Question-based analysis of Geographic Information with Semantic Queries

The project Question-based analysis of Geographic Information with Semantic Queries (QuAnGIS) is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 803498).

The aim of this project is to realize a seamless data driven spatial science using geographic information through question-based analysis, which is a novel way of interacting with geo-analytical resources via Question Answering (QA) technology. The project lays the theoretical as well as computational foundations for an AI based infrastructure that allows analysts to search for appropriate data and methods on the Web simply by formulating analytical questions. This enables the sustainable reuse of geographic information resources (data, maps and computational tools) and empowers non-professional users to exploit the benefits of geographic information.

In the project, we will investigate how spatial questions are asked, how users can formulate spatial questions translatable into semantic queries, how both geodata and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tool resources can be semantically described in a linked tool and data repository, how meaningful geo-analytical workflows can be computed based on these resources, and how geo-analytical queries can be matched to workflows that answer the underlying questions.