project overview. the context the jisc ie an information environment that enables people to...
Post on 28-Mar-2015
219 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Project Overview
The Context
The JISC IE an information environment that enables people to discover, access and
use a wide variety of quality assured resources simple underlying functional model of the Information Environment -
discover, access, use, publish JISC desires ways to enable geographic searching of the Information
Environment
The User Community & Beyond Require ways to discover resources beyond ‘traditional’ methods such as
subject, author Geography provides the common framework Most queries are about somewhere or can be tied locationally Increasing recognition of the relevance of ‘spatial’ information - at least
80% + of all information
Geo-spatial data“data that have some form of spatial or geo-graphic reference that enables them to be located in two- or three-dimensional space”
Statistical Account of Scotland
NUMBER XIII.
PARISH OF CULLEN.
(COUNTY OF BANFF, SYNOD OF ABERDEEN, PRESBYTERY OF FORDYCE.)
By the Rev. Mr. ROBERT GRANT.
Royalty, Extent, Climate, etc.
CULLEN, as appears from old charters, was originallycalled Inverculan, because it stands upon the bank ofthe Burn of Cullen, which, at the N. end of the town, fallsinto the sea: but now it is known by the name of Cullen on-ly. Cullen is a royal burgh, formerly a constabulary, ofwhich the Earl of Findlater was hereditary constable. Theset, as it is called, of the council, consists of 19, in which num-ber are included the Earl of Findlater, hereditary preses, 3bailies, a treasurer, a dean-of-guild, and 13 counsellors. Theparish extends from the sea fouthward, about 2 English milesin length.
The problem
How to search ‘geographically’ ?
given that : e.g. a postcode, a placename and an administrative area are all
valid geographies and yet every information system cannot know about all the possible variations of what constitutes a ‘geography’!
Problem compounded by inconsistency of use even in the ‘standards’ e.g. placenames evolve, have alternative names
Long history in UK of boundary changes and changes in the geographies used to record things e.g. electoral ward boundary changes
The vision
Make variations in defn. of ‘geography’ transparent Provide a means to ‘crosswalk’ geographies i.e.
translate one geography into another - hence the name
‘Geographic agnosticism’
How? A digital gazetteer1 that stores the different
geographies and can implicitly resolve the relationships between them
Provision as a service to service other services
1 An electronic list of geographic features together with their associated spatial location
Phase I - Scoping study
JISC funded 1 yr project to look at feasibility of a digital gazetteer service for UK academia
Purpose: Review existing gazetteers and their data models Review existing potential data sources for a
gazetteer Review possible architectures for implementing a
digital gazetteer service Review level of interest in a gazetteer service Recommend where next...
Results of scoping study
Great deal of interest both within and without academia in concept of a digital gazetteer
Such a gazetteer would act as an important reference source
The gazetteer could also support machine to machine interactions based on open protocols making it capable of becoming a ‘shared service’
A suitably extensible model for the gazetteer was identified in the Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) model
A prototype demonstrator gazetteer should be developed based on the ADL model
Phase II Project
JISC funded 1 yr project to build demonstrator Commenced May 2002 Range of technical and non-technical issues Stakeholder input (you!)
Project Aims
To develop a geo-spatial gazetteer service suitable for extension to full service
To consider how the gazetteer data could be made available as a shared service as part of the JISC Information Environment
Promote the possibilities of a fully functioning service and act as a proof of concept
Objectives (1)
Elicit the detailed requirements for a gazetteer service Involve organisations outside UK academia in the
development of a gazetteer service demonstrator. Build a demonstrator focussing on near-contemporary
data which should illustrate the following: The use of a gazetteer to enhance the geographic
searching of one or more existing JISC services The use of a gazetteer to assist in the semi-automatic
geographic indexing of descriptions of JISC resources Reference use through the provision of a command
driven web-based interface, to show the types of queries that could be answered by a well-populated service
Objectives (2) Investigate:
The issues involved in making the gazetteer a Z39.50 target SOAP (web services) as an access mechanism The utility and usability of the ADL Gazetteer Content Standard Questions about performance and scalability of the service The level of interest and commitment of interested parties
outside tertiary education The costs involved in populating the gazetteer, linking the data and
quality assuring the data
Negotiate with data owners to use the key core datasets required to populate the gazetteer
Suggest ways in which data can be kept up-to date, and what kind of quality assurance on data input will be required
Carry out focus groups to assess the needs of the stakeholders for a full gazetteer service and promote the possibilities of a fully functioning service
Deliverables
A functioning scalable demonstrator gazetteer service that has the potential to be fully integrated into the JISC Information Environment
A report on who the relevant stakeholders are and how the needs of the user group will be met
(An exit strategy)
Outreach and Evaluation
important aspect of project which is led by HDS the reason you are here!!Activities
• through focus groups and demonstrations at conferences, etc.– assess the needs of the stakeholders for a service of
this type– explore the possibilities for a shared service
• establish relationships with stakeholders
• evaluate the work and discuss the opportunities and challenges to providing a national, shared service
• evaluate and consider the options for extension and enhancement
URL: http://www.geoxwalk.ac.uk
JISC Information Environment
Portal
Content providers
End-user
Portal
Broker/Aggregator
Authentication
Authorisation
Collect’n Desc
Service Desc
Resolver
Inst’n Profile
Shared services
Portal
Provision layer
Fusion layer
Presentationlayer
geoXwalk
top related