SemanticGIS is a way of working with geospatial data that starts with the world, not with the software. First you say what you are looking at and which question you are asking of it. Then you find the data that stand for it, and choose the operations that turn the data into an answer. The software comes last. Each choice on the way is written down, so that others can follow it and the work can be repeated.
The site has two entrances.
1. Learning GIS the semantic way
For anyone who wants to learn GIS, or to plan and document a GIS project.
A GIS project is a workflow: a documented chain of reasoning from a spatial question to an answer. The workflow is built from reusable pieces, which run from domain-specific and tool-free at the top to tool-bound at the bottom:
| Piece | What it is | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Workflow | The route from question to answer, seen from five vantage points: scoping, data, analysis, communication and execution | Introduction, The workflow |
| Domain hubs | The questions a field asks (landscape ecology, housing, hydrology…), with its own Tasks and worked Examples | Domain hubs |
| Tasks | A reusable unit of work, such as georeferencing or aggregating points to zones, described without reference to any software | Tasks |
| Operators | The single transformations a Task is made of: buffer, clip, dissolve, zonal statistics | Operators |
| Recipes | How a Task is carried out step by step in one piece of software | QGIS Recipes |
| Tools | The dialog in the software that realises one or more Operators | QGIS Tools |
Where to begin: follow a learning path. Learn GIS the semantic way is an open path for self-study, with no earlier GIS experience needed. Course paths follow the courses taught on site.
2. Finding data the semantic way
For anyone looking for the data that can answer a spatial question.
A data catalogue lists datasets by theme. SemanticGIS starts from the question instead. SPHERE organises the world in thematic spheres (Atmosphere, Biosphere, Hydrosphere, Geosphere and Anthroposphere) plus a Reference Framework. Leaves are the questions you can ask of the data, such as “Where are protected habitats?”, and each leaf links to the datasets that realise it. The leaves form a network rather than a tree: a leaf belongs wherever it is relevant.
| Start here | When you know… |
|---|---|
| SPHERE | the question you want to ask |
| Classical Classifications | a theme from INSPIRE, ISO 19115 or UN-GGIM, and want to see where it lands in SPHERE |
| Reference Framework | what the data must be located by: coordinate systems, administrative and statistical units, addresses |
| Basemaps | you need a backdrop: topographic maps, orthophotos, historical maps or terrain |
| Data Portals | the source, and want to know how to get data out of it |
| All entrances to the data | the register, the publisher or the collection method |
In QGIS: the SemanticGIS plugin gives the same network as a panel in QGIS, and adds a service as a layer with one double-click.