Duce, Stephanie, and Janowicz, Krzysztof (2010) Microtheories for SDI - Accounting for diversity of local conceptualizations at a global level. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 5892. pp. 175-187.

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Abstract

The categorization of our environment into feature types is an essential prerequisite for cartography, geographic information retrieval, routing applications, spatial decision support systems, and data sharing in general. However, there is no a priori conceptualization of the world and the creation of features and types is an act of cognition. Humans conceptualize their environment based on multiple criteria such as their cultural background, knowledge, motivation, and particularly by space and time. Sharing and making these conceptualizations explicit in a formal, unambiguous way is at the core of semantic interoperability. One way to cope with semantic heterogeneities is by standardization, i.e., by agreeing on a shared conceptualization. This bears the danger of losing local diversity. In contrast, this work proposes the use of microtheories for Spatial Data Infrastructures, such as INSPIRE, to account for the diversity of local conceptualizations while maintaining their semantic interoperability at a global level. We introduce a novel methodology to structure ontologies by spatial and temporal aspects, in our case administrative boundaries, which reflect variations in feature conceptualization. A local, bottom-up approach, based on non-standard inference, is used to compute global feature definitions which are neither too broad nor too specific. Using different conceptualizations of rivers and other geographic feature types, we demonstrate how the present approach can improve the INSPIRE data model and ease its adoption by European member states.

Item ID:	47337
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1611-3349
Keywords:	ontology, microtheory, data interoperability, spatial data infrustructure
Additional Information:	Also published in Fabrikant S.I., Reichenbacher T., van Kreveld M., Schlieder C. (eds) Geographic Information Science. GIScience 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6292. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Date Deposited:	02 May 2017 04:44
FoR Codes:	08 INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES > 0806 Information Systems > 080603 Conceptual Modelling @ 60% 08 INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES > 0806 Information Systems > 080604 Database Management @ 30% 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050205 Environmental Management @ 10%
SEO Codes:	96 ENVIRONMENT > 9609 Land and Water Management > 960999 Land and Water Management of Environments not elsewhere classified @ 30% 89 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SERVICES > 8999 Other Information and Communication Services > 899999 Information and Communication Services not elsewhere classified @ 70%
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