A Geospatial Semantic Web Framework for Feature-Level Data Search, Access, Retrieval, Integration and Visualization: A Case of Transportation Network Data

本研究的目的是设计、原型化和评估一个地理空间语义网框架，以搜索、访问、检索、集成和可视化地理信息，并以交通网络数据为例进行研究。本研究旨在将数据共享的技术水平从当前的文件级提升到特征级，这涉及到在特定位置由点、线或多边形表示的数据元素。地理空间数据共享和交换对于提高数据密集型应用程序的效率和减少数据获取的冗余至关重要。然而，由于在不同系统中使用的各种语义、数据模型、结构和格式的不兼容性，目前在文件级共享数据的方法使数据共享和交换变得困难。对于紧急响应和基于位置的服务等许多应用程序来说，文件级的数据共享是不必要的，这些应用程序只需要特定位置或其周围的信息。因此，建立一个特征级数据共享系统，以满足许多需要实时访问和交换最新空间数据的时间关键型应用的需求，是非常有用和必要的。本研究将使用Web服务、语义网和本体等标准技术，设计和原型化一个可互操作的地理空间语义网。基本方法是将地理空间数据作为单独的web服务提供，然后在地理空间语义web中启用这些服务。每个web服务都在服务代理中进行描述和发布，服务代理通过本体保存可用服务和每个服务包含的数据项的列表。最终用户可以通过服务和本体从服务代理中搜索地理空间数据元素。在此基础上，利用Web本体语言建立并集成了两个运输领域本体。由此产生的系统将从根本上改变传统的数据共享、搜索和访问方式。它将使用户或应用程序能够语义搜索、自动发现和访问特征级数据。此外，它可能对国土安全、应急响应、基于位置的服务、城市规划和决策支持系统中使用的时间关键型和数据密集型应用产生重要影响。本研究旨在促进和推进Web服务、本体和地理空间语义网集成的研究兴趣。它试图表明，开发的地理空间语义Web可以成为一个与供应商无关的、可互操作的Web，它允许地理空间数据提供者发布其数据，允许最终用户（如应急响应调度员）通过Web服务从多个来源搜索、访问、检索和集成围绕特定位置的不同空间信息。这一建议得到了方法学、测量和统计项目的部分支持。

The objective of the research is to design, prototype, and assess a Geospatial Semantic Web framework to search, access, retrieve, integrate, and visualize geographic information at the feature level, using transportation network data as a case study. This research intends to advance the state of art of data-sharing from the current file level to feature level, which involves data elements represented by points, lines, or polygons at particular locations. Geospatial data sharing and exchange are essential to increase the efficiency of data-intensive applications and to reduce the redundancy of data acquisition. Yet current methods of sharing data at the file level make data sharing and exchange difficult because of the incompatibility of the variety of semantics, data models, structures and formats used at different systems. Data sharing at the file level is not necessary for many applications such as emergency responses and location based services, in which only information at or surrounding a particular location are needed. Therefore it is useful and necessary to build a feature-level data sharing system to meet the demand of many time critical applications that need real-time access and exchange of the most up-to-date spatial data. This research will design and prototype an interoperable Geospatial Semantic Web using standard technologies such as web services, semantic web, and ontology. The basic approach is to serve geospatial data as individual web services, and then enable these services in a Geospatial Semantic Web. Each web service is described and published in a service broker, which keeps a list of available services and the data items each service contains through ontologies. The end user can search for geospatial data elements from the service broker through services and ontologies. Based on the research, two transportation domain ontologies will be created and integrated using the Web Ontology Language. The resulting system will fundamentally change traditional ways of data sharing, search and access. It will enable users or applications to semantically search and automatically discover and access feature level data. Furthermore, it may have important impacts on time-critical and data-intensive applications such as those used in homeland security, emergency response, location based services, urban planning, and decision-support systems. This research wishes to promote and advance research interests in the integration of Web services, ontology, and Geospatial Semantic Web. It attempts to show that the developed Geospatial Semantic Web can become a vendor-neutral, interoperable Web that allows geospatial data providers to advertise their data, allows end users such as the emergency response dispatchers to search, access, retrieve, and integrate different spatial information surrounding a particular location from multiple sources through Web Services.This proposal is supported in part by the Methodology, Measurement and Statistics program.