Spatial ontology for geographic information

Hello,
 
ISO/TC 211 (http://www.isotc211.org/) is the ISO technical committe responsible for the development of international standards in geographic information. As part of the standardization work, a comprehensive set of geospatial concepts has been developed in UML for the description of spatial data, temporal data, metadata, geographic feature, and more.
 
Under this technical committee, I am leading a project team (PT19150) which has the mandate to conduct a study about the use of ontologies and Semantic Web for the pupose on interoperability of geographic information. As part of this study, we are investigating the derivation of OWL ontologies from the ISO/TC 211 UML models which would provide an in depth and standard vocabulary for the description of geographic information for the Semantic Web. These ontologies would support Semantic Web applications and services dealing with geographic information and would be a fundamental resource to integrate of associate Web information dealing with a geographic component. Ongoing discussions in the project team and in the technical committee are very optimistic at the moment. I find it important to share this perspective with the Semantic Web community and those of you who have interest and comments about this activity are invited to share it to get a better understanding of the needs for such an ontology. The project team will submit a draft report to ISO/TC 211 this year for agreement and further processing. I will keep this comminity informed of further developments regarding this subject.
 
Sincerely,
__ 
Jean Brodeur 
ISO/TC 211 - PT1950 project leader
email: brodeur@rncan.gc.ca 
Internet: http://www.cits.rncan.gc.ca/html/brodeurj <blocked::blocked::http://www.cits.rncan.gc.ca/html/brodeurj>  
Ressources naturelles Canada / Natural Resources Canada 
Centre d'information topographique / Centre for Topographic Information 
Gouvernement du Canada / Government of Canada 
2144-010 rue King Ouest, Sherbrooke  (Québec)  Canada  J1J 2E8 
2144-010 King West Street, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada  J1J 2E8 
téléphone / phone: 819.564.5600 ext. 251 
télécopieur / facsimile: 819.564.5698