Boyan Brodaric

Geo-Pragmatics for the Geospatial Semantic Web

Geo-Pragmatics is introduced here as an enhanced representation for ontologies in which geospatial, geographical and geoscientific concepts are not only defined, but their pragmatic context is also captured and potentially reasoned with. A framework for representing such context is developed using three core aspects: dimensions, agents and roles. Dimensions consist of a concepts origins, uses and effects; these are generated by the interaction of human, machine and natural agents, and involve entities with roles developed from method-driven perspectives and epistemic-driven versions. The relationship between these core aspects is explored conceptually and implications for geoscientific ontologies are discussed, including identification of a basic ontological type, the situated concept, whose meaning is defined by its geographical-historical context. Geo-pragmatics should help geoscientists evaluate the scientific merit, and fitness for scientific use, of geoscientific ontologies in emerging e-science initiatives.

The design of GSC FieldLog: ontology-based software for computer aided geological field mapping☆

Databases containing geological field information are increasingly being constructed directly in the field. The design of such databases is often challenged by opposing needs: (1) the individual need to maintain flexibility of database structure and contents, to accommodate unexpected field situations; and (2) the corporate need to retain compatibility between distinct field databases, to accommodate their interoperability. The FieldLog mapping software balances these needs by exploiting a domain ontology developed for field information, one that enables field database flexibility and facilitates compatibility. The ontology consists of cartographic, geospatial, geological and metadata objects that form a common basis for interoperability and that can be instantiated by users into customized field databases. The design of the FieldLog software, its foundation on this ontology, and the resulting benefits to usability are presented in this paper. The discussion concentrates on satisfying the flexibility requirement by implementing the ontology as a generic data model within an object-relational database environment; issues of interoperability are not considered in detail. Benefits of this ontologic-driven approach are also developed within a description of the FieldLog application, including (1) improved usability due to an user interface based on the geological components of the ontology, and (2) diminished technical prerequisites as users are shielded from the many database and GIS technicalities handled by the ontology.

Experiments to Examine the Situated Nature of Geoscientific Concepts

ABSTRACT Ontologies are being developed in many geoscientific domains. They are typically populated with two types of concepts: upper-level concepts that apply across many or all domains, and domain concepts that apply only within a specific domain. Previous work has refined this distinction by identifying a particular type of domain concept, called a situated concept, which is dependent on specific processes (natural, social, scientific, or possibly machine) for its meaning and is instantiated amongst entities within a specific geographical and historical context. In this paper we present new support for situated geoscientific concepts, building on our previous research that argues for the importance of situations in the development and use of concepts related to geoscientific field mapping. The new results are obtained by using statistical techniques to further analyze three geologists field data over time, to better test the hypothesis that the concepts developed by the geologists to classify objects on the map are in fact situated. The field data are compared to each other, and to the concepts developed by the team. Differences found between and within individuals data for three map concepts provide strong support for the idea that the concepts are variably influenced by data, theory, and natural and human situations. From this increased corroboration of situated concepts we suggest two implications for domain ontologies: (1) a delineation between situated domain concepts and non-situated domain concepts; and (2) recognition that representation of reliable meaning involves the capture of historical and geographical context for situated concepts.

An Object Model for Geologic Map Information

National geologic map databases are presently being constructed in the U.S. and Canada, as well as in several other countries. Here, we describe an object-based model for geologic map information, specifically designed to represent digital geologic maps and related geoscientific information. Although oriented to geoscience, several fundamental issues in representing geospatial information are explored in this design, including the philosophic and cognitive basis of mapping in general, and the overall framework in which map-related information can be represented. Thus, we take an ontologic approach to geospatial representation, supplemented by an epistemic view of the scientific process, which culminates in a very general model—a meta-model—for map information. Practical as well as theoretical considerations motivate this approach. Primarily, however, we describe the theoretical foundations of our meta-model, specifically semiotics, category theory, and ontology in geospatial information. Finally, we report briefly on a specific prototype data model derived from the meta-model and implemented in a commercial object-oriented GIS.

Ontology use for semantic e-Science

Ontologies are being widely used in online science activities, or e-Science, most notably in roles related to managing and integrating data resources and workflows. We suggest this use has focused on enabling e-Science infrastructures to operate more efficiently, but has had less emphasis on scientific knowledge innovation. A greater focus on online innovation can be achieved through more explicit representation of scientific artifacts such as theories and models, and more online tools to enable scientists to directly generate and test such representations. This should lead to routine use of ontologies by scientists, and foster new and potentially different scientific results to help usher in next generation e-Science.

