Ontologies: from Engineering to Philosophy

My research goes from ontology-driven information systems (how we use the semantic models called computational ontologies to create information systems) to fundamental ontology in the philosophical sense (the basic foundation of all the sciences). I am especially interested in ontologies of the environment. Based on the hermeneutics philosophy developed by Heidegger and Gadamer, I go back and forth between Philosophy and ontology engineering.

Using ontology as the main theme, my research spans three areas:
- Information Science
- Information Systems
- Geographic Information Science

Use Google Scholar to see some of my papers.

Biographical Information

Frederico Fonseca is an Associate Professor at IST, the College of Information Sciences and Technology at The Pennsylvania State University. He earned his Ph.D. (2001) from the Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering at the University of Maine. His thesis Ontology-Driven Geographic Information Systems covered the area of GIS interoperability. His research provides a theoretical basis for semantic interoperability, which is a necessary foundation for a working, interoperating environment. With his focus on system design, Fonseca demonstrates how complicated processes can be integrated to the benefit of users. His newly developed concept of ontology-based GIS is highly interdisciplinary as it brings together various research methods from artificial intelligence, software engineering, and GIS.

Fred Fonseca - Associate Professor

College of Information Sciences and Technology - Penn State University

Global Forest Information System Information Technology enabling the participation of scientists, policy-makers and common citizens in the effort for the monitoring and preservation of the world’s rainforests The project is based on my sabbatical leave (2008-2009) to work on the project SDI for the Amazon with Gilberto Camara at INPE and Clodoveu Davis at UFMG. This project aims at developing a Global Forest Information System and studying the challenges for its creation. We are using the Brazilian case study to discuss the possibility of replicating its success in other rain forest nations interested in monitoring and preserving their rain forests. The Global Forest Information System is based on the Web and uses a cooperative approach to make a significant contribution to the preservation of the world’s rain forests. Our proposal for a Global Forest Information System coincides with Alan Grainger’s proposal for a World Forest Observatory.  We both agree that it is necessary to monitor changes in forest cover through analyses of historical data in order to understand what happened to them through the last 40 years. However, such top-down initiatives take time to build. Many countries need to be involved, and national sensitivities must be properly addressed. In this project we develop a new approach to the creation of a Global Forest Information System. Our concept for a Global Forest Information System goes along the lines of an enhanced "Digital Earth" concept. We think that the Digital Earth metaphor can become much more than what today’s virtual globes provide, and work as a large-scale repository of data, services, and models that can be discovered and used by the multiple actors involved in rainforest monitoring. We envision a Web application that can augment the capacity of rainforest nations to estimate and monitor deforestation and monitor by making essential data and models easily available. The key objective is to enable cooperation and participation from the various actors involved, notably scientists, policy makers, and common citizens. Content as distinct as satellite images, spatial data infrastructures, geobrowsers, research data, laws and policies, and citizen-provided information can be indexed, searched, discovered and used by all interested parties. Events •    I Workshop on Global Forest Information Systems - Spatial Data Infrastructures for the Sustainability of the Brazilian Amazon: Integrating People, Information, and Models on December 8-10, 2008 in Rio de Janeiro. Editorial Work •    2009: Special issue of Earth Science Informatics on Spatial data infrastructures for the Amazon: a first step towards a global forest information system - December 2009. Publications • Fonseca, F. T., C. A. Davis Jr., et al. (2009). "Spatial Data Infrastructures for the Amazon: a First Step towards a Global Forest Information System." Earth Science Informatics 2(4). • Davis Jr., C. A., F. T. Fonseca, et al. (2009). "Beyond SDI: Integrating Science and Communities to Create Environmental Policies for the Sustainability of the Amazon." International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research 4: 156-174. • Câmara, G., L. Vinhas, et al. (2009). Geographical Information Engineering in the 21st Century. Research trends in geographic information science. G. Navratil. Dordrecht; New York, Springer: 203-218. • Davis Jr., C. A., F. T. Fonseca, et al. (2010). Environmental Sustainability: The Role of Geographic Information Science and SDI in the Integration of People and Nature. The SAGE Handbook of GIS and Society. T. Nyerges, H. Couclelis and R. McMaster. to appear Deecember 2010. • Integracao entre Ciencia e Comunidade, (in Portuguese) in II Seminário sobre Grandes Desafios da Computação no Brasil • IDE e Sustentabilidade,  (in Portuguese) in WCAMA 2009

Information Science Fonseca, F.and Martin J., (2009). Beyond Newspeak: Three Arguments for the Persistence of the Informal in the Creation and Use of Computational Ontologies. Special Issue of Knowledge Management Research & Practice: Knowledge Management and e-Research Technologies: to Codify or to Collaborate? 7, 196-205. Fonseca, F., (2007). The Double Role of Ontologies in Information Science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(6), 786-793. Câmara, G., & Fonseca, F. (2007). Information Policies and Open Source Software in Developing Countries. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Volume 58, Issue 1, Pages 121 - 132. Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2005). Toward an Alternative Notion of Information Systems Ontologies: Information Engineering as a Hermeneutic Enterprise. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 56(1), pp. 46-57. Hermeneus is a project that applies philosophy to information seeking and retrieval.

