MSc Database Systems - Research Topics David George

Research Focus Data and Information Integration Semantic Web - XML/RDF (W3C) Ontology (OWL) - focusing on Geographic Applications

Semantic Web A project aimed to make web pages machine understandable. “An extension of the current Web, … information given well-defined meaning, …enabling computers and people to work in co-operation” (Berners-Lee et al, 2001) A universal medium for information exchange; where Ontologies (formal taxonomies) provide meaning or semantics.

Ontologies in Computing “An Ontology is a formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualization” (Gruber, 1993 & Borst, 1997). Define the vocabulary of a “Domain”  concepts and their attributes  relationships between concepts  constraints on those relationships

Semantic Web DE BRUIJN, J. (2003) Using Ontologies - Enabling Knowledge Sharing and Reuse on the Semantic Web [online]. DERI – Digital Enterprise Research Institute. Available from: pdf. [Accessed 5 March 2007] pdf

A Bibliographic Ontology Biblio-Thing Document Book Periodical-Publication Journal Magazine Newspaper Thesis Doctoral-Thesis Master-Thesis Agent Person Author Organisation PublisherUniversity A useful source for ontologies:

TransportationTourism Ontology: “Geo-Layers”

Geographic Ontology: Land-based Transport

Ontology Design: Best Practice Ontology elements can be described as: RailwayBridge ≡ (hasForm ∃ Structure) ⊓ (hasRole ∃ RailTransportRole) –Primitives: self-standing entities (objects/forms) e.g. Structure, Bridge, Process, System –Relations: “concept-linking” properties e.g. X hasRole Y –Roles: functions e.g. RailTransportRole and –Definables: where we define dependent concepts by combining Primitives, Relations, and Roles e.g:

Transportation World: Mappings servesLocation hasFacility hasRole accessedBy hasFacility TransportationConcept Is-a servesLocation hasFacility hasRole accessedBy hasFacility TransportationConcept Is-a

Land-based Transport

Transportation World: Domain M67 M6 A6

Transportation World: Layers M67M6 A6

Railway World: Conceptualisation ContainerTerminalhasRoleLoadingPoint UnloadingPoint accessedViaFreightLine RailwayJunction servedByFreightOperator

Railway World: Specification

Railway World: Development

Rail Transportation RailTransportSystem RailFreight System RailPassenger System RailTransportRole RailPassenger TranspRole RailFreight TranspRole RailTransportComponent RailPassenger Route RailStation RailFreight Terminal RailFreight Route endsAt startsFrom hasRailRole hasRailComponent hasRailRole

RoadTransportSystem Road Transportation A-Road System Motorway System RoadTransportRole HighSpeed RouteRole Orbital Role RoadTransportComponent Motorway Junc Motorway hasRoadRole hasRoadComponent startsFrom endsAt HighSpeed Network hasRoadRole

Population Groups PopulationGroupComponent City Town PopulationGroupRole County Regional AdminRole Dormitory TownRole hasCommunityRole locatedIn

Land-Transportation RailTransportSystem RailFreight System RailPassenger System RailTransportRole RailPassenger TranspRole RailFreight TranspRole RailTransportComponent RailPassenger Route RailStation RailFreight Terminal RailFreight Route RoadTransportSystem A-Road System Motorway System RoadTransportRole HighSpeed RouteRole Orbital Role RoadTransportComponent Motorway Junc Motorway HighSpeed Network PopulationGroupComponent City Town PopulationGroupRole County Regional AdminRole Dormitory TownRole hasCommuterFacility hasFreightOperation passesThrough hasCompetion hasTransportInfrastructure accessedVia integratedWith

Foundation Ontology Mapping ProcessObject AbstractPhysical RailwayPunctuality Entity TransportSystem Motion Transportation Translocation RailPassenger Transportation Region GeographicArea LandArea City SelfConnectedObject CorpuscularObject Artifact Device TransportationDevice Number Quantity RailTransportSystem RailFreight System RailPassenger System RailTransportRole RailPassenger TranspRole RailFreight TranspRole RailTransportComponent RailPassenger Route RailStation RailFreight Terminal RailFreight Route RoadTransportSystem A-Road System Motorway System RoadTransportRole HighSpeed RouteRole Orbital Role RoadTransportComponent Motorway Junc Motorway HighSpeed Network PopulationGroupComponent City Town PopulationGroupRole County Regional AdminRole Dormitory TownRole

Ontology: Railway Transportation

Geo-Layers Research Any questions?

RDF Example Object, Attribute, Value triple: Often stated as: Predicate (subject, object)

Semantic (Shadow) Web a a a a a a