Linked Data: What Does It Offer Earth Sciences?

'Linked Data' is a current buzz-phrase promoting access to various forms of data on the internet. It starts from the two principles that have underpinned the architecture and scalability of the World Wide Web: 1. Universal Resource Identifiers - using the http protocol which is supported by the DNS system. 2. Hypertext - in which URIs of related resources are embedded within a document. Browsing is the key mode of interaction, with traversal of links between resources under control of the client. Linked Data also adds, or re-emphasizes: - Content negotiation - whereby the client uses http headers to tell the service what representation of a resource is acceptable, - Semantic Web principles - formal semantics for links, following the RDF data model and encoding, and - The 'mashup' effect - in which original and unexpected value may emerge from reuse of data, even if published in raw or unpolished form. Linked Data promotes typed links to all kinds of data, so is where the semantic web meets the 'deep web', i.e. resources which may be accessed using web protocols, but are in representations not indexed by search engines. Earth sciences are data rich, but with a strong legacy of specialized formats managed and processed by disconnected applications. However, most contemporary research problems require a cross-disciplinary approach, in which the heterogeneity resulting from that legacy is a significant challenge. In this context, Linked Data clearly has much to offer the earth sciences. But, there are some important questions to answer.

COX Simon;  SCHADE Sven; 

2010-07-09

Copernicus

JRC56469

607-7962,   

http://www.geophys-res-abstr.net,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC56469,