A presentation by Nikos Loutas of the SEMIC team on the work on semantic standards for information exchange carried out in the context of the semantic interoperability action of the ISA Programme. ISA helps local and national governments to publish and seamlessly exchange information. The presentation was centred on the e-Government Core Vocabularies, ADMS and the DCAT-AP, explaining their potential uses and demonstrating their extensibility, so that different information exchange contexts can be supported.

1. Semantische Standards in
der Öffentlichen Verwaltung
in Europa
Nikolaos Loutas, Stijn Goedertier
PwC EU Services

2. Semantic interoperability
 a roadblock to the realisation of the European Single
Market
Semantic standards and how can they help you
 e-Government Core Vocabularies
 DCAT Application Profile for Data Portals in Europe
 The Asset Description Metadata Schema
 Finding semantic standards on the European Federated
Interoperability Repository
Reusing semantic standards
Your feedback & questions
Slide 2
What is this talk
about?

3. Semantic standards are commonly-agreed
structural metadata, e.g. data models and
reference data.
3
What is a semantic
standard?
See also: V. Peristeras. Semantic Standards: Preventing Waste in the Information
Industry, IEEE Intelligent Systems, July-Aug. 2013 (vol. 28 no. 4) pp. 72-75
http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/ex/2013/04/mex2013040072-abs.html

4. Semantic
Interoperability
Slide 4

5. What is semantic
interoperability?
Semantic interoperability
is the ability of
organisations to process
information from external
sources in a meaningful
manner, such that the
precise meaning of
exchanged information is
understood and
preserved throughout
exchanges between parties.
5
A
plant
A
plant
Source: European Interoperability Framework
http://ec.europa.eu/isa/documents/isa_annex_ii_eif_en.pdf

6.  Semantic interoperability requires consensus on
semantic standards for information exchange.
 Semantic interoperability is fostered by the sharing
and reuse of semantic standards.
 Sharing and reuse of semantic standards reduces
the cost of information exchange across borders
and organisations.
Slide 6
Facts

7. Semantic standards of
the ISA Programme
Slide 7

8. In the context of Action 1.1 on improving semantic
interoperability in European eGovernment systems
(SEMIC), the ISA Programme has initiated the
development of:
 The e-Government Core Vocabularies
 The DCAT Application Profile for data portals in Europe
(DCAT-AP)
 The Asset Description Metadata Schema (ADMS)
Slide 8
The ISA Programme on
semantic standards
Visit us at http://semic.eu

9. All semantic standards developed by the ISA Programme were
developed following a consensus building process:
• Involving international Working Groups of experts;
• Following a formal open process and methodology – based
on the one followed by the W3C.
• Foreseeing public review periods
• Re-using existing standards
Core Person, Core Location, the Registered Organization
Vocabulary and ADMS were initially developed by the ISA
Programme and have now been taken over by W3C –
discussed in the late W3C GLD.
Source: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/node/43160
Building agreements
Slide 9

10. 10
Simplified, re-usable, and
extensible data models that
capture the fundamental
characteristics of a data entity
in a context-neutral fashion.
CORE
VOCABULARY
PUBLIC
SERVICE
Source: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/node/43160
Slide 10
The e-Government
Core Vocabularies

11. 3 generic use cases
1. Harmonised access to base
registers (basic public service)
2. Interoperable cross-border
public services (aggregate
public service)
3. Interoperability of public
data: making it easier to
mash up public data
Slide 11Source: http://ec.europa.eu/isa/documents/isa_annex_ii_eif_en.pdf

12. 3 representation formats
Slide 12
RDF
schema
Re-uses
existing RDF
vocabularies
ISA Open Metadata Licence v1.1
Re-uses Core
Components
Technical
Specification
(CCTS) and
UBL NDR
XML
schema
Conceptual
model
Re-uses
existing
concepts in
CCL, INSPIRE,
etc.
Maintained by W3C (Government Linked Data Working Group)
The e-Government
Core Vocabularies

13. • A common vocabulary for describing datasets
hosted in data portals in Europe, based on the
Data Catalogue vocabulary (DCAT).
• It enables cross-portal search for datasets.
• As an application profile of DCAT, the DCAT-AP
• Defines mandatory, recommended an optional classes
and properties
• Recommends a number of controlled vocabularies for
assinging values to properties, e.g. Eurovoc for
dcat:theme.
Slide 13
The DCAT-AP
Source:https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/asset/dcat_application_profile/description
See also: http://www.w3.org/TR/2014/REC-vocab-dcat-20140116/

14. Slide 14
The DCAT-AP facilitating the development of the
pan-European data portal
The DCAT-AP

15. • A common vocabulary for representing semantic
standards
• ADMS allows public administrations, businesses,
standardisation bodies and academia to:
• describe semantic standards in a common way so that they
can be seamlessly cross-queried and discovered by
developers from a single access point;
• keep their own system for documenting and storing semantic
standards and still be interoperable with others;
• improve indexing and visibility of their own standards;
• link semantic standards to one another in cross-border and
cross-sector settings.
• ADMS evolved into a W3C Working Group note
based on DCAT.
Slide 15
ADMS

