Geographic information — Ontology — Part 1: Framework

ISO/TS 19150-1:2012 defines the framework for semantic interoperability of geographic information. This framework defines a high level model of the components required to handle semantics in the ISO geographic information standards with the use of ontologies.

Information géographique — Ontologie — Partie 1: Cadre de travail

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Status
Published
Publication Date
12-Nov-2012
Current Stage
9093 - International Standard confirmed
Completion Date
05-Apr-2022
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TECHNICAL ISO/TS
SPECIFICATION 19150-1
First edition
2012-11-15
Geographic information — Ontology —
Part 1:
Framework
Information géographique — Ontologie —
Partie 1: Cadre de travail
Reference number
ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)
©
ISO 2012

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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

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© ISO 2012
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ii © ISO 2012 – All rights reserved

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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Conformance . 1
3 Normative references . 1
4 Terms and definitions . 1
5 Symbols and abbreviated terms . 3
6 Ontology in geographic information. 4
6.1 Introduction . 4
6.2 Values of ontologies . 4
6.3 Issues of relevance . 5
7 Framework . 5
7.1 Overview of the framework . 5
7.2 Rules for developing ontologies in the Web Ontology Language . 7
7.3 Semantic operators . 7
7.4 Service ontology. 7
7.5 Domain ontology registry . 9
7.6 Service ontology registry . 9
7.7 Harmonized ontologies . 9
7.8 Framework package dependencies . 9
Annex A (normative) Abstract test suite .10
Annex B (informative) Background information on ontologies.16
Annex C (informative) Ontology matching .27
Bibliography .29
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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting.
Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies
casting a vote.
In other circumstances, particularly when there is an urgent market requirement for such documents, a
technical committee may decide to publish other types of normative document:
— an ISO Publicly Available Specification (ISO/PAS) represents an agreement between technical
experts in an ISO working group and is accepted for publication if it is approved by more than 50 %
of the members of the parent committee casting a vote;
— an ISO Technical Specification (ISO/TS) represents an agreement between the members of a
technical committee and is accepted for publication if it is approved by 2/3 of the members of the
committee casting a vote.
An ISO/PAS or ISO/TS is reviewed after three years in order to decide whether it will be confirmed for
a further three years, revised to become an International Standard, or withdrawn. If the ISO/PAS or
ISO/TS is confirmed, it is reviewed again after a further three years, at which time it must either be
transformed into an International Standard or be withdrawn.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/TS 19150-1 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 211, Geographic information/Geomatics.
ISO/TS 19150 consists of the following parts, under the general title Geographic information — Ontology:
— Part 1: Framework
1)
— Part 2: Rules for developing ontologies in the Web Ontology Language (OWL)
The following parts are under development:
— Part 3: Semantic operators
— Part 4: Service ontology
— Part 5: Domain ontology registry
— Part 6: Service ontology registry
1) To be published.
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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

Introduction
For more than two decades (since the World Wide Web was established) the web has been a network
of data with proper syntax (structure) but without any meaning (semantics) to the machine. The
Semantic Web has introduced the Web of data. The Semantic Web became an extension of the already
existing web of data, by adding machine-processable data (with embedded semantics) as opposed to just
documents. It can be seen as a tremendous worldwide open database that people can query from their
own perspective, understanding, or abstraction of real world phenomena or events and get accurate,
detailed, and appropriate answers. This approach involves reasoning capabilities based on ontologies.
Following this path the notion of “Linked Data” has been introduced for data of various kinds, coming
from different sources, to be connected together on the Web by the way of HTTP URIs. As a consequence,
the Semantic Web and Linked Data bring new opportunities for the geographic information realm to lay
out a new generation of standards in order to benefit from these in achieving semantic interoperability
of geographic information.
Ontology consists of a formal representation of phenomena of a universe of discourse with an underlying
vocabulary including definitions and axioms that make the intended meaning explicit and describe
phenomena and their interrelationships. It supports the representation of concepts that supports
the interpretation of data and reasoning to concur to semantic interoperability. Data from different
disciplines including geographic information can be integrated and contribute to addressing from
specific (e.g. oil spill) to global problems (e.g. climate change).
This Technical Specification defines a high level framework that structures the standards specifically
addressing the semantics of geographic information through ontologies. The proposed other parts of
the framework include:
ISO 19150-2, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 2: Rules for developing ontologies in the Web
Ontology Language (OWL), defines rules and guidelines for the development of ontologies in OWL-
DL, including a mapping between UML class diagram elements and OWL-DL and rules for describing
application schemas in OWL-DL.
ISO 19150-3, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 3: Semantic operators, defines semantic
proximity operators between concepts that complement geometric and temporal operators.
ISO 19150-4, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 4: Service ontology, identifies the framework
for service ontology and defines the description of Web services for geographic information in an
ontology language.
ISO 19150-5, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 5: Domain ontology registry, defines an
international registry of geographic information domain ontologies and its maintenance.
ISO 19150-6, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 6: Service ontology registry, defines an
international registry of geographic information service ontologies and its maintenance.
These parts are completed with the ISO/TC 211 Harmonized ontologies that consist of a set of OWL-DL
ontologies that translate and complement the ISO/TC 211 Harmonized models developed in UML.
This Technical Specification is intended to be used primarily by standards developers in geographic
information. It can also benefit information system analysts, program planners and developers of ISO
geographic information standards. It will improve understanding of the basic principles of semantic
interoperability and their consistent application to geographic information.
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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)
Geographic information — Ontology —
Part 1:
Framework
1 Scope
This Technical Specification defines the framework for semantic interoperability of geographic
information. This framework defines a high level model of the components required to handle semantics
in the ISO geographic information standards with the use of ontologies.
2 Conformance
Any documents claiming conformance with this Technical Specification shall pass the requirements
described in the abstract test suite presented in Annex A.
3 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are
indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated
references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/TS 19103:2005, Geographic information — Conceptual schema language
ISO 19109:2005, Geographic information — Rules for application schema
ISO 19119:2005, Geographic information — Services
ISO 19135:2005, Geographic information — Procedures for item registration
4 Terms and definitions
For the purpose of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
4.1
application schema
conceptual schema (4.3) for data (4.4) required by one or more applications
2)
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:— , 4.1.2]
4.2
conceptual model
model that defines concepts of a universe of discourse
3)
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:— , 4.1.5]
2) To be published.
3) To be published.
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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

