ISO 19154:2014

Geographic information — Ubiquitous public access — Reference model

ISO 19154:2014 defines a reference model for ubiquitous public access (UPA) to geographic information. This reference model uses standard concepts from both the Open distributed processing ? Reference model (RM-ODP) in ISO/IEC 10746‑1 and ISO 19101. The reference model specified in ISO 19154:2014 defines the following: ? conceptual models for ubiquitous public access (UPA) to geographic information; ? a reference model and framework to support current and future specification development in this area; ? the semantics of information and processing within systems and services for the UPA of geographic information; ? the architectural relationship between this International Standard and other ISO geographic information standards. ISO 19154 is applicable to location-based services (LBS), ubiquitous computing environments, linked open data, and other domains that require a seamless public access to geographic information. Although structured in the context of information technology and information technology standards, ISO 19154:2014 is independent of any application development method or technology implementation approach.

Information géographique — Ubiquitaire l'accès du public — Modèle de référence

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 09-Nov-2014
• ICS: 35.240.70 - IT applications in science
• Technical Committee: ISO/TC 211 - Geographic information/Geomatics
• Drafting Committee: ISO/TC 211/WG 10 - Ubiquitous public access
• Current Stage: 9093 - International Standard confirmed
• Completion Date: 27-Apr-2020

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 19154
First edition
2014-11-01
Geographic information — Ubiquitous
public access — Reference model
Information géographique — Ubiquitaire l’accès du public —
Modèle de référence
Reference number
ISO 19154:2014(E)
©
ISO 2014

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ISO 19154:2014(E)

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© ISO 2014
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form
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ii © ISO 2014 – All rights reserved

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ISO 19154:2014(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) . 5
5.1 Abbreviated terms . 5
5.2 UML notation . 6
6 Reference model requirements . 6
6.1 Background . 6
6.2 Design principles of ubiquitous public access . 7
6.3 Semantics of UPA . 7
6.4 Conceptual framework . 8
6.5 Relationship with other ISO geographic information standards . 9
6.6 Other areas of standardization .11
7 RM-ODP viewpoints .12
7.1 Enterprise viewpoint .12
7.2 Information viewpoint .14
7.3 Computational viewpoint .19
Annex A (normative) Abstract test suite .22
Annex B (informative) Additional background information on UPA-to-GI .24
Annex C (informative) Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) for UPA-to-GI reference model .26
Annex D (informative) Service architecture for UPA-to-GI .27
Annex E (informative) Existing standardization efforts.30
Annex F (informative) UPA-to-GI service scenarios .37
Bibliography .43
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ISO 19154:2014(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.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
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. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity
assessment, as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the WTO principles in the Technical Barriers
to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: Foreword - Supplementary information
The committee responsible for this document is ISO/TC 211, Geographic information/Geomatics.
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ISO 19154:2014(E)

