Towards an information centric flood ontology for information management and communication

Advancements and new techniques in information technologies are making it possible to manage, analyze and present large-scale environmental modeling results and spatial data acquired from various sources. However, it is a major challenge to make this data accessible because of its unstructured, incomplete and varied nature. Extracting information and making accurate inferences from various data sources rapidly is critical for natural disaster preparedness and response. Critical information about disasters needs to be provided in a structured and easily accessible way in a context-specific manner. This paper introduces a group of information-centric ontologies that encompass the flood domain and describes how they can be benefited to access, analyze, and visualize flood-related data with natural language queries. The presented methodology enables the easy integration of domain knowledge into expert systems and voice-enabled intelligent applications that can be accessed through web-based information platforms, instant messaging apps, automated workflow systems, home automation devices, and augmented and virtual reality platforms. A case study is described to demonstrate the usage of presented ontologies in such intelligent systems.