4.3
conceptual schema
formal description of a conceptual model (4.2)
4)
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:— , 4.1.6]
4.4
data
reinterpretable representation of information (4.7) in a formalized manner suitable for communication,
interpretation, or processing
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 2382-1:1993, 01.01.02]
4.5
feature
abstraction of real world phenomena
5)
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:— , 4.1.11]
4.6
framework
logical structure for classifying and organizing complex information (4.7)
[SOURCE: ISO/TS 27790:2009, 3.27]
4.7
information
knowledge (4.8) concerning objects, such as facts, events, things, processes, or ideas, including concepts,
that within a certain context has a particular meaning
[SOURCE: ISO 2382-1:1993, 01.01.01]
4.8
knowledge
cognizance which is based on reasoning
NOTE Adapted from ISO 5127:2001, 1.1.3.14.
4.9
metadata
data (4.4) about data
[SOURCE: ISO 19115:2003, 4.5]
4.10
ontology
formal representation of phenomena of a universe of discourse with an underlying vocabulary including
definitions and axioms that make the intended meaning explicit and describe phenomena and their
interrelationships
6)
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:— , 4.1.24]
4.11
registry
information (4.7) system on which a register is maintained
[SOURCE: ISO 19135:2005, 4.1.13]
4) To be published.
5) To be published.
6) To be published.
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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

4.12
schema
formal description of a model
7)
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:— , 4.1.32]
4.13
Semantic Web
Web of data (4.4) with meaning
8)
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:— , 4.1.33]
NOTE The association of meaning allows data and information (4.7) to be understood and processed by
automated tools as well as by people.
4.14
universe of discourse
view of the real or hypothetical world that includes everything of interest
9)
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:— , 4.1.36]
4.15
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
unique identifier for a resource, structured in conformance with IETF RFC 2396
[SOURCE: ISO 19136:2007, 4.1.65]
4.16
Web service
service that is made available through the Web
10)
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:— , 4.1.39]
NOTE A Web service usually includes some combination of programming and data. It may also include
human resources.
5 Symbols and abbreviated terms
For the purpose of this Technical Specification, the following symbols and abbreviated terms apply.
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
LCCS Land Cover Classification System
LADM Land Administration Domain Model
ODM Ontology Definition Metamodel
OMG Object Management Group
OWL Web Ontology Language
OWL-DL OWL - Description Logic
OWL-S Semantic Markup for Web Services
7) To be published.
8) To be published.
9) To be published.
10) To be published.
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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

