towards developing an sds solution portal naicong li stephen daugherty steve paplanus

Towards Developingan SDS Solution Portal

Naicong LiStephen Daugherty

Steve PaplanusNathan StroutLisa Benvenuti

Serene OngMartin Wong

The Redlands Institute, University of Redlands

AAG 2009, Las Vegas, NevadaMarch 22 – 27, 2009

Towards Developing an SDS Solution Portal

Outline

• The needs of Spatial Decision Support (SDS)• Incremental development of the SDS portal• Conceptual framework for the content on the portal• SDS Knowledge Portal• SDS Resource Portal• Conclusion and future work


The needs of Spatial Decision Support (SDS)

Easy access to SDS resources, and understanding of their functionalities

• Software tools• Models• Data sources• Workflows• Case studies• Literature

Intended users• People facing spatial decision problems - decision

makers, practitioners, etc.• University researchers and students


Vast amount of SDS resource related information out there...

Requirements on the SDS Portal

• SDS Resources characterized with a standard set of searchable parameters

• Consistent presentation of information• Consistent use of terminology within a user community• Same conceptual framework organizing everything


Organization of the SDS resources requires a systematic understanding of the field of spatial decision support:

• The nature of spatial decision problems• Decision context• Decision process• Methods and techniques• The application domains of the SDS resources• Functional components of spatial decision support systems

and tools• ...


SDS portalevolution

KnowledgePortal

- User accessing knowledge about SDS

ResourcePortal

- User seeking resource info

(1)Ontologies as the Conceptual framework for SDS

provide content for and organize information on the portal

SolutionPortal

- User seeking resource recommendations

Incremental development of the SDS portal

Conceptual framework for the content on the portal


Component ContentIntroduction Definition of spatial decision support, the related fields of study, the

basic concepts related to the notion of decisionDecision context

The context in which to frame a decision: decision problem types, application domains, institutional, legal, social, cultural, geographic contexts of a decision

Spatial decision process

Knowledge about spatial decision processes: major phases and sub steps during a structured spatial decision process; typical spatial decision process workflows for different application domains

Methods and techniques

Methods and techniques used during a spatial decision process

Technology Technology available for SDS, including equipment and software, especially the spatial decision support systems and tools. Related information on information systems, general SDSS functionalities

People and participation

Collaborative dimension of decision making process, decision process participant roles

Domain data and knowledge

Data, data models, domain models

Resources SDS software systems and tools, domain models, related literature, case studies, related websites, data sources, data models, decision process workflow templates, organizations and people referred to elsewhere in the ontologies



Inside the ontologies:• SDS related concepts, organized into • Hierarchies/graphs, with each concept defined by• Name, synonyms, acronyms/abbreviations• Description,• Set of formally defined attributes• Set of formally defined relations to other concepts

Developing a Conceptual Framework for Spatial Decision SupportAll decision process start from a decision problem, which exists in a

decision context

Decision objective

Decision problem type

Application domain

Institutional context

Legal contextSocial context

Cultural context

Geographical context

Time frame

Spatial decision problem

Spatial Decision process

• Assessment• Impact assessment• Status assessment• Suitability assessment

• Planning• Alternative evaluation• Plan evaluation• Select or allocate

• Location allocation• Resource allocation• Site search or selection

• Network design• Schedule

• Plan performance evaluation

SDS Knowledge Portal

SDS Consortium 2008

Issue articulation

Condition assessment

Process mapping/Agenda

DesignChoiceImplement

Review/Evaluate

Monitor Structured spatial decision process

Continuous decision improvement process

Spatial Decision process

Choice

• Specify criterion weight• Impact analysis• Rank alternatives• Sensitivity analysis• Recommend alternative• Create action plan• Visualization

Design

• Alternative generation• Alternative screening• Concept design• Detail design• Visualization

Issue articulation

• Stakeholder engagement• Problem identification• Visualization

Condition assessment

• Evaluation criteria specification

• Constraints specification• Data development• Models development• Situation assessment• Visualization

Decision process phases and steps


Rank alternatives

Rank alternatives

input

• Set of alternatives

• Recommendation group• Advisor

participant

role types

• Decision maker • Resource manager • Resource owner • Stakeholder representative• Decision analyst• GIS analyst

participant roleassumed by

commonly

used

methods• AHP• Value/Utility function

method• Ideal/Reference point

method• Simple additive

weighting method• ...

• Ranked alternatives output

Zoom in to the step “Rank alternatives”

a step in

ChoiceSynonymsPrioritize options

Definition:Alternative ranking is a process during which a set of alternatives (for the solution of the decision problem) is ranked based on a set of evaluation criteria, with the alternative that based meets the criteria ranked on top.

Source of description:...

Editor:...


