2
Alberto Belussi, Barbara Catania, Eliseo Clementini, and Elena Ferrari
recent and fast development of the Internet and the Web has made accessing the
various information sources easier, since it has increased the interconnectivity among
computers and information systems.
Despite such advances, however, data available on various Web sites are still
highly heterogeneous. The problem is even worse for geographical data with respect
to traditional data because they are quite simple to visualize for the user (they look
like nice images or colored drawings describing portions of our planet). However,
despite this apparent simplicity, they usually have a complex structure (space and
often time dimensions are involved) and it is very hard to analyze and combine them
using existing representation and processing standards. Additionally, often, entities
of interest to specific applications have quite different representations at different
sites. Such representations may differ, for example, with respect to the semantic definitions, the data structures, the resolution level, the time of validity, or the spatial
reference system.
Another relevant problem to be addressed in a distributed environment is the
development of techniques for efficient data transmission and visualization of spatial data at the client end. In addition, it is important to note that many innovative
applications, such as location-based management systems, require access to spatial
and geographical data from mobile clients. It is thus crucial to support efficient access to data from both fixed and mobile clients and to guarantee easy understanding
and processing of those data by resorting to suitable information visualization and
human–computer interaction techniques.
Finally, a relevant issue is the need to ensure data integrity and security to safeguard both users and owners of data. The goal is to ensure that data, even when made
available on the Web and transmitted across sites, is accessed and modified only by
authorized parties. There is thus a strong need for tools supporting secure access and
use of spatial and geographical data from a large variety of client systems.
This book addresses these topics by presenting contributions related to modeling,
processing, integration, and protection of geographical data, as well as innovative
applications for mobile devices, under distributed architectures. The book covers
those issues, devoting a separate part of the book to each of them, according to the
following organization:
• PART I: Models for representing spatial semistructured, multiresolution, and
multiscale data.
• PART II: Integration of spatial data sources, including issues concerning data
quality in integration systems, mediation systems, geographical information
fusion, and similarity-based processing techniques.
• PART III: Spatial data protection, including access control, secure outsourcing,
and information hiding.
• PART IV: Innovative applications for mobile devices.
In the following, we dedicate a section to each of the book parts, providing a
brief description of the background concepts and of the contributions presented.
Alberto Belussi, Barbara Catania, Eliseo Clementini, and Elena Ferrari
recent and fast development of the Internet and the Web has made accessing the
various information sources easier, since it has increased the interconnectivity among
computers and information systems.
Despite such advances, however, data available on various Web sites are still
highly heterogeneous. The problem is even worse for geographical data with respect
to traditional data because they are quite simple to visualize for the user (they look
like nice images or colored drawings describing portions of our planet). However,
despite this apparent simplicity, they usually have a complex structure (space and
often time dimensions are involved) and it is very hard to analyze and combine them
using existing representation and processing standards. Additionally, often, entities
of interest to specific applications have quite different representations at different
sites. Such representations may differ, for example, with respect to the semantic definitions, the data structures, the resolution level, the time of validity, or the spatial
reference system.
Another relevant problem to be addressed in a distributed environment is the
development of techniques for efficient data transmission and visualization of spatial data at the client end. In addition, it is important to note that many innovative
applications, such as location-based management systems, require access to spatial
and geographical data from mobile clients. It is thus crucial to support efficient access to data from both fixed and mobile clients and to guarantee easy understanding
and processing of those data by resorting to suitable information visualization and
human–computer interaction techniques.
Finally, a relevant issue is the need to ensure data integrity and security to safeguard both users and owners of data. The goal is to ensure that data, even when made
available on the Web and transmitted across sites, is accessed and modified only by
authorized parties. There is thus a strong need for tools supporting secure access and
use of spatial and geographical data from a large variety of client systems.
This book addresses these topics by presenting contributions related to modeling,
processing, integration, and protection of geographical data, as well as innovative
applications for mobile devices, under distributed architectures. The book covers
those issues, devoting a separate part of the book to each of them, according to the
following organization:
• PART I: Models for representing spatial semistructured, multiresolution, and
multiscale data.
• PART II: Integration of spatial data sources, including issues concerning data
quality in integration systems, mediation systems, geographical information
fusion, and similarity-based processing techniques.
• PART III: Spatial data protection, including access control, secure outsourcing,
and information hiding.
• PART IV: Innovative applications for mobile devices.
In the following, we dedicate a section to each of the book parts, providing a
brief description of the background concepts and of the contributions presented.