A semantic web GIS based emergency management system
Vlad Tanasescu, Alessio Gugliotta, John Domingue, Rob H. Davies, Leticia Gutiérrez Villarías, Mary Rowlatt, Marc Richardson, Sandra Stin · 2006
Abstract. Public organisations access spatial-related data for management as well as for communication purposes. The approach of using traditional Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is not always satisfactory; users have to cope with distributed heterogeneous data sources to find appropriate resources for particular situations. Developments in the field of Semantic Web Services (SWS) show the opportunity of adding higher semantic levels to the existing frameworks, to improve their usage and ease scalability. We outline a Semantic Web GIS in which data sources and services are made available through SWS, described by ontologies, allowing interoperability as well as reasoning to create a comprehensive response adapted to user goals. The Emergency Management System described in this paper as a practical example of Semantic Web GIS instantiation provides a goal oriented tool for emergency planners. 1