ConferenceCall 2012 12 12

= EarthScienceOntolog: Panel Session-05 - Wed 2012-12-12 =

Mini-Series Theme: An Earth Science Ontology Dialog ("EarthScienceOntolog")

Session-5 Program:


 * (A) Moving Forward with Semantics for Earth Science Data ...  intro slides
 * Co-chaired by: Dr. NancyWiegand (U of Wisconsin, Madison), and Mr. MikeDean (Raytheon BBN)


 * (B) Mini-series wrap-up: "Looking Back at the Earth Science - Ontolog mini-series: What Did We Accomplish and Where are We Now?" ...  slides
 * by Professor KrishnaSinha (Virginia Tech) and Dr. LeoObrst (MITRE)

Panelists / Briefings (segment-A):


 * Professor KrishnaSinha (Virginia Tech) - "Building Blocks for EarthCube"  slides
 * Dr. NancyWiegand (U of Wisconsin, Madison) - "Semantics in EarthCube"  slides
 * Dr. LeoObrst (MITRE) - "Semantic Technology: A Tutorial"  slides
 * Mr. DaveKolas (Raytheon BBN) - "Getting Started with GeoSPARQL"  slides

Archives:


 * Abstract
 * Agenda
 * Prepared presentation material (slides) can be accessed by clicking on each of the title links below:
 * [ A0-Chair ] . [ A1-Sinha ] . [ A2-Wiegand ] . [ A3-Obrst ] . [ A4-Kolas ] . [ B0-Sinha-Sinha ]
 * Audio recording of the session ... [ 1:51:41 ; mp3 ; 12.78 MB ]
 * its best that you listen to the session while having the respective presentations (linked above) opened in front of you. You'll be prompted to advance slides by the speaker.
 * transcript of the online chat during the session
 * Additional Resources

Abstract
Moving Forward with Semantics for Earth Science Data - intro slides

This is the 5th and final session of the Joint EarthCube-Ontolog Mini-series on "Ontology and Semantic Technology for the Earth Science Community" - a series of panel sessions dubbed: "EarthScienceOntolog" - an Earth Science Ontology Dialog.

This mini-series of events are co-organized/supported by members of the EarthCube community, Ontolog community, SOCoP community, IAOA community.

We will continue the mini-series process (see kick-off session abstract) with the aim of enabling meaningful dialog between members of both communities (Earth Science and ontology/semantics). To this end we seek to further an understanding of Earth Science system requirements expressed in such things as use cases, geo-science identified problems and issues, extant system architectures and their lifecycles, the status of relevant ontological engineering, architectures and approaches, and prospective tools.

In this last session of the Earth Science Ontology Dialog mini-series, we will start by discussing the building blocks for the EarthCube program. That will be followed by two tutorials - one on semantic technologies, ontologies, and the Web Ontology Language (OWL); the other on GeoSPARQL.

At the end, the mini-series is summarized with some discussion on next steps in working toward semantics for Earth Science data.

More details about this mini-series can be found at: EarthScienceOntolog (home page for this mini-series)

Briefings:

 * Professor KrishnaSinha (Virginia Tech) - "Building Blocks for EarthCube"  slides


 * Abstract: ... EarthCube building blocks are components of an overarching architecture designed to support objectives of EarthCube identified by National Science Foundation (Jacobs[1], 2012; Killeen[2], 2012), as well as those highlighted in the European Commission report Riding the Wave;
 * o Data publication and access: developing new technologies to enable individuals and large data centers to publish data, as well as enabling access through semantic technologies. These technologies must be coupled with a reward system to encourage data sharing.
 * o Collection: develop community endorsed  simple metadata requirements for data providers to facilitate access to both curated as well non curated data
 * o Diversity: provide capabilities to access and discover heterogeneous resources
 * o Interoperability: provide capabilities (semantic as well as syntactic ) to understand the content of databases, as well as support discovery of resources beyond keyword searches
 * o Trust: provide innovative algorithms to enhance users trust of data they are unfamiliar with, as well as management of resources to enhance trust in the source of the data
 * o Security: New technologies to enhance data integrity, as well as capabilities to detect data biased by a group or individual
 * o Education and training: New capabilities to generate interest in geoscience through training of data scientists and librarians, as well as providing capabilities to bring information to a class room setting
 * o Usability: Provide new technologies to enable non-specialists to use data, as well as scientists to work with unfamiliar data
 * o Preservation and Sustainability: Develop capabilities to preserve current data, as well as legacy data
 * o Commercial exploitation: Utilize commercial developments to enable revenue generation for sustainability of resources
 * To meet such objectives, synergy between science and informatics is required to develop a more robust understanding of the earth as a system of systems. Interaction of these systems is recorded in both geological and biological data, yet the capability to integrate across disciplines is hampered by diverse social and technological approaches to research and communication. A significant challenge that must be met in order to promote such an understanding encompasses the integrated development of social, engineering and science based infrastructures.
 * References:
 * [1] Jacobs, C., 2012, EarthCube: Developing a Framework to Create and Manage Knowledge in the Geosciences, Earth Observation, Technology, http://www.earthzine.org/2012/02/01/earthcube-developing-a-framework-to-create-and-manage-knowledge-in-the-geosciences/
 * [2] Killeen, T., 2012, Data Citation in the Geosciences, http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12058/nsf12058.jsp


