GEOLAT project can constitute an example of the application of Digital Humanities’ methods to the study of Antiquity, making accessible the Latin literature through a query interface of geographic/cartographic type. Its aim is to represent information in four different domains: contemporary and ancient geography, computer science, Latin literature and philosophical ontology. In particular, the information of these domains are collected in a comprehensive and informative geographical ontology, which gives account to the geographic knowledge expressed in the Latin Literature and plays a central role in intelligent spatial search on the web and serves as a shared vocabulary for spatial mark-up of Web sources. In this paper, we discuss the key-points of GEOLAT project and its own ontology. The first point is the analysis of Latin literature texts, in order to identify the geographical entities typologies and properties. The second is the study of the differences between ancient and contemporary geography, in terms of domains, presuppositions, representations and vagueness. The third is a critical review of the contemporary geo-informatics ontologies. This is important first of all to identify common classes and properties, and then to specify missing classes and properties in order to describe ancient geography. Finally, the fourth point is a reunification of this type of information in a comprehensive and informative geographical ontology for Latin literature. In particular, the conceptualization of GEOLAT ontology has to be accessible and informative both for the scientific community and for non-professional users.
A Geo-Ontology for Digital Humanities: the experience of Geolat project
Tambassi T
2015-01-01
Abstract
GEOLAT project can constitute an example of the application of Digital Humanities’ methods to the study of Antiquity, making accessible the Latin literature through a query interface of geographic/cartographic type. Its aim is to represent information in four different domains: contemporary and ancient geography, computer science, Latin literature and philosophical ontology. In particular, the information of these domains are collected in a comprehensive and informative geographical ontology, which gives account to the geographic knowledge expressed in the Latin Literature and plays a central role in intelligent spatial search on the web and serves as a shared vocabulary for spatial mark-up of Web sources. In this paper, we discuss the key-points of GEOLAT project and its own ontology. The first point is the analysis of Latin literature texts, in order to identify the geographical entities typologies and properties. The second is the study of the differences between ancient and contemporary geography, in terms of domains, presuppositions, representations and vagueness. The third is a critical review of the contemporary geo-informatics ontologies. This is important first of all to identify common classes and properties, and then to specify missing classes and properties in order to describe ancient geography. Finally, the fourth point is a reunification of this type of information in a comprehensive and informative geographical ontology for Latin literature. In particular, the conceptualization of GEOLAT ontology has to be accessible and informative both for the scientific community and for non-professional users.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
