34 research outputs found
A semantic sensor web for environmental decision support applications
Sensing devices are increasingly being deployed to monitor the physical world around us. One class of application for which sensor data is pertinent is environmental decision support systems, e.g., flood emergency response. For these applications, the sensor readings need to be put in context by integrating them with other sources of data about the surrounding environment. Traditional systems for predicting and detecting floods rely on methods that need significant human resources. In this paper we describe a semantic sensor web architecture for integrating multiple heterogeneous datasets, including live and historic sensor data, databases, and map layers. The architecture provides mechanisms for discovering datasets, defining integrated views over them, continuously receiving data in real-time, and visualising on screen and interacting with the data. Our approach makes extensive use of web service standards for querying and accessing data, and semantic technologies to discover and integrate datasets. We demonstrate the use of our semantic sensor web architecture in the context of a flood response planning web application that uses data from sensor networks monitoring the sea-state around the coast of England
Citizens as Sensors for Crisis Event: Sensor Web Enablement for Volunteered Geographic Information
A set of developments within the field of geosensors is to engage citizens to act as sensors, thus providing so-called Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). There is a long tradition of non specialists contributing to the collection of geo-referenced information. Furthermore thanks to recent convergence of greater access to broadband connections, the availability of Global Positioning Systems at affordable prices, and more participative forms of interaction on the Web (Web 2.0) vast numbers of individuals are able to create and share geographic information. The potential of up to 6 billion human sensors to monitor the state of the environment, validate global models with local knowledge, contribute to crisis situations awareness and provide information that only humans can capture (e.g. emotions and perceptions like fear of crime) is vast and has yet to be fully exploited. However, integrating VGI into Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) is a major challenge, as it is often regarded as insufficiently structured, documented or validated according to scientific standards. Early instances of SDIs used to have limited ability to manage and process geosensor-based data (beyond remotely sensed imagery snapshots), which tend to arrive in continuous streams of real-time information. The current works on standards for Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) aim to fill this gap. This paper shows how such SWE standards can be applied to VGI, thus converting it in a timely, cost-effective and valuable source of information for SDIs. By doing so, we extend previous works describing a workflow for VGI integration into SDI and further advance an initial set of VGI Sensing and event detection techniques. In particular, an example of how such VGI Sensing techniques can support crisis information system is provided.JRC.DDG.H.6-Spatial data infrastructure
Citizen-based sensing of crisis events: sensor web enablement for volunteered geographic information
Thanks to recent convergence of greater access to broadband connections, the availability of Global Positioning Systems in small packages at affordable prices and more participative forms of interaction on the Web (Web 2.0), vast numbers of individuals became able to create and share Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). The potential of up to six billion persons to monitor the state of the environment, validate global models with local knowledge, contribute to crisis situations awareness, and provide information that only humans can capture is vast and has yet to be fully exploited. Integrating VGI into Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) is a major challenge, as it is often regarded as insufficiently structured, documented, or validated according to scientific standards. Early instances of SDIs used to have limited ability to manage and process geosensor-based data (beyond remotely sensed imagery), which tend to arrive in continuous streams of real-time information. The current works on standards for Sensor Web Enablement fill this gap. This paper shows how such standards can be applied to VGI, thus converting it in a timely, cost-effective and valuable source of information for SDIs. By doing so, we extend previous efforts describing a workflow for VGI integration into SDI and further advance an initial set of VGI Sensing and event detection techniques. Examples of how such VGI Sensing techniques can support crisis information system are provided. The presented approach serves central building blocks for a Digital Earthâs nervous system, which is required to develop the next generation of (geospatial) information infrastructures
From Sensor to Observation Web with Environmental Enablers in the Future Internet
This paper outlines the grand challenges in global sustainability research and the objectives of the FP7 Future Internet PPP program within the Digital Agenda for Europe. Large user communities are generating significant amounts of valuable environmental observations at local and regional scales using the devices and services of the Future Internet. These communitiesâ environmental observations represent a wealth of information which is currently hardly used or used only in isolation and therefore in need of integration with other information sources. Indeed, this very integration will lead to a paradigm shift from a mere Sensor Web to an Observation Web with semantically enriched content emanating from sensors, environmental simulations and citizens. The paper also describes the research challenges to realize the Observation Web and the associated environmental enablers for the Future Internet. Such an environmental enabler could for instance be an electronic sensing device, a web-service application, or even a social networking group affording or facilitating the capability of the Future Internet applications to consume, produce, and use environmental observations in cross-domain applications. The term ?envirofied? Future Internet is coined to describe this overall target that forms a cornerstone of work in the Environmental Usage Area within the Future Internet PPP program. Relevant trends described in the paper are the usage of ubiquitous sensors (anywhere), the provision and generation of information by citizens, and the convergence of real and virtual realities to convey understanding of environmental observations. The paper addresses the technical challenges in the Environmental Usage Area and the need for designing multi-style service oriented architecture. Key topics are the mapping of requirements to capabilities, providing scalability and robustness with implementing context aware information retrieval. Another essential research topic is handling data fusion and model based computation, and the related propagation of information uncertainty. Approaches to security, standardization and harmonization, all essential for sustainable solutions, are summarized from the perspective of the Environmental Usage Area. The paper concludes with an overview of emerging, high impact applications in the environmental areas concerning land ecosystems (biodiversity), air quality (atmospheric conditions) and water ecosystems (marine asset management)
Context Aware Computing for The Internet of Things: A Survey
As we are moving towards the Internet of Things (IoT), the number of sensors
deployed around the world is growing at a rapid pace. Market research has shown
a significant growth of sensor deployments over the past decade and has
predicted a significant increment of the growth rate in the future. These
sensors continuously generate enormous amounts of data. However, in order to
add value to raw sensor data we need to understand it. Collection, modelling,
reasoning, and distribution of context in relation to sensor data plays
critical role in this challenge. Context-aware computing has proven to be
successful in understanding sensor data. In this paper, we survey context
awareness from an IoT perspective. We present the necessary background by
introducing the IoT paradigm and context-aware fundamentals at the beginning.
