locloud geolocation enrichment tools: on the map

On the Map

(Stein) Runar Bergheim (@runarbe)

Asplan Viak Internet AS

Who am I?

• I, (Stein) Runar Bergheim work for AVINETA small but perfectly shaped Norwegian tech company operating in Norway, Europe and the Middle East

• Been part of the community around Europeana since 2008EuropeanaLocal, CARARE, PATHS - and presently LoCloud

• Feel privileged to be part of a project and community with brilliant people bringing forward the accumulated results of many Europeana projects

Just and ID, I thought…

• Identifiers: Numbers to find an item in a list, I thought• Intelligent identifiers in the digital era: the product of

deranged minds, I still think

• Little did I know about the people, resources engagement and community working eagerly to attach value-added information to the records identified by these strings and numbers – before I embarked on my journey with Europeana

Abc/1234_2334/12-1a/45:2

nbenfjglo000000001

Enrichment and data quality

Who What When Where

Location is greatFits «everything» togetherIs language independentThe «perfect» way of integrating heritage

(but brings with it it’s own set of challenges)

Geography excellentfor exploration

I know what I am looking for and I know it exists in there

I am interested in information that is relevant to my location/place

DatabaseMap

Location of a single object

Search and exploration

Visualization of related objects

The 19th centuryexploits of «Viking Danske»

Eivindvik

SvanøyAskrova

Kalvåg

MåløySelje

Source: «church books, birth registry»

So it is all good then?

well, there’s a tiny problem!Location is all but absent in most of the metadata contributed to EuropeanaMay exist «by proxy» Geographical names Contextual location (focus of collection, location of institution etc)

But to exploit the potential – we need coordinates

So how can we get coordinates?

Automatic geocoding Non-trivial but perfectly doable task Based on what exist in our metadata… Named entity extraction / geographical names Street addresses Property gazetteer identifiers

Sounds (too) good…What’s the catch? Can only find coordinates if metadata references

locations Typically finds «intermediate» resolution locations, i.e.

village, city, municipality etc. False «hits» due to common names i.e. «Blue

Mountains» Ambiguous hits – more than one hit per object Requires quality assurance

?

How to improve accuracy?There are two optionsA. Add locations to your metadata records manuallyB. Simply don’t do it; wait (or hope) for someone else to do it for

you

If you go for Option A Try to harness the knowledge and experience of individuals to

place your digital objects on the map It is urgent – the pyramids may not be forgotten so easily but

pieces of local history become extinct every day

Manually, you say…?

That is too much work! Just think about A, B, C … Z

It will certainly involve a lot of work and nobody says it is easy.

But it is made a great deal easier with the proper tool And this is where LoCloud and this presentation comes in…

And you can always ask for help; «the crowd» is out there …and if the Norwegian-American emigrant crowd is anything to go by – they

are active and committed, occasionally bordering on requiring a restraining order.

Principle: Enrichment at ornear source

Collection

management syste

m

Aggregator

Europeana

LoCloud’s approachWe’ve built a tool that allow you to add detailed geolocations to any existing data

Allow me to explain

Upload you

r data

as tables

Enrich

your content

using the

appliation

Download data

as tables, SQL statements or RDF

Update

your original

data source

Any is a «big word»

Prepare file

Only requirement is a unique id, a descriptive

title is helpful

Log in: http://locloud.avinet.no/demo

user

*****

Overview of User Interface

List of data sources

Top menu

List of items to be geotagged Geotagging,

editing form

Search databases

User management

Map, map tools

Search results

Upload data source

Create users

Assign access to users

Select data source

You can have many data

sources and control who

has access to do what with each source

Select item

Select, filter and navigate

your uploaded

data sources

Specify geometry

You can add points, lines or polygons

Select from different base maps

Mainstream web maps – but also

INSPIRE compliant map services

Edit attributes as well as location

Propose edits to title or any other

attribute

Set quality

Confidence is stored

Map resolution is

stored

Search for entities

Select from available

names sources: geonames,

LoCloud APIs,National

gazetteers

Click to openwith same

extent

Use alternative sources

Download data

Download as GeoJSON, KML,

RDF or CSV

Test in Google Earth

Where from here…?

• Visit: www.locloud.eu to learn about LoCloud

• A demo version of the tool is available to be tried out at locloud.avinet.no/demo

• If you want a user account or an introduction, email rb@avinet.no

• Tool available under supported and GPL license –available for free on GitHub for «self-hosters»

Is it used?

• Yes, quite a lotBy ASPLAN VIAK AS – a Norwegian consulting engineering company (owner of AVINET)By NORPLAN AS – an international consulting partnership with an emphasis on South-Asia, Middle-East and Sub-Saharan AfricaBy the Ministry of Tourism in the Sultanate of Oman

The first user and the one who provided the requirements and specifications for the tool was the National Archives of Norway – big thanks.

Adding geolocation to your data:Is it worth the effort?

• You must assess for yourselfIf your mission is isolated to preserving historical records/information that are not in themselves geographical by nature, then maybe not.If your mission includes engaging the interest of your users and help them explore your content, then we believe yes.

• Catalogs and databases are tools for people who already know what they are looking for

• Maps are tools for explorers

…at the endof the road

Through LoCloud, AVINET has enjoiyed the experience of standing on the proverbial «shoulders of giants»…As we are approaching the end of our journey together – a big thanks to all of you – and in particular to Kate Fernie for managing our mostly benign but somewhat unruly partnership.

Thank you for the attention(assuming you paid any)

Stein Runar BergheimDirector of Research & Development

Asplan Viak Internet AS