Information Systems Associate editor of the Philosophy and Epistemology track of the 26th. International Conference on Information Systems Fonseca, F. and J. Martin. (2007). Learning the Differences Between Ontologies and Conceptual Schemas Through Ontology-Driven Information Systems. JAIS - Journal of the Association for Information Systems - Special Issue on Ontologies, 8(2), 129-142. Câmara, G., Fonseca, F. T., Onsrud, H. & Monteiro, A. M. (2006). Networks of Innovation and the Establishment of a Spatial Data Infrastructure in Brazil. Information Technology for Development, Volume 12, Issue 4, Pages 255 - 272. Davis, C. & Fonseca, F. T. (2006). Considerations from the Development of a Local Spatial Data Infrastructure. Information Technology for Development, Volume 12, Issue 4, Pages 273 - 290. Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2005). Play as the Way out of the Newspeak-Tower of Babel Dilemma in Data Modeling. in: McLean, E. and Monod, E., (Eds.), The 26th International Conference on Information Systems , Las Vegas, pp. 11-20.

Geographic Information Science Program Co-Chair - GeoS 2007 - The Second International Conference on GeoSpatial Semantics Guest Editor - June 2007 - Special Issue of Transactions in GIS on The Geospatial Semantic Web The 2006 University Consortium for Geographic Information Science Research Award Fonseca, F. and M. A. Rodriguez. (2007). From Geo-Pragmatics to Derivation Ontologies: New Directions for the GeoSpatial Semantic Web. Transactions in GIS 11(3), 313–316. Davis, C. , Fonseca, F., (2007). Assessing the Certainty of Locations Produced by an Address Geocoding System . GeoInformatica, 11(1), 103-129. Fonseca, F., Câmara, G., (2006). A Framework for Measuring the Interoperability of Geo-Ontologies. Spatial Cognition and Computation, 6(4), 307-329, 2006. Li, B. and Fonseca, F. T. (2006). TDD - a Comprehensive Model for Qualitative Spatial Similarity Assessment. Spatial Cognition and Computation, 6(1), 31–62 Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2004). Space and Time in Eco-Ontologies. AI Communications - The European Journal on Artificial Intelligence 17(4): pp. 259-269. Fonseca, F., Davis, C. and Camara, G. (2003). Bridging Ontologies and Conceptual Schemas in Geographic Applications Development. Geoinformatica, 7(4): pp. 355-378. Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Agouris, P., and Câmara, G. (2002). Using Ontologies for Integrated Geographic Information Systems. Transactions in GIS, 6(3): pp. 231-257. Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Davis, C., and Câmara, G. (2002). Semantic Granularity in Ontology-Driven Geographic Information Systems. AMAI Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence - Special Issue on Spatial and Temporal Granularity, 36(1-2): pp. 121-151. Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Davis, C., and Borges, K. (2000). Ontologies and Knowledge Sharing in Urban GIS. Computer, Environment and Urban Systemsx, 24(3): pp. 232-251.

2006 NCSA Summer Fellowship   I am the recipient of the 2006 NCSA summer fellowship at The National Center for Supercomputing Applications NCSA , University of Illinois with the project An Ontology-Driven Model for the Efficient Use of Provenance Information.

2006 UCGIS Research Award   I was deeply honored in receiving the 2006 University Consortium for Geographic Information Science Research Award for my work on ontologies in GIS.

Teaching and Learning Award   I was honored in 2005 with the George McMurtry Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award

Research Statement

Three words define my research:ontologies, environment, and integration. My basic work is on ontology engineering, which is the construction of ontologies, of how people understand and represent their knowledge about a subject. I also use philosophy to drive my research on ontologies. I use Hermeneutics as developed by Heidegger and Gadamer.

My preferred subject for ontologies is the environment, .i.e, ontologies that describe our scientific understanding of how the environment works. Once we have different representations of the understanding of different people I am interested in how to integrate these different views. The integration of different ontologies will lead to a better understanding among different communities. The result of the integration can be used in different enterprises such as creating better public policies and enhance knowledge sharing among different nations of the planet.

