With the large-scale adoption of GPS equipped mobile sensing devices, positional data generated by moving objects (e.g., vehicles, people, animals) are being easily collected. Such data are typically modeled as streams of spatio-temporal (x,y,t) points, called trajectories . In recent years trajectory management research has progressed significantly towards efficient storage and indexing techniques, as well as suitable knowledge discovery. These works focused on the geometric aspect of the raw mobility data. We are now witnessing a growing demand in several application sectors (e.g., from shipment tracking to geo-social networks) on understanding the semantic behavior of moving objects. Semantic behavior refers to the use of semantic abstractions of the raw mobility data, including not only geometric patterns but also knowledge extracted jointly from the mobility data and the underlying geographic and application domains information. The core contribution of this article lies in a semantic model and a computation and annotation platform for developing a semantic approach that progressively transforms the raw mobility data into semantic trajectories enriched with segmentations and annotations. We also analyze a number of experiments we did with semantic trajectories in different domains.

GPS devices allow recording the movement track of the moving object they are attached to. This data typically consists of a stream of spatio-temporal (x,y,t) points. For application purposes the stream is transformed into finite subsequences called trajectories. Existing knowledge extraction algorithms defined for trajectories mainly assume a specific context (e.g. vehicle movements) or analyze specific parts of a trajectory (e.g. stops), in association with data from chosen geographic sources (e.g. points-of-interest, road networks). We investigate a more comprehensive semantic annotation framework that allows enriching trajectories with any kind of semantic data provided by multiple 3rd party sources.

With the prevalence of GPS-embedded mobile devices, enormous amounts of mobility data are being collected in the form of trajectory - a stream of (x,y,t) points. Such trajectories are of heterogeneous entities - vehicles, people, animals, parcels etc. Most applications primarily analyze raw trajectory data and extract geometric patterns. Real-life applications however, need a far more comprehensive, semantic representation of trajectories. This paper demonstrates the automatic construction and visualization capabilities of SeMiTri - a system we built that exploits 3rd party information sources containing geographic information, to semantically enrich trajectories. The construction stack encapsulates several spatio-temporal data integration and mining techniques to automatically compute and annotate all meaningful parts of heterogeneous trajectories. The visualization interface exhibits different levels of data abstraction, from low-level raw trajectories (i.e. the initial GPS trace) to high-level semantic trajectories (i.e. the sequence of interesting places where moving objects have passed and/or stayed).

The main objective of this paper is to present a flexible annotation management framework for a multimedia database system, applied to meeting recordings. Presented research and development activities are carried out within the scope of the IM2 project in which annotations play an important role in describing raw data from various points of view and in enhancing the query process. We focus on a database system capable of managing annotations (e.g. text transcriptions, dialog acts, speaker space position, etc.) and keeping links with raw data (audio, video, digital documents). This database provides a schema evolution mechanism and a meta-description layer ensuring flexible and incremental annotation definitions. To enhance this database system, some research works are currently in progress: a predictive methodology for schema evolution and a query technique that deals with fuzzy concepts and ontological commitments. We describe our on-going prototype development, in which we focus on data storage and interactive data access.

The impact of resolution has been widely studied on raster data, exploring new ways to store and use raster data at different resolution levels. A similar amount of work has not yet been achieved for vector data. The aim of this paper is to propose a framework suitable for vector data for use at different resolution levels. The framework has in fact a wider scope as it has been designed for the general problem of using multiple representations of geographical and thematic data. This problem can be divided into three main issues: data modelling, data matching from different data sets, and data utilization. How can geographical phenomena with several representations be modelled in vector geographic information systems (GIS)? How should different representations be matched to make the data-management systems aware that they all represent the same geographical phenomenon? How can systems supporting multiple representations be used? Answers to these questions have been elaborated as part of the European MurMur project. They are presented here and illustrated using current applications from the French national mapping agency (IGN).

