Paulo Alencar Computer Systems Group David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science University of Waterloo

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Paulo AlencarComputer Systems GroupDavid R.
Cheriton School of Computer ScienceUniversity of
Waterloo
The Geospatial Web and Open Data Trends, Issues
and Applications
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Overview

• Introduction
• A Web Science Project
• The Geospatial Web
• Issues in Open Data and the Geospatial Web
• Successful Applications
• Conclusion

Web Science
The Geospatial Web
Issues in Open Data
Applications
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Overview

• Introduction
• A Web Science Project
• The Geospatial Web
• Issues in Open Data and the Geospatial Web
• Successful Applications
• Conclusion

Web Science
The Geospatial Web
Issues in Open Data
Applications
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The World Wide Web
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The World Wide Web

• The Web and the Internet have become an
  extraordinary platform for
• - innovation
• - economic growth
• - social communication
• A central backbone of the digital economy, which
  is expected to reach 4.2 trillion in the G20
  economies by 2016.
• The largest information construct in human
  history, which is revolutionizing the world by
  supporting novel software-intensive systems and
  applications in almost every area of human
  endeavor.

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Web Science

• A systems approach, in the sense of a large-scale
  system that may have emergent properties not
  predictable by analyzing micro technical and/or
  social effects.
• Emergent properties
• e-mail -gt instant messaging -gt social networks
  (e. g., Facebook)
• document transfer -gt file-sharing (e. g.,
  Napster) -gt user-generated portals (e. g.,
  Youtube)
• Learning about the Web and its societal and
  business effects.
• Berners-Lee, T., Hall, W., Hendler, J.,
  Shadbolt, N., and Wietzner, D. Creating a Science
  of the Web. Science 311 (2006).

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Web Science
Our focus Web Science in the context of
Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
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A Web Science Project

• Next Generation Approaches and Tools
• Supported by the Ontario Research Fund Research
  Excellence (ORF-RE)
• Applicants Cowan, Alencar, Lucena
• Main participants
• - Computer Systems Group (UW)
• Donald Cowan, Paulo Alencar
• - Centre for Community Mapping (COMAP)
• Fred McGarry
• - SAP (formerly iAnywhere)

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A Web Science Project

• Next Generation Approaches and Tools
• Some Partners Ministries of the Ontario
  Government, Stewardship Network of Ontario,
  Communities of Muskoka and Parry Sound, Muskoka
  Community Network, Mennonite Historical Society
  of Ontario, Oak Ridge Moraine Foundation, Metcalf
  Foundation, Ontario Federation of Anglers and
  Hunters, comPeters Inc., Huntsville Chamber of
  Commerce, the Indigenous Cooperative on the
  Environment, United Nations, the Centre for
  Community Ecology, Family Services Toronto,
  United Nations University.

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Overview

• Introduction
• A Web Science Project
• The Geospatial Web
• Issues in Open Data and the Geospatial Web
• Successful Applications
• Conclusion

The Geospatial Web
Web Science
Issues in Open Data
Applications
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The Geospatial Web

• A convergence of geo-related location-based
  information technologies that uses
  location-oriented web-based information and maps,
  enabling functions such as
• Searching
• Sharing
• Analyzing
• Displaying
• The geospatial Web is poised for tremendous
  growth as location-aware applications and devices
  become increasingly popular.
• UN-GGIM Future Trends in Geospatial Information
  Management (January, 2013).

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Web-based Maps

• Analytical maps offering analytical
  capabilities (e. g., number and types of invasive
  species in area)
• Animated maps showing changes in the map over
  time (e. g., traffic flow maps)
• Collaborative maps allowing users collaborate
  to create and improve the web mapping experience
  (e. g., open street map, joint planning)
• Online atlases going through a remarkably large
  transition when moved to the web (e. g.,
  annotations, advertisement)
• Real-time maps - showing the situation of a
  phenomenon in close to real-time (e. g., weather
  or vehicle monitoring systems)

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The Geospatial Web

• Current trends
• Everything happens somewhere
• The geography has become mobile
• There is an increasing number of devices
• Mobile devices can use and create location
  information
• Information generated using websites and social
  media is overlaid on top of geospatial
  information

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The Geospatial Web

• Current trends
• Managing a world of data
• The ability to make sense of this data (e. g.,
  data analytics)
• The ability to identify patterns within this data
• An increasing use and reliance on big data
  technologies
• Linked data and the Internet of things
• The ability link data on the Web
• Semantic technologies will play an important role
• The network of tomorrow will rely on an
  increasing number of sensors (i. e., about 50
  billion sensors by 2020), and will lead to a
  hyper-connected environment or Internet of
  Things

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Overview

• Introduction
• A Web Science Project
• The Geospatial Web
• Issues in Open Data and the Geospatial Web
• Successful Applications
• Conclusion

Issues in Open Data
Web Science
The Geospatial Web
Applications
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Issues in Open Data

• Challenges in Open Data and the Geospatial Web
• There is a widespread availability of free
  mapping information.
• New challenges have been confronted in recent
  years with respect to open data
• Access
• (Re-)use
• Integration (e. g., multi-party, distributed
  data)

