Modeling Geometric Rules in Object Based Models: An XML / GML Approach

The objective of this paper is to address two issues of current Internet Geographic Information Systems (GIS) programs – interoperability and graphic image output issues – using standard-based technologies, specifically, the Geography Markup Language (GML), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and the OpenGIS Web Feature Service (WFS) Implementation Specifications developed by the OpenGIS Consortium (OGC). A strategy is proposed to use GML as a coding and data transporting mechanism to achieve data interoperability, SVG to display GML data on the Web, and WFS as a data query mechanism to access and retrieve data at the feature level in real time on the Web. Two case studies are reported to implement this strategy. Our case studies show that the combination of GML, SVG, and WFS has an immense potential to achieve interoperability while not requiring considerable changes to existing legacy data. Data can be in their original formats and still be retrieved using WFS and transformed into GML in real time. SVG can produce superior quality vector maps on a Web browser. More research is needed to explore the full potential of these new standards and to test them in real-world situations.

The development of geographic information systems (GIS) is now being accompanied by an increasing popularity of Internet GIS mapping services. This study concerns two important issues with Internet GIS interoperability and Open source resources. Centering on the interplay of these two issues, we provide a systematic overview of techniques that have been used to deliver Internet GIS mapping and the relevance of the two issues with regard to these techniques. We then present a standard-and-open-source-based framework for Internet GIS mapping services to achieve data interoperability and high visual quality. The framework employs the Web Feature Service (WFS) to handle vector data and raster data. The Geography Markup Language (GML) standard is used for interoperable data storage and management. The Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) standard is used to visualize GML data in web browsers. Two preliminary prototypes have been developed to demonstrate the capabilities of the framework. We conclude that using standard-based solutions is an important and viable direction of interoperable Internet GIS services. Advances in standardization and technology have significant implications for Internet GIS mapping. There are many powerful open sources tools which, when coupled with open standards, may be used to develop high-quality online GIS services. Importantly, these solutions require no investment in software, yet achieve excellent interoperability and visualization quality; they are excellent alternative approaches to Internet mapping.

This study aims to improve the interoperability between the application domains of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) by linking and harmonizing core information concepts. Many studies have investigated the integration of application schemas and data instances according to the BIM model IFC and the GIS model CityGML. This study investigates integration between core abstract concepts from IFC and ISO/TC 211 standards for GIS—independent of specific application schemas. A pattern was developed for conversion from IFC EXPRESS schemas to Unified Modelling Language (UML) models according to ISO/TC 211 standards. Core concepts from the two application domains were linked in the UML model, and conversions to implementation schemas for the Geography Markup Language (GML) and EXPRESS were tested. The results showed that the IFC model could be described as an ISO/TC 211 compliant UML model and that abstract concepts from ISO/TC 211 standards could be linked to core IFC concepts. Implementation schemas for BIM and GIS formats could be derived from the UML model, enabling implementation in applications from both domains without conversion of concepts. Future work should include refined linking and harmonization of core abstract concepts from the two application domains.

수로정보의 다양한 사용으로 해양지리정보의 상호운용성에 대한 필요성이 증가됨에 따라 개방형지리정보위원회(OGC)는 지리정보의 상호운용을 위한 표준인 GML을 수립하였다. GML은 지리정보의 모델링, 전송, 저장을 위해 XML 스키마 문법에 따라 작성된 XML 언어로서 피쳐, 참조체계, 지오메트리, 토폴로지, 시간, 측도 등의 지리체계를 설명하기 위한 객체를 포함하고 있다. 한편, S-57은 수로정보 전송을 위한 국제수로기구(IHO)의 표준으로 다양한 수로정보를 위한 표준임에도 불구하고 표준에서 채택하고 있는 구조의 한계로 인해 전자해도(ENC) 제작 목적으로 한정되어 사용되었다. 이를 개선하기 위해 IHO는 신규 표준을 준비하고 있으며 특히, GML은 모델링 및 엔코딩 도구로 사용될 것으로 전망되고 있다. 전자해도는 해상교통에 사용될 수 있는 가장 신뢰성 있는 정보로서 그 가치가 인정되나 전자해도 활용을 위한 GML 개발연구는 진행된 바 없다. 이에 본 연구에서는 전자해도 GML 변환을 위한 기초 연구로서 GML 작성을 위한 응용 스키마 개발기법 및 방안에 대해 연구하였다. Recently, bemuse of extensive use of hydrographic information, interoperability of Marine Geographic products is very important for efficient use of geographic information systems. Open GIS Consortium(OGC) developed the Open Geodata Interoperability Specification(OpenGIS) to support the interoperability in the distributed environment, especially Geography Markup Language(GML) Implementation Specification. Geography Markup Language is an XML grammar written in XML Schema for the modelling, transporting, and storing of geographic information GML provides a variety of objects for describing geography including features, coordinate reference systems, geometry, topology, time, units of measure and generalized values. S-57 is currently the IHO standard for the exchange of digital hydrographic data. To date, it ms been used almost exclusively for encoding Electronic Navigational Charts(ENCs). Even though, S-57 is intended to support all types of hydrographic data. In order to meet this requirement, a new standard is being developed. GML will be the core encoding rule of IHO's new standard. But there has been no study that tried to develop the GML for ENC that are recognized as base mop in the Marine GIS. This paper presents the process and results on development of application schema for converting ENC into GML.

Flood damage assessment (FDA) provides an effective basis for the flood risk management process to evaluate and treat risks. Current FDA methods, however, are ill-equipped to account for the distinctiveness of buildings in the analysis. This is mainly due to their limited input data that on the one hand requires complete building information (well-represented in building information models [BIM]) and, on the other hand, the flood information (commonly managed by geographic information systems [GIS]). While such requirements cannot be satisfied via independent use of BIM or GIS, their integration can potentially be used for this purpose. The current BIM-GIS integration methods, however, are limited or application-specific. Therefore they fall short in satisfying the micro-level FDA information requirements. This paper presents a new data model as a profile of Geography Markup Language (GML) for BIM-GIS integration to support the detailed assessment and 3D visualisation of flood damage to buildings. The model was further evaluated using a case study and found effective for this purpose.

Data acquired from site surveys provide an essential resource to various exploration and production activities, such as field development planning, well positioning, and subsea equipment positioning. For many years, site survey data has been delivered as a Computer-aided Design (CAD) product. As operators move into a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment, shortfalls from CAD-based workflows have become obvious. This paper presents a method of managing site survey data based on geo-information management principles and practices. The methodology presented in this paper defines a GIS data model for seabed survey data interpretation that satisfies GIS query, presentation, and data exchange purposes. This paper also defines a standard for GIS seabed survey data deliverables from contractors to operators, including methods and processes to move the model to/from CAD-based applications. The implementation of the data model has proven to be a relative success and allows for a better integration of subsurface applications internally. The results have helped define an efficient contractor-operator data exchange process by eliminating data ambiguity and enabling seamless GIS data transfer. Results have also produced a more intelligent seabed survey GIS dataset with rules and behaviors capability offered by an ArcGIS Geodatabase embedded into the data model. Use of a standard GIS data model and a standard list of GIS data deliverables required from contractors to operators will allow project teams to fully embrace the power of GIS data integration and allow nearly seamless and lossless movement of CAD/GIS representations of the model. Introduction In order to reach maximum potential benefit of data provided from seabed site surveys throughout the E & P lifecylcle (Figure 1), there is a need to ensure that data delivered from survey contractors to operators is done so in a structured, efficient, and consistent manner.

Boundaries of land have been documented and recorded throughout history dating back over 2000 years ago. Land has been an important commodity throughout time, and a move toward building a coordinate-based land cadastre has been implemented in other countries across the world. It is used in parts of Europe, British Columbia, and the Middle East to manage land records. The County of Riverside needed a process for checking and reporting surveyed land divisions that were submitted in the form of computer aided design (CAD) files, and loading them into a geographic information system (GIS). The current CAD data submitted had errors with the geometry, and in most cases did not have a projected coordinate system. Most of the CAD files were not used for their intended purpose: which was to be shared with the Riverside County Assessor’s staff to aid them in creating and updating their Assessor Parcel Layer. Without the digital data the Assessor’s staff followed its business practice of re-entering the parcels one at a time. This created redundancy of work since the same data supplied by the Land Surveyor or Civil Engineer was identical. Some of the problems listed above uncovered the need to come up with a digital submission standard, and an automation tool to help prepare the data for loading into the Parcel Fabric. The goal of the project was to create a tool that will automatically check the surveyed land division for compliance prior to approval; this tool is named County Automated Terrestrial CAD Helper (CATCH). CATCH uses GIS technology to automatically identify mapping errors and report these errors back to the Land Surveyor or Civil Engineer who created the data. CATCH has been well received by the professional engineering community, from a series of stakeholder meetings held at county offices to introduce the project to private industry professionals and county staff. These meetings were critical in the success of CATCH, and helped bring up issues that the industry have had in submitting their digital files in the past. Also, CATCH could be well suited as the platform for tracking and maintaining other county assets in a GIS such as: grading plans, storm drains, gas lines, and other critical utilities that come in the form of digital CAD files. The problem that was solved was having an accurate foundation: and that being the boundary survey tied to a CAD file that utilized global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and global positioning system (GPS) technology.

