| 1. |
- Mansourian, Ali, et al.
(författare)
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Expert System to Enhance the Functionality of Clearinghouse Services
- 2011
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Ingår i: Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. - : Elsevier BV. - 0198-9715. ; 35:2, s. 159-172
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract in UndeterminedSpatial data clearinghouses are one of the key features of a spatial data infrastructure (SDI). However, recent research indicates that few national clearinghouses function well, as the spatial data resources available cannot be satisfactorily accessed or optimally used. To improve the functionality, we propose that clearinghouses to be complemented with expert systems and semantic matching. The expert system facilitates automatic determination of candidate datasets and the conversion of the available data to the required data. A schema translator is also used to find similar data that might be used in other disciplines or other datasets by semantic matching. In order to accomplish this, we have developed a method of identifying available data and methods for data conversion. The methodology is implemented using standardized map services. Practical tests show that the discovery of available data in the clearinghouse satisfying users' requirements is substantially increased, which is an important step forward in building future SDIs. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 2. |
- Toomanian, Ara, et al.
(författare)
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Automatic integration of spatial data in viewing services
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Spatial Information Science. - 1948-660X. ; 6:2013, s. 43-58
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Geoportals are increasingly used for searching, viewing, and downloading spatial data. This study concerns methods to improve the visual presentation in viewing services. When spatial data in a viewing service are taken from more than one source there are often syntactic, semantic, topological, and geometrical conflicts that prevent maps being fully consistent. In this study we extend a standard view service with methods to solve these conflicts. The methods are based on: (1) semantic labels of data in basic services, (2) a rule-base in the portal layer, and (3) integration methods in the portal layer. To evaluate the methodology, we use a case study for adding historical borders on top of a base-map. The results show that the borders are overlaid on top of the map without conflicts, and that a consistent map is generated automatically as an output. The methodology can be generalized to add other types of data on top of a base-map.
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| 3. |
- Toomanian, Ara, et al.
(författare)
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Automatic Symbolisation Methods for Geoportals
- 2012
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Ingår i: Cartographic Journal. - 0008-7041. ; 49:2, s. 153-163
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is currently a high demand for spatial data usage within web applications. From a technical viewpoint, web services and geoportals aim to fulfil user requirements; however, the current cartographic methods do not satisfy the needs of the end users. The problem is more challenging when the final map contains data from various sources that have various cartographic characteristics; therefore, the vital information might be located under the base map layer. In this paper, we propose the concept of layer priorities as foreground, middle ground or background, and we propose the two following methods to enhance the symbolisation: polygon overlay and colour saturation methods. The results from two case studies show that these methods can satisfy the requirements of the end users.
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| 4. |
- Toomanian, Ara, et al.
(författare)
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Cartographic enhanced geoportals
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 25th International Cartographic Conference. - 9781907075056
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
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| 5. |
- Toomanian, Ara
(författare)
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Methods to Improve and Evaluate Spatial Data Infrastructures
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis mainly focuses on methods for improving and evaluating Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs). The aim has been threefold: to develop a framework for the management and evaluation of an SDI, to improve the accessibility of spatial data in an SDI, and to improve the cartography in view services in an SDI. Spatial Data Infrastructure has been identified as an umbrella covering spatial data handling procedures. The long-term implementation of SDI increases the need for short/middle term feedbacks from different perspectives. Thus, a precise strategic plan and accurate objectives have to be defined for the implementation of an efficient environment for spatial data collection and exchange in a region. In this thesis, a comprehensive study was conducted to review the current methods in the business management literature to approach to an integrated framework for the implementation and evaluation of SDIs. In this context, four techniques were described and the usability of each technique in several aspects of SDI implementation was discussed. SDI evaluation has been considered as one of the main challenges in recent years. Lack of a general goal oriented framework to assess an SDI from different perspectives was one of the main concerns of this thesis. Among a number of the current methods in this research area, we focused on the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a general evaluation framework covering all perspectives in an SDI. The assessment study opened a window to a number of important issues that ranged from the technical to the cartographic aspects of spatial data exchange in an SDI. To access the required datasets in an SDI, clearinghouse networks have been developed as a gateway to the data repositories. However, traditional clearinghouse networks do not satisfy the end user requirements. By adding a number of functionalities, we proposed a methodology to increase the percentage of accessing required data. These methods were based on predefined rules and additional procedures within web processing services and service composition subjects to develop an expert system based clearinghouses. From the cartography viewpoint, current methods for spatial data presentation do not satisfy the user requirements in an SDI environment. The main presentation problem occurs when spatial data are integrated from different sources. For appropriate cartography, we propose a number of methods, such as the polygon overlay method, which is an icon placement approach, to emphasize the more important layers and the color saturation method to decrease the color saturation of the unimportant layers and emphasize the foreground layer according to the visual hierarchy concept. Another cartographic challenge is the geometrical and topological conflicts in data shown in view services. The geometrical inconsistency is due to the artificial discrepancy that occurs when displaying connected information from different sources, which is caused by inaccuracies and different levels of details in the datasets. The semantic conflict is related to the definition of the related features, i.e., to the information models of the datasets. To overcome these conflicts and to fix the topological and geometric conflicts we use a semantic based expert system by utilizing an automatic cartography core containing a semantic rule based component. We proposed a system architecture that has an OWL (Web Ontology Language) based expert system to improve the cartography by adjusting and resolving topological and geometrical conflicts in geoportals.
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| 6. |
- Toomanian, Ara, et al.
(författare)
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Using balanced scorecard for evaluation of spatial data infrastructures : a case study in accordance with INSPIRE
- 2011
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Ingår i: International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research. - 1725-0463. ; 6, s. 311-343
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) have been identified essential for environmental management and development activities around the world. Meanwhile, development of frameworks to monitor and evaluate SDIs is currently an important research area. This study proposes Balanced Scorecard (BSC) as a framework for evaluation and monitoring the implementation of SDIs. The concept and advantages of BSC for strategy implementation is described in the paper. Furthermore, a general framework for the evaluation of Swedish NSDI in line with the INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) directive is depicted. The case study shows that BSC is applicable for evaluating Swedish NSDI where the SDI implementation is defined as a long-term project.
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