Re: space and time

On 2014-06-07 2:16, Andrea Perego wrote:
> Hi, Frans.
>
>> I think this is the core of the matter: Are space and time truly dependent
>> on each other? Or do they just happen to occur together very often? If the
>> latter is the case, I think it is better to keep the semantics separate. It
>> is one of the things I like about the semantic web: vocabularies are modules
>> that  can be mixed and matched at will. And if a  vocabulary is designed
>> well it will be as simple as possible and not try to model anything outside
>> its scope.
> About your main question, I think that whether and how much space and
> time are dependent on each other depends on the specific use case.
Would it be possible to think of a use case where time and space are 
truly dependent, in the sense that they need shared semantics?
I hope not, because I think that would complicate matters.
>
> IMHO, what we need is something like a "core" time ontology.
I agree. Both space and time need a simple core ontology that provides 
an extensible basis for publishing data in which space and/or time play 
a role.
Does everyone feel that the W3C time ontology 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-time/>could evolve into a core time ontology? 
It seems it could use some redesign then - a more modular or layered 
approach for instance.

>   Specific
> extensions can then be defined to address the specific requirements of
> the different use cases. In this scenario, the key point is: what are
> the cross-disciplinary requirements to be addressed by a core time
> ontology?
Many use for uncommon expressions of time come from domains where space 
also plays an important role, like archaeology or geology. So it is good 
to read in the (draft) geodata working group charter 
<http://www.w3.org/2014/05/geo-charter> that the group intends to 
improve the W3C time ontology. I hope enough people with a good 
understanding of time will get involved.
>
> I would be interested to see if this option will be considered in
> future work on the W3C Time Ontology. But for sure we can contribute
> the issues we identified, as Simon pointed out earlier in this thread.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Andrea


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