Technology Integration around the Geographic Information: A State of the Art

One of the elements that have popularized and facilitated the use of geographical information on a variety of computational applications has been the use of Web maps; this has opened new research challenges on different subjects, from locating places and people, the study of social behavior or the analyzing of the hidden structures of the terms used in a natural language query used for locating a place. However, the use of geographic information under technological features is not new, instead it has been part of a development and technological integration process. This paper presents a state of the art review about the application of geographic information under different approaches: its use on location based services, the collaborative user participation on it, its contextual-awareness, its use in the Semantic Web and the challenges of its use in natural languge queries. Finally, a prototype that integrates most of these areas is presented

A semantic web approach for built heritage representation

In a built heritage process, meant as a structured system of activities aimed at the investigation, preservation, and management of architectural heritage, any task accomplished by the several actors involved in it is deeply influenced by the way the knowledge is represented and shared. In the current heritage practice, knowledge representation and management have shown several limitations due to the difficulty of dealing with large amount of extremely heterogeneous data. On this basis, this research aims at extending semantic web approaches and technologies to architectural heritage knowledge management in order to provide an integrated and multidisciplinary representation of the artifact and of the knowledge necessary to support any decision or any intervention and management activity. To this purpose, an ontology-based system, representing the knowledge related to the artifact and its contexts, has been developed through the formalization of domain-specific entities and relationships between them

Model-based provisioning and management of adaptive distributed communication in mobile cooperative systems

Adaptation of communication is required to maintain the reliable connection and to ensure the minimum quality in collaborative activities. Within the framework of wireless environment, how can host entities be handled in the event of a sudden unexpected change in communication and reliable sources? This challenging issue is addressed in the context of Emergency rescue system carried out by mobile devices and robots during calamities or disaster. For this kind of scenario, this book proposes an adaptive middleware to support reconfigurable, reliable group communications. Here, the system structure has been viewed at two different states, a control center with high processing power and uninterrupted energy level is responsible for global task and entities like autonomous robots and firemen owning smart devices act locally in the mission. Adaptation at control center is handled by semantic modeling whereas at local entities, it is managed by a software module called communication agent (CA). Modeling follows the well-known SWRL instructions which establish the degree of importance of each communication link or component. Providing generic and scalable solutions for automated self-configuration is driven by rule-based reconfiguration policies. To perform dynamically in changing environment, a trigger mechanism should force this model to take an adaptive action in order to accomplish a certain task, for example, the group chosen in the beginning of a mission need not be the same one during the whole mission. Local entity adaptive mechanisms are handled by CA that manages internal service APIs to configure, set up, and monitors communication services and manages the internal resources to satisfy telecom service requirements

User centered neuro-fuzzy energy management through semantic-based optimization

This paper presents a cloud-based building energy management system, underpinned by semantic middleware, that integrates an enhanced sensor network with advanced analytics, accessible through an intuitive Web-based user interface. The proposed solution is described in terms of its three key layers: 1) user interface; 2) intelligence; and 3) interoperability. The system’s intelligence is derived from simulation-based optimized rules, historical sensor data mining, and a fuzzy reasoner. The solution enables interoperability through a semantic knowledge base, which also contributes intelligence through reasoning and inference abilities, and which are enhanced through intelligent rules. Finally, building energy performance monitoring is delivered alongside optimized rule suggestions and a negotiation process in a 3-D Web-based interface using WebGL. The solution has been validated in a real pilot building to illustrate the strength of the approach, where it has shown over 25% energy savings. The relevance of this paper in the field is discussed, and it is argued that the proposed solution is mature enough for testing across further buildings