The main objectives of my current research are:

• Performing an empirical study of how different communities conceptualize and categorize scientific information about the environment;
• Creating multiple ontologies about the environment;
• Designing computational models to specify, represent, visualize, access, compare and share multiple ontologies of scientific information.

Publications

Ph.D. Thesis

• Fonseca, F. (2001). Ontology-Driven Geographic Information Systems. Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering – The University of Maine Orono Maine

Refereed Journals

• Fonseca, F. and M. A. Rodriguez (2007). From Geo-Pragmatics to Derivation Ontologies: New Directions for the GeoSpatial Semantic Web. Transactions in GIS. 11(3), 313–316.
• Fonseca, F. and J. Martin (2007). Learning the Differences Between Ontologies and Conceptual Schemas Through Ontology-Driven Information Systems. JAIS - Journal of the Association for Information Systems - Special Issue on Ontologies in the Context of IS 8(2): 129-142.
• Fonseca, F., (2007). The Double Role of Ontologies in Information Science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(6), 786-793.
• Câmara, G., & Fonseca, F. (2007). Information Policies and Open Source Software in Developing Countries. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Volume 58, Issue 1, Pages 121 - 132.
• Davis, C. , Fonseca, F., (2007). Assessing the Certainty of Locations Produced by an Address Geocoding System. GeoInformatica, 11(1), 103-129.
• Fonseca, F., Câmara, G., (2006). A Framework for Measuring the Interoperability of Geo-Ontologies. Spatial Cognition and Computation, 6(4), 307-329, 2006.
• Câmara, G., Fonseca, F. T., Onsrud, H. & Monteiro, A. M. (2006). Networks of Innovation and the Establishment of a Spatial Data Infrastructure in Brazil. Information Technology for Development, Volume 12, Issue 4, Pages 255 - 272.
• Davis, C. & Fonseca, F. T. (2006). Considerations from the Development of a Local Spatial Data Infrastructure. Information Technology for Development, Volume 12, Issue 4, Pages 273 - 290.
• Li, B. and Fonseca, F. T. (2006). TDD - a Comprehensive Model for Qualitative Spatial Similarity Assessment. Spatial Cognition and Computation: 6(1), 31–62.
• Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2005). Toward an Alternative Notion of Information Systems Ontologies: Information Engineering as a Hermeneutic Enterprise . Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 56(1): pp. 46-57.
• Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2004). Space and Time in Eco-Ontologies. AI Communications - The European Journal on Artificial Intelligence 17(4): pp. 259-269.
• Fonseca, F., Davis, C. and Camara, G. (2003). Bridging Ontologies and Conceptual Schemas in Geographic Applications Development. Geoinformatica: 7(4): pp. 355-378.
• Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Agouris, P., and Câmara, G. (2002). Using Ontologies for Integrated Geographic Information Systems. Transactions in GIS – (6) 3: 231-57.
• Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Davis, C., and Câmara, G. (2001). Ontologies and Knowledge Sharing in Urban GIS. CEUS- Computer, Environment and Urban Systems 24(3): 232-251.
• F. Fonseca and M. Egenhofer, (1999). Sistemas de Informação Geográficos Baseados em Ontologias in Informática Pública 1 (2): 47-65.

Refereed Conferences

• Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2005). Play as the Way out of the Newspeak-Tower of Babel Dilemma in Data Modeling. in: McLean, E. and Monod, E., (Eds.), The 26th International Conference on Information Systems, Las Vegas, pp. 11-20.
• Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2003). Space and Time in Eco-Ontologies, 2003 AAAI Spring Symposium Series:Foundations and Applications of Spatio-Temporal Reasoning (FASTR), Stanford, CA.
• Fonseca, Frederico, James Martin, and Andrea Rodriguez. (2002). From Geo to Eco-Ontologies. Geographic Information Science-Second International Conference Giscience 2002. Eds. Max Egenhofer and David Mark. Vol. 2478. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 2002. 93-107.
• Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Davis, C., and Câmara, G. (2002). Semantic Granularity in Ontology-Driven Geographic Information Systems. AMAI Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence - Special Issue on Spatial and Temporal Granularity 36(1-2): pp. 121-151.
• Câmara, G., Egenhofer, M., Fonseca, F., and Monteiro, A. M. V. (2001). What's in an Image. in: Montello, D. R., (Ed.),Spatial Information Theory—A Theoretical Basis for GIS, InternationalConference COSIT '01, Santa Barbara, CA.
• F. Fonseca, (2001). Role-Based Geographic Information Integration. in: C. Medeiros (Ed.), GeoInfo 2001 III Workshop Brasileiro de GeoInformática, Rio, Brazil.
• F. Fonseca and M. Egenhofer, (2000). Ontology-Driven Information Integration . in: A. Montanari and C. Bettini (Eds.), AAAI-2000 Workshop on Spatial and Temporal Granularity, Austin,TX.
• F. Fonseca and M. Egenhofer, (2000). Ontologias e Interoperabilidade Semantica entre SIGs . in: L. Figueiredo (Ed.), GeoInfo 2000 II Workshop Brasileiro de GeoInformática, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• F. Fonseca and M. Egenhofer, (1999). Ontology-Driven Geographic Information Systems. in: C. B. Medeiros (Ed.), 7th ACM Symposium on Advances in Geographic Information Systems, Kansas City, MO, pp. 14-19.
• F. Fonseca and M. Egenhofer, (1999). Knowledge Sharing in Geographic Information Systems in: P. Scheuermann (Ed.), The Third IEEE International Knowledge and Data Engineering Exchange Workshop, Chicago IL.

