Approach for interoperability of multi-source geological hazard data based on ontology and GeoSciML

Abstract

Sorts of models in current geological hazard information management system and Digital Disaster Reduction System (DDRS) in China still lack of enough basic data support. One key problem is how to realize integration and share of complex geological hazard heterogenous spatial information. Isomerous geological hazard data have four types: structural isomer, syntax isomer, system isomer and semantic isomer. Interoperability of semantic heterogenous data is a difficult issue due to complexity and implication of semantic information. Ontology not only describes exactly the meaning of concepts but also inner relationship of the concepts, which can efficiently express common knowledge of specific domain by logic reasoning to get the implied relationship among concepts. On the other hand, GeoSciML 2.0 is a standard exchange language for geological information sharing. According to the feature of geological hazard data, complex geological object modeling and expression can be realized by extending GeoSciML, which is based on GML model and widely used XML standard that ensure the transformed data can be accepted by commercial or free tools. The problems of large load of programming and software frequent upgrade in data transform and direct reading mode can be solved. Therefore, ontology is used to carry out semantic sharing model and GeoSciML is applied to construct transmission and exchange model to improve interoperability capacity of geological hazard information system. There are three layers of geological hazard ontology: top-level ontology, domain ontology and application ontology which are designed to build semantic integration and share model and differ from traditional data dictionary and metadata method. Based on the abundant geological hazard data of Three Gorges Area in China, geological hazard ontology and GeoSciML technology are being applied to realize data and application integration and improve decision making for emergency response when single hazard or group hazards occur.