Powerpoint slides describing factors of linked data, geographic information system, and cartograp... more Powerpoint slides describing factors of linked data, geographic information system, and cartographic integration. This presentation was given at the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Winter Meeting held in Bethesda, MD in January 2020.<br>
The manly map: the English construction of gender in early modern cartography
The development of linked data on the World-Wide Web provides the opportunity for the U.S. Geolog... more The development of linked data on the World-Wide Web provides the opportunity for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to supply its extensive volumes of geospatial data, information, and knowledge in a machine interpretable form and reach users and applications that heretofore have been unavailable. To pilot a process to take advantage of this opportunity, the USGS is developing an ontology for The National Map and converting selected data from nine research test areas to a Semantic Web format to support machine processing and linked data access. In a case study, the USGS has developed initial methods for legacy vector and raster formatted geometry, attributes, and spatial relationships to be accessed in a linked data environment maintaining the capability to generate graphic or image output from semantic queries. The description of an initial USGS approach to developing ontology, linked data, and initial query capability from The National Map databases is presented.
Spatial relations are essential for knowledge representation, yet the scope of a corpus of geospa... more Spatial relations are essential for knowledge representation, yet the scope of a corpus of geospatial terms, such as exists for RDF or OWL, is not yet recognized. A vocabulary of geospatial relations may align with several existing models within RDF and OWL; among which are relation primitives as defined in upper ontology; regional topological relations such as those expressed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) GeoSPARQL standard; and mereotopologic relations as are researched in related semantic literature. One semantic area that is theorized among linguists, but not well defined within formal logic are verb-preposition combinations. The objective of this study in-progress is to 1. Define a corpus of spatial relation terms, 2. Place such relation classes within a framework of existing semantic axioms, and 3. To identify the types of spatial relation terms that need more research. To understand and enrich the vocabulary of geospatial feature properties for semantic technology, English language spatial relation predicates were analysed in three standard topographic feature glossaries. Five major classes of spatial relation predicates were identified from the analysis. First, part-whole relations are modelled throughout semantic and linked-data networks. The remaining classes are spatially descriptive and geometric relations; physical processes happening in space; human use of geographic space, such as land use; and spatial preposition spatial relations. These categories are commonly found in the 'real world' and support environmental science based on digital topographical mapping. The hypothesis is that a broad set of spatial relation expressions, form the basis for expanding the range of possible queries for topographical data and mapping applications.
Historical topographic maps are the only systematically collected data resource covering the enti... more Historical topographic maps are the only systematically collected data resource covering the entire nation for long-term landscape change studies over the 20 th century for geographical and environmental research. The paper discusses aspects of the historical U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps that present constraints on the design of a database for such studies. Problems involved in this approach include locating the required maps, understanding land feature classification differences between topographic vs. land use/land cover maps, the approximation of error between different map editions of the same area, and the identification of true changes on the landscape between time periods. Suggested approaches to these issues are illustrated using an example of such a study by the author.
Introduction On December 4-5, 1884, John Wesley Powell, then Director of the U. S. Geological Sur... more Introduction On December 4-5, 1884, John Wesley Powell, then Director of the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), persuaded the United States Congress to approve systematic topographic mapping of the United States Thus, in December 2009, the USGS will celebrate the 125 th anniversary of topographic mapping. This paper is a treatise on the history of topographic mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) in the USGS.
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Papers by Dalia Varanka