Data interoperability across borders : a case study of the Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer (British Columbia-Washington State)

The ability to integrate data from multiple sources is central to geographic information science (GIS).  Although data integration is an active field of research in the GIS community, a number of challenges remain unresolved. Interoperability research addressing data integration challenges experienced by institutions in an international setting also remains sparse. Groundwater is an example of an environmental phenomenon which does not respect political borders, and its management requires data from multiple jurisdictions. The Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer, straddling the Canada US border, is used as a case study to explore integration challenges in an international setting. Development of groundwater management practices to ensure a sustained source of good quality groundwater is dependent, on an understanding of the conceptual model of the aquifer. Due to a lack of geophysical studies, geological information contained in the water well reports, is the chief source of depth-specific lithological information. The use of this information in constructing the conceptual model is constrained by poor data quality and a lack of an integrated and standardized lithological database. To achieve the research goals of exploring integration challenges in an international setting, lithological datasets from BC and Washington State are integrated. The resultant lithological database is used to test the usability of water well reports for constructing the conceptual model. Numerous interoperability challenges such as data availability, lack of metadata, data quality and formats, database structure, semantics, policies and cooperation are identified as inhibitors of data integration. Despite the numerous challenges the lithological database is useful in constructing a generalized conceptual model. This research is important as it presents challenges to data integration that should be considered as a starting point for environmental management projects

Exploring multi-granular documentation strategies for the representation, discovery and use of geographic information

This thesis explores how digital representations of geography and Geographic Information (GI) may be described, and how these descriptions facilitate the use of the resources they depict. More specifically, it critically examines existing geospatial documentation practices and aims to identify opportunities for refinement therein, whether when used to signpost those data assets documented, for managing and maintaining information assets, or to assist in resource interpretation and discrimination. Documentation of GI can therefore facilitate its utilisation; it can be reasonably expected that by refining documentation practices, GI hold the potential for being better exploited. The underpinning theme connecting the individual papers of the thesis is one of multi-granular documentation. GI may be recorded at varying degrees of granularity, and yet traditional documentation efforts have predominantly focussed on a solitary level (that of the geospatial data layer). Developing documentation practices to account for other granularities permits the description of GI at different levels of detail and can further assist in realising its potential through better discovery, interpretation and use. One of the aims of the current work is to establish the merit of such multi-granular practices. Over the course of four research papers and a short research article, proprietary as well as open source software approaches are accordingly presented and provide proof-of-concept and conceptual solutions that aim to enhance GI utilisation through improved documentation practices. Presented in the context of an existing body of research, the proposed approaches focus on the technological infrastructure supporting data discovery, the automation of documentation processes and the implications of describing geospatial information resources of varying granularity. Each paper successively contributes to the notion that geospatial resources are potentially better exploited when documentation practices account for the multi-granular aspects of GI, and the varying ways in which such documentation may be used. In establishing the merit of multi-granular documentation, it is nevertheless recognised in the current work that instituting a comprehensive documentation strategy at several granularities may be unrealistic for some geospatial applications. Pragmatically, the level of effort required would be excessive, making universal adoption impractical. Considering however the ever-expanding volumes of geospatial data gathered and the demand for ways of managing and maintaining the usefulness of potentially unwieldy repositories, improved documentation practices are required. A system of hierarchical documentation, of self-documenting information, would provide for information discovery and retrieval from such expanding resource pools at multiple granularities, improve the accessibility of GI and ultimately, its utilisation

