Abstract
The increasing availability of sensor devices has resulted in important volumes of sensor data, which has raised the issue of making these data fully discoverable and interpretable by applications and end-users. The idea of OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) has addressed this issue by proposing a set of standards to enable accessibility of sensor data over the Web. Similarly, there is a growing interest in volunteered geographic information (VGI). Considering that several researchers have highlighted the potential of this new type of information as a complement to existing, “traditional” data, it becomes important to develop frameworks to support the integration of VGI from several sources and with other types of data. In this paper, we make a first step in this direction by proposing a framework for the semantic interoperability of sensor data and VGI. After having performed an investigation of the types of VGI applications, we have developed a conceptual model of VGI aligned with relevant ISO standards for describing geospatial features. The purpose of this model is to support the generation of common descriptions for VGI applications, which will act as interfaces to higher-level services, such as discovery and reasoning services, in order to be exploited in conjunction with sensor data by client applications. This process is described through architecture for semantic interoperability of sensor data and VGI that we have developed and that we intend to use to set guidelines for future research on integration of VGI in sensor data cyberinfrastructures. We illustrate the possibilities created by the proposed framework with a description of the various services and interfaces required to implement the framework.
Highlights
The increasing pervasiveness of sensors and mobile devices has resulted in important volumes of sensor data, which has raised the issue of making these data fully exploitable, i.e., enabling sensor data discovery, sharing, and interpretation
We have highlighted the need for semantic interoperability of volunteered geographic information (VGI) with other types of data
We have addressed the issue of semantic interoperability of VGI with sensor data
Summary
The increasing pervasiveness of sensors and mobile devices has resulted in important volumes of sensor data, which has raised the issue of making these data fully exploitable, i.e., enabling sensor data discovery, sharing, and interpretation. Despite the fact that VGI applications are obviously accessible through the Internet, there is no framework explaining how different VGI applications can be integrated with sensor data and made accessible through a single portal Such a framework would enable the full exploitation of VGI and sensor data as separated applications and sensor services but as an integrated source of information to support decision-making. We have developed a model of VGI that describes the characteristics of these VGI applications and of the data they produce (we use the term “VGI applications” to refer to any software product where humans can use or produce VGI [8]) This model’s contribution is to support the management of VGI and its integration into semantic interoperability processes, by providing the conceptual basis for the generation of common descriptions of the heterogeneous VGI applications.
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