Approaches to Semantic Similarity Measurement for Geo-Spatial Data: A Survey

Semantic similarity is central for the functioning of semantically enabled processing of geospatial data. It is used to measure the degree of potential semantic interoperability between data or different geographic information systems (GIS). Similarity is essential for dealing with vague data queries, vague concepts or natural language and is the basis for semantic information retrieval and integration. The choice of similarity measurement influences strongly the conceptual design and the functionality of a GIS. The goal of this article is to provide a survey presentation on theories of semantic similarity measurement and review how these approaches – originally developed as psychological models to explain human similarity judgment – can be used in geographic information science. According to their knowledge representation and notion of similarity we classify existing similarity measures in geometric, feature, network, alignment and transformational models. The article reviews each of these models and outlines its notion of similarity and metric properties. Afterwards, we evaluate the semantic similarity models with respect to the requirements for semantic similarity measurement between geospatial data. The article concludes by comparing the similarity measures and giving general advice how to choose an appropriate semantic similarity measure. Advantages and disadvantages point to their suitability for different tasks.     

面向真正射影像处理的对象定义及其语义关联

真正射影像作为新一代数字影像产品,其应用需求日益广泛。随着高分辨率倾斜影像的日益可得,逐像素处理的真正射影像生产方法局限性越来越突出。为此,针对面向对象的真正射影像处理,本文提出了物方对象和像方对象的概念,并描述了两类对象间的语义关联关系,并用实例分析了其特殊价值。     

Geo-Pragmatics for the Geospatial Semantic Web

Geo‐Pragmatics is introduced here as an enhanced representation for ontologies in which geospatial, geographical and geoscientific concepts are not only defined, but their pragmatic context is also captured and potentially reasoned with. A framework for representing such context is developed using three core aspects: dimensions, agents and roles. Dimensions consist of a concept's origins, uses and effects; these are generated by the interaction of human, machine and natural agents, and involve entities with roles developed from method‐driven perspectives and epistemic‐driven versions. The relationship between these core aspects is explored conceptually and implications for geoscientific ontologies are discussed, including identification of a basic ontological type, the situated concept, whose meaning is defined by its geographical‐historical context. Geo‐pragmatics should help geoscientists evaluate the scientific merit, and fitness for scientific use, of geoscientific ontologies in emerging e‐science initiatives.     

Semantic Visual Variables for Augmented Geovisualization

ABSTRACT

The human–cyber–physical world produces a considerable volume of multi-modal spatio-temporal data, thus leading to information overload. Visual variables are used to transform information into visual forms that are perceived by the powerful human vision system. However, previous studies of visual variables focused on methods of ‘drawing information’ without considering ‘intelligence’ derived from balancing ‘importance’ and ‘unimportance’. This paper proposes semantic visual variables to support an augmented geovisualization that aims to avoid exposing users to unnecessary information by highlighting goal-oriented content over redundant details. In this work, we first give definitions of several concepts and then design a semiotic model for depicting the mechanisms of augmented geovisualization. We also provide an in-depth discussion of semantic visual variables based on a hierarchical organization of the original visual variables, and we analyse the critical influencing factors that affect the choice of visualization forms and visual variables. Finally, a typical application is used to illustrate the relevance of this study.