U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Survey

Spatial Relation Predicates for National Topographic OntologiesDalia 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 ConversionFeature ID Feature Name

408 Castle Butte Wash408 Corn Creek408 Ki-ote-Te Wash409 Cinnabar Wash

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 "110282240.41500001000"^^xsd:double ; :pERIMETER "93513.12615000000"^^xsd:double ; :bCZONE_ "1121.00000000000"^^xsd:double ; :bCZONE_ID "2.00000000000"^^xsd:double ; :zONE_ "XLG"^^xsd:string ; :fP "0"^^xsd:integer ; :nLNA "0"^^xsd:integer ;

OBJECTID AREA PERIMETER BCZONE_ BCZONE_ID ZONE_ FP NLNA

63959110282240.4

2 93513.13 1121.00 2.00 XLG 0 0

63961 881462.47 8204.17 91.00 2.00 XLY 1 2

63962 990.05 230.38 424.00 3.00 XBO 0 0

Some standard spatial relation terms

ISO 19125 Geonames.org Ordnance Survey Rabbit

Equals in Scheme encloses

Disjoint inCountry isAdjacentTo

Intersects locatedIn isLocatedAt

Touches neighbour isLocatedIn

Crosses neighbouringFeatures isLocatedNear

Within nearby isLocatedOn

Contains nearbyFeatures spans

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)

coveredBY sand or gravel (coast, shore, strand)

Swamp (Poorly drained wetland, fresh or saltwater, wooded or grassy)

coveredWITH open water (bog, cienega, marais, marsh, pocosin)

Woods (Small area) coveredWITH a dense growth of trees; does not include an area of trees under the administration of a political agency (see "forest")

CURVE Bend curveIN the course of a stream and (or) the

land within the curveBend curveIN a linear body of water (bottom, loop,

meander)BE Ridge (Elevation with a narrow, elongated crest)

bePART_OF a hill or mountain (crest, cuesta, escarpment, hogback, lae, rim, spur)

CONNECTING Gut (Relatively small coastal waterway)

connecting larger bodies of water or other waterways (creek, inlet, slough)

Isthmus (Narrow section of land in a body of water)

connecting two larger land areas

OPEN Tunnel (Linear underground passageway)

openAT both ends

Arch (Natural arch-like) openingIN a rock mass (bridge, natural bridge, sea arch)

Gap openingBETWEEN hills 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)

surroundedBY Land (arm, bight, cove, estuary, gulf, inlet, sound)

Island (Area of dry or relatively dry land)

surroundedBY water 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) usedBY Watercraft

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)

usedAS A route for watercraft (passage, reach, strait, thoroughfare, throughfare)

School (Building or group of buildings) usedAS as an institution for study, teaching, and learning (academy, college, high school, university)

Well (Manmade shaft or hole in the Earth’s surface)

usedTO Obtain fluid or gaseous materials

Church (Building) usedFOR religious worship (chapel, mosque, synagogue, tabernacle, temple)

Military (Place or facility) usedFOR various aspects of or relating to military activity

Post Office (An official facility of the U.S. Postal Service)

usedFOR processing and distributing mail and other postal material

Tower (A manmade structure, higher than its diameter)

usedFOR observation, storage, or electronic transmission

Airport (Manmade facility) usedFOR aircraft (airfield, airstrip, landing field, landing strip)

FLOW Water flowTHROUGH Arroyo (Watercourse or channel)water Channel (Linear deep part of a body of

water)Underground water flowTO The surface of the EarthCAUSED Crater (Circular-shaped depression at the summit of a volcanic cone or one on the surface of the land)

causedBY the impact of a meteorite

Crater (a manmade depression) causedBY an explosion (caldera, lua)FORM Crossing (A place where two or more routes of transportation)

form a junction or intersection (overpass, underpass)

REMOVED Mine (place where commercial minerals) removedFROM EarthOilfield (area where petroleum is/was) removedFROM EarthSET Park (place or area) setASIDE_FOR recreation or preservation of a cultural or

natural resource and under some form of government administration

Reserve (A tract of land) setASIDE_FOR a 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 email or Internet home page:

dvaranka@usgs.gov usery@usgs.gov http://cegis.usgs.gov/ontology.html