Although many temporal models have been proposed in the literature, there is still need for a conceptual model capturing the essential semantics of time-varying information that is free of implementation concerns. This paper first discusses important criteria to be considered when assessing the “conceptual” quality of a temporal model. Then, it presents the main temporal features of MADS, a spatiotemporal conceptual model. The focus is on identifying issues that are either open or controversial, and discussing alternatives, if any. Finally, it is shown how the model may be implemented on top of either TSQL2 or a traditional, non-temporal data model. 1.1 Keywords Temporal databases, conceptual modeling, data semantics

This paper investigates the problems that arise when application requirements dictate that autonomous spatial databases be integrated into a federated one. The paper focuses on the most critical issues raised by the integration of databases of different scales. A short presentation of approaches to interoperability and of the main steps composing the integration process is given first. Next, a general format is proposed for precisely defining correspondences between objects of two databases. The format can deal with a wide range of discrepancies in GIS data. Last, a solution is presented for aggregation conflicts which arise when one object of one database corresponds to a set of objects in the other database, a very frequent case when the databases are of different scales. The method is applied to excerpts of real cartographic databases.

We address the development of a normalization theory for object-oriented data models that have common features to support objects. We first provide an extension of functional dependencies to cope with the richer semantics of relationships between objects, called path dependency, local dependency, and global dependency constraints. Using these dependency constraints, we provide normal forms for object-oriented data models based on the notions of user interpretation (user-specified dependency constraints) and object model . In constrast to conventional data models in which a normalized object has a unique interpretation, in object-oriented data models, an object may have many multiple interpretations that form the model for that object. An object will then be in a normal form if and only if the user's interpretation is derivable from the model of the object. Our normalization process is by nature iiterative, in which objects are restructured until their models reflect the user's interpretation.

Thanks to the development of the federated systems approach on the one hand and the emphasis on user involvement in database design on the other, the interest in schema integration techniques is significantly increasing. Theories, methods and tools have been proposed. Conflict resolution is the key issue. Different perceptions by schema designers may lead to different representations. A way must be found to support these different representations within a single system. Most current integration methodologies rely on modification of initial schemas to solve the conflicts. This approach needs a strong interaction with the database administrator, who has authority to modify the initial schemas. This paper presents an approach to view integration specifically intended to support the coexistence of different representations of the same real-world objects. The main characteristics of this approach are the following: automatic resolution of structural conflicts, conflict resolution performed without modification of initial views, use of a formal declarative approach for user definition of inter-view correspondences, applicability to a variety of data models, and automatic generation of structural and operational mappings between the views and the integrated schema. Allowing users' views to be kept unchanged should result in improved user satisfaction. Each user is able to define his own view of the database, without having to conform to some other user's view. Moreover, such a feature is essential in database integration if existing programs are to be preserved.>

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Generalized Expert System for Database Design (GESDD) is a compound expert system made up of two parts: (1) an expert system for generating methodologies for database design, called ESGM; and (2) an expert system for database design, called ESDD. ESGM provides a tool for the database design expert to specify different design methodologies or to modify existing ones. The database designer uses ESDD in conjunction with one of these methodologies to design a database starting from the requirement specification phase and producing a logical schema in one of the well-known data models, namely, the hierarchical data model, the network data model, or the relational data model. The system is evolutive in the sense that an existing methodology can be modified or a novel methodology can be added to the existing ones. GESDD is a menu-driven system and it is coded in Prolog.>

Although many data manipulation languages (DML's) have been proposed for the entity-relationship (ER) model, there is no agreement on what are the basic manipulations that any ER DML must offer. Moreover, there is no DML which fully supports all the capabilities of a general ER model with n-ary relationships, relationships with attributes, optional, complex, and multivalued attributes. This paper consequently proposes a definition of a set of algebraic operators to be applied on a general ER database. The algebra is said to be complete through equivalence with the usual definition of completeness for relational data manipulation languages. This work is intended to provide a sound basis for the definition of complete entity-relationship DML's, an essential feature to make the ER model fully operational.

This paper defines an algebra for the manipulation of an entity-relationship data base. The algebra is said to be complete through equivalence with the usual definition of completeness for relational data manipulation languages. This work is intended to provide a sound basis for the definition of complete entity-relationship DMLs, an essential feature to make the ER model fully operational.