Semantic mediation of an integrated assessment tool for agricultural systems

Sander Janssen*, Ioannis N. Athanasiadis, Erling Andersen, Andrea E. Rizzoli, Jan Erik J.F. Wien, Martin K. Van Ittersum

*Corresponding author for this work

Abstract

Semantic mediation based on ontologies has been proposed as a method to achieve integration in multi-disciplinary and multi-scale integrated assessment tools. In the development of an integrated assessment tool, SEAMLESS-IF, agricultural models, data sources, scenarios and indicators had to be integrated in one conceptual schema, providing the shared definition of concepts and their relationships. This paper describes the different methods used in the semantic mediation of the various cases (i.e. models, data sources, scenarios and indicators) in SEAMLESS-IF. By contrasting the methods, this paper argues that the method used for semantic mediation has to be flexibly adapted to the case and the researchers involved. Common aspects in the semantic mediation are i. the organization in several prototypes, which where gradually improved, ii. a collaborative approach to discuss ontology content between domain experts and knowledge engineers and iii. the editing of the ontology itself was done by a knowledge engineer and not by a whole community of researchers. To succeed in building coherent and comprehensive ontologies, these common aspects (i.e. prototypes, collaborative approach, ontology editing) need to be adapted to the case (i.e. researchers, available information, mediation question).

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationModelling for Environment's Sake : Proceedings of the 5th Biennial Conference of the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society, iEMSs 2010
Number of pages9
Publication date1 Dec 2010
Pages1849-1857
ISBN (Print)9788890357411
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2010
Event5th Biennial Conference of the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society: Modelling for Environment's Sake, iEMSs 2010 - Ottawa, ON, Canada
Duration: 5 Jul 20108 Jul 2010

Conference

Conference5th Biennial Conference of the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society: Modelling for Environment's Sake, iEMSs 2010
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityOttawa, ON
Period05/07/201008/07/2010
SponsorBeijing Development Area Co., Ltd., Computing Research Laboratory for the Environment (CRLE), Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC), International Symposium on Environmental Software Systems (ISESS), Peking University, U.S. Geological Survey-Climateand Land Use Change Branch (USGS)
SeriesModelling for Environment's Sake: Proceedings of the 5th Biennial Conference of the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society, iEMSs 2010
Volume3

Keywords

  • Collaborative
  • Data sources
  • Indicator
  • Models
  • Ontology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Semantic mediation of an integrated assessment tool for agricultural systems'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this