Biodiversity and ecosystems data are very heterogeneous and need to be better managed for improving the actual scientific knowledge. Semantic approaches provide a promising way to capture rich representations of data in ways that afford maximum interoperability and detailed description for re-use. Here, we present the LifeWatch-ITA Ontology framework for capturing the process of ecological field observation and measurement, facilitating logic-based reasoning to be utilized to automate important data-management applications for data synthesis. The LifeWatch-ITA Core Ontology is a customization of the OBOE core ontology and it is based on 7 main concepts (classes) such as Domain, Entity, Observation, Characteristic, Measurement, Protocol, Standard. It provides a structured yet generic approach for semantic data annotation and for developing domain-specific ecological ontologies such as the Phytoplankton Trait Ontology (PhyTO), used to test the effectiveness of the proposed approach. In particular we implemented the Phytoplankton show case to demonstrate how the entire data lifecycle can be supported and automated using semantic resources. A first software module has been designed and developed to map metadata and Phytoplankton data stored in the LifeWatch Data Portal with the OWL schema of the PhyTO Ontology and to produce .rdf output files. These files are used by a second module be stored in a VIRTUOSO triple store, that makes them available for semantic searches. To give the opportunity also to non ICT-expert users to browse and search the data, a very user-friendly web interface has been developed. The web interface suggests to the final users a preconceived set of queries created by domain experts.
The LifeWatch-ITA Core Ontology and its application to the Phytoplankton domain
Rosati I;Bergami C;Oggioni A;
2018
Abstract
Biodiversity and ecosystems data are very heterogeneous and need to be better managed for improving the actual scientific knowledge. Semantic approaches provide a promising way to capture rich representations of data in ways that afford maximum interoperability and detailed description for re-use. Here, we present the LifeWatch-ITA Ontology framework for capturing the process of ecological field observation and measurement, facilitating logic-based reasoning to be utilized to automate important data-management applications for data synthesis. The LifeWatch-ITA Core Ontology is a customization of the OBOE core ontology and it is based on 7 main concepts (classes) such as Domain, Entity, Observation, Characteristic, Measurement, Protocol, Standard. It provides a structured yet generic approach for semantic data annotation and for developing domain-specific ecological ontologies such as the Phytoplankton Trait Ontology (PhyTO), used to test the effectiveness of the proposed approach. In particular we implemented the Phytoplankton show case to demonstrate how the entire data lifecycle can be supported and automated using semantic resources. A first software module has been designed and developed to map metadata and Phytoplankton data stored in the LifeWatch Data Portal with the OWL schema of the PhyTO Ontology and to produce .rdf output files. These files are used by a second module be stored in a VIRTUOSO triple store, that makes them available for semantic searches. To give the opportunity also to non ICT-expert users to browse and search the data, a very user-friendly web interface has been developed. The web interface suggests to the final users a preconceived set of queries created by domain experts.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
