Tag Clouds and Old Maps: Annotations as Linked Spatiotemporal Data in the Cultural Heritage Domain
Rainer Simon, Christian Sadilek, Joachim Korb, Matthias Baldauf, Bernhard Haslhofer · 2010
Abstract. In this paper we present a Web-based system for annotating digitised old maps. Using bibliographic metadata and geographical reference information associated with the map, annotations are represented as spatially and temporally defined RDF resources. At the same time, named entity recognition and semantic link discovery are applied to each annotation’s text content to further facilitate its interlinking within the Web of Data. To ensure quality and correctness, the system relies on human feedback. This feedback is introduced through a novel interaction metaphor: contextual link suggestions are continuously generated in the background, and superimposed on the annotated map region in the form of a tag cloud. The user can create semantic links by simply clicking on the corresponding tags. The system thus acts both as a visualisation aid for contextually relevant linked data and as a tool for authoring new linked spatiotemporal data entities.