488 research outputs found
On organizing and accessing geospatial and georeferenced web resources using the g-portal system
In order to organise and manage geospatial and georeferenced information on the web making them convenient for searching and browsing, a digital portal known as
G-Portal has been designed and implemented. Compared to other digital libraries, G-Portal is unique for several of its features. It maintains metadata resources in XML with flexible resource schemas. Logical groupings of metadata resources as
projects and layers are possible to allow the entire metadata collection to be partitioned differently for users with different information needs. These metadata resources can be displayed in both the classification-based and map-based interfaces provided by G-Portal. G-Portal further incorporates both a query module and an annotation module for users to search metadata and to create additional knowledge
for sharing respectively. G-Portal also includes a resource classification module that categorizes resources into one or more hierarchical category trees based on user-defined classification schemas. This paper gives an overview of the G-Portal design and implementation. The portal features will be illustrated using a collection of
high school geography examination-related resources.Published versio
Neatline: Facilitating Geospatial and Temporal Interpretation of Archival Collections
UVA Library seeks Level II Start-Up funding for the development of Neatline, a tool for the creation of interlinked timelines and maps as interpretive expressions of the literary or historical content of archival collections. Neatline promotes collaboration by libraries and cultural heritage institutions with scholarly end-users, who will build on standard EAD (Encoded Archival Description) metadata to produce geospatial and temporal visualizations of the textual content of cataloged letters and manuscripts. Neatline is a geo-temporal framework for fruitful interchange among scholars and the stewards of primary resources. It builds on robust, open standards and tools, including OpenLayers and SIMILE Timeline. The innovation of our approach lies in our dedication to providing a seamless, out-of-the-box experience for users without deep Web development skills. Neatline is a contribution to interpretive humanities scholarship in the visual vernacular
Representing and Indexing Archaeological Information
The need to preserve and remember the past is a particular human trait. The richness
of our cultural history is approached by a vast array of disciplines, that investigate and
manage it. However, their effectiveness can be hindered by several technical issues. One
of the concerns of experts in this area is the way the importance of cultural heritage is
communicated in order to cultivate interest, curiosity and respect. Another concern is
the lack of suitable tools that can handle the dimension and complexity of the collections
with which they interact.
With the emergence of digital tools and the creation of online repositories for the collections
of cultural institutions, it is possible to suggest different solutions to tackle these
problems. The proposed solution aims to facilitate access and interaction with cultural
information, through the implementation of an application capable of integrating multiple
forms of representation of historical artifacts. The application tackles two problems
that arise from distinct goals. One is the need to represent, in a single view, collections of
related items from different repositories. The other is how to, effectively, communicate
the information associated with an artifact and its context.
This MSc dissertation is part of a collaborative effort between NOVA LINCS researchers
and several archaeological institutions of the Iberian Extremadura, aiming to develop
tools that will support research and help sharing the cultural wealth of archaeological
sites and artifacts from the region. In this dissertation, the developed application covers a
general view of the aforementioned problems, while being flexible to the customization of
the representation of cultural data. The solution was evaluated on usability and effectiveness
on reaching the proposed goals, during a process that involved target audience users
and experts in the area of culture and history, as well as human-computer interaction.
