Some Challenges and Approaches to Representing Geoscientific Knowledge in Cyberinfrastructure

1

Some Challenges and Approaches to Representing
Geoscientific Knowledge in Cyberinfrastructure
Boyan Brodaric1,2 Mark Gahegan2 1Geological
Survey of Canada 2GeoVISTA Center, Penn State
Geography
2
Motivation From databases to knowledge-bases
enabling knowledge discovery and re-use in CI
Knowledge cycle
3
Interoperability Barrier Database fragmentation
and heterogeneity

• data discovery and knowledge discovery
• require explicit knowledge representation

4
Outline
5
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation

• CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE
• evolution / revolution
• semantics / pragmatics
• challenges

6
Opportunity Cyberinfrastructure (CI) a new
paradigm?
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
7
Example CI evolution data discovery integration
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
8
Example CI revolution knowledge discovery
integration
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
9
Background Levels of interoperability and role of
knowledge in CI
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
10
Challenges Knowledge-driven CIthe Semantic
Grid?
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
11
Challenges Selected examples of ontology capture
and use from GEON
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
Capture
Use
12
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation

• GEOSCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
• material
• mental / social
• linguistic

13
Background 3 approaches to knowledge and ontology
rep. in CI
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
14
Material Orientation Objective characteristics of
geoscientific knowledge (Engelhardt,.
Zimmermann, 1982 Frodeman, 1995 Kitts, 1977
Martin, 1998 Schumm, 1990)
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
Characteristics
Challenges
15
Mental / Social Orientation Types of
geoscientific knowledge what to represent in CI?
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
16
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation

• GEOSCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION
• Semantics
• Pragmatics
• Structure
• Syntax

17
Semantics A framework for levels of geoscientific
abstraction
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
18
Pragmatics Adapting geoscientific method to know.
rep. in CI
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
(geo)scientific practice
(after Sowa, 2000)
19
Structure A conceptual schema-database structure
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
20
Syntactics Web Ontology Language (OWL-FULL)
representation
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
ltObject rdfIDLithodemic_Unit/gt ltObject
rdfIDRock_Material/gt ltProcess
rdfIDIgneous_Process/gt ltRock_Material
rdfIDGranite/gt ltIgneous_Process
rdfIDSolidification/gt ltLithodemic_Unit
rdfIDSuite/gt ltSuite rdfIDSuite
A/gt ltGranite rdfIDSuite A
Granite/gt ltSolidification rdfIDSuite A
Solidification/gt
Schema
Class.
Region

21
Summary
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation
22
Acknowledgements

• GSC (NADM)
• USGS (NADM)
• Penn State (Geography)
• GEON (NSF)
• GSA Special Volume on GeoInformatics
• (A.K. Sinha, ed., in review)

23
END
questions?
24
Societal Benefits Solid Earth Science, Society
and CI
Cyberinfrastructure Geoscientific
Knowledge Knowledge Representation