Part of the Cronos Group 4C/kZen 4 th EcoTerm meeting, Vienna, April 18, 2007 Jef Vanbockryck Research & Development “Risk Assessment ontologies and data modeling tools”

Agenda Intro Registry, metadata & ontology Data modeling tools Linking data modeling with risk ontology The way forward kZen Research & Development

Intro Work in context of the WIN project, FP6 2 main parts: metadata mgt and data modeling –Use of ebXML (3.0) registry for metadata –Use XMLSchema for data modeling The way forward - (possible) continuation of work in EcoSemantics STREP kZen Research & Development

Registry, metadata & ontology Usage of ebXML Registry Information Model (ebRIM), OASIS standards –Metadata managed in "slots" in an rim:ExtrinsicObject –Slots can be easily extended –Slots can have classified values, based on classifications like regions, risk phases, risk-related image products, object types, etc. –Classifications are managed in the registry –rim:ExternalLink provides a URL link to external objects e.g. an image product, an XMLSchema, an ontology, a metadata set, etc. –rim:ExtrinsicObject and rim:ExternalLink are associated via rim:Association –a rim:Association has a "type", which values are managed in a classification –example of a rim:Association type is "RepositoryItemFor", associating a rim:ExternalLink with a rim:ExtrinsicObject (eg. linking a URL of an image product with the metadata that describes it) –Allows multilingual definitions, but are not often (enough) used (English is courant) kZen Research & Development

Registry, metadata & ontology Usage in WIN context –We started with the basic ebRIM extension of OGC (largely based on Dublin Core metadata elements), used for image product and service registration –OGC package was then further extended with WIN- specifics (additional metadata + classifications), because Dublin Core metadata is not sufficient –Added a classification of risk thematic for image products kZen Research & Development

Registry, metadata & ontology WIN metadata classification (part 1): kZen Research & Development

Registry, metadata & ontology WIN metadata classification (part 2): kZen Research & Development

Registry, metadata & ontology kZen Research & Development Example registry objects used in WIN (part 1):

Registry, metadata & ontology kZen Research & Development Example registry objects used in WIN (part 2):

Registry, metadata & ontology Cronos recently jointed OGC –Extension for EO products (HMA) was added (interoperability demonstrated at recent workshop at ESA ESRRIN on April 3, Frascati) –Cronos cooperates on design of ISO ebRIM profile for OGC ISO approach is very generic, allows registration of about anything But...it might be too generic But it has large user base (e.g. JRC/INSPIRE) kZen Research & Development

Registry, metadata & ontology EbXML Registry for ontology registration –ebRIM can be used for registration of (risk) ontologies –How: Option1: –rim:ExtrinsicObject to describe the ontology - add a new rim:ExtrinsicObject objectType "Ontology" or more specific "OWL Ontology" (if needed) –The ontology is kept as-is using the rim:ExternalLink concept –rim:Association with type "RepositoryItemFor" can be re- used Option 2: –Use the OWL ebRIM profile to have OWL ontologies broken down into ebRIM model –Pros and cons about this approach Option 3: –Use the ebRIM ISO profile to describe the ontology and add a classification on top of the rim:ExtrinsicObject (to be studied) kZen Research & Development

Data modeling tools XMLSchema used as basis: –Various reasons: Has strong design features: –Modularity, versioning, abstraction, extension, etc. Is standard: –There are many tools (are interoperable) Can be easily exchanged: –Is XML format: platform-neutral Can be used in / referenced by other XML formats and registries: –WSDL, UDDI/ebXML RIM, etc. Can be graphically represented for easy understanding –Promotes collaboration and usage by business analysts Can be used in implementation: –For validation, for code generation, for documentation –But mainly (in WIN context) to allow re-use of Common Alerting Protocol and OGC standards –Using Altova XMLSpy as design tool kZen Research & Development

Data modeling tools Architecture for WIN: kZen Research & Development

Data modeling tools Data model for WIN: kZen Research & Development

Data modeling tools Example WIN data model, Oilspills: kZen Research & Development

Data modeling tools New data management tools: –New Cronos tools to turn XMLSchema into relational databases and web services –Also applied to risk glossary –Process applied: Data exported from Access db to XML New XMLSchema for risk glossary designed Exported XML transformed to new format, according to new XMLSchema New XMLSchema used as basis to generate MySQL database and web services Test tool to upload transformed XML to MySQL and to test the web services kZen Research & Development

Linking data modeling with risk ontology New concept: –Goal of this concept is to link data models with risk glossary and ontology –Design new XMLSchema for this purpose and use the Cronos data modeling tools to use it in practice Advantages: –Re-use of existing ontologies, if XML based, pointing from the model to the ontologies (Xpath) –Possible to search from the glossary terms to find data model items and their associated ontology or from the data model items to the glossary –It is simple Disadvantage: –Non-standard, ad hoc approach kZen Research & Development

Linking data modeling with risk ontology XMLSchema: kZen Research & Development

Linking data modeling with risk ontology Instance example: kZen Research & Development

Linking data modeling with risk ontology Demo using Cronos Data Service Factory tool: kZen Research & Development

The way forward Providing an ebRIM profile for risk semantics: –Allows direct linking to other ebRIM profiles used in risk management (OGC basic, EO/HMA, ISO) and feature catalogues (near future) –Data modeling components registered as features –Providing links from ebRIM features to (ebRIM) ontologies, describing the features in multi-lingual/cultural context –Allow linking from the ontology to the feature (catalogues) and vice versa Note/discussion topics: –Preferably one format for ontology (OWL/RDF), although not strictly required –Using ISO profile or making a new one, specifically for (risk) ontology –Harvesting existing content or feeds (RSS/Atom) or both? –Granularity of registration: The registries The terms Associations between terms kZen Research & Development

Thank you for your attention Contact details Jef: – kZen Research & Development