The results provided positive conclusions
Application of Cloud-Based Geospatial Technologies to Flowering Phenology and Environmental Education
Cloud-based geospatial technologies are rapidly improving the flow of information from the environment to end-users. Cloud-based photo storage websites were used to create and manage species and spatial-temporal metadata in a digital photographic inventory of plant flowering observations collected at Lake Issaqueena, SC from January, 2012 to December, 2014. Statistical analysis of species and temporal metadata revealed significant (p \u3c 0.05) inter-annual shifts in flowering time among several species during and after extreme high monthly temperature in March, 2012 and extreme high monthly total precipitation in July and August, 2013. An interactive ArcGIS Online map with sampling locations of flowering plants was developed and published. The interactive ArcGIS Online map enables web-based knowledge discovery of flowering phenology by allowing users to filter map contents, view plant pictures, navigate to additional plant information in the USDA PLANTS Database, and render spatial-temporal flowering patterns using the heat map view and time settings. The conceptual workflow for managing, integrating, and mapping plant flowering observations has numerous potential applications in species monitoring, allowing for higher volume and quality data to be collected and shared openly. A Cloud-based ESRI Story Map was developed for teaching Soil Forming Factors: Topography in undergraduate soil science education. Student evaluation of the ESRI Story Map was positive, and responses indicate students broadly preferred the ESRI Story Map as a stand-alone teaching module or as supplemental to PowerPoint slides. Teaching with ESRI Story Maps is very different than GIS education, and is well suited for fostering critical and spatial thinking because students do not need to possess prior skills in GIS software, allowing them to spend more time learning the topic at hand in interactive teaching modules. Teaching with ESRI Story Maps has enormous potential in soil science and other environmental disciplines, but more research is needed to develop specific teaching objectives and exercises using ESRI Story Maps
Java-based digital library portal for geography education
AbstractG-Portal is a Java-based digital library system for managing the metadata of geography related resources on the Web. In addition to providing a flexible repository subsystem to accommodate metadata of different formats using XML and XML Schemas, G-Portal organizes metadata into projects and layers, and supports an integrated and synchronized classification and map-based interfaces over the stored metadata. G-Portal also includes a classification subsystem that creates category structures and classifies metadata resources into categories based on user-specified classification schemas. Furthermore, G-Portal users can annotate resources and make their annotations available to others. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of G-Portal and elaborate how Java is used to implement its features. G-Portal has been designed to be modular and some of the modules can be used as stand-alone tools. In this paper, we use UML notation to describe the detailed design of G-Portal and highlight some of the design decisions
Making Sense of Document Collections with Map-Based Visualizations
As map-based visualizations of documents become more ubiquitous, there is a greater need for them to support intellectual and creative high-level cognitive activities with collections of non-cartographic materials -- documents. This dissertation concerns the conceptualization of map-based visualizations as tools for sensemaking and collection understanding. As such, map-based visualizations would help people use georeferenced documents to develop understanding, gain insight, discover knowledge, and construct meaning. This dissertation explores the role of graphical representations (such as maps, Kohonen maps, pie charts, and other) and interactions with them for developing map-based visualizations capable of facilitating sensemaking activities such as collection understanding. While graphical representations make document collections more perceptually and cognitively accessible, interactions allow users to adapt representations to users’ contextual needs. By interacting with representations of documents or collections and being able to construct representations of their own, people are better able to make sense of information, comprehend complex structures, and integrate new information into their existing mental models. In sum, representations and interactions may reduce cognitive load and consequently expedite the overall time necessary for completion of sensemaking activities, which typically take much time to accomplish. The dissertation proceeds in three phases. The first phase develops a conceptual framework for translating ontological properties of collections to representations and for supporting visual tasks by means of graphical representations. The second phase concerns the cognitive benefits of interaction. It conceptualizes how interactions can help people during complex sensemaking activities. Although the interactions are explained on the example of a prototype built with Google Maps, they are independent iv of Google Maps and can be applicable to various other technologies. The third phase evaluates the utility, analytical capabilities and usability of the additional representations when users interact with a visualization prototype – VIsual COLlection EXplorer. The findings suggest that additional representations can enhance understanding of map-based visualizations of library collections: specifically, they can allow users to see trends, gaps, and patterns in ontological properties of collections
