U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Spatial Relation Predicates for National Topographic Ontologies Dalia Varanka and Holly Caro Cognitive and Linguistic Aspects of Geographical Space in the Age of Cyber-infrastructure Las Navas Del Marques, Avila, Spain July 5, 2010

Data models of the 1990s  Coordinate location in space  Geometric distance relations  Overlay operations; union, intersection

Relations Build Context, Identity, and Specificity – Key Innovations of the Semantic Web

Objectives  Identify and apply relation terms that reflect and respond to cognitive and linguistic structures of diverse topographic data users  Express those terms in formal logic  Design reasoning algorithms to enable queries reflecting those relations

Data Conversion

SHP2N3.py – Spatial RDFizer  Simple Python script  Shapefiles -> Notation3 (N3)  N3 is an “RDF serialization” Triples that can be loaded into a triple store  Easier to work with than RDF

Attribute conversion builds mapping capability, but lacks flexibility  :_1  rdf:type :areas ;  rdfs:label "1"^^xsd:string ;  :oBJECTID "63959"^^xsd:integer ;  :aREA " "^^xsd:double ;  :pERIMETER " "^^xsd:double ;  :bCZONE_ " "^^xsd:double ;  :bCZONE_ID " "^^xsd:double ;  :zONE_ "XLG"^^xsd:string ;  :fP "0"^^xsd:integer ;  :nLNA "0"^^xsd:integer ; OBJECTIDAREAPERIMETERBCZONE_BCZONE_IDZONE_FPNLNA XLG XLY XBO00

Some standard spatial relation terms ISO 19125Geonames.orgOrdnance Survey Rabbit Equalsin Schemeencloses DisjointinCountryisAdjacentTo IntersectslocatedInisLocatedAt TouchesneighbourisLocatedIn CrossesneighbouringFeaturesisLocatedNear WithinnearbyisLocatedOn ContainsnearbyFeaturesspans Overlaps Lat./long.

Geographic Semantics for The National Map Topographic Ontology Modules Terrain, Surface Water, Ecological Regime, Built- up areas, Divisions, Events Ontology ‘Patterns’ for re-use Properties: Locator, (coordinates, topology, mereology, region) Generator, (processes) Descriptor, (shape, quality)

Open Geospatial Consortium Draft GeoSPARQL Specification  9-Intersection model provides relation semantics  GeoSPARQL will link RDF/OWL to these spatial relations (J. Herring, X. Lopez, and M. Perry)  USGS will provide a test bed for the GeoSPARQL standard

Spatial Relation Predicates  Bridge: Manmade structure carrying a trail, road, or other transportation system across a body of water or depression (causeway, overpass, trestle). (from Geonames.gov)  = ‘carryingACROSS’

Tools for Spatial Relation Analysis Initial method involved pulling out the 'verbs' (active or passive) and corresponding spatial relation Performed an initial assessment by reading the definitions and recording the verb/spatial relation term in Excel, then used Concordance to determine overarching trends within the data

USGS / Partnership standards  USGS Digital Line Graph (DLG) standards  Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS)  Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names  Feature types and their definitions were added from various sources for ontological completion (such as, Wikipedia and Google Dictionary)

Tools for Analysis  Excel  Spreadsheet Allowed easy sorting of the completed database Resembled the actual formation of triples

Tools for Analysis Concordance Allowed for an overview analysis of textual documents using a target word Does not lemmatize words, or allow the user to sort words by lemmatization Word permutations, like plurals or conjugation, were sought out individually for analysis

Tools for Analysis Native speaker analysis  In the context (STDS)  AIRPORT  A facility, either on land or water…  = ‘located atop’  CRATER  Circular-shaped depression at the summit of a volcanic cone or on the surface of the land.  = ‘in’  FAULT  A fracture In the Earth's crust with displacement on one side of the fracture relative to the other.  = ‘located at’  FISHING_GROUND  A water area in which fishing is frequently carried on.  = ‘participated in’

Problems & Solutions Many definitions lacked verbs entirely  SEA : The great body of salt water of the oceans. Some lacked substantial spatial predicate relationship  TREE : A woody perennial plant, having a self-supporting main stem or trunk.  Some items are not defined by location  BACKWATER  An area of calm water unaffected by the current of a stream. (composition, quality)  PARK  A place or area set aside for recreation or preservation of a cultural or natural resource. (purpose)  SEA  The great body of salt water of the oceans. (composition)

