Applying Two-Level Modelling to Remote Sensor Systems Design to Enable Future Knowledge Generation

Geographical Information Scientists have a need to combine data from many sources and in various ways to synthesize new understanding, producing new knowle­dge [1]. Remote sensor deployments, monitoring environmental phenomena, are a huge provider of valuable data. Often, observation systems are built in isolation, and the data representations are not adequately designed for re-use and higher order knowledge generation. There are many standards that allow syntactic interoperability and sharing of remote sensor systems observational data, such as the OGC’s suite of standards [2]. However, semantic interoperability remains a work in progress [3] [4]. This presentation describes how system design techniques used in the health informatics domain [5] to tackle similar problems of how data, information and knowledge concepts are modelled and managed can be applied to remote sensing applications. Much like the health domain, remotely sensed data is traditionally modelled from a computer science perspective. Traditional object-oriented techniques typically used to model complex data are insufficient in a geographical data context, as they are too stringent during the early stages of knowledge acquisition. Standards such as O&M on their own precipitate a codifying effect as systems are developed, constraining rapidly evolving information [6]. The authors have investigated the OGC’s O&M standard as a reference model to underpin a two-level modelling approach. An augmented O&M model has been developed and is presented along with a worked example of how a two-level modelling approach using O&M as the reference model can be applied to modelling a marine data buoy. [1] M. Gahegan and W. Pike, A situated knowledge representation of geographical information, Transactions in GIS, vol. 10, pp. 727-749, 2006. [2] M. Botts, G. Percivall, C. Reed and J. Davidson, OGC® sensor web enablement: Overview and high level architecture, in GeoSensor Networks Springer, 2008, pp. 175-190. [3] S. Cox, An explicit OWL representation of ISO/OGC observations and measurements. in Ssn@ Iswc, 2013, pp. 1-18. [4] A. M. Leadbetter, R. K. Lowry and D. O. Clements, Putting meaning into NETMAR–the open service network for marine environmental data, International Journal of Digital Earth, pp. 1-18, 2013. [5] T. Beale, Archetypes: Constraint-based domain models for future-proof information systems, in OOPSLA 2002 Workshop on Behavioural Semantics, 2002. [6] M. F. Goodchild, GIScience ten years after Ground Truth, Transactions in GIS, vol. 10, pp. 687-692, 2006

Toward user oriented semantic geographical information systems

User Oriented Geographical Information Systems, a recent adaptation of classical GIS concepts to everyday usage, are becoming more and more present in the web landscape. Recent developments show the need of adding higher semantic levels to the existing frameworks, to improve their usage, as well as to ease scalability. We point out limits of actual examples, related to handling heterogeneous data, scalability issues, and expressiveness, and suggest a framework for building a Semantic User Oriented GIS. Notably this framework aims to address the peculiarities of the geographical space domain, and to offer a cognitively sound interface to the user

Education in cartography: what is the status of young people's map-reading skills?

Due to recent technological progress, maps have become more popular than ever before. This is especially true for young people, who interact with these technologies on a daily basis. Therefore, it is essential that these potential map users possess sufficient knowledge and skills to process the content of cartographic products. A user study was conducted during which pupils (aged 11-18years) and geography students (>18years) had to solve a number of cartography questions using topographic maps. The data were analyzed statistically, taking into account a number of potentially influencing factors (user characteristics) on the participants' results: age, gender, youth club membership, knowledge about the area, among others. The results show a rising trend in the pupils' scores with increasing age, which can be explained by education in cartography at school. Geography students perform much better, but no influence of any other user characteristics was detected. For pupils, knowledge about the area and gender might be considered as influencing factors. However, the detected influence of gender depends on the scoring system

A multi-disciplinary perspective on the built environment: Space Syntax and cartography – the communication challenge

8-11 June 2009

The Use of Ontologies in Contextually Aware Environments

In this paper we outline work in progress related to the construction of contextually aware pervasive computing environments, through the use of semantic and knowledge technologies. Key to this activity is modelling both where and what a user is doing at any given time. We present a prototype application to illustrate this work and describe part of its implementation

Slow theory : taking time over transnational democratic representation

The possibility for transnational democratic representation is a huge topic. This article is restricted to exploring two unconventional aspects. The first concerns 'the representative claim', extending one critical part of previous analysis of the assessment of such claims, especially by largely unelected transnational actors. The second, which strongly conditions the account of the first, concerns ‘slow theory’ as the way to approach building democratic models and, in particular, to approach transnational democratic representation

Structural analyses of features in cultural landscapes based on historical cadastral maps and GIS

A landscape may appear to be ancient and to contain old man-made structures even if this is not the whole truth. Structures are moved, removed, replaced and added over the years. New users introduce new land use and management regimes. In Norway, information from land consolidation processes is crucially important in gaining a better understanding of the history, dynamics and development of farms, identifying older traces of human activity and selecting important areas for protection and management. When cadastral maps are transformed, common points are needed during the transformation process and for testing the accuracy of the final transformation. It is often difficult to find enough common points to satisfy statistical requirements. Paper I presents a simple method using buffers based on linear features to evaluate whether or not the accuracy of the transformation results is better than the known accuracy of the source. Papers II, III and IV show how digitised and geographically referenced historical cadastral maps can be used to reconstruct the situation at various dates back to the 19th century, and for some information back to the 16th century. The digitised cadastral map provides a snapshot of the situation at the time of the land consolidation process, and the information is considered to be very exact. Paper IV also demonstrates how a DEM (digital elevation model) can add significantly to an understanding of the information contained in the land consolidation material. The use of digitised cadastral maps reveals that many man-made structures generally perceived as old, because they are constructed using traditional techniques, in fact date from after the land consolidation process. One aim of the new European Landscape Convention is to promote landscape protection, management and planning. It therefore requires identification of landscapes and analysis of their characteristics and the forces and pressures transforming them. Using land consolidation material in a GIS makes it possible to document changes in a landscape and improve understanding of the pressures behind these changes