Introduction
Recent advances of web-based and mobile computing technologies have ushered in an era where the general
public are not only consumers of content, but also act as creators or providers of new, enriched content.
One sector in particular that is experiencing rapid change and growth is that of geographic information.
“Location” in a general sense is one of the basic requirements of all mobile users. In early development,
users were only “consuming” location-based content, but with ever increasingly sophisticated mobile
hardware devices and the ever expanding extent of telecommunications networking and sensor web
enabled infrastructure, mobile users are now able to create many types of geographic data. Creation
of content can be on an individual level, using a coordinate location to enable navigation to a new café
described in a blog entry, or as a collaborative effort, such as collecting GPS tracks and incorporating
them into the Open Street Map project.
Smaller devices, embedded systems, wireless communication, and sensor networks (ubiquitous
computing technologies) require methods of handling geographic information in terms of both
production and consumption. Beyond the previously limited public consumption of geographic
information, ubiquitous computing technologies provide the infrastructure for the general public to
produce, distribute, and consume geographic information. These concepts are manifested as “seamless
access from anywhere and at any time to easy-to-use geographic information and services”. We refer to
these concepts as Ubiquitous Public Access to geographic information.
The goal of ubiquitous public access to geographic information (UPA-to-GI) is to make the user
experience of any “smart” device intuitive to understand, along with being easy to use. To achieve this
goal, contextual information that is gathered from varied sources is managed efficiently within the
UPA architecture. Therefore, systems or services for UPA to geographic information need to support a
delivery mechanism of contextual information.
This International Standard defines the requirements of standardization for systems and services
supporting ubiquitous public access to geographic information, and describes a comprehensive set of
fundamental facets that specify an abstract description of the elements for UPA to geographic information.
This International Standard further establishes a series of models comprised as a conceptual framework
that, when implemented, will support the development of a set of systems and services for enabling
ubiquitous public access to geographic information. In a UPA environment, general users are no longer
only passive consumers of geographic information, but rather active participants in several steps of the
data and information management lifecycle such as collection, creation and capture, and/or use and
dissemination.
Ubiquitous public access to geographic information might be thought of as a type of geographic
information service. However, the currently available standards used in mobile environments are based
on web technologies which are not efficient enough to handle the requirements of UPA. In order to
provide relevant geographic information to users, the context of the users is described.
The reference model specified here defines a group of models which form a framework that supports
methods of extracting geographically explicit context information from varied information sources,
such as a lexicon, photos, videos, and others sources. Additional models in the framework specify how
geographic data produced and distributed by the general public can be semantically linked to meet
the user’s contextual requests, and how heterogeneous geographic content can be seamlessly accessed,
integrated, and provided to a user regardless of the kind of device the user operates.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 19154:2014(E)
Geographic information — Ubiquitous public access —
Reference model
1 Scope
This International Standard defines a reference model for ubiquitous public access (UPA) to geographic
information. This reference model uses standard concepts from both the Open distributed processing
— Reference model (RM-ODP) in ISO/IEC 10746-1 and ISO 19101.
The reference model specified in this International Standard defines the following:
— conceptual models for ubiquitous public access (UPA) to geographic information;
— a reference model and framework to support current and future specification development in this area;
— the semantics of information and processing within systems and services for the UPA of
geographic information;
— the architectural relationship between this International Standard and other ISO geographic
information standards.
This International Standard is applicable to location-based services (LBS), ubiquitous computing
environments, linked open data, and other domains that require a seamless public access to
geographic information.
Although structured in the context of information technology and information technology standards,
this International Standard is independent of any application development method or technology
implementation approach.
2 Conformance
General conformance and testing requirements are defined in ISO 19105. Conformance requirements
are specified 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 19101-1:2014, Geographic information — Reference model — Part 1: Fundamentals
ISO/TS 19101-2:2008, Geographic information — Reference model — Part 2: Imagery
1)
ISO 19103:— , Geographic information — Conceptual schema language
2)
ISO 19109:— , Geographic information — Rules for application schema
4 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
1) To be published.
2) To be published.
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ISO 19154:2014(E)

4.1
ambient intelligence
convergence of ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous communication, and interfaces adapting to the user
4.2
application
manipulation and processing of data in support of user requirements
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:2014, 4.1.1]
4.3
computational viewpoint
viewpoint (4.29) on an ODP system and its environment which enables distribution through functional
decomposition of the system into objects which interact at interfaces (4.13)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 10746-3:2009, 4.1.1.3]
4.4
context
aspects or properties of an entity that affect the behaviour or expectations of that entity in any given situation
4.5
context-awareness
integrated operations to collect and deliver context (4.4) specific information, and convert it to tailored
data for each user
EXAMPLE getContext(staticFeature) = FD_Feature
Note 1 to entry: In the example, the getContext operation would extract geographically explicit context information
FD_Feature from varied information sources, such as photos, videos, etc.
4.6
enterprise viewpoint
viewpoint (4.29) on an ODP system and its environment that focuses on the purpose, scope, and policies
for that system
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 10746-3:2009, 4.1.1.1]
4.7
geographic context awareness
application (4.2) or service (4.23) behaviour based on the recognition of user’s geographic context (4.4)
4.8
geographic information
information concerning phenomena implicitly or explicitly associated with a location relative to the Earth
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:2014, 4.1.18]
4.9
geographic information service
service (4.23) that transforms, manages, or presents geographic information to users
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:2014, 4.1.19]
4.10
geographic information system
information system dealing with information concerning phenomena associated with location
relative to the Earth
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:2014, 4.1.20]
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ISO 19154:2014(E)

4.11
information system
information processing system, together with associated organizational resources such as human,
technical, and financial resources, that provides and distributes information
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 2382-1:1993]
4.12
information viewpoint
viewpoint (4.29) on an ODP system and its environment that focuses on the semantics of information and
information processing
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 10746-3:2009, 4.1.1.2]
4.13
interface
named set of operations (4.17) that characterize the behaviour of an entity
[SOURCE: ISO 19119:2005, 4.2]
4.14
interoperability
capability to communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among various functional units in a
manner that requires the user to have little or no knowledge of the unique characteristics of those units
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 2382-1:1993, 01.01.47]
4.15
linked geodata
geographic data and information sources published on the Semantic Web (4.22)
Note 1 to entry: These publicly available geographic data and information sources are published in a standardized
formal model.
4.16
ontology
formal representation of phenomena of a universe of discourse (4.28) with an underlying vocabulary
including definitions and axioms that make the intended meaning explicit and describe phenomena and
their interrelationships
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:2014, 4.1.26]
4.17
operation
specification of a transformation or query that an object may be called to execute
[SOURCE: ISO 19119:2005, 4.3]
4.18
public access
open access to information sources and/or services (4.23) by general public users and professional users alike
4.19
reference model
framework for understanding significant relationships among the entities of some environment, and for
the development of consistent standards or specifications supporting that environment
Note 1 to entry: A reference model is based on a small number of unifying concepts and can be used as a basis for
education and explaining standards to a non-specialist.
[SOURCE: ISO 14721:2003, 1.7.2.63, modified — the second sentence in definition has been made a
note to entry.]
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ISO 19154:2014(E)

