Developing “Geo” Ontology Layers for Web Query

Faculty of Design & Technology Conference - 2005-12-07

David George,

Department of Computing

Focus of this Presentation

The Web - a “global information space”, with information issues.

Ontology – what is it and how can it be used?

Semantic Web - as method of linking (or integrating) information and knowledge using Ontology.

Research area: “Geographical Ontology Layers for Query Purposes”.

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The Global Information Space

The Web – a Global Information Space

Graphical representation of World Wide Web around Google(from Wikipedia, a Web-based free-content encyclopaedia)

GNU Free Documentation

License

Information issues - Web queries

Google query Page results

Cook 130,000,000

“New Zealand” 230,000,000

Cook discovered “New Zealand” 950,000

“Cook discovered New Zealand” 167

Ontologies

Ontologies – what are they?

In Computing - ontology is a formal vocabulary defining basic terms and concepts of a topic area (“universe of discourse”) e.g. medicine, manufacturing, geography, etc.

An Ontology defines:

concepts and their attributes. relationships between concepts. constraints on those relationships.

Geographical Ontology (extract)

Semantic Web

What is the Semantic Web?

Project aimed to make web pages ”understandable” by computers.

Universal medium for information exchange by giving meaning or semantics.

Semantic Web solution based on RDF and OWL Ontology XML-based languages (W3C, 2004).

Semantics on the Web

Based on RDF triple (subject, property, object) – termed a binary directed relationship, e.g.:

discovered(Cook, New Zealand)

same as:

<Cook> <discovered> <New Zealand>

RDF is a graph-based model for describing how Internet resources relate to each other (e.g. Web pages).

WWW and Semantic Web

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Current WWW Semantic Web

(Kiryakov et al, 2004)

WWW and Semantic Web

Graduate School Scenario

RDF/XML Serialisation

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?><rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:info="http://www.dgeorge.com/vocabulary/pim/info#">

<info:Person rdf:about="http://www.uclan.ac.uk/gradschool/conf/dec05/index.htm#DGeorge"> <info:fullName>David George</info:fullName> <info:mailbox rdf:resource="mailto:dgeorge@uclan.ac.uk"/> <info:activity>Research Student</info:activity> <info:presentation rdf:resource="http://www.uclan.ac.uk/gradschool/conf/dec05/George-D-ppt.htm"/> </info:Person>

</rdf:RDF>

RDF Graph of linked resources

RDF Directed Graph

<info:Person rdf:about="http://www.uclan.ac.uk/gradschool/conf/dec05/index.htm#DGeorge"> <info:fullName>David George</info:fullName> <info:mailbox rdf:resource="mailto:dgeorge@uclan.ac.uk"/> <info:activity>Research Student</info:activity> <info:presentation rdf:resource="http://www.uclan.ac.uk/gradschool/conf/dec05/George-D-ppt.htm"/> </info:Person>

Geographic Ontology Layers and the Semantic Web

Geographical Ontology (extract)

Geographic Ontology Layers

Water Utility

relief

pipelines

rivers

LA. Planning

housing

economic

population

Geographic Ontology Layers

Road Transportation & Populations

Road Transportation & Populations

Road Transportation & Populations

OWL Ontology LanguageOWL Ontology Language

Linked Ontology Layers

Updated Grid Refs.[1] based on Ordnance Survey Positional Accuracy Improvement programme. [1] http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/gi/nationalgrid/nghelp1.html

Say two Local authorities were considering a planning application for a Chemical factory extension?

The plant was 200 metres from a nearby school.

What other examples of planning approvals exist? I.e. are there precedents for rejection or approval?

Queries using an Ontology

Queries using an Ontology

LAx LAy

<chemical_plant> <equivalentClass> <Chemical_Process_Unit><chemical_factory> <equivalentClass> <Chemical_Process_Unit>

“Chemical_Plant” “Chemical_Factory”

Querying the Ontology:

OWL-QL based on RDF triple of (subject, predicate, object)

Query to find other LA terms:

{(subclassOf ?x Chemical_Process_Unit)}

Then apply further queries based on retrieved information . . . . .

Early Conclusions

Ontology – requires complex specification.

Issues of how organisation databases can be transformed into Semantic Web data.

Need to consider the the Query process.