DEVELOPMENT OF AN EFFICIENT APPROACH OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE IN THE INTERTIDAL ZONE OF THE BELGIAN NORTH SEA

[EN] The knowledge of the submerged cultural heritage in the North Sea is rather limited. The Belgian North Sea is being used for a lot of different purposes, such as fishing, aggregate extraction, wind farms, dredging, etc. Due to these increasing economic activities, the underwater archive is in danger. In the context of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage of 2001, gathering more information about the submerged cultural heritage in the intertidal zones of the North Sea is one of the main objectives of the Belgian scientific project ‘SeArch’. It will give a clearer picture of the broader cultural and archaeological heritage in the region and it can be used as a basis for a sustainable management by government agencies. The Department of Geography (Ghent University, Belgium) contributes to the SeArch project in two ways. First, an innovative survey methodology has been developed which allows an accurate and cost-efficient evaluation of the archaeological potential in the intertidal zones of the Belgian beaches. Secondly, the Department of Geography is developing an interactive webGIS platform, which makes it possible to share, integrate and visualize the gathered archaeological and environmental data and information in a user-friendly way. Hereby, the total potential of this project is fully exploited in a time-efficient manner. To create an interactive webGIS platform, a good structured spatial database is needed. It enables manipulation of a wide variety of georeferenced information in both raster and vector formats. This paper provides more information about the configuration and application of the spatial database. Moreover, it focusses on the development of a fully functional Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) using the most reliable, powerful and state-of-the-art technological components. Besides, a new way of collecting geomatic data in a fast and accurate manner will be discussed. Some processing results will show the possibilities for detecting and visualizing underground structures and archaeological objects.Decock, M.; Stal, C.; Van Ackere, S.; Vandenbulcke, A.; De Maeyer, P.; De Wulf, A. (2016). DEVELOPMENT OF AN EFFICIENT APPROACH OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE IN THE INTERTIDAL ZONE OF THE BELGIAN NORTH SEA. En 8th International congress on archaeology, computer graphics, cultural heritage and innovation. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 138-145. https://doi.org/10.4995/arqueologica8.2015.3554OCS13814

Automatic Geospatial Data Conflation Using Semantic Web Technologies

Duplicate geospatial data collections and maintenance are an extensive problem across Australia government organisations. This research examines how Semantic Web technologies can be used to automate the geospatial data conflation process. The research presents a new approach where generation of OWL ontologies based on output data models and presenting geospatial data as RDF triples serve as the basis for the solution and SWRL rules serve as the core to automate the geospatial data conflation processes

A multi-level perspective on a spatial data ecosystem: needs and challenges among urban planning stakeholders in New Zealand

Spatial data ecosystems are often complex, and stakeholders express difficulties in finding, accessing, using and sharing spatial information. Doing so can be essential for making good evidence-based decisions on urban development. New Zealand's urban planning spatial data ecosystem is no exception. This paper identifies and maps key stakeholders, their data needs and respective barriers to an improved use of spatial information. We apply a multi-level perspective approach to analysing challenges of a transition towards an improved spatial data ecosystem for urban decision-making. Based on expert interviews and the international literature, we provide recommendations to improve the spatial data ecosystem and reduce barriers to making spatial data more available to support urban decisions. Our stakeholder-based analysis highlights the importance of intensive stakeholder engagement across the multiple levels of the spatial data ecosystem, fostering increased awareness and understanding of the value of fit-for-purpose spatial information for better planning outcomes. We argue for a coordinated, stakeholder-based mechanism addressing in particular cultural and governance local practices

Pervasive Monitoring - An Intelligent Sensor Pod Approach for Standardised Measurement Infrastructures

Geo-sensor networks have traditionally been built up in closed monolithic systems, thus limiting trans-domain usage of real-time measurements. This paper presents the technical infrastructure of a standardised embedded sensing device, which has been developed in the course of the Live Geography approach. The sensor pod implements data provision standards of the Sensor Web Enablement initiative, including an event-based alerting mechanism and location-aware Complex Event Processing functionality for detection of threshold transgression and quality assurance. The goal of this research is that the resultant highly flexible sensing architecture will bring sensor network applications one step further towards the realisation of the vision of a “digital skin for planet earth”. The developed infrastructure can potentially have far-reaching impacts on sensor-based monitoring systems through the deployment of ubiquitous and fine-grained sensor networks. This in turn allows for the straight-forward use of live sensor data in existing spatial decision support systems to enable better-informed decision-making.Seventh Framework Programme (European Commission) (FP7 project GENESIS no. 223996)Austria. Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and TechnologyERA-STAR Regions Project (G2real)Austria. Federal Ministry of Science and Researc

