The Geospatial Web and Open Data: Trends, Issues and Applications

The Geospatial Web and Open Data: Trends, Issues and Applications Paulo AlencarComputer Systems GroupDavid R. Cheriton School of Computer ScienceUniversity of Waterloo

Overview • Introduction • A Web Science Project • The Geospatial Web • Issues in Open Data and the Geospatial Web • Successful Applications • Conclusion Web Science The Geospatial Web Issues in Open Data Applications

The World Wide Web

The World Wide Web • The Web and the Internet have become an extraordinary platform for: - innovation - economic growth - social communication • A central backbone of the digital economy, which is expected to reach $4.2 trillion in the G20 economies by 2016. • The largest information construct in human history, which is revolutionizing the world by supporting novel software-intensive systems and applications in almost every area of human endeavor.

Web Science • A systems approach, in the sense of a large-scale system that may have emergent properties not predictable by analyzing micro technical and/or social effects. • Emergent properties: • e-mail -> instant messaging -> social networks (e. g., Facebook) • document transfer -> file-sharing (e. g., Napster) -> user-generated portals (e. g., Youtube) • Learning about the Web and its societal and business effects. Berners-Lee, T., Hall, W., Hendler, J., Shadbolt, N., and Wietzner, D. Creating a Science of the Web. Science 311 (2006).

Web Science Our focus: Web Science in the context of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

A Web Science Project Next Generation Approaches and Tools Supported by the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence (ORF-RE) Applicants: Cowan, Alencar, Lucena Main participants: - Computer Systems Group (UW) • Donald Cowan, Paulo Alencar - Centre for Community Mapping (COMAP) • Fred McGarry - SAP (formerly iAnywhere)

A Web Science Project Next Generation Approaches and Tools Some Partners: Ministries of the Ontario Government, Stewardship Network of Ontario, Communities of Muskoka and Parry Sound, Muskoka Community Network, Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario, Oak Ridge Moraine Foundation, Metcalf Foundation, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, comPeters Inc., Huntsville Chamber of Commerce, the Indigenous Cooperative on the Environment, United Nations, the Centre for Community Ecology, Family Services Toronto, United Nations University.

The Geospatial Web • A convergence of geo-related location-based information technologies that uses location-oriented web-based information and maps, enabling functions such as: • Searching • Sharing • Analyzing • Displaying • The geospatial Web is poised for tremendous growth as location-aware applications and devices become increasingly popular. UN-GGIM: Future Trends in Geospatial Information Management (January, 2013).

Web-based Maps • Analytical maps – offering analytical capabilities (e. g., number and types of invasive species in area) • Animated maps – showing changes in the map over time (e. g., traffic flow maps) • Collaborative maps – allowing users collaborate to create and improve the web mapping experience (e. g., open street map, joint planning) • Online atlases – going through a remarkably large transition when moved to the web (e. g., annotations, advertisement) • Real-time maps - showing the situation of a phenomenon in close to real-time (e. g., weather or vehicle monitoring systems)

The Geospatial Web Current trends: • “Everything happens somewhere” • The geography has become ‘mobile’ • There is an increasing number of devices • Mobile devices can use and create location information • Information generated using websites and social media is overlaid on top of geospatial information

The Geospatial Web Current trends: • Managing a world of data • The ability to make sense of this data (e. g., data analytics) • The ability to identify patterns within this data • An increasing use and reliance on ‘big data’ technologies • Linked data and the ‘Internet of things’ • The ability link data on the Web • Semantic technologies will play an important role • The network of tomorrow will rely on an increasing number of sensors (i. e., about 50 billion sensors by 2020), and will lead to a hyper-connected environment or ‘Internet of Things’

Issues in Open Data Challenges in Open Data and the Geospatial Web: • There is a widespread availability of free mapping information. • New challenges have been confronted in recent years with respect to open data: • Access • (Re-)use • Integration (e. g., multi-party, distributed data)

Issues in Open Data Some current issues: • Security and privacy • Use of open data combined with proprietary data • The development of online access controls • Is private information going to be released? • What is the valued gained in using open data? • The use of high-quality, authoritative geospatial information • Economic and social value • Effective use in decision-making • Adoption of a sustainable model • The open data needs to be maintained • The data needs to be made available • Data maintenance and availability need to be either free of charge or fee-based

