MEDCollector: Multisource Epidemic Data Collector

Abstract

Abstract. This paper analyzes the requirements and presents a novel approach to the development of a system for epidemiological data collection and integration based on the principles of interoperability and modularity. Accurate and timely epidemic models require the integration of large, fresh datasets. Thus, from an e-science perspective, collected data should be shared seamlessly across multiple applications. This is addressed by our approach, MEDCollector, trough workflow design enables the extraction of data from multiple Web sources. The mapping of extracted entities to ontologies will guarantee the consistency within gathered datasets, and therefore enhance epidemic modeling tools.

The epidemiology ontology: an ontology for the semantic annotation of epidemiological resources

“…from internet social networks [28], or from simulation results [2]). The EM allows users to browse a collection of semantically annotated epidemiology-related resources, including datasets, simulations and documents, and also to upload their own resources.…”

“…NERO is integrated into the Epidemic Marketplace (EM) [ 27 ] (available at http://www.epimarketplace.net ), a platform for sharing resources and knowledge within the Epidemiology community, which includes tools for the collection of epidemiological data through interoperable web services with other applications (e.g. from internet social networks [ 28 ], or from simulation results [ 2 ]). The EM allows users to browse a collection of semantically annotated epidemiology-related resources, including datasets, simulations and documents, and also to upload their own resources.…”

Epidemic Marketplace: An Information Management System for Epidemiological Data

“…Also, there is a prototype of the Mediator, however, only part of the functions to be provided are yet implemented. Furthermore, a prototype of the MEDCollector is also available [24].…”

“…New features are being added to this module in order to support the seamless integration of multiple heterogeneous data sources available on the internet, therefore taking not only advantage of social networks but also from a vaster array of epidemiological web data sources. It is also able to passively collect data, receiving information from other data providers, which can be done through newsfeed or e-mail subscription [24].…”

“…It will communicate with: 1) clients, which retrieve the data collections of the Epidemic Marketplace and produce dynamical trends graphs or maps with goreferenced data; 2) EPI-WORK applications, such as Internet-based Monitoring Systems or computational platforms for epidemiological modeling, which can retrieve and store data in the Epidemic marketplace 3) other modules of the Epidemic Marketplace, for example allowing the MEDCollector [24] to automatically store datasets in the Digital Repository.…”