Semantic Sensor Web

Semantic Sensor Web (SSW) is an approach to annotating sensor data with spatial, temporal, and thematic semantic metadata. This technique builds on current standardization efforts within the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)  Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) and extends them with Semantic Web technologies to provide enhanced descriptions and access to sensor data.


Ontologies


There is a need for a set of ontologies to marry sensor data and sensing information with meaning. The W3C's working group on semantic sensor networks is currently developing some definitive examples. Through the use of ontologies, systems can find sensor networks and their data. Practically, this can be provided through SPARQL end-points, RDF and linked-data.


time browsing of the physical world consistent with the STT situational awareness goal. Understanding the physical world via a myriad of sensors is now possible. Browsing of the current physical reality with the help of each sensor as a real-time Web page can help common users, their neighborhoods become more aware of their situations and can probe further into objects and related analytics of interest by tapping into relevant information stored somewhere online, in effect, enabling potential for collective self-aware "intelligent neighborhoods". This can become basis for collaborative, actionable situational awareness.

As IP-enabled, affordable sensor devices of different types become available and are placed around the Earth, referred to as a "Sensing Cloud" in our environment. Integrating the diverse sensory streams into the Web can serve different user or machine queries via the concept of Sensor Wiki. Encouraging people to contribute real-time "sensory" information is the goal subject to privacy and security constraints. Intelligent mobile devices can act as hubs and/or sources and sinks of such real-time streams.
In a sensor Wiki one or more sensors contribute real-time information as Wiki Pages with suitable themes and formats useful to prospective Sensor Wiki users. Sensor Wiki users can look up information about objects, events, or places of interest interactively; they can also add intelligent STT interpretations of what they observe or use sensor tasking to add to the content to improve accuracy, or even develop the overall scene to offer situation assessment on a proactive basis. Others might want to record such sensor streams and related information as part of a larger objective such as future planning, training, or simply record keeping for historical purposes, and make it available to a specific community or an individual.