Semantic Geographic Information System (Semantic GIS)

A special issue of Future Internet (ISSN 1999-5903).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2014) | Viewed by 24515

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Computer Science, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand

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Guest Editor
School of Computer Science,The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Interests: computer science research in the architecture, engineering, and construction domain; construction IT

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The progressive consolidation of Information Technologies on a large scale has been facilitating and progressively increasing the production, collection, and diffusion of geographic data, as well as facilitating the integration of a large amount of information into Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Traditional GIS is emerging as a consolidated information infrastructure. This consolidated infrastructure is affecting more and more aspects of Internet Computing and Services. Most popular systems (such as Social Networks, GPS, and Decision Support Systems) involve complex GIS and important amounts of information.

The scale and the complexity of the information on the Internet has led researchers to design the next version of the network (known as the Semantic Web) according to a challenging model: the model assumes that published data will be integrated with its “meaning” (i.e., semantic description). Such integration would potentially allow for the processing of contextual information by machines in a context of interoperability and unambiguity. Semantic processes on the Internet are not limited to data, but can also involve web services. Indeed, Semantic Web Services extend the common web service concept by using semantic descriptors (e.g., those regarding modeling, service behavior, and capacity) to perform dynamic tasks, which involve the discovery, matchmaking, and execution of services that are supplied by different providers scattered throughout the global network.

As a web service, GIS is affected by exactly the same problems that affect the web as a whole. Reasonably, next generation GIS solutions have to address further methodological and data engineering challenges in order to accommodate new applications’ extended requirements (in terms of scale, interoperability, and complexity).

The conceptual and semantic modeling of GIS, as well as the integration of semantics into current GIS, may provide highly capable environments (i.e., Semantic GIS) that capable of capturing the needs and requirements of a wide domain of applications.

Dr. Salvatore Flavio Pileggi
Prof. Dr. Robert Amor
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • semantic technologies
  • semantic Web
  • Geographic information System (GIS)
  • conceptual and semantic modeling of GIS
  • ontology for GIS
  • geographic space modeling
  • novel applications on GIS
  • GIS and social media integration
  • spatial data infrastructure (SDI)

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Editorial

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171 KiB  
Editorial
Addressing Semantic Geographic Information Systems
by Salvatore F. Pileggi and Robert Amor
Future Internet 2013, 5(4), 585-590; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi5040585 - 26 Nov 2013
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6301
Abstract
The progressive consolidation of information technologies on a large scale has been facilitating and progressively increasing the production, collection, and diffusion of geographic data, as well as facilitating the integration of a large amount of external information into geographic information systems (GIS). Traditional [...] Read more.
The progressive consolidation of information technologies on a large scale has been facilitating and progressively increasing the production, collection, and diffusion of geographic data, as well as facilitating the integration of a large amount of external information into geographic information systems (GIS). Traditional GIS is transforming into a consolidated information infrastructure. This consolidated infrastructure is affecting more and more aspects of internet computing and services. Most popular systems (such as social networks, GPS, and decision support systems) involve complex GIS and significant amounts of information. As a web service, GIS is affected by exactly the same problems that affect the web as a whole. Therefore, next generation GIS solutions have to address further methodological and data engineering challenges in order to accommodate new applications’ extended requirements (in terms of scale, interoperability, and complexity). The conceptual and semantic modeling of GIS, as well as the integration of semantics into current GIS, provide highly expressive environments that are capable of meeting the needs and requirements of a wide range of applications. [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semantic Geographic Information System (Semantic GIS))

Research

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930 KiB  
Article
Geographic Ontologies, Gazetteers and Multilingualism
by Robert Laurini
Future Internet 2015, 7(1), 1-23; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi7010001 - 5 Jan 2015
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 9814
Abstract
Different languages imply different visions of space, so that terminologies are different in geographic ontologies. In addition to their geometric shapes, geographic features have names, sometimes different in diverse languages. In addition, the role of gazetteers, as dictionaries of place names (toponyms), is [...] Read more.
Different languages imply different visions of space, so that terminologies are different in geographic ontologies. In addition to their geometric shapes, geographic features have names, sometimes different in diverse languages. In addition, the role of gazetteers, as dictionaries of place names (toponyms), is to maintain relations between place names and location. The scope of geographic information retrieval is to search for geographic information not against a database, but against the whole Internet: but the Internet stores information in different languages, and it is of paramount importance not to remain stuck to a unique language. In this paper, our first step is to clarify the links between geographic objects as computer representations of geographic features, ontologies and gazetteers designed in various languages. Then, we propose some inference rules for matching not only types, but also relations in geographic ontologies with the assistance of gazetteers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semantic Geographic Information System (Semantic GIS))
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4482 KiB  
Article
From Raw Data to Meaningful Information: A Representational Approach to Cadastral Databases in Relation to Urban Planning
by Francesc Valls Dalmau, Pilar Garcia-Almirall, Ernest Redondo Domínguez and David Fonseca Escudero
Future Internet 2014, 6(4), 612-639; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi6040612 - 24 Oct 2014
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 7686
Abstract
Digesting the data hose that cities are constantly producing is complex; data is usually structured with different criteria, which makes comparative analysis of multiple cities challenging. However, the publicly available data from the Spanish cadaster contains urban information in a documented format with [...] Read more.
Digesting the data hose that cities are constantly producing is complex; data is usually structured with different criteria, which makes comparative analysis of multiple cities challenging. However, the publicly available data from the Spanish cadaster contains urban information in a documented format with common semantics for the whole territory, which makes these analyses possible. This paper uses the information about the 3D geometry of buildings, their use and their year of construction, stored in cadastral databases, to study the relation between the built environment (what the city is) and the urban plan (what the city wants to become), translating the concepts of the cadastral data into the semantics of the urban plan. Different representation techniques to better understand the city from the pedestrians’ point of view and to communicate this information more effectively are also discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semantic Geographic Information System (Semantic GIS))
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