A method used for this step – simple additive weighting

Simple additive weighting method

Simple additive weighting method

Abbreviation:SAW

Synonyms:weighted summation; boolean overlay; weighted linear combination method; WLC; scoring method

Definition:SAW is a multiattribute procedure based on the concept of a weighted average; it calculates a total score for each alternative by multiplying the importance weight assigned to each attribute by the scaled attribute value and summing the products over all attributes; the alternative with the highest overall score is best; the procedure can beperformed using GIS supporting overlay operations.

Source of description:Malczewski 1999, p.199

Decision typeDeterministic decision problem Individual decision making Multiattribute decision making

Decision Maker Interaction LevelModerateEditor...

input

• Attribute score • Criterion weight

• Ordinal rankingoutput

is a kind of

Multiattribute decision rule

used for Alternative ranking

imple

mented

by

• IDRISI• EMDS• ...

discussed in

...(publications)


EMDS – a tool implementing simple additive weighting

EMDS

EMDS

Name:Ecosystem Management Decision Support

Acronym:EMDS

Overview:The Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) system provides decision support for integrated landscape evaluation and planning. The system provides decision support for landscape-level analyses through logic and decision engines integrated with ArcGIS 8.1+. The logic engine evaluates landscape data against a formal logic specification, designed with NetWeaver Developer, to derive logic-based interpretations of ecosystem conditions such as biodiversity and sustainability. The decision engine evaluates NetWeaver outcomes (and data related to additional factors such as feasibility and efficacy of land management actions) against a decision model for prioritizing landscape features with decision models built in Criterium DecisionPlus

Platform:Windows XPCost:Free

...

used for decision process phase/steps

• Condition assessment• Choice• ...

methods implemented

• Multiattribute decision rule

• Uncertainty methods

accept data of process types

• Biophysical process• economic process• management process• Social process• ...

tool maker• EMDS Consortium

analysis extent

• User specified

analysis unit

• User specified

software required

• ArcGIS 9.x• Crriterion Decision Plus• NetWeaver

used in case studies

• Sandy River Basin Anchor Habitat Project

• ...


SDS portalevolution

KnowledgePortal


ResourcePortal



provide content and organize information on the portal

SolutionPortal




(2)(1) + more resource categories and instances

SDS ontologyevolution

Design considerations for SDS ontologies

Parameters for describing SDS systems and tools

• name• acronym• summary• overview• toolmaker• URL• decision problem types targeted• decision process steps served• methods and techniques

implemented• model application areas• data models used• input data format• output data type• analysis extent• analysis unit

• supports multi spatial scale analysis

• supports analysis of interdisciplinary interactions

• supports social negotiation• description of system components• software required• indicators used• used in case studies• platform• scientific expertise level required• technical expertise level required• developer support needed• development status• online download available• cost• information source


Tools can be browsed by

• Alphabetic order• Decision process steps they serve• Model application area

Tools can be searched by multiple criteria


Parameters for describing data sources

• name• URL• data provider• data topic• data content type• data access mode


Parameters for describing case studies

• project name• summary• overview• decision problem type• decision objective• institutional context• legal context• social context• cultural context• geographical context

• decision process steps involved• methods and techniques used• tools used• decision process participants• start year• end year• success factor• lessons learned• citations• URL

(3)(2) + more workflow information and reasoning rules


SDS portalevolution

KnowledgePortal


ResourcePortal



provide content and organize information on the portal

SolutionPortal




(2)(1) + more resource categories and instances

SDS ontologyevolution


Conclusions and future work

• We have developed a set of ontologies to organize the body of knowledge in SDS and resource information

• We have developed a SDS Knowledge and Resource Portal based on the SDS ontologies

• The Portal can be used to browsed and search SDS related information and resources in multiple ways

• The Portal can be used as a learning tool

• More SDS resource collections• Develop reasoning capabilities to make search

smarter

Thank You



Ontology-based approach

Practical definition of “ontology”:

A domain specific ontology is constructed on the basis of a controlled vocabulary whose meaning is agreed upon by the members of a particular user community. An ontology is a classification system, contains the conceptual categories in this domain, and for each category, the defining attributes of this category, and the various relations that this category bears to other categories. A category has instances sharing the same defining attributes and relations of this category; the difference in their attribute values make them distinct individuals.

Ontology language used in this project: OWL

SDS Resource Portal development workflow

html docs

portalweb pages

SDS ontologies TopBraid Composer ontology editor

User

tables on SharePoint

export

convert

export

add new resource info

access existing SDS resource infoaccess

towards developing an sds solution portal naicong li stephen daugherty steve paplanus

Documents

spatial decision processes

sds portal sds resources

sds consortium

sds solution portalvast

sds solution portaloutline

sds solution portalthe

decision problem types

sds portalconceptual