Search improvement within the geospatial web in the context of spatial data infrastructures
El trabajo desarrollado en esta tesis doctoral demuestra que es posible mejorar la búsqueda en el contexto de las Infraestructuras de Datos Espaciales mediante la aplicación de técnicas y buenas prácticas de otras comunidades cientÃficas, especialmente de las comunidades de la Web y de la Web Semántica (por ejemplo, Linked Data). El uso de las descripciones semánticas y las aproximaciones basadas en el contenido publicado por la comunidad geoespacial pueden ayudar en la búsqueda de información sobre los fenómenos geográficos, y en la búsqueda de recursos geoespaciales en general. El trabajo comienza con un análisis de una aproximación para mejorar la búsqueda de las entidades geoespaciales desde la perspectiva de geocodificación tradicional. La arquitectura de geocodificación compuesta propuesta en este trabajo asegura una mejora de los resultados de geocodificación gracias a la utilización de diferentes proveedores de información geográfica. En este enfoque, el uso de patrones estructurales de diseño y ontologÃas en esta aproximación permite una arquitectura avanzada en términos de extensibilidad, flexibilidad y adaptabilidad. Además, una arquitectura basada en la selección de servicio de geocodificación permite el desarrollo de una metodologÃa de la georreferenciación de diversos tipos de información geográfica (por ejemplo, direcciones o puntos de interés). A continuación, se presentan dos aplicaciones representativas que requieren una caracterización semántica adicional de los recursos geoespaciales. El enfoque propuesto en este trabajo utiliza contenidos basados en heurÃsticas para el muestreo de un conjunto de recursos geopesaciales. La primera parte se dedica a la idea de la abstracción de un fenómeno geográfico de su definición espacial. La investigación muestra que las buenas prácticas de la Web Semántica se puede reutilizar en el ámbito de una Infraestructura de Datos Espaciales para describir los servicios geoespaciales estandarizados por Open Geospatial Consortium por medio de geoidentificadores (es decir, por medio de las entidades de una ontologÃa geográfica). La segunda parte de este capÃtulo desglosa la aquitectura y componentes de un servicio de geoprocesamiento para la identificación automática de ortoimágenes ofrecidas a través de un servicio estándar de publicación de mapas (es decir, los servicios que siguen la especificación OGC Web Map Service). Como resultado de este trabajo se ha propuesto un método para la identificación de los mapas ofrecidos por un Web Map Service que son ortoimágenes. A continuación, el trabajo se dedica al análisis de cuestiones relacionadas con la creación de los metadatos de recursos de la Web en el contexto del dominio geográfico. Este trabajo propone una arquitectura para la generación automática de conocimiento geográfico de los recursos Web. Ha sido necesario desarrollar un método para la estimación de la cobertura geográfica de las páginas Web. Las heurÃsticas propuestas están basadas en el contenido publicado por os proveedores de información geográfica. El prototipo desarrollado es capaz de generar metadatos. El modelo generado contiene el conjunto mÃnimo recomendado de elementos requeridos por un catálogo que sigue especificación OGC Catalogue Service for the Web, el estandar recomendado por deiferentes Infraestructuras de Datos Espaciales (por ejemplo, the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE)). Además, este estudio determina algunas caracterÃsticas de la Web Geoespacial actual. En primer lugar, ofrece algunas caracterÃsticas del mercado de los proveedores de los recursos Web de la información geográfica. Este estudio revela algunas prácticas de la comunidad geoespacial en la producción de metadatos de las páginas Web, en particular, la falta de metadatos geográficos. Todo lo anterior es la base del estudio de la cuestión del apoyo a los usuarios no expertos en la búsqueda de recursos de la Web Geoespacial. El motor de búsqueda dedicado a la Web Geoespacial propuesto en este trabajo es capaz de usar como base un motor de búsqueda existente. Por otro lado, da soporte a la búsqueda exploratoria de los recursos geoespaciales descubiertos en la Web. El experimento sobre la precisión y la recuperación ha demostrado que el prototipo desarrollado en este trabajo es al menos tan bueno como el motor de búsqueda remoto. Un estudio dedicado a la utilidad del sistema indica que incluso los no expertos pueden realizar una tarea de búsqueda con resultados satisfactorios
APREGOAR: Development of a geospatial database applied to local news in Lisbon
Project Work presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Geographic Information Systems and ScienceHá informações valiosas em formato de texto não estruturado sobre a localização, calendarização
e a essências dos eventos disponÃveis no conteúdo de notÃcias digitais. Vários
trabalhos em curso já tentam extrair detalhes de eventos de fontes de notÃcias digitais,
mas muitas vezes não com a nuance necssária para representar com precisão onde as
coisas realmente acontecem. Alternativamente, os jornalistas poderiam associar manualmente
atributos a eventos descritos nos seus artigos enquanto publicam, melhorando a
exatidão e a confiança nestes atributos espaciais e temporais. Estes atributos poderiam
então estar imediatamente disponÃveis para avaliar a cobertura temática, temporal e
espacial do conteúdo de uma agência, bem como melhorar a experiência do utilizador
na exploração do conteúdo, fornecendo dimensões adicionais que podem ser filtradas.
