulary, and a tool for building large knowledge bases of named places, the GKB management system, developed in the GREASE-II project. The Geo-Net vocabulary is a conceptual model for describing geographic places, including their names, types, relationships and footprints. It uses URIs and the RDF data model to expose, share and connect pieces of geographic knowledge each other and to related data on the Web. The GKB system is a multi-paradigm knowledge management system that enables the development of geographic ontologies with the Geo-Net vocabulary. This paper also presents a geographic ontology of Portugal, Geo-Net-PT 02, created with the Geo-Net vocabulary and the GKB system.

Transactions in GIS, 2007

This paper presents ongoing research in the field of extensional mappings between ontologies. Hitherto, the task of generating mappings between ontologies has focused on the intensional level of ontologies. The term intensional level herein, refers to the set of concepts that are included in an ontology. However, an ontology that has been created for a specific task or application needs to be populated with instances. These comprise the extensional level of an ontology. This particular level is generally neglected during the ontologies’ integration procedure. Thus, although methodologies of geographic ontologies integration, ranging from alignment to true integration, have, in the course of years, presented a solid ground for information exchange, little has been done in exploring the relationships between the data. In this context, this research strives to set a framework for extensional mappings between ontologies using Information Flow Theory by presenting a case study of interoperability between the thematic content of maps.

International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2006

This thesis consists of eleven papers that address the question how to enhance the discovery of geographic data and geographic information services in spatial data infrastructures by means of ontologies. The collected papers have been published or accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings. Chapter I provides a synopsis of the thesis, which puts the papers into perspective and links the topics addressed in each of the papers to each other. Wherever possible, the synopsis gives references to specific sections of the selected papers, which are re-printed in the subsequent chapters. For example, the reference "section IV.3.2" points to section 3.2 in chapter IV. When referring to other sections within the same chapter, the chapter number is not given (e.g. "section 3.2"). The selected papers are included in this thesis by permission of the publishers. They have been written as part of and have partly been co-authored by colleagues from the meanInGs project 1 and the MUSIL research group 2 . Their text appears unchanged 3 , but in cases where subsequent improvements have been made, these are pointed out in the synopsis. The first two papers describe the general setting and the problems addressed in the thesis:

Computers & geosciences, 2005

2000

Information may be defined as the conceptual or communicable part of the content of mental acts. The content of mental acts includes sensory data as well as concepts, particular as well as general information. An information system is an external (non-mental) system designed to store such content. Information systems afford indirect transmission of content between people, some of whom may put information into the system and others who are among those who use the system. In order for communication to happen, the conceptual systems of the originators and users of the information must be sufficiently similar. A formal conceptual framework that can provide the basis for exchange of information is termed an ontology. In its most fundamental form, ontology studies the most basic constituents of reality. Traditionally, ontology seeks to reflects structures that are independent of thought and cognition. The term ontology is used more broadly in artificial intelligence and software engineering, to refer to the conceptual basis for an information system.