Keywords
agricultural natural resource conservation, ontology, knowledge base
Start Date
1-7-2010 12:00 AM
Abstract
Information systems supporting the delivery of conservation technical assistance by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to agricultural producers on working lands have become increasingly complex over the past 25 years. They are constrained by inconsistent coordination of domain knowledge across databases, business applications, science models, and other repositories. The extent to which they interoperate is due to implicit understanding of core concepts across business interests. Domain knowledge has been embedded in policy and technical documents for more than 60 years, and with the advent of computing systems, some transformed into metadata of entity-relationship models and data dictionaries. However, these metadata usually are not transparent outside the particular business interests involved. A core conservation ontology and knowledge base (COKB) has been developed to work towards resolving these limitations. The COKB establishes core domain classes and their relationships for area of interest, assessment unit, management unit, response unit, management effect, conservation practice, management system, land use, land cover, management period, and management operation. It provides the foundation for a conservation delivery streamlining initiative.
A Conservation Ontology and Knowledge Base to Support Delivery of Technical Assistance to Agricultural Producers in the United States
Information systems supporting the delivery of conservation technical assistance by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to agricultural producers on working lands have become increasingly complex over the past 25 years. They are constrained by inconsistent coordination of domain knowledge across databases, business applications, science models, and other repositories. The extent to which they interoperate is due to implicit understanding of core concepts across business interests. Domain knowledge has been embedded in policy and technical documents for more than 60 years, and with the advent of computing systems, some transformed into metadata of entity-relationship models and data dictionaries. However, these metadata usually are not transparent outside the particular business interests involved. A core conservation ontology and knowledge base (COKB) has been developed to work towards resolving these limitations. The COKB establishes core domain classes and their relationships for area of interest, assessment unit, management unit, response unit, management effect, conservation practice, management system, land use, land cover, management period, and management operation. It provides the foundation for a conservation delivery streamlining initiative.
