QuerioCity: A linked data platform for urban information management

Abstract

In this paper, we present QuerioCity, a platform to catalog, index and query highly heterogenous information coming from complex systems, such as cities. A series of challenges are identified: namely, the heterogeneity of the domain and the lack of a common model, the volume of information and the number of data sets, the requirement for a low entry threshold to the system, the diversity of the input data, in terms of format, syntax and update frequency (streams vs static data), and the sensitivity of the information. We propose an approach for incremental and continuous integration of static and streaming data, based on Semantic Web technologies. The proposed system is unique in the literature in terms of handling of multiple integrations of available data sets in combination with flexible provenance tracking, privacy protection and continuous integration of streams. We report on lessons learnt from building the first prototype for Dublin. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.