Then we provide an in-depth analysis of context life cycle. We evaluate a
subset of projects (50) which represent the majority of research and commercial
solutions proposed in the field of context-aware computing conducted over the
last decade (2001-2011) based on our own taxonomy. Finally, based on our
evaluation, we highlight the lessons to be learnt from the past and some
possible directions for future research. The survey addresses a broad range of
techniques, methods, models, functionalities, systems, applications, and
middleware solutions related to context awareness and IoT. Our goal is not only
to analyse, compare and consolidate past research work but also to appreciate
their findings and discuss their applicability towards the IoT.Comment: IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials Journal, 201
Towards intelligent transport systems: geospatial ontological framework and agent simulation
In an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) environment, the communication component is of high
significance as it supports interactions between vehicles and the roadside infrastructure.
Existing studies focus on the physical capability and capacity of the communication
technologies, but the equally important development of suitable and efficient semantic content
for transmission has received notably less attention. Using an ontology is one promising
approach for context modelling in ubiquitous computing environments. In the transport domain,
an ontology can be used both for context modelling and semantic contents for vehicular
communications. This research explores the development of an ontological framework
implementing a geosemantic messaging model to support vehicle-to-vehicle communications.
To develop an ontology model, two scenarios (an ambulance situation and a breakdown on the
motorway) are constructed to describe specific situations using short-range communication in
an ITS environment. In the scenarios, spatiotemporal relations and semantic relations among
vehicles and road facilities are extracted and defined as classes, objects, and properties/relations
in the ontology model. For the ontology model, some functions and query templates are also
developed to update vehiclesâ movements and to provide some logical procedures that vehicles
need to follow in emergency situations. To measure the effects of the vehicular communication
based on the ontology model, an agent-based approach is adopted to dynamically simulate the
moving vehicles and their communications following the scenarios.
The simulation results demonstrate that the ontology model can support vehicular
communications to update each vehicleâs context model and assist its decision-making process
to resolve the emergency situations. The results also show the effect of vehicular
communications on the efficiency trends of traffic in emergency situations, where some vehicles
have a communication device, and others do not. The efficiency trends, based on the percentage
of vehicles having a communication device, can be useful to set a transition period plan for
implanting communication devices onto vehicles and the infrastructure.
The geospatial ontological framework and agent simulation may contribute to increase the
intelligence of ITS by supporting data-level and application-level implementation of
autonomous vehicle agents to share knowledge in local contexts. This work can be easily
extended to support more complex interactions amongst vehicles and the infrastructure
Proceedings. 9th 3DGeoInfo Conference 2014, [11-13 November 2014, Dubai]
It is known that, scientific disciplines such as geology, geophysics, and reservoir exploration intrinsically use 3D geo-information in their models and simulations. However, 3D geo-information is also urgently needed in many traditional 2D planning areas such as civil engineering, city and infrastructure modeling, architecture, environmental planning etc. Altogether, 3DGeoInfo is an emerging technology that will greatly influence the market within the next few decades. The 9th International 3DGeoInfo Conference aims at bringing together international state-of-the-art researchers and practitioners facilitating the dialogue on emerging topics in the field of 3D geo-information. The conference in Dubai offers an interdisciplinary forum of sub- and above-surface 3D geo-information researchers and practitioners dealing with data acquisition, modeling, management, maintenance, visualization, and analysis of 3D geo-information