Dwelling on ontology - semantic reasoning over topographic maps

The thesis builds upon the hypothesis that the spatial arrangement of topographic features, such as buildings, roads and other land cover parcels, indicates how land is used. The aim is to make this kind of high-level semantic information explicit within topographic data. There is an increasing need to share and use data for a wider range of purposes, and to make data more definitive, intelligent and accessible. Unfortunately, we still encounter a gap between low-level data representations and high-level concepts that typify human qualitative spatial reasoning. The thesis adopts an ontological approach to bridge this gap and to derive functional information by using standard reasoning mechanisms offered by logic-based knowledge representation formalisms. It formulates a framework for the processes involved in interpreting land use information from topographic maps. Land use is a high-level abstract concept, but it is also an observable fact intimately tied to geography. By decomposing this relationship, the thesis correlates a one-to-one mapping between high-level conceptualisations established from human knowledge and real world entities represented in the data. Based on a middle-out approach, it develops a conceptual model that incrementally links different levels of detail, and thereby derives coarser, more meaningful descriptions from more detailed ones. The thesis verifies its proposed ideas by implementing an ontology describing the land use ‘residential area’ in the ontology editor Protégé. By asserting knowledge about high-level concepts such as types of dwellings, urban blocks and residential districts as well as individuals that link directly to topographic features stored in the database, the reasoner successfully infers instances of the defined classes. Despite current technological limitations, ontologies are a promising way forward in the manner we handle and integrate geographic data, especially with respect to how humans conceptualise geographic space

Tecnologias de informação geográfica e promoção do pensamento espacial crítico: estratégias transdisciplinares em educação para o desenvolvimento sustentável no 3º CEB

