How to derive a geovisualization from an application data model: an approach based on Semantic Web technologies

Abstract

While ontological modelling and Semantic Web technologies are sometimes used to describe knowledge domains with a spatial component, there is still a lack of semantics to describe how to present this knowledge geovisually to the end user and how to automatize the process. In this paper, we first present vocabularies to describe at a high level the elements that make up a geovisualization. We then propose a method that describes at a semantic level how to obtain a geovisualization from an existing data model. This method is based on our vocabularies and on a set of semantic rules encoding rich and complex operations on data. This leads to the derivation of ontological knowledge, ready to be exploited to automate the creation of a geovisualization. The method is implemented in a framework that uses Semantic Web technologies. The singularity and the strength of our proposal is that it enables to describe a geovisualization through a RDF specification file, which once loaded in our system makes the geovisualization directly available for use from a Web browser. This result is obtained by extending a priori an application data model with ad hoc geovisualization semantics features and rules.