Problems & Solutions As always, the fuzzy logic problem  PENINSULA  A body of land jutting out into and nearly surrounded by water. not surroundedBY, but nearly_surroundedBY Many other small discrepancies inherent within natural language

COVERED Beach (The sloping shore along a body of water that is washed by waves or tides) coveredBYsand or gravel (coast, shore, strand) Swamp (Poorly drained wetland, fresh or saltwater, wooded or grassy) coveredWITHopen water (bog, cienega, marais, marsh, pocosin) Woods (Small area)coveredWITHa dense growth of trees; does not include an area of trees under the administration of a political agency (see "forest") CURVE BendcurveINthe course of a stream and (or) the land within the curve BendcurveINa linear body of water (bottom, loop, meander) BE Ridge (Elevation with a narrow, elongated crest) bePART_OFa hill or mountain (crest, cuesta, escarpment, hogback, lae, rim, spur) CONNECTING Gut (Relatively small coastal waterway) connectinglarger bodies of water or other waterways (creek, inlet, slough) Isthmus (Narrow section of land in a body of water) connectingtwo larger land areas OPEN Tunnel (Linear underground passageway) openATboth ends Arch (Natural arch-like)openingINa rock mass (bridge, natural bridge, sea arch) GapopeningBETWEENhills or mountains or in a ridge or mountain range (col, notch, pass, saddle, water gap, wind gap) SURROUNDED Bay (Indentation of a coastline or shoreline enclosing a part of a body of water; a body of water partly) surroundedBYLand (arm, bight, cove, estuary, gulf, inlet, sound) Island (Area of dry or relatively dry land) surroundedBYwater or low wetland (archipelago, atoll, cay, hammock, hummock, isla, isle, key, moku, rock) Verb predicates and related prepositions indicating topological and patronymic relations

Verb predicates and related prepositions indicating human agency or natural process relations USED Canal (manmade waterway)usedBYWatercraft Drainage, irrigation, mining, or water power (ditch, lateal). Channel (Linear deep part of a body of water through which the main volume of water flows) usedASA route for watercraft (passage, reach, strait, thoroughfare, throughfare) School (Building or group of buildings)usedASas an institution for study, teaching, and learning (academy, college, high school, university) Well (Manmade shaft or hole in the Earth’s surface) usedTOObtain fluid or gaseous materials Church (Building)usedFORreligious worship (chapel, mosque, synagogue, tabernacle, temple) Military (Place or facility)usedFORvarious aspects of or relating to military activity Post Office (An official facility of the U.S. Postal Service) usedFORprocessing and distributing mail and other postal material Tower (A manmade structure, higher than its diameter) usedFORobservation, storage, or electronic transmission Airport (Manmade facility)usedFORaircraft (airfield, airstrip, landing field, landing strip) FLOW WaterflowTHROUGHArroyo (Watercourse or channel) waterChannel (Linear deep part of a body of water) Underground waterflowTOThe surface of the Earth CAUSED Crater (Circular-shaped depression at the summit of a volcanic cone or one on the surface of the land) causedBYthe impact of a meteorite Crater (a manmade depression)causedBYan explosion (caldera, lua) FORM Crossing (A place where two or more routes of transportation) forma junction or intersection (overpass, underpass) REMOVED Mine (place where commercial minerals)removedFROMEarth Oilfield (area where petroleum is/was)removedFROMEarth SET Park (place or area)setASIDE_FORrecreation or preservation of a cultural or natural resource and under some form of government administration Reserve (A tract of land)setASIDE_FORa specific use (does not include forests, civil divisions, parks)

Findings  A predominant class of spatial relation terms functioned well as descriptor properties  Another predominant class of spatial relation terms functioned well as generator properties  9-Intersection model relations are classes and can be applied to feature classes, but apply well to feature representations coincident at locations at the instance level

Summary Regarding the Method As a small-scale analysis: Provides an overview of issues to be expected in the development of a formal ontology from text standards to RDF definition Demonstrates discrepancies between practical use of language and machine representation Could be used as a starting point for further investigation into interactive components of a semantic web technology (i.e., search capabilities)

User Interface to Develop Non- Standard Term Candidates Controlled vocabulary  Standard terms are based on the vocabulary of a relatively small and centralized group of users. Vernacular language Develop an interactive interface for non- standard terms Collect terms through prompted input that the public finds relevant and uses.

Thank you! For further information, please contact us via or Internet home page:   