StatSpace: A linked statistical data space
In recent years, the amount of statistical data available on the web has been growing fast. Numerous organizations and governments publish data sets in a multitude of formats and encodings, using different scales, and providing access through a wide range of mechanisms. Due to such inconsistent publishing practices, integrated analysis of statistical data is challenging. StatSpace tackles this problem through semantic integration and provides uniform access to disparate statistical data. At present, it incorporates more than 1,800 data sets published by a variety of data providers including the World Bank, the European Union, and the European Environment Agency. StatSpace transparently lifts data from raw sources, maps geographical and temporal dimensions, aligns value ranges, and allows users to explore and integrate the previously isolated data sets. This paper introduces the constituent elements of the StatSpace architecture - i.e., a metadata repository, URI design patterns, and supporting services - and demonstrates the usefulness of the resulting Linked Data infrastructure by means of use case examples.
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| Architecture | Metadata structure |
Source code
Documentation of URI design and mapping
1. Metadata repository
| Datahub | https://datahub.io/dataset/statspace |
| SPARQL endpoint | http://ogd.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/sparql (Graph URI:http://statspace.linkedwidgets.org) |
| RDF data (~33MB) | http://statspace.linkedwidgets.org/code/statspace.ttl |
| Example 1: | List data sets in the metadata repository |
| Example 2: | List information about a specific metadata description |
2. Code lists
3. Mediator service
| Goal: | Allowing users to integrate statistical data from multiple data sources |
| Input: | SPARQL query |
| Output: | Statistical data from different data sets which satisfy the input query |
| Link: | http://statspace.linkedwidgets.org/mediator/ |
4. RML mapping service
| Goal: | Transforming raw data into RDF format following Data cube vocabulary |
| Input: | RML mapping (required) and parameters (optional) |
| Output: | Data in RDF format |
| Example: | Transform data of the World Bank to RDF format |
5. Metadata generation service
| Goal: | Generating metadata for statistical data sets |
| Input: | RML mapping or SPARQL endpoint |
| Output: | Metadata of data sets |
| Example 1: | Generate metadata for a statistical data set of the ONS |
| Example 2: | Generate metadata for a statistical data set of the World Bank |
| Example 3: | Generate metadata for a sparql endpoint |
6. StatSpace exploration
| StatSpace Explorer | http://statspace.linkedwidgets.org/explorer |
| StatSpace Interface | http://linkedwidgets.org/resource |
| Mashup of statistical information on an area | http://linkedwidgets.org/LinkedWidgetPlatform.html?id=MashupSpatialDataLocator |
| Mashup of statistical data comparison | http://linkedwidgets.org/LinkedWidgetPlatform.html?id=MashupSpatialDataComparator |
7. Other services
7.1. Widget generation
| Goal: | Allowing end users to explore statistical datasets in an easy way |
| Input: | Sparql endpoint |
| Output: | Statistical widgets. Each dataset in the input endpoint is modelled in one widget. Users can run widgets in browser or upload them to our platform (http://linkedwidgets.org) to create mashups |
| Link: | http://statspace.linkedwidgets.org/generation/ |
7.2. Sparql query service
| Goal: | Allowing end user to query data from Sparql endpoint without worrying about cross domain issue |
| Input: | Values for two parameters - endpoint and query |
| Output: | In successful case, the service returns result in JSON format, otherwise it returns 500 error code |
| Structure: | http://statspace.linkedwidgets.org/sparql?endpoint=endpoint_string&query=query_string |
| Example: | URL |
Publications
Ba-Lam Do, Peb Ruswono Aryan, Tuan-Dat Trinh, Peter Wetz, Elmar Kiesling, and A Min Tjoa
Proceedings of OTM 2016 Conferences: CoopIS, ODBASE, and C&TC
Rhodes, Greece, October 2016
Ba-Lam Do, Peb Ruswono Aryan, Tuan-Dat Trinh, Peter Wetz, Elmar Kiesling, A Min Tjoa
Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Semantic Statistics
Bethlehem, U.S. October, 2015
Ba-Lam Do, Peb Ruswono Aryan, Tuan-Dat Trinh, Peter Wetz, Elmar Kiesling, A Min Tjoa
Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Semantic Systems
Vienna, Austria, August, 2015
Ba-Lam Do, Tuan-Dat Trinh, Peter Wetz, Elmar Kiesling, Amin Anjomshoaa, A Min Tjoa
Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Semantic Statistics
Riva del Garda, Italy, October, 2014
Ba-Lam Do, Tuan-Dat Trinh, Peter Wetz, Amin Anjomshoaa, Elmar Kiesling, A Min Tjoa
Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Data Management Technologies and Applications
Vienna, Austria, August, 2014
A Min Tjoa, Ba-Lam Do, Amin Anjomshoaa, Tuan-Dat Trinh, Peter Wetz, Elmar Kiesling
Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Information and Communication Technology
Hanoi, Vietnam, December, 2014