Benefits and challenges of applying Semantic Web Services in the e-Government domain

Joining up services in e-Government usually implies governmental agencies acting in concert without a central control regime. This requires the sharing of scattered and heterogeneous data. Semantic Web Service (SWS) technology can help to integrate, mediate and reason between these datasets. However, since few real-world applications have been developed, it is still unclear which are the actual benefits and issues of adopting such a technology in the e-Government domain. In this paper, we contribute to raising awareness of the potential benefits in the e-Government community by analyzing motivations, requirements, and expected results, before proposing a reusable SWS-based framework. We demonstrate the application of this framework by a compelling use case: a GIS-based emergency planning system. We illustrate the obtained benefits and the key challenges which remain to be addressed

Geospatial data integration with Semantic Web services: the eMerges approach

Geographic space still lacks the semantics allowing a unified view of spatial data. Indeed, as a unique but all encompassing domain, it presents specificities that geospatial applications are still unable to handle. Moreover, to be useful, new spatial applications need to match human cognitive abilities of spatial representation and reasoning. In this context, eMerges, an approach to geospatial data integration based on Semantic Web Services (SWS), allows the unified representation and manipulation of heterogeneous spatial data sources. eMerges provides this integration by mediating legacy spatial data sources to high-level spatial ontologies through SWS and by presenting for each object context dependent affordances. This generic approach is applied here in the context of an emergency management use case developed in collaboration with emergency planners of public agencies

Spatial integration of Semantic Web Services: the e-Merges approach

As Semantic Web Services (SWS) are becoming a more mature technology, the question of their integration into the web landscape is pushed to the foreground. In a world where it is believed that up to 80% of data has a geographical component, one in which new web maps applications recently show tremendous growth, and in which of course we constantly think and act in terms of movement and geographic features, integration into the spatial domain appears as an essential step toward wide-scale adoption of SWS technology. However, geographic space, as a unique but all encompassing domain has specificities that semantic descriptions must acknowledge. Furthermore, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) need to adapt to human cognitive abilities of spatial representation and reasoning. In this context, e-Merges, an emergency management application prototype developed in collaboration with emergency planners of public agencies, is an ongoing effort to integrate SWS technology in a GIS environment, by applying the SWS notions of goal and context based interaction

A Semantic Web Services GIS based emergency management application

In an emergency situation, relevant information about involved elements is required. This information ranges from demographic data, weather forecasts and sensor data, available transportation means, presence of helpful agents, land use and cover statistics or values, etc. Moreover, the emergency management process is dynamic as it involves several definite steps, described in standard procedures from which the Emergency Officer (EO) should not depart without good reason. Multiple agencies own the relevant data and possess parts of emergency related knowledge