A Multilingual Geographic Feature Classification A Multilingual Geographic Feature Classification

Index for China and JapanIndex for China and Japan

Lex Berman, CHGIS, Harvard Yenching Institute PNC – ECAI, Osaka, Sep 2002

feature classifications

PRC

JP

TW

dock

matching types to control vocabulary

Control Vocabulary

Standard 1 Standard 2 Standard n

control type of semantic equivalence

standards used

Alexandria Digital Library Feature Types (ADL)

PRC National Standard Cartographic Symbols (PRC)

Taiwan NGIS Feature Types (TW)

Japan National Base Map Cartographic Symbols (JP)

Control Vocabulary

Matched Lists

crosswalk method

match types to control vocabulary

PRC

JP

TW

find all types from each list that = (ADL) Type “Piers”

within a common subset, find direct matches

PRC

JP

TW

match types that have a specific semantic equivalence, in this case those types that = “dock” or “pier”

some types have more than one direct match

results of matching to full control vocabulary

results of matching to a single control type

“indirect” semantic equivalence

“power generation sites”control type of semantic equivalence:

crosswalk search

search item: resulting ADL type: power generation sites

show crosswalked list results:

• PRC National Standard List -- 14 power generation sites (out of 887 types)

• Taiwan NGIS Standard List -- 11 power generation sites (out of 404 types)

show Taiwan selection:

future steps

basic crosswalk:

1. crosswalk unrelated feature type lists to ADL types

2. post the crosswalked lists at a clearinghouse website

3. create a search engine to find related types on the fly

towards a domain ontology:

4. perform a formal concept analysis of crosswalked list types

5. propose domain ontology based on the formal concept analysis

formal concept analysis

integration of geospatial datasets

free download

List of 1446 feature types, in Unicode UTF-8

online materials for this presentation:

http://chgis.fas.harvard.edu/tools/xwalk/

CHGIS -- China Historical GIS Project

Photo by Lex Berman: Tashkurgan, Xinjiang (Sep, 2001)

website: www.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis