自我描述地形圖徵之設計與應用

The Design and Application of Self-Describe Topographic Feature

地形圖為跨領域廣為應用之資料，但過去之應用通常以整幅地圖之底圖展示為主，並未善用其內容以數值方式紀錄及單一描述現象之特色。近年地理資訊共享機制之發展雖帶動「圖徵」概念之發展，但要將地形資料之運作模式由傳統之視覺檢視進化到物件層級之應用，必須突破許多地形圖之傳統思維。基於地形圖徵之主要特性及運作模式，本文提出「自我描述圖徵」之設計概念，藉由強化單一地形圖徵之描述內容，使其不但可獨立運作，且在應用時可提供完整之解讀參考，便利與其他領域資料結合應用。本設計架構之特色在於除具體滿足地形圖徵資料各類特性之描述外，並透過開放之描述架構，將地形圖徵之定義、測製規定及品質評估建立為標準化結構之網路資源，除可提供使用者端應用之連結參考，也便利區隔不同規格地形圖徵之差異。本研究所提出之自我描述圖徵架構除適用於地形資料外，也可提供不同領域資料自我描述架構建立之參考，有效改善與提升異質資料應用之互操作性。善用地形資料本就具有之豐富主題資料內容，將可達到擴展地形資料扮演角色及帶動國土資訊系統整體資源共享成效之目標。 As a basic type of data widely used in a variety of domains, the current role of topographic maps are unfortunately mainly restricted to the illustration of reference maps, despite modern mapping technology can already offer advantages of digital content and theme-based architecture. Recent development of geospatial data sharing mechanism is moving towards the use on the basis of “features”, but many traditional barriers of topographic maps must be removed before their application module can be transformed from visual inspection to direct feature operations. Based on the fundamental properties and operation module of topographic feature, this paper proposed the architecture of “self-describe feature.” Serving as a strengthening description framework, the proposed approach can enable individual feature to work independently and provide comprehensive explanation for the feature, which makes the integration of data from different domains an easy and straightforward task. We use Resource Description Framework (RDF) to record the information about the definition, mapping specification and quality evaluation of topographic feature. This framework of information can be linked whenever necessary and used for identifying and comparing the difference between two different topographic features. This self-describe framework concept can be further applied to the data design of other domains. From an application perspective, this effectively reduces the interoperability obstacle caused by heterogeneous data and facilitates the across-domain integrated applications. By taking full advantages of the rich themes of topographic map, we can expand the role of topographic data in the sharing environment of National Geographic Information System (NGIS).

As a basic type of data widely used in a variety of domains, the current role of topographic maps are unfortunately mainly restricted to the illustration of reference maps, despite modern mapping technology can already offer advantages of digital content and theme-based architecture. Recent development of geospatial data sharing mechanism is moving towards the use on the basis of “features”, but many traditional barriers of topographic maps must be removed before their application module can be transformed from visual inspection to direct feature operations. Based on the fundamental properties and operation module of topographic feature, this paper proposed the architecture of “self-describe feature.” Serving as a strengthening description framework, the proposed approach can enable individual feature to work independently and provide comprehensive explanation for the feature, which makes the integration of data from different domains an easy and straightforward task. We use Resource Description Framework (RDF) to record the information about the definition, mapping specification and quality evaluation of topographic feature. This framework of information can be linked whenever necessary and used for identifying and comparing the difference between two different topographic features. This self-describe framework concept can be further applied to the data design of other domains. From an application perspective, this effectively reduces the interoperability obstacle caused by heterogeneous data and facilitates the across-domain integrated applications. By taking full advantages of the rich themes of topographic map, we can expand the role of topographic data in the sharing environment of National Geographic Information System (NGIS).