Linked Data
Spatial information is important to everyone and every organisation in some way. Naming both spatial-objects and the spatial-things which they describe/model with Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) sets provides a uniform basis for linking spatial information with other types of information published on the web.
Location Data URI Sets - Policy
The EU INSPIRE Directive calls for “a common framework for the unique identification of spatial objects, to which identifiers under national systems can be mapped in order to ensure interoperability between them”.
The CTO Council paper Designing URI Sets for the UK Public Sector establishes the role of URIs to “provide a common meaning and common identifier to refer to the same ‘Thing’ ”. The UK Location Designing URI Sets for Location paper interprets those design considerations for spatial-things i.e. real-world phenomena that have spatial extent or position and which may be abstracted as spatial-objects. For example the region administered by a local authority is a spatial-thing different aspects of which, such as its shape and name, or its boundary and adjacencies may be modelled by multiple different spatial-objects.
Location Data URI Sets – Design and Guidance
Designing_URI_Sets_for_Location-v1.0 provides design considerations and guidance for the development and maintenance of linked-data Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) sets for Location data including: the publication of INSPIRE spatial-objects, associated linked-data vocabularies and for URI based thematic referencing of associated “real-world phenomena”.
This paper is baselined at v1.0 and is a minor update to the original draft guidance in the light of experience gained by piloting their use.
Workshop Presentations
Linked Data 101: Why, Where and How - 10 of February & March 2011
Basics of Linked Data
Linked Data – Worked Example – EA Bathing Water
INSPIRE – UK Location and Linked Data
Starting Small thinking Big – EA BathingWater Pilot – Business Perspective
Latest UK Location – #linkeddata tweet
22 March – Southampton Uni shows way to a truly open web using linked data. http://reg.cx/1Njg
Further Information and Resources
A guide to the benefits of Linked Data and the UK Location Strategy.
Linked Open Data cloud diagram, by Richard Cyganiak and Anja Jentzsch.