Analysis Patterns for the Geographic Database Conceptual Schema: An Ontology Aided Approach Extended Abstract

摘要

Conceptual modeling of Geographic Databases (GDB) has become a very important task due to both the increasing exchange and reuse of geographic information. Most of the GDB support a proprietary data model, specific for a particular system architecture. This design scenario leads to a non-reusable as well as implementation-dependent geographic database project. The reuse is especially interesting in GDB, since the precise modeling process can be of significant complexity. Furthermore, a wide set of real world entities must be represented in the database of most geographic applications. To support this kind of reuse, the analysis patterns methodology is a very useful technique. Analysis patterns are the core of the conceptual modeling for the solution of a recurrent problem in a specific context. Having the patterns stored in a knowledge base that can be easily searched and updated, a designer is able to search, retrieve and reuse the most adequate concept representation that applies to a specific modeling process. To support this approach, a ontology can be used to play the role of the knowledge base mentioned above.