Using ontologies to support land-use spatial data interoperability

Abstract

This paper presents an ontology-based concept to support the landuse spatial data interoperability within the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE). Land-use spatial data specifications are available for different levels, which define the semantic requirements for the exchange of spatial planning data at local and the European levels. A large number of systems in the European Member States operate on various data schemas developed at the national and local levels to fulfil the statutory requirements of the state and local governments. Consequently, conceptual, structural, and formatting differences hamper information exchange between the European and the local level. This paper describes a spatial planning schema mapping approach to support interoperability in the context of INSPIRE implementation. The proposed solution relies on established standards like the GML Geographic Markup Language, the OWL Web Ontology Language, the RIF Rule Interchange Format, and others. Starting from an investigation of INSPIRE interoperability requirements, we outline the concept of a standard-based general platform which allows for the construction of runtime transformation services among different systems. We illustrate the feasibility of the concept by discussing land-use planning application cases within the area of the European Community. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.