Integrating and conceptualizing heterogeneous ontologies on the web

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENC

GEOINTERPRET: AN ONTOLOGICAL ENGINEERING METHODOLOGY FOR AUTOMATED INTERPRETATION OF GEOSPATIAL QUERIES

Despite advances in GIS technology, solving geospatial problems using current GIS platforms involves complex tasks requiring specialized skills and knowledge that are attainable through formal training and experience in implementing GIS projects. These requisite skills and knowledge include: understanding domain-specific geospatial problems; understanding GIS representation of real-world objects, concepts, and activities; knowing how to identify, locate, retrieve, and integrate geospatial data sets into GIS projects; knowing specific geoprocessing capabilities available on specific GIS platforms; and skills in utilizing geoprocessing tools in GIS with appropriate data sets to solve problems effectively and efficiently. Users interested in solving application-domain problems often lack such skills and knowledge and resort to GIS experts (this is especially true for applications dealing with diverse geospatial data sets and complex problems). Therefore, there is a gap between users' knowledge about geoprocessing and GIS tools and the GIS knowledge and skills needed to solve geospatial problems. To fill this gap, a new approach that automates the tasks involved in geospatial problem solving is needed. Of these tasks, the most important is geospatial query (usually expressed in application-specific concepts and terminologies) interpretation and mapping to geoprocessing operations implementable by GIS. The goal of this research is to develop an ontological engineering methodology, called GeoInterpret, to automate the task of geospatial query interpretation and mapping. This methodology encompasses: a conceptualization of geospatial queries; a multiple-ontology approach for representing knowledge needed to solve geospatial queries; a set of techniques for mapping elements between different ontologies; and a set of algorithms for geospatial query interpretation, mapping, and geoprocessing workflow composition. A proof of concept was developed to demonstrate the working of GeoInterpret

Infrastructures for sharing geographic information among environmental agencies

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-181).by John D. Evans.Ph.D

The Promise of Distributed Computing and the Challenges of Legacy Information Systems

The imminent combination of computing and telecommunications is leading to a compelling vision of world-wide computing. The vision is described in terms of next generation computing architectures, called Enterprise Information Architectures, and next generation information systems, called Intelligent and Cooperative Information Systems. Basic research directions and challenges are described as generalizations of database concepts, including semantic aspects of interoperable information systems. No matter how compelling and potentially valuable the vision may be, it is of little use until the legacy problem is solved. The problem of legacy information systems migration is described, in the context of distributed computing, and is illustrated with lessons learned from actual case studies. The basic research directions and challenges are recast in the light of actual legacy information systems. Recommendations for both realizing the vision and meeting the challenges are given, including t..