Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
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If sensor readings and tracklogs are available, can mapping commence?
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If there is a map available, is a more standardized approach to access
useful?
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If the map is available, is it in a form that can be used to translate the
physical information into the symbolic so that sense can be made of the
information by people or machines?
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Given a reading of position, can its accuracy be increased by reference to
other measurements taken by systems not yet available?
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Can any map being used be improved or extended?
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If an inconsistency is detected, can steps be taken to correct it?
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Are there existing ontologies that can be included? For example, from
the domains of GIS (with GML) and sensing (or SML)?
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Should information spaces concerning identity such as friend of a friend
(FOAF) be included?
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Could geographical information such as postcodes or geotags be
included?
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There seems to be a lack of standardization concerning general radio
issues such as location and frequency of transmissions (although some
progress is being made with WiFi hot-spots), so is a radio markup
language viable?
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Would it be useful to expose the various cellular radios positioning
systems information in a standardized way?
9.3.5
What Would the Ontology Look Like?
Fortunately, considerable research effort has been given to help in the creation of
ontologies, and a Web Ontology Language (OWL) has been created. Lacy [7]
describes the process of using this tool and all the other supporting frameworks. In
common with much computer science, it is a layered approach where one set of
concepts supports another at a higher layer of abstraction. OWL is at the top.
OWL is used to describe the domain semantics, and several domain building
blocks are needed using concepts borrowed from object-oriented programming.
“Classes” define important entities and are defined first. These are probably
explicit within the taxonomy. For a Whereness ontology some top-level classes
could be:
<radio base stations>
2
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<maps>
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<mobile stations>
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<tag readers>
2
<…> notation is used to show that the text between the brackets is not part of the narrative but is a
parameter, delimited by brackets.