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The "Reality Markup Platform" (RAMP)
We are in the process of developing a spatial data infrastructure for the UoN campus.
RAMP can be considered as a standard three-tier architecture:1. The application tier can be accessed via a standard-web browser: a user's position can be indexed via GPS (a GPS-enabled smartphone is therefore ideal for dynamic navigation purposes).
2. The database tier consists of tagged spatio-temporal regions. The precise interpretation of the tags (e.g. whether as folksonomic or entity names in some ontology) is the responsibility of an extensible inference engine in the middle tier.
3. RAMP acts as a research platform for intelligent middleware that matches the enormous variety of human-centred queries that someone on campus might wish to make. Queries may concern both static features (e.g. purpose(s) of a particular building) and dynamic ones (e.g. the type of the lecture about to be delivered in the room one is sitting in).
There are a huge number of possible applications that will be facilitated via the RAMP project. Here is a small selection:
Resource DiscoveryA member of UoN (student\academic\support staff) needs to find a particular kind of resource (e.g. the nearest library to them that is still open). A RAMP query will tell them how to get to that resource.
Location-based Advertising
Shops on campus can broadcast about their sale-items and special deals (offered to users who are headed in that direction), or users can ask about bargains nearby.
Personal Organizer NotificationA student sitting in a cafe receives a message telling him that he is due to be in a lecture in 5 minutes - but he is in a building some 15 minutes walk away. RAMP offers directions to the nearest bus!
Emergency Service Response
An ambulance is responding to an accident on the main campus. Historically, the emergency services have not had access to detailed information about the campus and it has been necessary to for campus security to escort them. The ability for emergency service staff to access marked-up navigation facilities could make liason with security unnecessary and hence save valuable time.
This initiative is led at CGS by Dr. James Goulding and Dr. Jerry Swan.
Research Areas:
• Geoinformatics & Data Modelling
• Geospatial Intelligence
• Interoperability & Standards
• Location Based Services
• Semantics & Reasoning
CGS Initiatives:
• The Persistent Test Bed
• Geospatial Learning Initiative
• Reality Markup Project
Funded Projects:
• GIS4EU
• D-scent
• Map Schematization
• OS "Future Data"
• Disaster Management
• GIGAS Interoperability
• The e-soter Platform
• SWIMA
• Eye Tracking