Critical Remarks on the Use of Conceptual Schemas in Geospatial Data Modelling—A Schema Translation Perspective

Abstract

Conceptual schemas are widely used in geospatial data modelling. This paper takes a close look at some schemas prevalent in the context of existing spatial data infrastructures as e.g. INSPIRE and identifies problems which occur when trying to apply the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) approach to these schemas. Applications of the MDA approach in the geospatial domain such as schema translation and automatic derivation of transfer formats from conceptual schemas are described. With these applications in mind, suggestions for enhancing existing schemas and for defining new schemas are made.