Towards institutional and organisational framework for the National spatial data infrastructure development in Serbia

Spatial data infrastructure (SDI) represents a concept that tends to create a context for cooperation and exchange of data, information and knowledge between a particular spatial data community’s stakeholders. Thus, the aim of SDI concept development is to establish a common spatially supported platform for making right decisions relevant for economic progress, good governance and sustainable development within a certain domain or jurisdiction, i.e. administrative level. Today, the majority of launched SDI initiatives are on the national level that is also identified as the crucial one for evolution of this concept in general. Additionally, recent research has proven that national SDI (NSDI) developments have become prevailingly social phenomena since interactions between their stakeholders appeared to be critical for achieving purpose of these initiatives, and SDI concept vision in general. Therefore, the aim of this article is to propose an appropriate social, i.e. institutional and organisational framework, for NSDI development in Serbia

Developing tools and models for evaluating geospatial data integration of official and VGI data sources

PhD ThesisIn recent years, systems have been developed which enable users to produce, share and update information on the web effectively and freely as User Generated Content (UGC) data (including Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)). Data quality assessment is a major concern for supporting the accurate and efficient spatial data integration required if VGI is to be used alongside official, formal, usually governmental datasets. This thesis aims to develop tools and models for the purpose of assessing such integration possibilities. Initially, in order to undertake this task, geometrical similarity of formal and informal data was examined. Geometrical analyses were performed by developing specific programme interfaces to assess the positional, linear and polygon shape similarity among reference field survey data (FS); official datasets such as data from Ordnance Survey (OS), UK and General Directorate for Survey (GDS), Iraq agencies; and VGI information such as OpenStreetMap (OSM) datasets. A discussion of the design and implementation of these tools and interfaces is presented. A methodology has been developed to assess such positional and shape similarity by applying different metrics and standard indices such as the National Standard for Spatial Data Accuracy (NSSDA) for positional quality; techniques such as buffering overlays for linear similarity; and application of moments invariant for polygon shape similarity evaluations. The results suggested that difficulties exist for any geometrical integration of OSM data with both bench mark FS and formal datasets, but that formal data is very close to reference datasets. An investigation was carried out into contributing factors such as data sources, feature types and number of data collectors that may affect the geometrical quality of OSM data and consequently affect the integration process of OSM datasets with FS, OS and GDS. Factorial designs were undertaken in this study in order to develop and implement an experiment to discover the effect of these factors individually and the interaction between each of them. The analysis found that data source is the most significant factor that affects the geometrical quality of OSM datasets, and that there are interactions among all these factors at different levels of interaction. This work also investigated the possibility of integrating feature classification of official datasets such as data from OS and GDS geospatial data agencies, and informal datasets such as OSM information. In this context, two different models were developed. The first set of analysis included the evaluation of semantic integration of corresponding feature classifications of compared datasets. The second model was concerned with assessing the ability of XML schema matching of feature classifications of tested datasets. This initially involved a tokenization process in order to split up into single words classifications that were composed of multiple words. Subsequently, encoding feature classifications as XML schema trees was undertaken. The semantic similarity, data type similarity and structural similarity were measured between the nodes of compared schema trees. Once these three similarities had been computed, a weighted combination technique has been adopted in order to obtain the overall similarity. The findings of both sets of analysis were not encouraging as far as the possibility of effectively integrating feature classifications of VGI datasets, such as OSM information, and formal datasets, such as OS and GDS datasets, is concerned.Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Republic of Iraq

