Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmin22a..01f&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #IN22A-01
Other
9810 New Fields (Not Classifiable Under Other Headings), 9820 Techniques Applicable In Three Or More Fields
Scientific paper
Virtual Observatories (VO) are now being established in a variety of geoscience disciplines beyond their origins in Astronomy and Solar Physics. Implementations range from hydrology and environmental sciences to solid earth sciences. Among the goals of VOs are to provide search/ query, access and use of distributed, heterogeneous data resources. With many of these goals being met and usage increasing, new demands and requirements are arising. In particular there are two of immediate and pressing interest. The first is use of VOs by non-specialists, especially for information products that go beyond the usual data, or data products that are sought for scientific research. The second area is citation and attribution of artifacts that are being generated by VOs. In some sense VOs are re-publishing (re-packaging, or generating new synthetic) data and information products. At present only a few VOs address this need and it is clear that a comprehensive solution that includes publishers is required. Our work in VOs and related semantic data framework and integration areas has lead to a view of the next generation of virtual observatories which the two above-mentioned needs as well as others that are emerging. Both of the needs highlight a semantic gap, i.e. that the meaning and use for a user or users beyond the original design intention is very often difficult or impossible to bridge. For example, VOs created for experts with complex, arcane or jargon vocabularies are not accessible to the non-specialist and further, information products the non-specialist may use are not created or considered for creation. In the second case, use of a (possibly virtual) data or information product (e.g. an image or map) as an intellectual artifact that can be accessed as part of the scientific publication and review procedure also introduces terminology gaps, as well as services that VOs may need to provide. Our supposition is that formalized methods in semantics and semantic web technologies are ideal to meet and solve both of these semantic gaps. In this presentation we highlight both of the emerging needs, and current and emerging semantic web solutions that will enable the next generation of virtual observatories. Our work is funded under NSF/OCI and NASA/ACCESS/ESTO projects to the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and McGuinness Associates Consulting.
Fox Patrick
McGuinness Deborah L.
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