Semantic technology projects and Linked Open Data from the Semantic Technology Laboratory (STLab), within the Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technology (ISTC) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR)
Digital libraries, cultural heritage, research objects, food, fishery products and smart cities meet semantic technologies!
Ontology and Linked Open Data on Italian cultural institutes and sites and events
A single information system for fishery and aquaculture products marketed in the EU
An open-source cloud computing interoperability platform for Public Administrations and Smart Cities
A Science & Technology Digital Library to make science and technology available to everyone
Ontology and Linked Open Data on Italian cultural institutes and sites and events
Institutions: Public Administrations agreement between CNR ISTC and Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo (MiBACT)
Funds: 30.000
Timeline: December 2014 - August 2015
Project manager: Valentina Presutti
The project aims at identifying and providing technical solutions, based on standards of the Semantic Web, to enable the integration and rationalisation of MiBACT's data sources related to cultural heritage. To improve availability and reusability of the information assets owned by MiBACT, and to promote open government principles as well, the project started from the so-called DB Unico 2.0 registry, currently available as Open Data of level 3, by opening its content according to the design principles and recommendations of the Italian guidelines on "Semantic interoperability through Linked Open Data" and the W3C Linked Open Data best practices.
The main activities of the project included
Definition of an OWL ontology for representing the information related to cultural institutes or sites (e.g., museums, historical archives, libraries, monuments, archaeological sites, etc.) and cultural events (e.g., exhibitions, seminars, conferences, etc.). The ontology aims at modelling cultural institutes or sites and all the data that can characterise them. Examples of data are: agents that act on a cultural institute or site, sites, contact points, the multimedia material describing the cultural institute or site, the services and any other information useful to the public in order to access the institute or site. Moreover, the ontology represents events that can take place in specific cultural institutes or sites, modelling all the data regarding possible tickets required to access to the event.
Automated extraction of the data from DB Unico 2.0 by means of D2R.
Production of the RDF dataset (and the related metadata) by following the Linked Open Data principles.
The ontology is currently under-review by all the central institutes of MiBACT and will be published soon by the Ministry.
The ontology and Open Data platform of the Italian National Research Council
Funding Scheme or Institutions: Italian National Research Council (CNR)
Funds: 50.000
Project manager: Aldo Gangemi
Web Site: http://data.cnr.it
data.cnr.it is an initiative of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) aimed at providing an Open Data platform to enable public access to the information of the CNR organization. The platform is designed by the Semantic Technology Laboratory (STLab), which includes researchers and engineers from the Information Systems Office (SI), and the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC).
The data.cnr.it platform has been designed and implemented following the paradigm of the Linked Data initiative, and relies on semantic technologies. The produced OWL ontologies and corresponding datasets model and provide access to heterogeneous, detailed information about the Italian National Research Council's structure and activities, such as people, departments/units, research activities, results and publications.
The complete list of the CNR OWL ontologies is available here, and the corresponding documentation is provided in OWL-Doc Format. The ontology and the data can be queried through a dedicated SPARQL Endpoint, and a description of the RDF dataset is also available here.
The Semantic Scout is an example of an application that connects to the data.cnr.it dataset.
Detailed information about the ontology and on how to access, browse and query the data.cnr.it dataset is available at http://data.cnr.it.
Ontologies and Linked Open Data on food quality certification schemes (PDO, PGI)
Institutions: Public Administrations agreement between CNR ISTC and Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale (AgID)
Funds: 35.000
Timeline: October 2014 - May 2015Project manager: Giorgia Lodi
Web Site: http://w3id.org/food (Italian)
The FOOD (FOod in Open Data) project defines and makes available standardization models and reference ontologies for representing food quality certification schemes, in accordance with product specifications defined by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies. FOOD focuses on the semantic representation of the information and prodution rules set out in the product specifications for agri-food products and their quality designations, including Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) schemes.
The design of reference ontologies and the production of open data have been the core activities in the FOOD project. Specifications for agri-food products and their quality designations have driven the definition of a set of OWL ontologies. The ontologies model both quality certification schemes (PDO and PGI) and product categories (e.g., wine, cheese, meat, fruit, etc...) belonging to these certification schemes. Automated and manual data extraction techniques were used to produce RDF datasets (and related metadata) for the defined ontologies, in accordance with the Linked Open Data paradigm. The designed ontologies rely on design patterns and reuse existing ontologies (e.g., AGROVOC); the corresponding datasets are linked to and aligned with datasets available in the Web of Data (e.g., DBpedia, SPCData).
The FOOD dataset, which includes the ontologies, data and metadata, can be downloaded here. FOOD data and metadata can be browsed through LodView. In addition, the data can be queried using a SPARQL endpoint or through a RESTful service (see here on how to access the service).
More information about FOOD ontologies, open data and metadata is available at http://w3id.org/food.