We are on the edge of a revolution in the way we visualize and query digital data about our environment. To date, computer displays of our environment in the third dimension have been limited to computer-aided design (CAD) packages and the query of related data limited to geographical information systems (GIS) packages in two dimensions. The current innovation wave across the spatial data information field is based on the development and dissemination of three-dimensional GIS (3-D GIS) which allows data to be visualized and queried on an x, y and z axis plane. A number of the key players in information visualization allow conventional two-dimensional data to be viewed and exported in a three-dimensional format, currently using the standard Virtual Reality Modeling Language 2.0 (VRML 2.0). However such methods of visualization and data query are limited in their practicality. The move towards 3-D GIS in standard packages has been rather hit and miss, with the third dimension often only used as a substitute for basic CAD-like visualization. We argue here that 3-D GIS will only become a reality when it is directly linked with CAD models; and that the Internet is the most appropriate medium through which this is most likely to occur. We illustrate these arguments in an overview of research into the virtual city in general and our own development of ‘Virtual London’ in particular. Further, we explore the rise of the global virtual city, a network of virtual cities that provide an insight into the future of digital space.

With advances in automatic position sensing and wireless connectivity, location-based services (LBS) are rapidly developing, particularly in fields of geographic, tourism and logistic information systems. Currently, Web service has been viewed as one of most significant innovations in business industry, and designed on demand to provide spatial related information for LBS consumption. However, the traditional Web Service Description Language (WSDL) cannot meet those requirements, as WSDL is not able to support semantic content and information. In recent years, Ontology came up with an effective approach to enhance service description, automated discovery, dynamic composition, enactment, and other tasks such as managing and using service-based systems. In this paper, we propose geographic ontology based on Geography Markup Language (GML) and extend OWL-S profile to form geographic profile. Web service, which is advertised on the basis of our GeoProfile, contains geographic information inherently.

While the use of three-dimensional (3D) geographical information system (GIS) is becoming in rapid development and being used in various fields such as urban and regional planning, disaster management and planning, mobile navigation and etc., commercial and open source GIS software packages tend to offer 3D-GIS functionalities for their products. On the basis, GIS analysis functions are to provide information with respect to geographical location and by having 3D spatial data as an input, it will give advantages in providing horizontal position information. However, to analyze moving objects (temporal) in 3D seems not an easy task and not fully supported by current GIS platform packages. Previously in two-dimensional (2D) GIS practice, main issue addressed by researchers in managing temporal spatial objects is GIS packages were designed based on hardware and software constraints whereby it should be based on the temporal spatial objects ontology. Nowadays, the trend of managing temporal 3D data is via 3D spatial simulation or animation. This approach will not in assistance for GIS users in conducting spatial queries. Without having a suitable ontology and valid topological data structure for temporal 3D data, it will cause repetitive of temporal data (redundancy) and complications in executing spatial analysis in 3D environment. Therefore this paper focuses on the ontology for managing moving 3D spatial objects (i.e. air pollution, flood). The characteristics of moving objects were reviewed thoroughly by categorizing it based on its different appearances. Moreover, existing methods in managing temporal database were addressed and discussed for its practicalities. Another important aspect in managing temporal 3D objects is the implementation of topological data structures for 3D spatial objects were reviewed. In the last section of this paper it summarized the issues and further ideas towards implementing and managing temporal 3D spatial objects in GIS based on the Geoinformation Ontology (GeO).