Doutoramento em Multimédia em EducaçãoPerante a fragilidade da atual conjuntura mundial nos contextos económico, social e ambiental, urge a necessidade de educar os novos cidadãos para a sustentabilidade, pelo conhecimento interativo do local onde vivem e do mundo que os integra. “Ensinar a pensar” e a encontrar soluções criativas sustentáveis, torna-se incontornável. Reconhecendo-se que este propósito carece da integração do conhecimento presencial no território, e a importância das competências de saber pensar o espaço e intervir no meio, partilhadas pela Educação Geográfica (EG) e pela Educação para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável (EDS), onde a dimensão “Espaço” é crítica e aglutinadora das aprendizagens, no presente trabalho propõe-se dar resposta à questão de como desenvolver o Pensamento Espacial Crítico, com recurso a Tecnologias de Informação Geográfica (TIG), de forma a promover aprendizagens significativas em EDS, ao nível do 3.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico (CEB) e no contexto da Escola Básica de Campia. Tendo como grande finalidade a inovação das práticas educativas, espera-se com esta investigação contribuir para o alargamento de fronteiras do conhecimento em Multimédia em Educação e da EG, assumindo-se a importância desta no domínio da EDS, estimulando o Pensamento Espacial (PE), o Pensamento Crítico (PC) e a forma como os alunos e restante comunidade educativa olham e atuam sobre o meio. Face à finalidade apresentada e dado o caráter inovador da presente investigação, adotou-se a metodologia de investigação-ação (I/A), no contexto do paradigma sóciocrítico, de pendor qualitativo. Este estudo foi desenvolvido por intermédio de uma Oficina de Formação, em dois ciclos de I/A, tendo como objetivo a conceção e implementação de estratégias transdisciplinares de ensino e aprendizagem (E/A) em EDS, visando o desenvolvimento de capacidades de PEC e sendo suportadas por TIG. Foram concebidos diversos instrumentos de recolha de dados, para cada ciclo de I/A, e o corpo de dados foi analisado essencialmente através da técnica de análise de conteúdo e pontualmente através da análise estatística de cariz descritivo. O modelo de análise de dados centrou-se numa análise SWOT para identificação das forças, fraquezas, oportunidades e ameaças, e numa matriz TOWS para identificação das ações a empreender entre os ciclos de I/A. Propõe-se, para o efeito, um referencial teórico didático para o conceito de PEC, através de uma taxonomia de capacidades e competências resultante da implementação dos ciclos de I/A. Os resultados obtidos permitem observar que: i) a EG, pelas competências que preconiza e pelo enfoque da dimensão espacial, é potencialmente aglutinadora das aprendizagens, no currículo do 3.º CEB, e pode favorecer a transdisciplinaridade, essencial na EDS; ii) as estratégias de ensino e aprendizagem assentes na EG e com recurso a TIG são promotoras de aprendizagens significativas em EDS pelo desenvolvimento de capacidades de PEC. Contudo, as limitações evidenciadas na investigação suscitaram, através dos ciclos de I/A, a redefinição do percurso formativo proposto e dos instrumentos de recolha de dados concebidos, bem como a introdução de melhorias à taxonomia de PEC desenvolvida no âmbito da presente tese. Entre outras limitações discutidas (como a resistência à utilização de tecnologia em contexto de E/A), salientamos uma limitação sistémica, inerente aos atuais contextos educativos formais (currículo, distribuição do serviço docente, etc.), que desincentiva uma efetiva implementação de estratégias transdisciplinares e do trabalho colaborativo entre professores. Apesar das limitações elencadas consideramos que este estudo contribui para um aprofundamento do conhecimento sobre a potencialidade das TIG na promoção de competências e capacidades de PEC dos alunos, nomeadamente pelo avanço na clarificação das mesmas, plasmadas no instrumento desenvolvido no âmbito desta tese (taxonomia de PEC). Como disseminação desta investigação, salienta-se que o referido instrumento integrará o referencial teórico de um projeto europeu Erasmus + (ENAbLE), para suporte à conceção dos dispositivos didáticos que acompanharão uma aplicação de TIG que será concebida especificamente para o contexto de E/A.Due to the fragility of the current global environment on the economic, social and environmental contexts, the need to educate new citizens for sustainability, the interactive knowledge of where they live and the world that integrates them, "teaching how to think" and how to find creative solutions becomes imperative. Recognizing the generalized lack of integration of classroom knowledge in the territory, and the importance of knowing how to think and act in space through skills, shared by Geographic Education (GE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), where the "space" dimension is critical and a unifier of learning, the present study seeks to answer the question of how to develop Critical Spatial Thinking (CST), using Geospatial Technologies (GT), in order to promote meaningful learning in ESD in Lower-secondary Education, in the context of the School of Campia. Having as its main purpose the innovation of educational practices, it is expected this research will contribute towards extending the frontiers of knowledge on Multimedia in Education and GE, assuming its importance in the field of ESD, stimulating Spatial Thinking (ST) and Critical Thinking (CT) and the way the rest of the educational community and students look at and act upon the environment. Assuming the transdisciplinary nature and spatial dimension of GE and assuming ESD a knowledge integration dimension, we argue that GE is a fundamental pedagogical orientation in citizenship education and promoter of interpretive planning literacy, proposing a didactic theoretical framework for the concept of CST, in the form of a taxonomy of skills and competencies. Based on action-research methodology in the context of a socio-critical paradigm, this study was developed through teacher training in two cycles of action-research (A/R), aiming the design and implementation of transdisciplinary teaching and learning strategies in ESD, with the purpose of building CST capacities supported by GT. The results obtained confirm that: i) the GE, due to its potentialities and the focus on spatial dimension, is a learning unifier, promoting transdisciplinarity, which is essential in ESD; ii) teaching and learning strategies based on GE and supported by GT are potential promoters of meaningful learning in ESD while building CST capacities. Nevertheless, limitations highlighted in the study raised the definition of a new proposal for a training model, as well as improvements to the CST taxonomy developed within this thesis. However, limitations evidenced in the research originated, through the A/R cycles, a resetting of the proposed training path and of the data collection instruments designed, as well as improvements to the SGP taxonomy developed under this thesis. Among other limitations discussed (such as resistance to the use of technology in the context of learning and teaching), highlight a systemic limitation, inherent to current formal educational settings (curriculum, distribution of teaching service, etc.), which discourages effective transdisciplinary implementation strategies and collaborative work among teachers. Despite the limitations listed we consider that this study contributes to a deepening of knowledge about the potential of GT in promoting skills and CST abilities of students, including the progress in clarifying the same, molded during the development of the instrument within this thesis (CST taxonomy). As dissemination of this research, we highlight that this instrument will integrate the theoretical framework of a European Erasmus + project (ENAbLE), to support the design of didactic devices that monitor a GT application that will be specifically designed for the teaching and learning context