Mining in European History and its Impact on Environment and Human Societies

Transcription

1 Mining in European History and its Impact on Environment and Human Societies Proceedings for the 1 st Mining in European History-Conference of the SFB-HIMAT, November 2009, Innsbruck Editors: Peter Anreiter Gert Goldenberg Klaus Hanke Rüdiger Krause Walter Leitner Franz Mathis Kurt Nicolussi Klaus Oeggl Ernst Pernicka Mario Prast Jörg Schibler Ingo Schneider Harald Stadler Thomas Stöllner Gerhard Tomedi Peter Tropper

2 Spezialforschungsbereich (SFB) HIMAT Die Geschichte des Bergbaus in Tirol und seinen angrenzenden Gebieten Auswirkungen auf Umwelt und Gesellschaft Universität Innsbruck The Special Research Program HiMAT is supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the Autonomous Province of Bozen South Tyrol, the Countries Tyrol, Salzburg and Vorarlberg, the Stand Montafon, the Municipalities of Bartholomäberg and Silbertal, the City of Schwaz, the University of Innsbruck, transidee transfer center of the Innsbruck University, the Federation of Austrian Industries and the Wilhelm-Momnmertz Foundation. innsbruck university press, 2010 Universität Innsbruck, Vice-Rectorate for Research 1 st edition. All rights reserved. Coverphotos: Dr. Nadja Riedmann Processing: Mag. Barbara Viehweider Printed by: Fred Steiner, Rinn ISBN

3 GIS-supported Integrative Data Management 405 GIS Supported Implementation of Ontology Based Data Management for Multidisciplinary Research Gerald Hiebel 1, Klaus Hanke 1 & Ingrid Hayek 2 1 University of Innsbruck, Surveying and Geoinformation Unit, Technikerstraße 13, A-6020 Innsbruck, gerald.hiebel@uibk.ac.at 2 University of Innsbruck, Central Information Technology Services (IT-Center) ZID, Technikerstraße 21a, A-6020 Innsbruck Geoinformation Systems (GIS) in HiMAT Within the multidisciplinary project HiMAT the Surveying and Geoinformation Unit is responsible for building a Geoinformation Systems (GIS) to enable integration and presentation of spatial data. A central part of a GIS are basic geodata like topographic maps, orthophotos or digital terrain models (DTMs). Two main functionalities of GIS are the overlay of georeferenced data with basic geodata and the analysis of spatial patterns. We want to show these functionalities with Fig. 1 where a GIS is used to identify unknown historic mining sites using overlay techniques and spatial analysis. A high resolution digital terrain model is displayed in a special way of shading and coloring to provide detailed visual information about surface structures. This background image is overlaid with two data sets. The GPS data of a prospection tour is displayed as a yellow line, identifying potential surface structures related to mines with yellow points. The sites of historic mines have been extracted through digitizing from a historical map and are displayed with a mining symbol. Out of historical sources regarding the mining law we know that there had to be a 30 meter distance between mines. The GIS functionality of buffering, which is a kind of spatial analysis, was done around the known sites of mines. The 30 m buffer is displayed with a circle (Fig. 1). The combined information of the DTM, GPS Data and the buffer analysis offers new possibilities for identifying unknown mining sites. We achieved with GIS functionalities the visualization of topographic relations between basic geodata and data gathered within the project by different project parts. But there are two other issues that could make a GIS even more useful. One issue is the relations between the data apart from topographical relations. In our example this would be a connection of the mining symbols to the source of the information and other sources relating to that particular mining site or people who have owned this mine or worked there. The other issue is explicitly defining the meaning of the data that is provided by the project parts, because within HiMAT there is a diversity of concepts, scientific methods and heterogeneous data and it is not obvious for different disciplines what is the meaning of certain data provided by another discipline.

4 406 GIS-supported Integrative Data Management Fig. 1: Digital terrain model (DTM) with data from a historic map and GPS data illustrating GIS functionalities of overlay and analysis. CIDOC CRM Ontology as Data Model With the help of a formal ontology these two issues can be addressed and the aim is to integrate concepts of different disciplines into one data model. On the one hand very basic concepts to model reality are needed, but on the other hand there has to be the possibility for differentiation and complexity within the model. An object oriented semantic data model is one of the modern approaches to handle this dilemma. In our case the CIDOC CRM (ISO standard since 2006) was chosen as appropriate ontology. It has been developed for knowledge representation in the domain of cultural heritage and provides the core concepts to deal with the scope of this project and is extensible to deal with the special needs of every project part. The CIDOC CRM consists of 86 classes (identified by E numbers) and 137 relationships (identified by P numbers) connecting them. In the case of HiMAT we choose eleven main classes and their subclasses to represent the information that should be shared between the project parts. Only relationships that are necessary for the desired ontological representation are selected to relate these classes. Fig. 2 shows on the left side six of our classes and examples for relationships connecting them.