The Emerging Field of Semantic Scientific Knowledge Integration

Interest in and requirements for the next generation of information technology for science are expanding. e-Science has become a growing subject of discussion covering topics such as grid computing for science as well as knowledge-enhanced scientific data retrieval. The demand for deep integration of scientific data and knowledge within and among disciplines is also growing, as larger and broader science questions are becoming more common. Concurrent with the growing demand for next generation information technology for science is a commensurate growth in semantic technologies. We seek to explore the general space of semantic e-Science while focusing on the support and potential for deep data and knowledge integration.

Enabling Cross-Disciplinary E-Science by Integrating Geoscience Ontologies with Dolce

Cross-disciplinary e-science can be enabled by using foundational ontologies such as Dolce to integrate knowledge representations from different geoscience domains. Geoscientists are increasingly concerned with big problems related to climate change, natural hazards, and environmental health. In solving these problems, theyre regularly encountering data and knowledge that are complex, diverse, distributed, and massive, causing them to turn to e-science for operational aids. Useful e-Science resources such as high-performance computing grids, sensor networks, and large-scale data integration and modeling capabilities enable greater volumes of data to be collected in situ and then processed by distributed systems aimed at stimulating new scientific knowledge. Although the new knowledge sometimes includes new concepts and theories, it more frequently involves new predictive models of reality that exhibit dramatically increased geospatial resolution and thematic complexity. E-Science is thus becoming more knowledge-driven via its reliance on knowledge representations to achieve scientific goals. For many of the big problems, this requires geoscientists to represent and integrate knowledge from different science domains, which contrasts with recent trends in which integration is concentrated within single scientific domains.

The NATMAP digital geoscience data-management system

Abstract The National Mapping Program (NATMAP) is a major geoscience initiative, conceived in 1988 by the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), aimed at increasing the level of geoscientific mapping in Canada through multiinstitutional and multidisciplinary projects. The methodology used to accomplish this goal includes multiparameter synthesis of geoscience information, and promotion of digital information management and processing standards for geoscientific maps and compilations. The initial NATMAP projects are the Shield Margin (Manitoba and Saskatchewan) and the Slave (Northwest Territories) each having a duration of 5 years. The Shield Margin Project is designed to generate new perspectives of the Flin Flon-Snow Lake Belt and its sub-Paleozoic continuation. The Slave Project will attempt to provide solutions to a number of issues that are essential to improving the understanding of the metallogeny and tectonic history of the Slave Province. For each project a digital geoscience database will be created containing information from a variety of sources including written and map reference material, raw and derived products from existing GSC/Provincial databases, digital field geology, and the results of analysis and interpretation. Information in many different data structures including text, point, line, polygonal, and raster, will be incorporated. By implementing a digital geoscience database project, participants are able to benefit from rapid distribution of information, computerized map production and revision, computerized analysis, and manipulation of all types of geoscience data. At the end of the projects the digital database will serve as a data archive. Development of a system and standards for incorporation of digital field data and existing analog geological information into the database for analysis, comparison with other data sets, and subsequent map production is essential for realization of the benefits of a digital geoscience database.

Kinds of Full Physical Containment

Full physical containment is the relation in which one physical entity is completely inside another. It is central to the description of natural resources held in reservoirs above or below the surface. Previous ontological representations of containment are located in abstract space, incomplete, or insufficiently incorporate voids, so in this paper we develop a complete taxonomy for the full containment relation that is situated in physical space and integrates voids. The taxonomy is formalized in a mereotopological theory and specializes the DOLCE foundational ontology, thus advancing hydro ontology development.

Finding Science with Science: Evaluating a Domain and Scientific Ontology User Interface for the Discovery of Scientific Resources

Current approaches to the discovery of scientific resources (publications, data sets and web services) are dominated by keyword search. These approaches do not allow scientists to search on the deeper semantics of scientific resources, or to discover resources on the basis of the scientific approaches taken. This article evaluates a user interface that allows users to discover scientific resources through structured knowledge in the form of ontologies describing the domain and the scientific knowledge inherent within the scientific resource, and also through informal user tags. These combined capabilities provide scientists with new and powerful options for resource discovery. A qualitative user evaluation explored how scientists felt about the approach for resource discovery in the context of their scientific work. The study showed that marine scientists were enthusiastic about the capabilities of such an approach and appreciated the ability to browse the visual structure of the knowledge and query on scientific method but, overall, preferred the use of tags over ontologies. The exploratory nature of the user study was used to identify future directions for such improvements.