PDF Portable Document Format
RDF Resource Description Framework
RDF-S RDF Schema
RIF Rule Interchange Format
SPARQL Simple Protocol and RDF Query Language
UML Unified Modelling Language
URI Uniform Resource Identifier
W3C World Wide Web Consortium
XML eXtensible Markup Language
WSMO Web Service Modelling Ontology
6 Ontology in geographic information
6.1 Introduction
Semantics has an essential role in the interoperability of geographic information. The background
information to explain this is provided in Annex B. Ontology is a fundamental notion to support
semantic interoperability of geographic information. Accordingly, this Technical Specification adheres
to the information technology and artificial intelligence viewpoint for ontology. In agreement with this
viewpoint and in the context of ISO geographic information standards, an ontology refers to a formal
representation of phenomena with an underlying vocabulary including definitions and axioms that make
the intended meaning explicit and describe phenomena and their interrelationships. An ontology can be
used by software applications to support the sharing, reuse, and integration of geographic information
with any other information sources within a domain of knowledge as well as between various domains
of knowledge. It is represented by classes, relations, properties, attributes, and values. It constitutes a
foundation to support reasoning, interpretation, and inference.
6.2 Values of ontologies
Ontology is a fundamental notion for semantic interoperability, for data available on the Semantic Web
and as such for geographic information interoperability. The following values of ontology are recognized
as important with respect to interoperability of geographic information:
— Interoperability across domains;
— Expose ISO geographic information standards to other communities that are not aware of the
geographic information domain;
— Automatic machine reasoning and inference;
— From data description via information description to knowledge description;
— Focus on online access of information and knowledge (as opposed to offline access);
— Interrelate similar/different concepts (such as different keywords for similar concepts in
metadata); and
— Associate (similar/different) concepts between domains.
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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

6.3 Issues of relevance
Considering the values of ontologies for interoperability of geographic information, the following issues
become relevant for the ISO geographic information standards:
— Developing rules for writing application ontologies for OWL;
— Introducing ontologies as part of product specification applications;
— Developing content standards in ontologies using OWL [42] (application ontologies, domain
ontologies, metalanguages);
— Introducing spatial operators as defined in ISO 19107 [19] and ISO 19125-1 [21] to the Semantic
Web for spatial reasoning and inference, so that they can be used as part of Semantic Web languages
(RDF [39], RDF-S [38], and OWL [42]);
— Defining semantic operators about the semantic similarity with respect to concepts, definition and
use as part of Semantic Web languages (RDF [39], RDF-S [38], and OWL [42]);
— Translation of the ISO harmonized model from UML to OWL; and
— Defining Web services ontologies.
7 Framework
7.1 Overview of the framework
The framework of this Technical Specification (Figure 1) presents the structure of the packages that are
introduced to address semantics of geographic information through ontologies. The chosen ontology
language is OWL-DL. This choice is justified because of the level of expressivity and the reasoning
capabilities it provides.
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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

ISO 19109 Application Schema ISO 19110 Feature Catalog
(from ISO TC211 Harmonized Models) (from ISO TC211 Harmonized Models)
ISO 19103 Schema Language
(from ISO TC211 Harmonized Models)
ISO 19115-All Metadata ISO 19150-1 Ontology Framework ISO 19119 Services
(from ISO TC211 Harmonized Models) (from ISO TC211 Ontology) (from ISO TC211 Harmonized Models)
ISO 19150-3 Semantic Operators ISO 19150-2 Rules for Ontologies in OWL ISO 19150-4 Service Ontology
(from ISO TC211 Ontology) (from ISO TC211 Ontology)
(from ISO TC211 Ontology)
ISO TC211 Harmonized Ontologies ISO 19150-5 domain Ontology Registry ISO 19150-6 Service Ontolgy Registry
(from ISO TC211 Ontology) (from ISO TC211 Ontology) (from ISO TC211 Ontology)
ISO TC211 Harmonized Models ISO 19135:2005 Procedures for Registration
(from Model) (from ISO 19125--All Procedures for Registration)
Figure 1 — Framework decomposition in packages and dependencies
The framework introduces seven components including this framework that have dependencies with
11)
other existing parts of the ISO geographic information standards . These components are:
ISO/TS 19150-1, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 1: Framework (i.e. this Technical Specification);
International Standard to be published:
ISO 19150-2, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 2: Rules for developing ontologies in the Web
Ontology Language (OWL).
International Standards under development:
ISO 19150-3, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 3: Semantic operators.
ISO 19150-4, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 4: Service ontology.
ISO 19150-5, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 5: Domain ontology registry.
11) Only geographic information standards that have direct dependencies with the introduced components are
shown in the framework diagram.
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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