 * Dr. NancyWiegand (U of Wisconsin, Madison) - "Semantics in EarthCube"  slides
 * Abstract: ... This brief talk transitions between the talk on EarthCube building blocks just given by Professor KrishnaSinha to the two tutorials that will be coming up by Dr. LeoObrst and Mr. DaveKolas. How semantics might fit into EarthCube is discussed using one of the EarthCube architecture diagrams.


 * Dr. LeoObrst (MITRE) - "Semantic Technology: A Tutorial"  slides
 * Abstract: ... This short tutorial is an introduction to semantic technologies, ontologies, and OWL. The focus is on the contributions of semantic technologies and ontologies in particular to solving real information technology problems. The tutorial does not presuppose any previous detailed technical background in these topics, but a general technical background in information technology is assumed.


 * Mr. DaveKolas (Raytheon BBN) - "Getting Started with GeoSPARQL"  slides
 * Abstract: ... In this talk, I will introduce the basic components which make up the GeoSPARQL specification: the ontology, the relation predicates, and the query functions. I will then walk through a simple example domain. I will create a new domain ontology, link it to GeoSPARQL, create some example data, and execute example queries.  My talk will assume basic knowledge of SPARQL, RDF, and Turtle.

'''"  slides
 * Professor KrishnaSinha (Virginia Tech) and Dr. LeoObrst (MITRE) - "'''Looking Back at the Earth Science - Ontolog mini-series: What Did We Accomplish and Where are We Now?
 * Abstract: ... The Earth Science - Ontolog mini-series focused on the current status and application of multi-level ontologies towards developing a semantically enabled cyberinfrastructure for the Earth Science Community (ref. our mini-series description, goals and objectives). We had five sessions in the series, of which this is the final. We addressed the value proposition for ontologies and Earth Science, looked at ontology development and application for the full lifecycle of Earth Science, addressed the deep topic of semantic interoperability and data integration for Earth Science, reviewed some of the Earth Science ontologies currently available or being worked, and, in this last session, have provided some tutorials and overviews for the Earth Science and its ontology-supporting community. We end with some prospective next steps.

Agenda
EarthScienceOntolog - Panel Session-05


 * Session Format: this is a virtual session conducted over an augmented conference call


 * 1. Opening - (co-chairs) - NancyWiegand & MikeDean [5 min.] ... [ slides ]
 * 2. Panel briefings - KrishnaSinha, NancyWiegand, LeoObrst, DaveKolas - [~15 min. each]
 * 3. Q & A and open discussion [All: ~20 min.] -- please refer to process above
 * 4. Mini-series wrap-up - KrishnaSinha & LeoObrst [15 min.]

Proceedings:
Please refer to the above

IM Chat Transcript captured during the session:

see raw transcript here.

(for better clarity, the version below is a re-organized and lightly edited chat-transcript.) Participants are welcome to make light edits to their own contributions as they see fit.

-- begin in-session chat-transcript --

[08:50] Welcome to the

= EarthScienceOntolog: Panel Session-5 - Thu 2012-12-12 =

Mini-Series Theme: An Earth Science Ontology Dialog ("EarthScienceOntolog")

Session-5 Program:

(A) Moving Forward with Semantics for Earth Science Data Co-chaired by: Dr. NancyWiegand (U of Wisconsin, Madison), and Mr. MikeDean (Raytheon BBN)

(B) Mini-series wrap-up: "Looking Back at the Earth Science - Ontolog mini-series: What Did We Accomplish and Where are We Now?" by Professor KrishnaSinha (Virginia Tech) and Dr. LeoObrst (MITRE)

Panelists / Briefings (segment-A):

Professor KrishnaSinha (Virginia Tech) - "Building Blocks for EarthCube" Dr. NancyWiegand (U of Wisconsin, Madison) - "Semantics in EarthCube" Dr. LeoObrst (MITRE) - "Semantic Technology: A Tutorial" Mr. DaveKolas (Raytheon BBN) - "Getting Started with GeoSPARQL"

Logistics:


 * Refer to details on session page at: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2012_12_12


