A PROPOSAL TO USE SEMANTIC WEB TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVED ROAD NETWORK INFORMATION EXCHANGE

Abstract. Data harmonisation improves the coherence between data sets within and across themes and is, therefore, a very helpful tool for governmental agencies, companies and other organisations that share their data. This research focuses on horizontal infrastructures, namely roads, and proposes a new strategy to apply Semantic Web Technologies. The aim is to understand if their application is efficient and effective in filling the gap of data harmonisation in Australia’s and New Zealand’s road asset management systems within the definition of location. The proposed strategy has three stages. First, available international data standards for road assets will be analysed to identify the gaps within these standards and create recommendations towards an improved standard. The second stage is for the location aspect within each stage of the life cycle of asset management with respect to existing road asset data standards. Finally, in a third stage Semantic Web Technologies, ontologies and semantic rules will be used to build a prototype solution for road asset data conflation by merging multiple data sources that share no common lineage. The application of these technologies will allow for easier search and discovery of this data as well as facilitate the automated processing and updating of this data over the Web.