4.20
schema
formal description of a model
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:2014, 4.1.34]
4.21
seamless mobility
continuous and intuitive access to various information sources and services (4.23) regardless of
protocols, networks, frequency bands, and physical environments
4.22
Semantic Web
Web (4.30) of data with meaning
Note 1 to entry: The association of meaning allows data and information to be understood and processed by
automated tools as well as by people.
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:2014, 4.1.35]
4.23
service
distinct part of the functionality that is provided by an entity through interfaces (4.13)
[SOURCE: ISO 19119:2005, 4.1]
4.24
service broker
application (4.2) that combines or offers lower-level services (4.23) for specific user needs
[SOURCE: ISO 19132:2007, 4.46]
4.25
ubiquitous public access
UPA
service (4.23) that enables end-users to have easy and interoperable access to specific types of data,
irrespective of their location or access device, and that match their interest criteria
EXAMPLE Linked Geodata Service
Note 1 to entry: In the example, the Linked GeoData Service is responsible for openly inter-connecting geographic
information to external repositories or web resources using a transform to either Resource Description
Framework (RDF) or Web Ontology Language (OWL) format.
4.26
ubiquitous geographic information
geographic information (4.8) provided to users following the concepts of ubiquitous public access (4.25)
4.27
universal representation
universal feature model to be specified without knowing users’ structures or abstraction models
4.28
universe of discourse
view of the real or hypothetical world that includes everything of interest
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:2014, 4.1.38]
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ISO 19154:2014(E)

4.29
viewpoint (on a system)
form of abstraction achieved using a selected set of architectural concepts and structuring rules, in
order to focus on particular concerns within a system
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 10746-2:2009, 3.2.7]
4.30
World Wide Web
Web
universe of network-accessible information and services (4.23)
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:2014, 4.1.40]
4.31
Web service
service (4.23) that is made available through the Web (4.30)
Note 1 to entry: A Web service usually includes some combination of programming and data. It can also include
human resources.
[SOURCE: ISO 19101-1:2014, 4.1.41]
5 Symbols (and abbreviated terms)
5.1 Abbreviated terms
API Application Programming Interface
CRS Coordinate Reference System
FOAF Friend of a Friend
GeoRSS Geographic Rich Site Summary
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
LBS Location-based Service
LGD Linked GeoData
OGC Open Geospatial Consortium
OMG Object Management Group
OWL Web Ontology Language
RDF Resource Description Framework
RM-ODP Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (ISO/IEC 10746)
SRS Spatial Reference System
UML Unified Modeling Language
UPA-to-GI Ubiquitous Public Access to Geographic Information
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ISO 19154:2014(E)

URI Uniform Resource Identifier
XML eXtensible Markup Language
5.2 UML notation
The notation used in this International Standard as conceptual models of information systems and
services are presented using the Unified Modeling Language as specified in ISO 19103.
6 Reference model requirements
6.1 Background
Today, with the rapid spread of small and powerful mobile devices, the general public is not only
consuming various types of content embedded with geographic information, but they are also creating
similar content.
Computing advances in seamless mobility, context awareness, sensor networks, and cloud computing
have led to the emergence of applications and services many of which are based on, or related to,
geographic information.
The widespread availability of telecommunication and networking infrastructure, coupled with the
ever increasingly degree of “smart” mobile hardware devices and accompanying software and services,
is enabling the general public to access and use geographic information services frequently, and without
actually realizing it.
Within the field of geographic information systems and services, ubiquitous public access to geographic
information (UPA-to-GI) consists of the following two concepts:
— ubiquity;
— public access.
In order to address the needs of users and providers requiring access to geographic information under
ubiquitous computing infrastructure, this International Standard defines a reference model for UPA-
to-GI using the viewpoints based on the model specified in ISO 19101-1:2014 and RM-ODP system
architecture approach as specified by ISO/IEC 10746.
Clause 7 defines the RM-ODP viewpoints of this reference model. Further details are specified in
— enterprise viewpoint with UPA-to-GI related services (7.1),
— information viewpoint for three types of geographic context (7.2), and
— computational viewpoint for UPA-to-GI services (7.3).
To aid developers implementing systems based on the reference model defined in this International
Standard, additional background and related standards activities, example conceptual service
architecture design, and use case scenarios are presented in the following annexes.
— Annex A defines the abstract test suite for conforming to the reference model specified in this
International Standard.
— Annex B provides additional background on the concepts of UPA-to-GI.
— Annex C describes the RM-ODP viewpoints for UPA-to-GI Reference Model.
— Annex D presents the conceptual service architecture for UPA-to-GI.
— Annex E examines a number of existing and in-progress standardization efforts by ISO, OGC, and
other standards bodies.
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ISO 19154:2014(E)

