Buildings have a multifunctional character, which makes it hard to define just one model for all their diverse functions. As these diverse functions are addressed by actors of different perspectives and domain backgrounds, the possibility to exchange available building information would be desirable. Two main models for the creation of building information are Industry Foundation Classes/Building Information Modelling (IFC/BIM) and City Geography Markup Language (CityGML). As the importance of information interchange has been recognized, several authors have tried to develop intermediate models for the information exchange between IFC/BIM and CityGML, e.g., the Unified Building Model (UBM), the BIM Oriented Indoor data Model (BO-IDM), the Indoor Emergency Spatial Model (IESM) and the BIM-GIS integration model for Flood Damage Assessment (FDA model). Nevertheless, all these models have been created with a certain use in mind. Our focus in this article is to identify common elements amongst these proposed models and to combine them into one “core model” that is as simple as possible, while simultaneously containing all important elements. Furthermore, this base model extracted from proposed intermediate models can then be expanded to serve specific use requirements, while still being exchangeable. To show this cross-domain character of the core model, we validated the resulting model with two cases of use (production environment/maintenance and 3D digital cadaster).

Abstract:Geoportals are established to function as main gateways to find, evaluate, and start "using" geographic information. Still, current geoportal implementations face problems in optimizing the discovery process due to semantic heterogeneity issues, which leads to low recall and low precision in performing text-based searches. Therefore, we propose an enhanced semantic discovery approach that supports multilingualism and information domain context. Thus, we present workflow that enriches existing structured metadata with synonyms, toponyms, and translated terms derived from user-defined keywords based on multilingual thesauri and ontologies. To make the results easier and understandable, we also provide automated translation capabilities for the resource metadata to support the user in conceiving the thematic content of the descriptive metadata, even if it has been documented using a language the user is not familiar with. In addition, to text-enable spatial filtering capabilities, we add additional location name keywords to metadata sets. These are based on the existing bounding box and shall tweak discovery scores when performing single text line queries. In order to improve the user's search experience, we tailor faceted search strategies presenting an enhanced query interface for geo-metadata discovery that are transparently leveraging the underlying thesauri and ontologies.

Abstract:We present the application of Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) in combination with recommender systems, in order to enhance discovery in geoportals. As a basis for discovery, metadata of spatial data and services, as well as of non-spatial resources, such as documents and scientific papers, is created and registered in the catalogue of the geoportal (semi-)automatically. Links that are not inherent in the data itself are established based on the semantic similarity of its textual content using LSA. This leads to the transition from unstructured data to structured (metadata) information, serving as a basis for the generation of knowledge. The metadata information is integrated into a recommendation system that provides a ranked list showing (1) what other users viewed and (2) the related resources discovered by the LSA workflow as a result. Based on the assumptions that similar texts have something in common and that users are likely to be interested in what other users viewed, recommendations provide a broader, but also more precise, search result; on the one hand, the recommender engine considers additional information; on the other hand, it ranks resources based on the discovery experience of other users and the likeliness of the documents being related to each other.

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Digital building information is important during a building's lifecycle, it is needed from first design until demolition. The two domains that mainly contribute are AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) during design, construction, and operation, and GIS as a supporting discipline for analysis and further integration of the building's environment. However, there is a challenge in information exchange between the two domains, resulting in the remodeling of digital building information in GIS. In this article, we identify three major data sources from the AEC domain and show transformation processes to enable the integration of such models into the geographical environment in the form of one transition model. Furthermore, we show that this model can either be used directly or exported in the form of de facto standards that allow for further analysis.

The integration of streaming data into web mapping applications in combination with contextual information is currently drawing attention in geospatial research. This article discusses how to communicate streaming data in the form of a live mapping dashboard. We created our own prototypical online dashboard visualization for this purpose, tailored to be used in different contexts and roles, and discuss the advantages of the approach. The live mapping dashboard uses modern visualization techniques, including dynamic clustering and self-updating symbology. We validated our approach in the context of a use case in the field of forest-based supply value chains. We present the data flow from the data collection to harmonization, right up to the presentation of real-time data. The prototype is evaluated in continuously performed field tests. Keywords:live mapping dashboard, streaming data, real-time data IndroductionNowadays, real-time data are indispensable. Globally, there are a vast number of dynamic and stationary sensors. These sensors provide different kinds of information. For example, there are weather stations that send live information about temperature, humidity and air pressure, and traffic sensors that measure weight in motion or speed, and which count the vehicles that pass. There are also many dynamic sensors, built into all kinds of devices, such as smartphones, and forms of transport (planes, buses, trains, trucks …), which send the current position in combination with contextual information. The generic term for this kind of information is "real-time GIS data", defined as "a continuous stream of events flowing from sensors where each event represents the latest state of the sensor" (Gorton, 2014).

ABSTRACT:While digitization as well as new technologies and paradigms such as the Internet of Things (IoT) help solving issues within smart factories, they simultaneously trigger new challenges. The creation of smart factories, whose components communicate in an intelligent manner, is located at the frontier of the virtual and the real world. To connect both worlds, spatio-temporal information can be used to structure and integrate data streams, models and other content such as documents in Enterprise Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs). One part of Enterprise SDIs is building information, to support and enhance contextualization of indoor environments and its corresponding information in form of sensor measurements and other digital resources. We identified five major requirements: (1) Three-dimensionality, (2) (Re-)use of available data, (3) Use of GIS-principles and standards, (4) Adaptivity, and (5) Completeness. Our novel approach "OLS3D" addresses these requirements through the use of SDI-principles and linkeddata strategies. A prototypical implementation was developed in order to show the potential of our approach.

The article presents a map dashboard aimed at enhancing the information flow in the forest-based supply chain (FbSC). We especially focus on the procurement stage and connect the stakeholders in (near) real-time via standardized data models, interfaces and services, as well as using open-source software only. For the communication strategy, we use a new approach that incorporates the user’s roles and tasks to create role-tailored views on the dashboard showing specific task-oriented web maps. Hence, the first research question aims at identifying the roles and tasks in Austrian forestry. We identified four major roles (site managers & foresters, forest workers, truck drivers, customers) and six tasks during group discussions. The second research question deals with the effects of a role-tailored map dashboard. Therefore, we evaluated the prototype in a two-week test phase that concludes with a field study with five experts. The results are twofold: qualitative using the results from field interviews and quantitative based on a now vs. then comparison with regard to the number of media disruptions. This comparison reveals that up to 80% of the media disruption in our use case scenario could be removed by using the role-tailored map dashboard.