5 GIS-supported Integrative Data Management 407 Fig. 2: CRM-classes and properties used to represent HiMAT-information to the left and the Thesaurus at the right. Fig. 3: Example of the CRM representation of an excavation.

6 408 GIS-supported Integrative Data Management The class Type (E55) is a thesaurus, which is structured in a special way. The ten other CRM classes identified for HiMAT build the upper levels in a hierarchical structure. In Fig. 2 these classes used in HiMAT are displayed in the middle below the Type (E55) heading. Below each CRM class there is a further specialisation to define the types needed for the purpose of the specific domain. On the right hand side of Fig. 2 this specialisation is illustrated with the class of Research Activity (E7) and its subclass Measurement (E16). The thesaurus is expected to be extended as the project develops and represents the extension of the CIDOC CRM for the special needs of the HiMAT project. With an example of the CRM representation of an excavation carried out in the course of Hi- MAT we want to illustrate how CRM classes, types from the thesaurus and real world instances with their names are used to represent the knowledge gathered about an excavation site and its finds. Fig. 3 illustrates the example. At a Place (E53) called Schwarzenberg Moos the Physical Feature (E26) called Mauk F Schwarzenberg Moos is situated which is of the Type (E55) excavation site. A Physical Object (E19) called wooden trough of Type (E55) artefact was found there. Various Research Activities (E7) of different Types (E55) were carried out on the site and the artefact by certain Persons (E21) and they lead to Information Objects (E73) that again belongs to a certain Type (E55). System Architecture and GIS Access to Ontology Based Data The implementation of this ontology based data structure consists of a database, a content management system (CMS) and a GIS. Core element of the implementation is a relational database, which supports hierarchical data structures and the storage of spatial data. The CMS is used to store all kinds of digital resources (PDFs, images, audio files ) and makes these information objects accessible to all project parts. This architecture allows building a GIS that can access ontologically structured data stored in the database and display digital resources related to these data that are stored in the CMS. In Fig. 4 three excavation sites are displayed with pie charts to illustrate the amount of Research Activities (E7), Physical Features (E26), Information Objects (E73) and Physical Objects (E19) found at these sites. Selecting one of the sites opens a tree view of the objects present at that site with the possibility to navigate through them. With the Information Objects (E73) the digital resources stored in the content management system are linked and can be accessed. In Fig. 4 the 3D PDF of a wooden trough is displayed on the upper right corner to illustrate this functionality.

7 GIS-supported Integrative Data Management 409 Fig. 4: GIS Interface to access ontology based data and CMS content. References Crofts, N; Doerr, M.; Gill, T.; Stead, S.; Stiff, M. (ed.) (2008): Definition of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model Version Official Release of the CIDOC CRM. web: ( ). Frank, A. (2005): An Empirical Ontology for GIS (Draft), Institute for Geoinformation. Vienna, Technical University Vienna. Hiebel, G.; Hanke, K. (in print): Concept for an ontology based WebGIS for HiMAT. In: CAA 2008 Budapest Proceedings. Archaeolingua, Budapest. Korduan, P.; Zehner M. (2008): Geoinformation im Internet. Wichmann, Heidelberg. May, K. (in print): A STAR is born: some emerging Semantic Technologies for Archaeological Resources. In: CAA 2008 Budapest Proceedings. Archaeolingua, Budapest. Mischke, A. (2009): ArcheoInf WebGIS-gestützte Bereitstellung archäologischer Primärdaten. In: Chesi, G.; Weinold, T. (ed.): 15. Internationale Geodätische Woche Obergurgl 2009, Heidelberg, Wichmann. Pirkl, H. ( ): Geologische Karte des Trias-Streifens (einschl. des Schwazer Dolomits) von Schwaz bis Wörgl südl. des Inn. Abg. und gezeichnet von Herwig Pirkl :10000, Blatt1 Schwaz. Digitalisiert von Gerhard Rampl.