Embora a tecnologia de atribuição de dimensões geoespaciais e temporais para o
emprego de aplicaçãoes voltadas para o consumidor não seja novidade, tem ainda de
ser aplicada à escala das notÃcias. Além disso, a maioria dos sistemas existentes suporta
apenas uma definição pontual da localização dos artigos, que pode não representar bem
o(s) local(is) real(ais) dos eventos descritos.
Este trabalho define uma aplicação web de código aberto e uma base de dados
espacial subjacente que suporta i) a associação de múltiplos polÃgonos a representar
o local onde cada evento ocorre, os prazos associados aos eventos, em linha com os
atributos temáticos tradicionais associados aos artigos de notÃcias; ii) a contextualização
de cada artigo através da adição de mapas de eventos em linha para esclarecer aos
leitores onde os eventos do artigo ocorrem; e iii) a exploração dos corpora adicionados
através de filtros temáticos, espaciais e temporais que exibem os resultados em mapas
de cobertura interactivos e listas de artigos e eventos.
O projeto foi aplicado na área da grande Lisboa de Portugal. Para além da funcionalidade
acima referida, este projeto constroi gazetteers progressivos que podem ser
reutilizados como associações de lugares, ou para uma meta-análise mais aprofundada
do lugar, tal como é percebido coloquialmente. Demonstra a facilidade com que estas
dimensões adicionais podem ser incorporadas com grade confiança na precisão da definição, geridas, e alavancadas para melhorar a gestão de conteúdo das agências noticiosas,
a compreensão dos leitores, a exploração dos investigadores, ou extraÃdas para
combinação com outros conjuntos dos dados para fornecer conhecimentos adicionais.There is valuable information in unstructured text format about the location, timing,
and nature of events available in digital news content. Several ongoing efforts already
attempt to extract event details from digital news sources, but often not with the
nuance needed to accurately represent the where things actually happen. Alternatively,
journalists could manually associate attributes to events described in their articles while
publishing, improving accuracy and confidence in these spatial and temporal attributes.
These attributes could then be immediately available for evaluating thematic, temporal,
and spatial coverage of an agency’s content, as well as improve the user experience of
content exploration by providing additional dimensions that can be filtered.
Though the technology of assigning geospatial and temporal dimensions for the
employ of consumer-facing applications is not novel, it has yet to be applied at scale to
the news. Additionally, most existing systems only support a single point definition of
article locations, which may not well represent the actual place(s) of events described
within.
This work defines an open source web application and underlying spatial database
that supports i) the association of multiple polygons representing where each event
occurs, time frames associated with the events, inline with the traditional thematic
attributes associated with news articles; ii) the contextualization of each article via the
addition of inline event maps to clarify to readers where the events of the article occur;
and iii) the exploration of the added corpora via thematic, spatial, and temporal filters
that display results in interactive coverage maps and lists of articles and events.
The project was applied to the greater Lisbon area of Portugal. In addition to the
above functionality, this project builds progressive gazetteers that can be reused as place
associations, or for further meta analysis of place as it is colloquially understood. It
demonstrates the ease of which these additional dimensions may be incorporated with a
high confidence in definition accuracy, managed, and leveraged to improve news agency
content management, reader understanding, researcher exploration, or extracted for
combination with other datasets to provide additional insights
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