Issues in Open Data Some current issues: • Open data integration • Data from distributed sources needs to be integrated • Lack of open data standards • Standardization facilitates data integration and (re-)use • Open data policies • Policies should not stifle creativity and rapid development • Disparities between legal and policy frameworks • Some applications may not be available in certain countries • Lack of collaborative approaches • Collaborative efforts towards integration and interoperability • Liability for quality and assurance of data

Overview • Introduction • A Web Science Project • The Geospatial Web • Issues in Open Data and the Geospatial Web • Successful Applications • Conclusion Web Science The Geospatial Web Trends in Open Data Applications

Successful Applications • Watershed modeling • Application for understanding the behavior of watersheds • Water course modeling • Application for monitoring water courses for fish populations • Invasive tracking system • Application for locating and identifying invasive species • Oak Ridge Moraine • Application for monitoring development approvals • Aboriginal Atlas • Application to deal with ‘duty to consult’ • Community Services • Application to support community service planning process • Cowan, D., Alencar, P., McGarry, F., Open Data: Issues and Opportunities. IEEE International Conference on Software Science, Technology and Engineering, 2014 (to appear).

Successful Applications Encountered issues: • Data is distributed throughout multiple jurisdictions • Problems with open data identification • Open data standardization • Lack of participatory approach (e. g., crowdsourcing) • Lack of open data evaluation by experts • Lack of support for stakeholder communication • Lack of collaborative mapping approach • Legal issues • Lack of support for negotiation • Lack of proper access control to open data • Lack of support for using open data combined with secure data

Watershed Modeling Sources of data: Federal departments, provincial ministries (departments), conservation authorities, political regions (municipalities), NGOs, universities, businesses, consultants Open data includes: Watershed models, catchment and stream delineation, digital elevation, soil texture, water holding capacity, erosion potential, soil drainage, weather station locations, daily precipitation, min/max temperature records, land use, chemical water composition (phosphorous can decrease oxygen in water; effects on fish, excessive algae), channel morphology

Watershed Modeling Constraints on open data: The application involves private business data (obfuscation of some private data; in some cases data is aggregated to hide details). Encountered issues: • Data is distributed throughout multiple jurisdictions • Problems with open data identification • Open data accessibility issues • Lack of collaborative mapping approach • Lack of proper access control to open data • Lack of support for using open data combined with secure data

Aboriginal Atlas Sources of data: MNCFN (The Mississaugas of New Credit) – a Canadian indigenous people, provincial and municipal base spatial data (maps), libraries (archives), universities, businesses, consultants, lawyers Open data includes: Land infrastructure and reserve development (in aboriginal land), land claims, reserve lands, resources used

Aboriginal Atlas Constraints on open data: Some data involves information on areas with medicinal plants and sacred sites (location obfuscation for security reasons), and confidential tribe documentation such as communications and membership data. Encountered issues: • Data is distributed throughout multiple jurisdictions • Problems with open data identification, standardization • Lack of participatory approach (e. g., crowdsourcing) • Lack of support for stakeholder communication • Lack of collaborative mapping approach, negotiation • Lack of support for proper access control to open data, and for using open data combined with secure data

Community Services Sources of data: Social service NGOs and agencies, grassroot groups, businesses, faith groups, residential groups, community groups, Statistics Canada data, municipalities, government agencies Open data includes: Service areas, service type, Statistics Canada data, organizational data

Community Services Constraints on open data: The application involves private business data (private statistical and modeling data). Encountered issues: • Data is distributed throughout multiple jurisdictions • Problems with open data identification, standardization • Lack of participatory approach (e. g., crowdsourcing) • Lack of open data evaluation by experts • Lack of support for stakeholder communication • Lack of collaborative mapping approach • Lack of support for proper access control to open data, and for using open data combined with secure data

Conclusion Future work: How to extend our geospatial approaches and tools in order to take advantage of the worldwide open and big data initiatives? • Novel approaches based on context (e. g., involving location, time, tasks, schedule, profile) • Approaches based on multi-agent systems (e. g., involving user goals, intentions, plans) • Geospatial, temporal, event-based and context-aware data analytics Overall, combining the potential of the geospatial Web with the richness of existing open data resources in the form of novel approaches and tools can definitely help to ensure that the full value of geospatial information and open data is realized in the coming years.

Questions?

The Geospatial Web and Open Data: Trends, Issues and Applications