ISO 19150-6, Geographic information — Ontology — Part 6: Service ontology registry.
“ISO TC211 Harmonized Ontologies”.
7.2 Rules for developing ontologies in the Web Ontology Language
Ontologies need to be consistent to simplify their use and interoperability. They shall be developed in
harmonization with ISO/TS 19103 and ISO 19109. A methodology and rules for translating UML diagrams to
OWL-DL ontologies are required. This can benefit from OMG’s Ontology Definition Metamodel (ODM) [32].
ISO 19150-2 shall define rules and guidelines for the development of ontologies to better support the
interoperability of geographic information on the Semantic Web with OWL-DL. It shall also define a
mapping of the UML class diagram elements used in the ISO geographic information standards into
OWL-DL and rules for describing application schemas based on the General Feature Model (as defined in
ISO 19109 in OWL-DL. Such rules shall address the following issues:
— Naming: ISO geographic information models use the same name in different context which is not
allowed in ontologies, moreover in OWL-DL;
— The manner in which UML packages are addressed in ontologies;
— Abstract class;
— Stereotype;
— Aggregation and composition;
— Association names;
— Qualified associations;
— Enumerations and code lists;
— Operations and methods;
— Ontology quality assessment.
7.3 Semantic operators
Ontologies provide the definitions of concepts and the relationships between them with respect to some
context. As such, reasoning and inference with ontologies is then possible. Annex C provides background
information on ontology matching and semantic similarity for ontology reasoning in the geographic
domain. Reasoning and inference can lead to a wide range of possibilities related to interoperability:
data discovery, query answering, geographic data integration, and composition of geographic data with
data from other sources and domains. It can be supported by the definition of semantic operators which
complement ISO geographic information geometric and temporal operators.
ISO 19150-3 shall define semantic proximity operators between concepts associated with geometric and
temporal representations. These operators complement the current suites of geometric and temporal
operators already defined in ISO 19107 [19], ISO 19108 [18], ISO 19125-1 [21], and ISO 19141 [23].
7.4 Service ontology
Web services are important components that compose the Web. Currently, the use and interaction of
Web services still require the participation of humans to find and integrate Web services. The Semantic
Web could also contribute to facilitate the interaction with Web services by introducing semantics and
ontologies for Web Services [37]. The Semantic Web can support Web services to automate the Web
service discovery, the composition of Web services, and their invocation in order to enable seamless
machine interoperation with minimum human interaction. Semantic annotation of services in terms of
capabilities, selection, access, composition, and invocation are then required and should be supported
through ontologies.
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describedby
(how it works)
supports
(how to access it)
ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

Two frameworks are found to support the above functionalities: Semantic Markup for Web Services
(OWL-S) (Figure 2) [43] and Web Service Modelling Ontology (WSMO) (Figure 3) [34].
OWL-S is an ontology of services to support discovery, composition, and invocation of Web services.
The structure of a service ontology has three parts: service profile, process model, and grounding. The
service profile provides details about what the service can do for clients; the capabilities. The main task
of the service profile is for advertising and discovering services. The service process model provides
details about how the service operates. The grounding provides details about the way to interact with a
service via messages, such as transport protocols.
ServiceProile
Service
ServiceGrounding
ServiceModel
Figure 2 — OWL-S service ontology
WSMO has been developed for Web service from the European Semantic Systems Initiative. It is composed
of four main elements: ontologies, Web services, goals, and mediators. The ontologies provide the
formal specification of terminology used by the other WSMO components. The Web services provide the
semantic description of Web services in terms of capabilities, interfaces, and internal operations of the
service. Goals refer to the objectives that a client wants to achieve by using Web services. The mediators
provide the connectors between components with mediation facilities for handling heterogeneities.
Goals
Ontologies Web Services
Mediators
Figure 3 — WSMO components
OWL-S and WSMO have been submitted to W3C as potential input to future W3C recommendations.
Other developments like WSMO Lite and Linked Open Services are also relevant to look at and to consider.
In the ISO geographic information standards, ISO 19119 sets the basis for developing geospatial services
and for the documentation of these services through service metadata. This could be seen as a foundation
for the definition of geospatial service ontology allowing semantic annotation.
ISO 19150-4 shall identify the appropriate framework for service ontology in geographic information
(OWL-S or WSMO) and shall define the description of Web services for geographic information in an
ontology language in order to be discovered on the Semantic Web.
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presents
(what it does)

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ISO/TS 19150-1:2012(E)

7.5 Domain ontology registry
More attention is being given to the content part of geographic information in the ISO suite of geographic
information standards (e.g. ISO 19144-2 [24] and ISO 19152 [25]). Other topics such as climate change
variables and addressing are becoming of interest. Accordingly, a registry for geographic information
ontology is required for semantic interoperability between domains.
ISO 19150-5 shall define an international registry of geographic information domain ontologies and
its maintenance. The registry will be composed of standardized high level geographic information
ontologies. These ontologies shall be developed in OWL-DL. They shall be posted on the Web to support
Semantic Web applications. These ontologies shall be developed to serve as a basic framework for the
definition of ontologies at finer level of granularity for application, shall allow mapping of concepts
between application specific ontologies within a shared domain, and shall enable the interrelation of
concepts across domains.
7.6 Service ontology registry
ISO 19150-6 shall define an international registry of geographic information service ontologies and its
maintenance. The registry will be composed of standardized geographic information service ontologies.
These ontologies shall be developed in compliance with ISO 19150-4 which prescribes the definition of
service ontologies.
7.7 Harmonized ontologies
The “ISO TC211 Harmonized Ontologies” pac
...

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