 * (if you haven't already done so) please click on "settings" (top center) and morph from "anonymous" to your RealName


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0

Proceedings:
0 [08:01] anonymous morphed into NancyWiegand

[08:06] anonymous morphed into NancyWiegand

[08:19] anonymous morphed into NancyWiegand

[08:54] anonymous morphed into krishna

[08:55] krishna morphed into KrishnaSinha

[08:55] anonymous1 morphed into CharlesVardeman

[08:55] anonymous morphed into DamianGessler

[08:58] anonymous morphed into DavidButler

[09:01] alex.shkotin: Hi all:-)

[09:01] anonymous morphed into DaveKolas

[09:01] anonymous1 morphed into TomTinsley

[09:03] anonymous morphed into ArthurSmall

[09:05] anonymous1 morphed into MaraAbel

[09:05] anonymous2 morphed into DouglasFils

[09:06] anonymous morphed into RobertRovetto

[09:09] Anne Thessen: I can see the slides, Krishna. All is good.

[09:09] PeterYim: == NancyWiegand started the session with an introduction of the session

[09:09] List of attendees: Anne Thessen, ArthurSmall, CharlesVardeman, DamianGessler, DaveKolas, DavidButler, DeborahLNichols, DouglasFils, FranLightsom, GaryBergCross, LeoObrst, MaraAbel, MikeDean, NancyWiegand, PeterYim, RobertRovetto, TomTinsley, alex.shkotin, anonymous, anonymous1, anonymous2, krishna, KrishnaSinha, vnc2

[09:09] PeterYim: == KrishnaSinha presenting his talk on "Building Blocks for EarthCube"

[09:16] alex.shkotin morphed into AlexShkotin

[09:17] anonymous morphed into ElizabethFlorescu

[09:24] PeterYim: == NancyWiegand presenting: "Semantics in EarthCube"

[09:30] PeterYim: == LeoObrst presents "Semantic Technology: A Tutorial"

[09:30] anonymous morphed into ScottHills

[10:07] PeterYim: == DaveKolas doing the tutorial: "Getting Started with GeoSPARQL"

[10:32] LeoObrst: @Dave: I see on slide 13 that at least some of the Region Connection Calculus (RCC) axioms are supported. Are these actually expressed in detail usable by a reasoner?

[10:33] DaveKolas: Leo: They are not usable by a OWL-SWRL style reasoner (qualitatively) at the moment.

[10:33] DaveKolas: Current implementations reason about these quantitatively with the geometries

[10:33] DaveKolas: The specification supports qualitative reasoning, but you would need to supply your own axioms for reasoning

[10:36] KrishnaSinha: @DaveKolas: How do you see the geospatial ontology linking to time ontology? I am asking this because many geologic features have changed locations through time.

[10:38] DaveKolas: @Krishna: You can use GeoSPARQL together with OWL-Time (or some other temporal ontology) if you need it. Parliament has temporal indexing for OWL-Time as well.

[10:38] ArthurSmall: @DaveKolas: How, if at all, can GeoSPARQL be used to handle spatio-temporal objects, such as a flight trajectory, or a moving storm front?

[10:41] DaveKolas: @ArthurSmall: There currently is not a good way in GeoSPARQL a way to describe trajectories, though that might make a good reusable extension. While you could describe the points along a path that something takes and attach temporal information to these points, this would get very verbose quickly.

[10:36] ArthurSmall: @LeoObrst: Every database schema has an implicit ontology. Are there any tools that can scan an existing database and extract the implicit ontology and suggest an OWL ontology?

[10:42] ArthurSmall: Mic trouble. ... Could you just ask the Q?

[10:42] LeoObrst: @Arthur: I'll respond a bit to your question shortly.

[10:52] LeoObrst: @Arthur: I commented on some tools such as TopBraid which can ingest XML Schemas and assist in generating ontologies, but imperfectly and requires munging afterwards. Mike mentioned some relational db -> semantic web standards that have emerged.

[10:59] ArthurSmall: @LeoObrst: Thank you!

[10:54] MikeDean: @ArthurSmall: upcoming Recommendations (R2RML and the Direct Mapping) from the W3C RDB2RDF working group provide standard means of exposing relational data as RDF. See http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/rdb2rdf/

[10:58] MikeDean: @ArthurSmall: These standardize what tools like D2RQ http://d2rq.org have provided for a long time. Much of the data in the Linked Data Cloud actually lives in relational databases.

[10:59] ArthurSmall: @MikeDean: Thanks!

[10:44] DaveKolas: @Arthur: what I described might work ok if you were trying to track the locations that a car stopped at along a trip, but would be bad if you needed very specific detail about continuous motion

[10:42] ScottHills: Is there a standard web service interface for "publishing" an ontology, for consumption by applications? A simple example might involve consumption of distributed SKOS ontologies by a semantic search app.