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Issues in Open Data

• Some current issues
• Security and privacy
• Use of open data combined with proprietary data
• The development of online access controls
• Is private information going to be released?
• What is the valued gained in using open data?
• The use of high-quality, authoritative geospatial
  information
• Economic and social value
• Effective use in decision-making
• Adoption of a sustainable model
• The open data needs to be maintained
• The data needs to be made available
• Data maintenance and availability need to be
  either free of charge or fee-based

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Issues in Open Data

• Some current issues
• Open data integration
• Data from distributed sources needs to be
  integrated
• Lack of open data standards
• Standardization facilitates data integration and
  (re-)use
• Open data policies
• Policies should not stifle creativity and rapid
  development
• Disparities between legal and policy frameworks
• Some applications may not be available in certain
  countries
• Lack of collaborative approaches
• Collaborative efforts towards integration and
  interoperability
• Liability for quality and assurance of data

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Overview

• Introduction
• A Web Science Project
• The Geospatial Web
• Issues in Open Data and the Geospatial Web
• Successful Applications
• Conclusion

Web Science
The Geospatial Web
Applications
Trends in Open Data
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Successful Applications

• Watershed modeling
• Application for understanding the behavior of
  watersheds
• Water course modeling
• Application for monitoring water courses for fish
  populations
• Invasive tracking system
• Application for locating and identifying invasive
  species
• Oak Ridge Moraine
• Application for monitoring development approvals
• Aboriginal Atlas
• Application to deal with duty to consult
• Community Services
• Application to support community service planning
  process

Cowan, D., Alencar, P., McGarry, F., Open Data
Issues and Opportunities. IEEE International
Conference on Software Science, Technology and
Engineering, 2014 (to appear).
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Successful Applications

• Encountered issues
• Data is distributed throughout multiple
  jurisdictions
• Problems with open data identification
• Open data standardization
• Lack of participatory approach (e. g.,
  crowdsourcing)
• Lack of open data evaluation by experts
• Lack of support for stakeholder communication
• Lack of collaborative mapping approach
• Legal issues
• Lack of support for negotiation
• Lack of proper access control to open data
• Lack of support for using open data combined with
  secure data

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Watershed Modeling

• Sources of data
• Federal departments, provincial ministries
  (departments), conservation authorities,
  political regions (municipalities), NGOs,
  universities, businesses, consultants
• Open data includes
• Watershed models, catchment and stream
  delineation, digital elevation, soil texture,
  water holding capacity, erosion potential, soil
  drainage, weather station locations, daily
  precipitation, min/max temperature records, land
  use, chemical water composition (phosphorous can
  decrease oxygen in water effects on fish,
  excessive algae), channel morphology

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Watershed Modeling

• Constraints on open data
• The application involves private business data
  (obfuscation of some private data in some cases
  data is aggregated to hide details).
• Encountered issues
• Data is distributed throughout multiple
  jurisdictions
• Problems with open data identification
• Open data accessibility issues
• Lack of collaborative mapping approach
• Lack of proper access control to open data
• Lack of support for using open data combined with
  secure data

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Aboriginal Atlas

• Sources of data
• MNCFN (The Mississaugas of New Credit) a
  Canadian indigenous people, provincial and
  municipal base spatial data (maps), libraries
  (archives), universities, businesses,
  consultants, lawyers
• Open data includes
• Land infrastructure and reserve development (in
  aboriginal land), land claims, reserve lands,
  resources used

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Aboriginal Atlas

• Constraints on open data
• Some data involves information on areas with
  medicinal plants and sacred sites (location
  obfuscation for security reasons), and
  confidential tribe documentation such as
  communications and membership data.
• Encountered issues
• Data is distributed throughout multiple
  jurisdictions
• Problems with open data identification,
  standardization
• Lack of participatory approach (e. g.,
  crowdsourcing)
• Lack of support for stakeholder communication
• Lack of collaborative mapping approach,
  negotiation
• Lack of support for proper access control to open
  data, and for using open data combined with
  secure data

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Community Services

• Sources of data
• Social service NGOs and agencies, grassroot
  groups, businesses, faith groups, residential
  groups, community groups, Statistics Canada data,
  municipalities, government agencies
• Open data includes
• Service areas, service type, Statistics Canada
  data, organizational data

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Community Services

• Constraints on open data
• The application involves private business data
  (private statistical and modeling data).
• Encountered issues
• Data is distributed throughout multiple
  jurisdictions
• Problems with open data identification,
  standardization
• Lack of participatory approach (e. g.,
  crowdsourcing)
• Lack of open data evaluation by experts
• Lack of support for stakeholder communication
• Lack of collaborative mapping approach
• Lack of support for proper access control to open
  data, and for using open data combined with
  secure data

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Conclusion

• Future work How to extend our geospatial
  approaches and tools in order to take advantage
  of the worldwide open and big data initiatives?
• Novel approaches based on context (e. g.,
  involving location, time, tasks, schedule,
  profile)
• Approaches based on multi-agent systems (e. g.,
  involving user goals, intentions, plans)
• Geospatial, temporal, event-based and
  context-aware data analytics
• Overall, combining the potential of the
  geospatial Web with the richness of existing open
  data resources in the form of novel approaches
  and tools can definitely help to ensure that the
  full value of geospatial information and open
  data is realized in the coming years.

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Questions?