16. The European Federated Interoperability Repository -
capitalising on an ADMS-based collection of metadata of
interoperability solutions (including semantic standards).
EXPLORE
FIND
IDENTIFY
SELECT
OBTAIN
FEDERATION
With common metadata
schema
Publicadministrations
Businesses
Standardisationbodies
Academia
repository
repository
repository
repository
repository
repository
ASSET
DESCRIPTION
METADATA
SCHEMA
ADMS
ASSET
DESCRIPTION
METADATA
SCHEMA
ADMS
ASSET
DESCRIPTION
METADATA
SCHEMA
ADMS
ASSET
DESCRIPTION
METADATA
SCHEMA
ADMS
ASSET
DESCRIPTION
METADATA
SCHEMA
ADMS
ASSET
DESCRIPTION
METADATA
SCHEMA
ADMS
The EFIR

17. Share & reuse semantic
standards on EFIR
The EFIR

18. • INSPIRE data specifications
• Eurovoc
• Named Authority Lists
• ESCO
• Discover more on EFIR!
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/catalogue/all
18
Other EC-driven
semantic standards

19. Reusing semantic
standards
Slide 19

20. Re-use by extension: 3 levels of abstraction
Slide 20
e-Documents Linked Data,
e-Documents (?)
e-Documents
domain
models
domain
vocabularies
domain
schemas
Core level
Message
level
Domain
level
RDFS
/OWL
XML
Schema
Core Vocabularies
representation techniques
…
Levelsofabstraction
UML
model
Reusing semantic
standards

21. Example of reuse by extension: defining Patient as
a subclass of Core Person
Slide 21
class Healthcare Domain
Core Vocabularies::Identifier
dateOfIssue :dateTime [0..1]
identifier :string [1..1]
identifierType :string [0..1]
issuingAuthority :string [0..1]
issuingAuthorityUri :URI [0..1]
Core Vocabularies::Person
alternativeName :string
birthName :string
dateOfBirth :dateTime
dateOfDeath :dateTime
familyName :string
fullName :string
gender :code
givenName :string
patronymicName :string
Core Vocabularies::Location
geographicIdentifier :URI
geographicName :string
Patient
bloodType :code
Allergy
allergens
intollerance
reaction
Health Problem
symptom
Core Vocabularies::Address
addressArea :string
addressID :string
adminUnitL1 :string
adminUnitL2 :string
fullAddress :string
locatorDesignator :string
locatorName :string
poBox :string
postCode :string
postName :string
thoroughfare :string
Core Vocabularies::Geometry
lat :string
long :string
wkt :string
xmlGeometry :XML
Social Security
Number
«enumeration»
Sex
F = female
M = male
T = total
UNK = unknown
NAP = not applicable
notes
(EuroStat Standard
Code List)
hasAllergy
address
identifies
hasProblem
geometry
placeOfDeath
countryOfDeath
placeOfBirth
countryOfBirth
identifier
identifier
Example of reuse

22. OSLO: Open Standards for
Local Administrations
• Putting the core
vocabularies into a local
context – in Flanders,
Belgium.
• Local administrations need
locally enriched data
models and data.
Slide 22
Example of reuse

23. Slide 23
http://health.testproject.eu/
PPP/
http://location.testproject.eu/B
EL/
http://cpsv.testproject.eu/C
PSV/
The ISA LOGD pilots

24. • Aims to improve the visibility and
facilitate the access to datasets
published on governmental Open
Data portals in order to increase
their reuse within and across
borders by providing a single
point of access to metadata
descriptions of datasets
homogenised using the DCAT-AP.
• Visits us at opendatasupport.eu
• Benefit from our online training
service on Linked Open
Government Data at
training.opendatasupport.eu
24
Open Data Support
ODIP
Pan-European
Data portal
DATASUPPORTOPEN

25. Conclusions
Slide 25

26.  Public administrations should become aware that
semantic standards are an important asset
for eGovernment systems development.
 Public administrations should identify and
document semantic standards with reuse
potential for developing eGovernment systems.
 Public administrations should make their
semantic standards open for reuse.
 Public administrations should provide their
semantic standards both in human and
machine-readable formats.
26
Conclusions

27.  Whenever possible, definitions of semantic
standards should reuse existing specifications to
avoid duplication of work and overlaps.
 For example, we showed how the e-Government
Core Vocabularies can used in many different
contexts.
• They can easily be extended and integrated with other
vocabularies.
• They can be adapted to your needs and context.
• The can be used both in an XML and an RDF world.
Slide 27
Conclusions

28. Vielen Dank!
...und jetzt ihre Fragen…
Slide 28

29. Slide 29
Join SEMIC group on LinkedIn
Follow @SEMICeu on Twitter
Join SEMIC community on Joinup
Project Officer: Vassilios.Peristeras@ec.europa.eu
PwC EU Services: Stijn.Goedertier@be.pwc.com &
Nikolaos.Loutas@be.pwc.com
Get involvedVisit our initiatives
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FORGES
COMMUNITY
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SERVICE
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30. Slide 30
SEMIC 2014