<sec><p indent="0mm">To overcome longstanding issues of error propagation and low computational efficiency in geographical information systems (GIS) and computer-aided design (CAD) systems, high-accuracy surface modeling (HASM) methods were developed through the systematic integration of systems theory, optimization cybernetics, and surface theory. Following nearly two decades of numerical experimentation and empirical investigation, a universal fundamental theorem of surface modeling (UFTSM) was formulated. This theorem provides a general theoretical framework applicable to spatial interpolation, upscaling, downscaling, data fusion, and model–data assimilation across a wide range of disciplines, including Earth surface system science, eco-environmental informatics, medical imaging, and computer-aided design. </sec><sec> The UFTSM was first successfully applied to the simulation of eco-environmental surfaces. Within the conceptual framework of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), eco-environmental components were classified into three categories: nature (including species diversity, ecosystem structure, and geographical features), nature’s contributions to people (such as food provision, freshwater supply, and environmental pollution remediation), and drivers of natural change (including climate change, land-use change, policies, and regulations). The term eco-environmental surface is used as a unified concept to represent surfaces describing nature, nature’s contributions to people, or drivers of natural change. Numerous studies have demonstrated that intrinsic information (e.g., ground-based observations) and extrinsic information (e.g., satellite observations) provide complementary perspectives, and that neither alone can fully characterize an eco-environmental surface. Instead, such surfaces are governed by the joint influence of intrinsic and extrinsic information, and cannot be adequately understood without considering both. To address the challenge of simulating eco-environmental surfaces through the integration of these two information sources, an iterative differential method for HASM-based machine learning was developed, and a fundamental theorem for eco-environmental surface modeling (FTEEM) was proposed. In addition, a suite of high-efficiency algorithms suitable for classical computing platforms, including a modified conjugate gradient algorithm, a multigrid algorithm, an adaptation algorithm, and adjustment computation, was designed to accelerate eco-environmental surface modeling. Compared with existing surface modeling approaches, HASM-based applications exhibit substantially improved accuracy. However, computational cost remains a major bottleneck for global-scale eco-environmental surface modeling, particularly as spatial resolution becomes increasingly fine. </sec><sec> To address the limitations of classical algorithms and hardware, HASM was reformulated as a large sparse linear system using the Lagrange multiplier method. This system was then implemented on both a real quantum computer and a virtual quantum computing platform by employing two widely used quantum linear solvers: the Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) algorithm and the iterative refinement of the variational quantum linear solver (iVQLS). Based on these approaches, two HASM-oriented quantum linear solvers, HASM-HHL and HASM-iVQLS, were developed, enabling the solution of simulation problems that are intractable for classical computers. The respective advantages and limitations of HASM-HHL and HASM-iVQLS, as quantum machine learning algorithms, were systematically evaluated through simulation experiments conducted on both real and virtual quantum computing platforms. The comparative results highlight the urgent need for a universal tool library that supports both classical and quantum intelligent computing. Moreover, the development of a full-stack quantum input–computing–output system is essential for overcoming the principal challenges currently faced by HASM-based quantum machine learning. </sec>

GIScience Research at the Thirty‐second Annual Esri International User Conference

Abstract. Advanced analysis of spatio-temporal data is improving our knowledge about natural phenomena such as landslides and volcanic activity. Furthermore, it can contribute to a deeper understanding of the built environment by predicting city development. However, the data produced by the modelling of these observations can easily rise to terra bytes of 4D (3D space plus time) data. Also, the repeatability of such analysis is essential. Thus, repeatable and reliable access to big spatio-temporal data, models and simulation results should be guaranteed. However, today´s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are not prepared to meet these requirements. Therefore, we present a comprehensive spatio-temporal data model for GIS and geodatabase management systems that can be used as the “heart” of 4D GIS. The comprehensive model enables a flexible management of time-series-based geometric and topological data. It cares of storage reduction and computational efficiency when storing, retrieving, and processing surface- and volume-based data in 3D space plus time. Furthermore, the model can handle geometry and topology changes of 4D data, i.e., mesh changes of triangulated surfaces and tetrahedral volumes over time. The model also allows the attachment of detailed semantic information to geometric and topological entities. The various concepts, implementation and the benefits of our comprehensive model are presented. Finally, conclusions are drawn from the approach and an outlook is given on future research including demanding applications based on multiscale digital elevation models.

The use of digital techniques is often applied today by archaeologists in the field to get quick and reliable 3D surveys for their research. 3D models and reconstructions are the focus for the use of these techniques. The aim of this paper is to present the methodology employed during the 2018 season, and its combination with that from 2016 on the private areas of the bishop’s residence of the Episcopal Palace in the ancient city of Side, Turkey. This paper will focus on the data acquisition process, accuracy of the survey, errors and solutions as well as the workflow-process of the data. The aim is to present a useful workflow to combine surveys at a maximum level of accuracy with already completed surveys. A Total Station (TS) survey, Global Positioning System (GPS) Real Time Kinetics (RTK) survey and Structure from Motion (SfM) are among the techniques used to compile the information later exported into a Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. Eventually, viable applications of the data created with such methods that help to formulate a new hypothesis for the ritual and non-ritual areas will be shown: plans, 3D models, digital elevation models (DEM) and orthophotos.

An integrated underground utility management and decision support based on BIM and GIS