Little Steps Towards Big Goals. Using Linked Data to Develop Next Generation Spatial Data Infrastructures (aka SDI 3.0)

Ponencias, comunicaciones y pósters presentados en el 17th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science "Connecting a Digital Europe through Location and Place", celebrado en la Universitat Jaume I del 3 al 6 de junio de 2014.Society is moving at an increasing pace toward the next stage of the information society through linked data. Among the relevant developments in geographic information science, linked data approaches offer potential for improving SDI functionality [12]. Linked data uses Semantic Web technologies and makes it possible to link at a very granular level data resources of the web for a multitude of purposes. While the technological implementation in many ways is still in a phase of adolescence, vast amounts of data, including geographic information (GI) have been prepared, for example by the UK Ordinance Survey [8] and other governmental and non-governmental bodies. The overwhelming focus has been on producing RDF formatted data for linked data applications--the foundation for applications. In this short paper, we provide an overview of potentials of linked open data for SDI 3.0 developments. Through two exemplary use cases we illustrate specifically some first steps towards a more web-oriented and distributed approach to creating SDI architectures. The cases demonstrate applications based on the LOD4WFS Adapter, which opens the way for multi-perspective GI applications, created on-demand from multiple GI data resources. These applications automate geometry-based selections of data using spatial queries with the use of RCC8 and OGC Simple Features topological functions. Future work in this area includes adding semantic operators to refine GI processing with multiple ontologies

Collaborative custodianship through collaborative cloud mapping : challenges and opportunities

Collaborative custodianship refers to an arrangement where a number of custodians work together to produce integrated datasets for a spatial data infrastructure (SDI), e.g. local authorities contributing address or street data to a national SDI dataset. Collaborative cloud mapping allows for ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand, configured and tailor-made mapping with resources shared between various entities collaborating on a specific initiative, such as an SDI or for disaster management. This paper presents the results of a workshop in South Africa during which case studies from the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria of collaborative custodianship of address data were presented, and OpenStreetMap as a case study of collaborative cloud mapping. Subsequently, challenges and opportunities for implementing similar initiatives in the context of the South African SDI were debated in break-away sessions. The results from these sessions were analysed using the PESTEL framework

Assessment of spatial data infrastructures

A Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is an evolving concept, essentially consisting of policies, institutional arrangements, Geographical Information Systems (GISs), data bases, networks, Web services and portals to facilitate and coordinate the availability, exchange and sharing of geospatial data and services between stakeholders from different levels. This article aims to provide some information on the role and value of SDIs and their potential relationship with, and contribution to other geospatial and evidence-based tools and technologies within the South African planning context and system. For this, it provides a brief overview and comparison of the key characteristics of the SDIs in South Africa, China, Brazil, Australia and India. The article highlights some of the complexities and use of an SDI and the value of, and need for an SDI to support the spatial and land development planning envisaged in the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA)

The stock-flow model of spatial data infrastructure development refined by fuzzy logic

The system dynamics technique has been demonstrated to be a proper method by which to model and simulate the development of spatial data infrastructures (SDI). An SDI is a collaborative effort to manage and share spatial data at different political and administrative levels. It is comprised of various dynamically interacting quantitative and qualitative (linguistic) variables. To incorporate linguistic variables and their joint effects in an SDI-development model more effectively, we suggest employing fuzzy logic. Not all fuzzy models are able to model the dynamic behavior of SDIs properly. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate different fuzzy models and their suitability for modeling SDIs. To that end, two inference and two defuzzification methods were used for the fuzzification of the joint effect of two variables in an existing SDI model. The results show that the Average–Average inference and Center of Area defuzzification can better model the dynamics of SDI development

El impacto de las publicaciones seriadas y su efecto sobre la producción científica cubana sobre Bibliotecología y Ciencias +de la Información

