Integration of Heterogeneous Spatial Databases for Disaster Management

TLDR: This paper aims to propose a framework for the integration of heterogeneous spatial databases using novel approaches, such as web services and ontologies, in order to be able to interrogate the content of the different databases conveniently.

Abstract: The response phase in a disaster case is often considered to be the most critical in terms of saving lives and dealing with irreversible damage. The timely provision of geospatial information is crucial in the decision-making process. Thus, there is a need for the integration of heterogeneous spatial databases which are inherently distributed and created under different projects by various organizations. The integration of all relevant data for timely decision making is a challenging task due to syntactic, schematic and semantic heterogeneity. This paper aims to propose a framework for the integration of heterogeneous spatial databases using novel approaches, such as web services and ontologies. We focus on providing solutions for the three levels of heterogeneity, in order to be able to interrogate the content of the different databases conveniently. Based on the proposed framework, we implemented a use case using heterogeneous data belonging to La Rochelle city in France.