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Cited by 266Semantic Web and OntologiesEnvironmental Monitoring and Data ManagementGeographic Information Systems Studies

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The modular SSN ontology: A joint W3C and OGC standard specifying the semantics of sensors, observations, sampling, and actuation

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Haller, Armin, Janowicz, Krzysztof, Cox, Simon J.D., Lefrançois, Maxime, Taylor, Kerry, Le Phuoc, Danh, Lieberman, Joshua, García-Castro, Raúl, Atkinson, Rob, Stadler, Claus·2018·Semantic Web
DOI 10.3233/sw-180320
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Abstract

The joint W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) and OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) Spatial Data on the Web (SDW) Working Group developed a set of ontologies to describe sensors, actuators, samplers as well as their observations, actuation, and sampling activities. The ontologies have been published bot h as a W3C recommendation and as an OGC implementation standard. The set includes a lightweight core module called SOSA (Sensor, Observation, Sampler, and Actuator) available at: http://www.w3.org/ns/sosa/, and a more expressive extension module called SSN (Semantic Sensor Network) available at: http://www.w3.org/ns/ssn/. Together they describe systems of sensors and actuators, observations, the used procedures, the subjects and their properties being observed or acted upon, samples and the process of sampling, and so forth. The set of ontologies adopts a modular architecture with SOSA as a self-contained core that is extended by SSN and other modules to add expressivity and breadth. The SOSA/SSN ontologies are able to support a wide range of applications and use cases, including satellite imagery, large-scale scientific monitoring, industrial and household infrastructures, social sensing, citizen science, observation-driven ontology engineering, and the Internet of Things. In this paper we give an overview of the ontologies and discuss the rationale behind key design decisions, reporting on the differences between the new SSN ontology presented here and its predecessor [Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web 17 (2012), 25–32] developed by the W3C Semantic Sensor Network Incubator group (the SSN-XG). We present usage examples and describe alignment modules that foster interoperability with other ontologies.

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Metadata

Authors
Haller, A., Janowicz, K., Cox, S. J. D., Lefrançois, M., Taylor, K., Le Phuoc, D., Lieberman, J., García-Castro, R., Atkinson, R., & Stadler, C.
Affiliations
  • Research School of Computer Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. E-mails: armin.haller@anu.edu.au, kerry.taylor@anu.edu.au
  • University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
  • Land and Water, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia. E-mail: simon.cox@csiro.au
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Australian National University (AU)
  • Open Distributed Systems, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. E-mail: danh.lephuoc@tu-berlin.de
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Ontology Engineering Group, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. E-mail: rgarcia@fi.upm.es
  • Metalinkage, Wollongong, Australia. E-mail: rob@metalinkage.com.au
  • Institut für Informatik, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. E-mail: cstadler@informatik.uni-leipzig.de
ORCID
Venue
Semantic Web
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2018-12-28
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
9-32
ISSN
  • 1570-0844 (ISSN-L)
  • 2210-4968
DOI
10.3233/sw-180320
OpenAlex
W2889161681
Cited by
266
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 5
FWCI
16.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • Semantic Web (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (1540849)
  • Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
  • Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (H2020‐MSCAIF‐2014, H2020-MSCA, MSCA-IF-2014)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Semantic Web and Ontologies
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Monitoring and Data Management
  • Social Sciences › Geography, Planning and Development › Geographic Information Systems Studies
Keywords
Semantic Sensor Network ontology, Sosa, ontology (information science), sensor networks, observation, sampling, actuation, ontology mapping, interoperability, Internet of Things, social sensing, citizen science

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The modular SSN ontology: A joint W3C and OGC standard specifying the semantics of sensors, observations, sampling, and actuation. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.3233/sw-180320
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Haller, A., Janowicz, K., Cox, S. J. D., Lefrançois, M., Taylor, K., Le Phuoc, D., Lieberman, J., García-Castro, R., Atkinson, R., & Stadler, C. (2018). The modular SSN ontology: A joint W3C and OGC standard specifying the semantics of sensors, observations, sampling, and actuation. Semantic Web. https://doi.org/10.3233/sw-180320