— Annex F presents three UPA-to-GI service scenarios to help developers visualize the merits of UPA-to-GI.
6.2 Design principles of ubiquitous public access
When considering the design of ubiquitous public access systems, this International Standard presents
two motivating factors that comprise the fundamental principal of UPA-to-GI.
a) The standardization of geographic information systems/services will enable end-users to have
access to geographic information meeting their needs in a convenient and interoperable manner.
b) The use of ubiquitous computing technologies will enable an augmented and intelligent information
infrastructure.
Figure 1 visually presents these two motivating factors of the design of a service environment for
UPA-to-GI. These systems and services function as an effective interface between emerging ubiquitous
computing technology and traditional geographic information services within a new information and
communication technology (ICT) ecosystem.
New ICT Ecosystem
Communication bridge
+UPA +GIS
Traditional
Ubiquitous Public Access
Geographic Information
Services
Services
Channel
+Emerging ubiquitous computing technology
Figure 1 — Two motivating factors of ubiquitous public access
6.3 Semantics of UPA
6.3.1 Overview
Three semantic properties can be used to more clearly describe the requirements of the UPA-to-GI reference
model defined in this International Standard. The three required semantic properties are the following:
— ubiquity of geographic information (6.3.2);
— degree of public access (6.3.3);
— ubiquitous public access (6.3.4).
6.3.2 Ubiquity of geographic information
Within a ubiquitous computing environment, end-users make use of varied geographic information
services based on “ambient intelligence”.
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ISO 19154:2014(E)

To enable the understanding of ambient intelligence for geographic information, this International
Standard specifies the context information model for supporting UPA-to-GI as defined in 7.2.2.
This context model is based on seamless mobility and geographic context.
Seamless mobility provides mobile users with continuous and intuitive access to various information
sources and services including geographic information services regardless of protocols, networks,
frequency bands, and physical environments.
Geographic context awareness uses ambient intelligence to gather specific context of the user which
may include identity, time, activity, and the location of the user. Once the geographic context of a user is
extracted, information services are able to provide rich and high quality ambient intelligence to the user.
The geographic context can include one’s individual context (e.g. location, speed, and orientation), static
context (geographic information), and dynamic context (e.g. weather, traffic conditions, data from
sensor, and more).
6.3.3 Degree of public access
Public access to geographic information implies easy or open access to geographic information sources
and/or services by general public users and professional users alike. Greater emphasis is placed on the
ease-of-use of geographic information services for the general public.
This International Standard presents the following two concepts to clarify the degree of public access
required for UPA-to-GI systems.
a) Universal representation refers to any request from a user for any type of geographic information
service (an LBS request, map display, etc.) and implies that the request shall be unambiguously
specified, without requiring the details of the underlying structures or abstraction models, using
the universal feature model defined in ISO 19109.
b) Linked open geodata refers to publicly available open geographic data and information sources.
The reference model defined in this International Standard identifies areas in which there are
further standards for public access to geographic information sources through the Linking Open
GeoData framework.
6.3.4 Ubiquitous Public Access
As specified in this reference model, UPA-to-GI services infer and extract the geographical context of
various types of non-geographic information embedded with geospatial semantics.
This reference model also provides a framework for an open access environment to enable the linking of
geographic data, including data from other sources, along with those produced by the users. The result
of this linking will facilitate easy and seamless access to geographic information services regardless of
a user’s computing environment.
6.4 Conceptual framework
The reference model defined in this International Standard specifies a conceptual framework clarifying
how the domain of ubiquitous computing and geographic information are interconnected through a
logical environment for a set of applications and processed within each domain.
Figure 2 illustrates a conceptual framework where varied implicit geographic information of a user
retrieved from a ubiquitous computing infrastructure can be effectively processed by different
geographic information services defined within a UPA-to-GI system.
8 © ISO 2014 – All
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