Objective.The aim of this study was to identify, from a quantitative perspective, differences between Cuban scientific research published in high visible journals and the rest of the national scientific production, using as analytical tools the quartiles of visibility established by the Scimago Journal & Country Rank,compiled from Scopus database. Method.As a case study, Cuban scientific output on Library and Information Sciences indexed by this database was selected. A battery of scientometric indicators was used to analyze levels of citation, collaboration and leadership involved in articles published by journals belonging to each of the visibility quartiles. Correlation between the studied indicators was analyzed. Results/Discussion.High dependence of the indicators based on citation analysis was confirmed, as well as correlation between international collaboration and journal quartiles of visibility. Conclusions.It is concluded that the national scientific output with the greatest influence on the international scientific community in this domain is mainly published by journals belonging to the first quartile of visibility. Likewise, it was identified that national scientific output on Library and Information Sciences depends on international collaboration to reach high levels of visibility, and still is not capable of systematically generate research with a significant impact on the international scientific community. Originality/Value.First bibliometric study of Cuban Library and Information Sciences using the impact of journals where research where published as main analytical category

Towards evaluating the map literacy of planners in 2D maps and 3D models in South Africa

South Africa is faced with numerous socioeconomic problems, such as poverty and resource depletion. Sustainable planning is of great importance to ensure that the necessary resources are available for future generations. However, research has suggested that South African planners do not have the necessary level of map literacy and that new geovisualizations may be required. The goal of this paper is to present preliminary results of comparative experiments to evaluate map literacy of planners in 2D maps and 3D models in South Africa. In these experiments, participants performed equally well when exposed to 2D maps and 3D models. These preliminary results were used to inform the conceptual design of an experiment to evaluate map literacy of users with 2D maps and 3D models. The new experiment was developed using a mixed factorial design and aims to address the challenges identified in the preliminary results. The implementation and execution of the new experiment design will contribute to understanding the strengths and limitations of 3D geovisualization for planning in South Africa. Results will inform guidelines for the appropriate use of these non-traditional technologies for development planning.http://www.geo.uzh.ch/~arzu/publications/rautenbach-etal-2014-AfricaGEO.pd

Seamless SDI Design by Using UML Modeling

The integration of marine and land based spatial information will support sustainable management and development of the coastal zone. Therefore, the development of a seamless platform covering the land and marine environments would facilitate more efficient and effective decision-making capabilities for any jurisdiction with land-marine interface. This paper discusses the potential for developing a seamless platform covering the land, marine and coastal environments as part of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) enabling a more integrated and holistic approach to management of the land-marine interface. It addresses the feasibility of seamless platform towards spatially enabled society and government. Further, it provides an insight to the design and development of the Seamless SDI model by introducing Seamless SDI conceptual model. The Seamless SDI class and its inherited characteristics and properties will be discussed. In addition to the conceptual phase, the development of a Seamless SDI model also consists of two more stages: design phase and implementation phase. The Use Case Diagram and Class Diagram of the Enterprise Viewpoint will be developed. Finally, it highlights the importance of the creation of appropriate Seamless SDI governance structures that are both understood and accepted. This would help to develop an extended framework to support a spatially enabled jurisdiction covering the land-marine interface. Ideally this extended framework would result in harmonised and universal access, sharing and integration of coastal, marine and terrestrial spatial datasets across regions and disciplines

Desarrollo del SmartCampus de Montegancedo (UPM) basado en el modelo de las Infraestructuras de Datos Espaciales

This paper presents part of the results of the SmartCampusUPM project, whose main objective is to speed up the domotic and traditional management of the Montegancedo Campus, where the ETSI Informáticos of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) is placed. Based on the models defined for the Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI), it allows users to navigate freely, obtain information about buildings or urban furniture and its visualization through any web browser maps generated in the SDI. Also, this paper exposes the development of the SDI of the Campus, of a web viewer as a thin client which helps visualize the generated maps in a simple way, as an alternative to the usual heavy users Google Earth and gvSIG and of a Web service with multimedia options.En este artículo se expone parte de los resultados del proyecto SmartCampus UPM, cuyo objetivo fundamental es agilizar la gestión domótica y tradicional del Campus de Montegancedo, sede de la ETSI Informáticos de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). Basado en los modelos definidos para las Infraestructuras de Datos Espaciales (IDE), permite que los usuarios puedan navegar libremente, obtener información sobre los edificios o el mobiliario urbano y la visualización mediante cualquier navegador web de mapas generados en la IDE. En este artículo se expone el desarrollo de la IDE del Campus, de un visor web como cliente ligero para visualizar de forma sencilla los mapas generados como alternativa a los clientes pesados habituales Google Earth y gvSIG, y un servicio web con opciones multimedia