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
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:
[email protected] [email protected] http://cegis.usgs.gov/ontology.html