What is URM

Uniform Resource Management (URM) provides a framework in which communities can share information and knowledge through their description, which is easy understandable inside of the community. In order to effectively share information and knowledge, there is a standardized schema, which supports  uniform description of information and knowledge including common vocabularies. A schema defines the meaning, characteristics, and relationships of a set of properties, and this may include constraints on potential values and the inheritance of properties from other schemas. The schema specification language is a declarative representation language influenced by ideas from knowledge representation (e.g. semantic nets, frames, predicate logic) as well as database schema specification languages and graphic data models. The context characterizes any information, knowledge and observation.   Context strongly influences the way how the information will be used.  There are different definitions of context in existence. The important issues for the context are:

•          to identity of an entity;

•          to profile of an entity;

•          spatial information

•          temporal information

•          environmental information

•          social relation

•          resources that are nearby

•          availability of resources;

Many context attributes characterize the environmental information or knowledge. From the point of view of context, the information or knowledge could be divided into different parties:

•          Information or knowledge provider i.e. a party supplying the resource;

•          Custodian accepts accountability and responsibility for the resources and ensures appropriate care and maintenance of the resource;

•          Owner of the resource;

•          User, who uses the resource;

•          Distributor who distributes the resource;

•          Originator who created the resource;

•          Point of Contact to be contacted for acquiring knowledge about or acquisition of the resource;

•          Principal investigator responsible for gathering information and conducting research;

•          Processor who has processed the data in a manner such that the original resource has been modified;

•          Publisher, i.e. party who published the resource;

•          Author, i.e. party who authored the resource.

 

Geoportal is a place which allows users to search, view, examine and share spatial and non-spatial data. Geoportal is based on interoperability standards (OGC, W3C, OASIS, ISO) which are connected to other resources on web and helps to create distributed structure of information and knowledge based on spatial localisation. Geoportal should not be closed central storage of spatial data without possibility of redistribution of this data. Geoportal should not be a solution that doesn't support searching of data and information and their viewing and using by external sources.

The NaturNet Plus portal is a new integrated solution being designed as combination of previous technologies - Uniform Resource Management, Geohosting and new technological development of a visualization client based on HSLayers.  The URM Geoportal is not one integrated solution, but set of modules and services, which are able to communicate through interoperable services (OGC, W3C). The solution is modular and could be easy modifying for different purposes. URM Geoportal is based on Open Source technologies, but it could be integrated with different technologies like MS SQL or ArcSDE. Uniform Resource Management (URM supports validation, discovery and access to heterogeneous information and knowledge. It is based on utilization of metadata schemas. The URM models currently also integrate different tools, which support sharing of knowledge. Geoportal contains common visualization, data sharing, metadata and catalogue functionalities.  Additional parts of solution could be also tools for management sensor observation and spatial data transformation and processing.

The URM Geoportal contains these parts:

• Metadata

• Catalogue client

• Visualization client

• Metadata Editor

• Geohosting

  • MapMan

  • DataMan

• Metadata Extractor