A single information system for fishery and aquaculture products marketed in the EU
Funding Scheme or Institutions: European Commission - Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE)
Funds: 150.000
Timeline: November 2014 - September 2015
Project manager: Aldo Gangemi
Web Site: available soon
Conceived by the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) of the European Commission, the project focuses on the establishment of a single information system for fishery and aquaculture products marketed in the European Union. The information system, available as a fully operational multilingual prototype, aims at providing different stakeholders (consumers, producers, fishmongers, processors, importers, retailers, control authorities and other interested parties) with heterogeneous information related to commercial designations of fishery and aquaculture products put on the market in the EU Member States. MARE combines a solid taxonomic and nomenclatural backbone for aquatic species and their scientific names with commercial designations published by each Member State's national authorities in accordance with EU regulations. This core information is complemented with heterogeneous data that include, among the others, production methods, fishing gears, fishing areas, marketing standards, quality certification schemes, fishing opportunities and species distribution.
In the context of the MARE project, STLab has defined a modular ontology and produced a corresponding dataset for representing heterogeneous information about fishery and aquaculture products. Dealing with the complexity of the fishery domain and the heterogeneity of the available data sources requires the adoption of a well-designed, consolidated methodology, with the aim of obtaining open, interoperable and reusable models and data.
To favor semantic interoperability and reuse, the MARE ontology exploits well-established ontology design patterns and was designed following a modular approach. In particular, the information about aquatic species marketed in the European Union is structured in three interconnected modules, each focusing on a specific informational dimension or perspective. The identified ontology modules include:
Mare Taxa, which focuses on taxonomic and nomenclatural data for aquatic organisms, such as taxonomic names, synonyms, taxonomic ranks, hierarchical classification, etc.
Mare, which focuses on data related to commercial and legal requirements, such as commercial designations in the EU Member States, production methods and fishing gears, marketing standards, fishing quotas, nutrition facts, etc.
Mare Geo, which focuses on geographical data related to aquatic organisms, such as major fishing areas, species distribution maps, etc.
Following the Semantic Web standars and principles, MARE ontology modules and core concepts are aligned to existing external authoritative ontologies available on the Web, so as to enable semantic interoperability and data linking.
MARE OWL ontologies and RDF datasets will be available soon.
An open-source cloud computing interoperability platform for Public Administrations and Smart Cities
Funding Scheme or Institutions: PON Ricerca e Competitività 2007-2013 – Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR)
Funds: 200.000
Timeline: 8 October 2012 - 31 May 2015
Project manager: Valentina Presutti
Web Site: http://www.ponsmartcities-prisma.it (Italian) | http://wit.istc.cnr.it/prisma/WebContent/home.html
PRISMA (PiattafoRme cloud Interoperabili per SMArt-government) is an industrial research project with the aim of providing Public Administrations with an innovative open-source cloud computing platform. The designed cloud platform addresses the specific needs and requirements of Public Administrations, in order to support advanced interoperable services, improve data and process management activities in urban environments, and foster the definition and adoption of new business models. PRISMA can be positioned in the broader context of Smart Cities and Smart Communities, and specifically targets e-Government, e-Health and e-Seismic use cases, with the goal of bringing together cities, industries and citizens to improve urban life through more sustainable integrated solutions.
In the context of the PRISMA project, STLab has been working on the design and definition of data, services and applications related to open data of the Municipality of Catania. To conceive, design and prototype "smart" applications for the Municipality of Catania, the provision of a "smart" semantic model on data gathered from the city is central. In this scenario, producing linked open data for the city, which are open, interoperable, annotated, and obtained following the Semantic Web standars, offers an ease understanding and reuse of core city data. Multiple heterogenous data sources have been combined into the unified semantic model that allows semantic interoperability.
The PRISMA OWL ontology for the data of the Municipality of Catania is available here. A graphical representation of the ontology using WebVOWL is available here, and documentation about the ontology is also available in the format of the Live OWL Documentation Environment (LODE). The ontology and the data can be queried through a dedicated SPARQL Endpoint.
Detailed information about the ontology and on how to access, browse and query PRISMA Linked Open Data is available at http://wit.istc.cnr.it/prisma/WebContent/home.html.
A Science & Technology Digital Library to make science and technology available to everyone
Funding Scheme or Institutions: Public Administrations agreement between CNR and Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale (AgID)
Funds: 115.000
Timeline: September 2013 - October 2015
Project manager: Andrea Nuzzolese
Web Site: http://stdl.cnr.it/
The S&T DL project is aimed at realizing a digital library that uses semantic technolgies for exposing, querying, as well as integrating research objects from a variety or repositories. This library is designed as an integrated system to foster the access of the research objects by the research community. The research objects include articles, collections, datasets, software, historical works (properly digitized), and data about research activities, projects and researchers.
The Ontology Network of S&T DL uses SPAR as reference ontologies for modelling the knowledge about bibliographic items in the Semantic Web. SPAR forms a suite of orthogonal and complementary OWL 2 DL ontology modules organized in an ontology network for enabling the creation of comprehensive machine-readable RDF metadata for every aspect of semantic publishing and referencing: document descriptions, bibliographic resource identifiers, types of citations and related contexts, bibliographic references, document parts and status, agents' roles and contributions, bibliometric data and workflow processes. The procedure developed for generating Linked Data from the original digital library is based on the Semion methodology. Basically, it consists of two different step:
Reengineering: the objective of this step is to obtain a syntactic conversion of data from their original format (i.e., XML) to a intermediate format expressed as RDF;
Refactoring: it allows to model and organize the data coming from the reengineering step according to the ontology network.