[Geowanking] phd studenship available

[Femke Reitsma]

*
Funded PhD available at School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, 
for 2006 entry:*

*Title: *Enhancing Spatial Data Provision with the Semantic Grid
*Contact:* Dr. Femke Reitsma, ph: +44 0131 650 9138, e-mail: 
femke.reitsma at ed.ac.uk   
(contact no later than March 22nd)

*Background: *
The quantity and quality of spatial data is continually increasing as 
our ability to observe the world grows through advances in technology, 
such as the development of new satellites and sensor networks. This is 
particularly evident in the realms of Earth Systems Science, where 
petabytes of satellite imagery are captured, stored, and ready for 
distribution. As the volume of data grows, increasingly sophisticated 
methods of data retrieval are needed as a basis for knowledge discovery 
and information integration.  Unfortunately, the proliferation of data 
and metadata portals for environmental data has not provided a general 
solution to retrieving spatial data. Engaging any one of these 
distribution facilities, let alone the multitude of available services 
through web portals, requires a substantial amount of time for 
familiarization with the methods of data extraction presented (for human 
or computational agent interaction). Attempts at providing a one-stop 
shop have yet to prove their effectiveness in data delivery. The 
Semantic Web provides an opportunity for enhancing knowledge discovery, 
automated retrieval, and use of spatial data.  By enabling the 
specification of the semantics of information in a formal logic based 
language, the Semantic Web supports the use and discovery of information 
and knowledge in new and interesting ways through logical reasoning such 
as inference. The integration of the Semantic Web and GRID computing 
extends these advantages even further by supporting larger scale 
applications and allowing for interoperable infrastructure, which is 
necessary for the volume of data produced in Earth Systems Science.

*Objectives: *
The overall objective is to investigate the representation of the 
semantics of spatial data, and to develop a web-based search tool for 
spatial data that utilises recent developments in Semantic Web, GRID, 
and Semantic GRID research. This objective is supported by the School of 
Geosciences, the School of Informatics, the National e-Science Centre 
(NeSC), and EDINA, a national datacentre offering spatial information 
and services.  Specific objectives are to:
.    determine the best approach to representing spatial information in 
a semantic environment,
.    evaluate spatial metadata and data standards and their semantic 
expression (e.g. ISO 19115, GML),
.    create an ontology based management core that captures the 
semantics of spatial data, and
.    develop an online prototype that allows users to utilise the 
currently latent semantics of spatial metadata and data in a GRID 
environment

-- 
Dr. Femke Reitsma
Lecturer
MSc GIS Director
Institute of Geography
School of Geosciences
The University of Edinburgh
Drummond Street
Edinburgh EH8 9XP
Scotland, UK
Ph: +44 0131 650 9138
Fax: +44 0131 650 2524
http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/homes/freitsma/

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