SISTEMA INTEGRADO DE DADOS GEOESPACIAIS APLICADO À GESTÃO DE INFORMAÇÃO AERONÁUTICA

Esta tese explora a necessidade de uma investigação aprofundada, de incremento de conhecimento e experiência tecnológica, no âmbito do futuro do Céu Único Europeu (Single European Sky - SES), enquanto projeto ambicioso promovido pela União Europeia para solucionar os problemas de congestionamento de tráfego aéreo na Europa, e apresenta uma proposta para um Sistema Integrado de Dados Geoespaciais aplicado à Gestão da Informação Aeronáutica (SIDG-AIM). O SIDG-AIM, aliando as Tecnologias de Informação Geográfica (TIG) e a Gestão da Informação Aeronáutica (Aeronautical Information Management - AIM), efetua uma modificação radical na forma como os dados aeronáuticos são geridos e disponibilizados, resultando desse facto um incremento de valor face às necessidades emergentes no sector da aeronáutica. O produto deste trabalho permitirá desenvolver um modelo integrado que possibilitará partilhar informação aeronáutica normalizada, em tempo real, junto dos diversos utilizadores, compatível com o System Wide Information Management (SWIM) que funcionará como um grande repositório de dados aeronáuticos nos seus diversos domínios, sendo prevista a sua implementação no ano de 2020. Os Serviços de Informação Aeronáutica (AIS)1 constituem um domínio que envolve a diversidade de informação necessária à atividade de todos os intervenientes nas operações de voo e do Air Traffic Management (ATM). A Publicação de Informação Aeronáutica (AIP) 2 e documentação associada constituem a fonte de informação básica para informações permanentes e alterações temporárias de longa duração (3 meses ou superior). As caraterísticas da informação aeronáutica têm subjacente a descrição da realidade da infraestrutura de navegação aérea dentro do seu contexto geoespacial e o estado e condição dessa infraestrutura à medida que ela muda ao longo do tempo. Assim, a informação aeronáutica é caracterizada como informação geoespacial, composta por três dimensões “x, y, e z”, e pela informação considerada temporal, que se altera numa dimensão “t”. Além do uso pretendido da informação, também a forma como se pretende divulgar a informação aeronáutica afeta as suas características genéricas. Neste âmbito e ao longo desta tese serão destacadas características como o formato digital, a integrabilidade, a visualização gráfica, o formato aberto, o facto de ser pesquisável espacialmente e temporalmente acessível, monitorizada e adaptada a determinados utilizadores finais. De acordo com o conceito AIM, a noção de temporalidade também deve respeitar o critério "apto para o uso pretendido", no sentido de que a informação deve estar disponível para os utilizadores finais quando eles precisam. Este requisito afeta diretamente os meios de disseminação da informação, dependendo sempre da criticidade da informação. Em última análise, o objetivo da informação aeronáutica é reduzir a incerteza e aumentar a previsibilidade do sistema ATM e um meio de o conseguir é através da disponibilidade de informação atempada, nunca descurando a preservação da qualidade da informação em termos de exatidão, resolução e integridade, como será referido ao longo desta tese. É importante destacar a singularidade da informação aeronáutica em relação a outros domínios de informação, na medida em que não descreve apenas recursos físicos de navegação aérea, como aeroportos, pistas de aterragem e transmissores de rádio de navegação, mas também recursos virtuais, como o espaço aéreo, as vias aéreas e os procedimentos por instrumentos. O presente trabalho decorre num processo de transformação dos Serviços de Informação Aeronáutica, visando desenvolver as suas atividades num modelo de globalização da informação que corresponda às necessidades das operações de voo e do ATM e que pressupõe a migração da informação para um formato eletrónico, harmonizado, de alta qualidade, interoperável e assente num grande desenvolvimento tecnológico. O processo de transição do AIS para o AIM e a execução do Regulamento (EU) 73/2010 determinam novas e exigentes inovações tecnológicas. O SIDG-AIM permitirá à NAV Portugal, E.P.E., empresa utilizada como estudo de caso, adaptar-se em direção a esse objetivo.Within the framework of the Single European Sky’s (SES) future, as an ambitious project promoted by the European Union to solve air traffic congestion problems in Europe, this thesis explores the need for in-depth research, increased knowledge and technological experience. It also presents a proposal for an Integrated Geospatial Data System applied to Aeronautical Information Management (SIDG-AIM). Allying Geographic Information Technologies (GIT) with Aeronautical Information Management (AIM), the SIDG-AIM makes a radical change in the way aeronautical data are managed and made available, resulting in gains to the emerging needs in the aeronautics sector. The outcome of this work will allow the development of an integrated model that will share real-time standardized aeronautical information among users, compatible with System Wide Information Management (SWIM), which will act as a large repository of aeronautical data in its various domains. Its implementation is predicted to the year 2020. Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) is an area that involves the variaty of information required for the activity of all stakeholders involved in flight operations and Air Traffic Management (ATM). The Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) and its associated documentation provides the main source for permanent information and long-term temporary changes (3 months or more). The description of the reality of the air navigation infrastructure within its geospatial context and the state and condition of aeronautical information. It is characterized as geospatial information, consisting of three dimensions "x, y, and z", and information considered temporal, which changes in a "t" dimension. Its generic characteristics are affected by the intended use of the information and the way of intended disclosure the aeronautical information. In this context and throughout this thesis will highlight features such as digital format, integrability, graphic display, open format, the fact that it is searchable spatially and temporally accessible,monitored and adapted to certain stakeholders. According to the AIM concept, the notion of temporality should also respect the touchstone "fit for intended use", which means that information should be available to end users whenever they need it. This requirement directly affects the means of information dissemination, always depending on the criticality of the information. As ultimate parsing, the main goal of aeronautical information is to reduce the dimness and increase the predictability of the ATM system. One way to achieve this is through the availability of timely information, never neglecting the preservation of the quality of information in terms of accuracy, resolution and integrity, as will be mentioned throughout this thesis. It is important to highlight the uniqueness of aeronautical information related to other information domains. Besides it describes physical air navigation resources such as airports, landing strips and radio navigation transmitters, it also describes virtual resources such as space airway, airway and procedures by instrument. This work is carried out in a process of transformation of the Aeronautical Information Services, aiming to develop its activities within a model of information globalization that comes upon the needs of the flight operations and the ATM. Which presupposes the migration of information to an electronic format, high quality, interoperable and based on a great technological development. The transition process from AIS to AIM and the implementation of Regulation (EU) 73/2010 determine demanding technological innovations. The SIDG-AIM will allow NAV Portugal, E.P.E., a company used here as a case study, to adjust towards that goal

