Semantic integration of geospatial concepts - a study on land use land cover classification systems

In GI Science, one of the most important interoperability is needed in land use and land cover (LULC) data, because it is key to the evaluation of LULC's many environmental impacts throughout the globe (Foley et al. 2005). Accordingly, this research aims to address the interoperability of LULC information derived by different authorities using different classificatory approaches. LULC data are described by LULC classification systems. The interoperability of LULC data hinges on the semantic integration of LULC classification systems. Existing works on semantically integrating LULC classification systems has a major drawback in finding comparable semantic representations from textual descriptions. To tackle this problem, we borrowed the method of comparing documents in information retrieval, and applied it to comparing LULC category names and descriptions. The results showed significant improvement comparing to previous works. However, lexical semantic methods are not able to solve the semantic heterogeneities in LULC classification systems: the confounding conflict - LULC categories under similar labels and descriptions have different LULC status in reality, and the naming conflict - LULC categories under different labels represent similar LULC type. Without confirmation of their actual land cover status from remote sensing, lexical semantic method cannot achieve reliable matching. To discover confounding conflicts and reconcile naming conflicts, we developed an innovative method of applying remote sensing to the integration of LULC classification systems. Remote sensing is a means of observation on actual LULC status of individual parcels. We calculated parcel level statistics from spectral and textural data, and used these statistics to calculate category similarity. The matching results showed this approach fulfilled its goal - to overcome semantic heterogeneities and achieve more reliable and accurate matching between LULC classifications in the majority of cases. To overcome the limitations of either method, we combined the two by aggregating their output similarities, and achieve better integration. LULC categories that post noticeable differences between lexical semantics and remote sensing once again remind us of semantic heterogeneities in LULC classification systems that must to be overcome before LULC data from different sources become interoperable and serve as the key to understanding our highly interrelated Earth system

Geographic Information Systems for Real-Time Environmental Sensing at Multiple Scales

The purpose of this investigation was to design, implement, and apply a real-time geographic information system for data intensive water resource research and management. The research presented is part of an ongoing, interdisciplinary research program supporting the development of the Intelligent River® observation instrument. The objectives of this research were to 1) design and describe software architecture for a streaming environmental sensing information system, 2) implement and evaluate the proposed information system, and 3) apply the information system for monitoring, analysis, and visualization of an urban stormwater improvement project located in the City of Aiken, South Carolina, USA. This research contributes to the fields of software architecture and urban ecohydrology. The first contribution is a formal architectural description of a streaming environmental sensing information system. This research demonstrates the operation of the information system and provides a reference point for future software implementations. Contributions to urban ecohydrology are in three areas. First, a characterization of soil properties for the study region of the City of Aiken, SC is provided. The analysis includes an evaluation of spatial structure for soil hydrologic properties. Findings indicate no detectable structure at the scales explored during the study. The second contribution to ecohydrology comes from a long-term, continuous monitoring program for bioinfiltration basin structures located in the study area. Results include an analysis of soil moisture dynamics based on data collected at multiple depths with high spatial and temporal resolution. A novel metric is introduced to evaluate the long-term performance of bioinfiltration basin structures based on soil moisture observation data. Findings indicate a decrease in basin performance over time for the monitored sites. The third contribution to the field of ecohydrology is the development and application of a spatially and temporally explicit rainfall infiltration and excess model. The model enables the simulation and visualization of bioinfiltration basin hydrologic response at within-catchment scales. The model is validated against observed soil moisture data. Results include visualizations and stormwater volume calculations based on measured versus predicted bioinfiltration basin performance over time

Information modelling for the development of sustainable construction (MINDOC)

In previous decades, controlling the environmental impact through lifecycle analysis has become a topical issue in the building sector. However, there are some problems when trying to exchange information between experts for conducting various studies like the environmental assessment of the building. There is also heterogeneity between construction product databases because they do not have the same characteristics and do not use the same basis to measure the environmental impact of each construction product. Moreover, there are still difficulties to exploit the full potential of linking BIM, SemanticWeb and databases of construction products because the idea of combining them is relatively recent. The goal of this thesis is to increase the flexibility needed to assess the building’s environmental impact in a timely manner. First, our research determines gaps in interoperability in the AEC (Architecture Engineering and Construction) domain. Then, we fill some of the shortcomings encountered in the formalization of building information and the generation of building data in Semantic Web formats. We further promote efficient use of BIM throughout the building life cycle by integrating and referencing environmental data on construction products into a BIM tool. Moreover, semantics has been improved by the enhancement of a well-known building-based ontology (namely ifcOWL for Industry Foundation Classes Web Ontology Language). Finally, we experience a case study of a small building for our methodology

Design and Development of a Mineral Exploration Ontology

In this thesis, an ontology for the mineral exploration domain is designed and developed applying the Protégé ontology editor. The MinExOnt ontology includes a formal and explicit representation of the terms describing real objects, activities, and processes in mineral exploration. The stages used for these activities have various vocabularies, which are semantically modeled in this ontology with Web Ontology Language (OWL). The aim of the thesis is to show how ontologies can be designed and developed to help manage and represent geological knowledge. In addition to providing a general workflow for building the ontology, this thesis presents a simple user guide for the used software, including Protégé, used for ontology development, and Knoodl-OntVis, used for OWL visualization

HYDROSEEK: an ontology-aided data discovery system for hydrologic sciences

Search engines have made considerable contributions to the overall web experience. However locating scientific data remains a problem since databases are not readily accessible by search engine bots. Considering different temporal, spatial and thematic coverage of different scientific data repositories, especially for interdisciplinary research it is typically necessary to work with multiple data sources. Today integration of hydrologic data sources are mostly at the level of content aggregation by providing links to several data providers on a web page. However being able to query multiple databases simultaneously is a feature that has been sought after since the first data repositories; USGS’ National Water Information System (NWIS) and EPA’s Storage and Retrieval System (EPA STORET) came online. This study examines the current state of hydrologic data availability and dissemination in the US. It identifies the data accessibility problem and suggests a data discovery mechanism named Hydroseek as a solution. Hydroseek enables querying multiple hydrologic data repositories through a single interface and effectively combines spatial, temporal and thematic aspects of search in order to make it possible to discover more of the desired data in less time. It provides a unified view despite heterogeneity issues within and among data repositories, allows data discovery using keywords which eliminates the need to know source specific parameter codes, improves data browsing capabilities by incorporating data classification based on conceptual hierarchy and has an interface design capable of providing access to a large data inventory without overwhelming the user. System’s performance was evaluated based on statistical analysis of a user study in which users were asked to perform a certain data retrieval task using currently available systems and Hydroseek.Ph.D., Civil Engineering -- Drexel University, 200