Semantic typing of linked geoprocessing workflows

Abstract

In Geographic Information Systems (GIS), geoprocessing workflows allow analysts to organize their methods on spatial data in complex chains. We propose a method for expressing workflows as linked data, and for semi-automatically enriching them with semantics on the level of their operations and datasets. Linked workflows can be easily published on the Web and queried for types of inputs, results, or tools. Thus, GIS analysts can reuse their workflows in a modular way, selecting, adapting, and recommending resources based on compatible semantic types. Our typing approach starts from minimal annotations of workflow operations with classes of GIS tools, and then propagates data types and implicit semantic structures through the workflow using an OWL typing scheme and SPARQL rules by backtracking over GIS operations. The method is implemented in Python and is evaluated on two real-world geoprocessing workflows, generated with Esri's ArcGIS. To illustrate the potential applications of our typing method, we formulate and execute competency questions over these workflows. ARTICLE HISTORY

Why good data analysts need to be critical synthesists. Determining the role of semantics in data analysis

“…Fostering reproducibility across contexts would require adapting both data inputs and tools. A prerequisite for doing so is that nodes and links in a workflow are semantically typed, so that tools and data of equivalent, similar or even different type can be substituted [40]. In analogous fashion, ontology design patterns were proposed as a cure to limited re-usability of modeling solutions, as they can be adapted to particular applications by filling in open slots [90].…”

“…This requires abstracting from particular tools and data sets and describing data analysis on a conceptual level [40], which would allow partial adaption of workflows across computing environments. It would also allow analysts to focus on the questions they want to answer and the methods to answer them, instead of the software and data formats needed for computation [41,42].…”

A provenance metadata model integrating ISO geospatial lineage and the OGC WPS: Conceptual model and implementation

“…The task of assembling geoprocessing workflows is central to any GIS. Sharing and integrating models over the web can help organizations to save labor and computational resources by reusing methods and data (Scheider & Ballatore, 2018), thus promoting modeling research (Nativi et al, 2013).…”

Innovation in geoprocessing for a Digital Earth

“…One of the application examples is the extraction of potential glacier loss and glacier gain from land cover data. Scheider and Ballatore (2018) contribute a method and a tool to semantically annotate geoprocessing workflows for successful search, interpretation and reuse of workflows. In their paper 'Semantic typing of linked geoprocessing workflows', they propose vocabularies for basic geodata data types, geoprocessing operations and relations which are used to describe the geoprocessing provenance of a data set.…”

“…Several papers show the progress in a better formalisation, management and usage of geoprocessing semantics, including semantics of the processing input, output, operations, workflows and provenance (Scheider and Ballatore 2018;Stasch et al 2018;Sudmanns et al 2018;Wiemann, Karrasch, and Bernard 2018). Especially, these papers demonstrate that and how semantics of data and operations can be exploited to support users to more efficiently generate information and to increase reusability of existing workflows.…”