Cloud-based Indoor Positioning Platform for Context-adaptivity in GNSS-denied Scenarios

The demand for positioning, localisation and navigation services is on the rise, largely owing to the fact that such services form an integral part of applications in areas such as human activity recognition, robotics, and eHealth. Depending on the field of application, these services must accomplish high levels of accuracy, massive device connectivity, real-time response, flexibility, and integrability. Although many current solutions have succeeded in fulfilling these requirements, numerous challenges remain in terms of providing robust and reliable indoor positioning solutions. This dissertation has a core focus on improving computing efficiency, data pre-processing, and software architecture for Indoor Positioning Systems (IPSs), without throwing out position and location accuracy. Fingerprinting is the main positioning technique used in this dissertation, as it is one of the approaches used most frequently in indoor positioning solutions. The dissertation begins by presenting a systematic review of current cloud-based indoor positioning solutions for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) denied scenarios. This first contribution identifies the current challenges and trends in indoor positioning applications over the last seven years (from January 2015 to May 2022). Secondly, we focus on the study of data optimisation techniques such as data cleansing and data augmentation. This second contribution is devoted to reducing the number of outliers fingerprints in radio maps and, therefore, reducing the error in position estimation. The data cleansing algorithm relies on the correlation between fingerprints, taking into account the maximum Received Signal Strength (RSS) values, whereas the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) network is used for data augmentation in order to generate synthetic fingerprints that are barely distinguishable from real ones. Consequently, the positioning error is reduced by more than 3.5% after applying the data cleansing. Similarly, the positioning error is reduced in 8 from 11 datasets after generating new synthetic fingerprints. The third contribution suggests two algorithms which group similar fingerprints into clusters. To that end, a new post-processing algorithm for Density-based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) clustering is developed to redistribute noisy fingerprints to the formed clusters, enhancing the mean positioning accuracy by more than 20% in comparison with the plain DBSCAN. A new lightweight clustering algorithm is also introduced, which joins similar fingerprints based on the maximum RSS values and Access Point (AP) identifiers. This new clustering algorithm reduces the time required to form the clusters by more than 60% compared with two traditional clustering algorithms. The fourth contribution explores the use of Machine Learning (ML) models to enhance the accuracy of position estimation. These models are based on Deep Neural Network (DNN) and Extreme Learning Machine (ELM). The first combines Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Long short-term memory (LSTM) to learn the complex patterns in fingerprinting radio maps and improve position accuracy. The second model uses CNN and ELM to provide a fast and accurate solution for the classification of fingerprints into buildings and floors. Both models offer better performance in terms of floor hit rate than the baseline (more than 8% on average), and also outperform some machine learning models from the literature. Finally, this dissertation summarises the key findings of the previous chapters in an open-source cloud platform for indoor positioning. This software developed in this dissertation follows the guidelines provided by current standards in positioning, mapping, and software architecture to provide a reliable and scalable system