Wuhan P R China
[email protected]
Qingyun Du , Yunchao Wu , Fengdan Li
Abstract
Ontology, originally a philosophical concept, it has gained more and more attention among researchers in geospatial information science recently. This paper introduces ontological methodology into geospatial information domain, intends to propose the exact meaning of ontology in geographic information science, and clarifies the significance of building geospatial ontology. As a computational system, GIS is suffering the lack of a sound conceptual model. While an ontological research of geospatial information will yield a better understanding of the nature and the organization of geographical reality, and make the development of GIS more conceptually sound. Additionally, GIS is currently characterized by a shift from monolithic system to open and distributed geographical information services. This requires geospatial information to be shared and integrated urgently. But semantic heterogeneity is the most big obstacle to reach seamless geospatial information sharing and integration. Then ontology provides a promising solution to solve these problems. The paper also introduces some ontology representation languages and concludes by suggesting OWL as the appropriate language for building geospatial ontology. Finally, through a case study, the application feasibility of geospatial ontology in the domain of geospatial information services is demonstrated
