Semantic integration on spatial databases: SIT-SD prototype

Abstract

Progress on data integration has come to the point that we must deal with the need of semantic integration. ln this work we present a prototype of an integration tool of information sources (Semantic lntegration Tool for Spatial Data). lt focuses, on schema integration of spatial databases. This tool is able to recognize the similarities and the differences between entities to be integrated. It is based on a Federated Architecture and, therefore, it is a leveled architecture. We obtain the XMI models from metadata of spatial sources that will be inte­grated. A parser takes the entities and attributes from XMI models by means of a semantic match process and we assess the similarities and differences between the objects. A domain-dependent ontology is created from the FGDC standard (Federal Geographic Data Committee) and domain-independent ontologies (Cyc and Wordnet). This ontology is represented in OWL. We make use of a ratio model (ontology nodes distance) for the assessment of the similarities and differ­ences between terms. The prototype takes advantage of standardization in spatial data tools. For instance, ESRI or others that incorporate a lot of standards into their applications. We also make use for this work of the latest technology: XML, XMI, GML, OWL and others.