[10:44] ArthurSmall: @ScottHills: Maybe http://www.ontologymatching.org/?

[10:45] PeterYim: @ScottHills - you might also want to check out the Open Ontology Repository (OOR) initiative - see: http://oor.net for various implementations

[10:45] DouglasFils: @ScottHills you might want to reference http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-vocab-pub/ too

[10:48] ArthurSmall: Or perhaps for registering the meta-data to an existing, professionally-created ontology?

[10:51] PeterYim: == KrishnaSinha & LeoObrst doing the EarthScienceOntolog Mini-series wrap-up

[10:56] AlexShkotin: Great mini-series! Thank you:-)

[11:00] LeoObrst: Thanks all!

[11:01] PeterYim: join us in the upcoming OntologySummit2013 activities - see: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit

[11:03] PeterYim: a pre-launch community brainstorm session for the OntologySummit is coming up tomorrow - see: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2012_12_13 ... please come (especially if you want to influence the outcome)! ... Also, mark your calendars for the OntologySummit2013 Launch Event - Thursday 17-Jan-2013 2-Hr session starting 9:30am PST / 12:30pm EST / 6:30pm CET / 17:30 GMT/UTC

[11:03] PeterYim: great mini-series, thank you all for the contribution!

[11:04] PeterYim: -- session ended: 11:00am PST --

[11:04] List of chat-room participants: AlexShkotin, AnneThessen, ArthurSmall, CharlesVardeman, DaliaVaranka, DamianGessler, DaveKolas, DavidButler, DeborahLNichols, DouglasFils, ElizabethFlorescu, FranLightsom, GaryBergCross, KrishnaSinha, LeoObrst, MaraAbel, MikeDean, NancyWiegand, PeterYim, RobertRovetto, ScottHills, TomTinsley, vnc2

-- end of in-session chat-transcript --


 * Further Question, Remarks & Interaction with the Community:
 * please post them to the [ Sem-cg ] listserv
 * if you are not a member of the Ontolog community (meaning to say that you are not subscribed to the [ ontolog-forum ] discussion list) yet), we cordially invite you to join us. See our "Membership" details at: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nid1J
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 * please email  if you have any question.

Additional Resources:

 * Homepage of this EarthScienceOntolog mini-series
 * Archive of the mini-series Kick-off session: "Value Proposition" - ConferenceCall_2012_08_23
 * Archive of the mini-series session-2: "Ontology development and application across Earth Science Lifecycle" - ConferenceCall_2012_09_06
 * Archive of the mini-series session-3: "Heterogeneity-preserving Data Interoperability: Methods and Challenges" - ConferenceCall_2012_10_11
 * Archive of the mini-series session-4: "A Review of Ontologies for Earth Sciences" - ConferenceCall_2012_11_01
 * EarthCube Project Homepage - http://earthcube.ning.com/
 * EarthCube "Semantics and Ontologies" workgroup - http://earthcube.ning.com/group/semantics-and-ontologies
 * EarthCube "Semantics and Ontology Community Group (Sem-cg)" Mailing List - [Sem-cg]: msg-archives ; listinfo
 * Home page of the Spatial Ontology Community of Practice (SOCoP) - http://socop.org
 * Home page of the International Association for Ontology and its Applications (IAOA) - http://iaoa.org
 * Take a look, also, at the rich body of knowledge that the Ontolog community has built out over the years, by going through the archives of noteworthy past Ontolog events.

For the record ...

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Conference Call Details

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Attendees:

 * Attended: (including all registrants)
 * NancyWiegand (co-chair)
 * MikeDean (co-chair)
 * KrishnaSinha
 * LeoObrst
 * DaveKolas
 * PeterYim
 * DeborahNichols
 * ScottHills
 * FranLightsom
 * AnneThessen
 * KarenSchuchardt
 * FrankChum
 * RobertRovetto
 * DavidButler
 * MichaelDenny
 * TomTinsley
 * DamianGessler
 * TorstenHahmann
 * ElizabethFlorescu
 * AlexShkotin
 * GaryBergCross
 * RuthDuerr
 * CharlesVardeman
 * MarcioFaerman
 * ArthurSmall
 * DouglasFils
 * RalphGrove
 * DaliaVaranka
 * MaraAbel


 * Expecting:
 * ... if you are coming to the session, please add your name above (plus your affiliation, if you aren't already a member of the community) above; or e-mail  so that we can reserve enough resources to support everyone's participation. ...
 * ... if you are coming to the session, please add your name above (plus your affiliation, if you aren't already a member of the community) above; or e-mail  so that we can reserve enough resources to support everyone's participation. ...


 * Regrets:
 * NaicongLi