Publication
Ontology-Based Integration of Sensor Web Services in Disaster Management
Grigori Babitski; Simon Bergweiler; Jörg Hoffmann; Daniel Schön; Christoph Stasch; Alexander C. Walkowski
In: GeoSpatial Semantics. International Conference on GeoSpatial Semantics (GeoS-09), December 3-4, Mexico City, Mexico, Pages 103-121, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), Vol. 5892/2009, ISBN 978-3-642-10435-0, Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg, 11/2009.
Abstract
With the specifications defined through the Sensor Web Enablement
initiative of the Open Geospatial Consortium, flexible integration of sensor data
is becoming a reality. Challenges remain in the discovery of appropriate sensor
information and in the real-time fusion of this information. This is important, in
particular, in disaster management, where the flow of information is overwhelming
and sensor data must be easily accessible for non-experts (fire brigade officers).
We propose to support, in this context, sensor discovery and fusion by
"semantically" annotating sensor services with terms from an ontology. In doing
so, we employ several well-known techniques from the GIS and Semantic Web
worlds, e.g., for semantic matchmaking and data presentation. The novel contribution
of our work is a carefully arranged tool architecture, aimed at providing
optimal integration support, while keeping the cost for creating the annotations
at bay. We address technical details regarding the interaction and functionality of
the components, and the design of the required ontology. Based on the architecture,
after minimal off-line effort, on-line discovery and integration of sensor data
is no more difficult than using standard GIS applications.