Book Chapters

• F. Fonseca and C. Davis, (1999). Using the Internet to Access Geographic Information: An OpenGis Prototype. in: M. Goodchild, M. Egenhofer, R. Fegeas, and C. Kottman (Ed.), Interoperating Geographic Information Systems. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, MA.

Non-Refereed Conferences

• Fonseca, F., Sheth, A. (2002). The GeoSpatial Semantic Web. UCGIS Research Priorities.
• F. Fonseca, (2000). GIS_Ontology.com in GIScience 2000.
• F. Fonseca, (2000). Users, Ontologies and Information Sharing in Urban GIS in ASPRS 2000.
• F. Fonseca and C. Davis, (1998). Geoprocessamento e Internet in Anais do GIS BRASIL98, Curitiba, Paraná. (In Portuguese)
• F. Fonseca and C. Davis, (1997). Uma Interface para Acesso a Dados Geográficos na Internet in Anais GIS BRASIL97 ,Curitiba, Paraná. (In Portuguese)
• K. Borges and F.Fonseca, (1996). Cartografia e Geoprocessamento in Anais do GIS BRASIL97, Curitiba, Paraná. (In Portuguese)
• F. Fonseca and C. Davis, (1994). Geoprocessamento em Belo Horizonte : Aplicações in Anais do GIS BRASIL94 ,Curitiba, Paraná. (In Portuguese)
• F. Fonseca and C. Zuppo, (1994). School Pre-registration and Student Allocation in Proceedings of the URISA '94Conference, Milwaukee,WI, Vol.1 pp.30-40.
• F. Fonseca, (1993). GIS for a Two-Million People City in Three Years in Proceedings of the URISA '93

Curriculum Vitae

Education

• 2001
  Ph.D. in Spatial Information Science and Engineering at the University of Maine.
• 1997
  Master's of Public Administration and Computer Science from the Government School of the Joao Pinheiro Foundation, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
• 1978
  B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
• 1977
  Advanced Degree in Data Processing Technology from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Professional Experience

• 2007 - present
  Associate Professor – College of Information Sciences and Technology – Penn State University
• 2001 - 2006
  Assistant Professor – College of Information Sciences and Technology – Penn State University
• 2001
  Joint Researcher at National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, University of Maine. Funded by a NASA/EPSCoRGrant.
• 1998 - 2001
  Graduate research assistant at National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, University of Maine.
• 1988 - 1998
  Senior system analyst/ GIS analyst at Prodabel, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
• 1989
  Assistant Professor - Programming Systems –Computer Science - Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
• 1980 - 1988
  Consultant in Information Systems.
• 1977 - 1979
  System analyst at Federal University of Minas Gerais Data Processing Center, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
• 1977
  Teacher - Algol programming language – Summer Course- Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Honors & Awards

• 2006
  2006 UCGIS Research Award
• 2005
  The George McMurtry Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award
• 2000
  NASA/EPSCoRGrant
• 2000
  University of Maine College of Engineering Graduate Research Assistant of the Year
• 1999
  ESRI/IGIF Student Scholarship Award
• 1975
  IBM scholarship for the best student of the semester

Students / Visitors

Ph.D. Students

• David Saab (Fall 2005 - present): Ontology and Indegenous Culture
• Andrey Soares (graduated on 2009): Ontology-Driven Information Systems Analysis and Design
• Fabiano Duarte Beppler (graduated on 2008) - Hermeneus
  

Visiting Scholars

• Renata Baracho (Spring 2006)
• Fernando Gibotti (Spring 2006)
• Jugurta Lisboa Filho (Fall 2005)
• Gilberto Camara (Spring 2005)
• Clodoveu Davis (2001)

If you are interested in my research projects please send me an email.

Admissions information can be obtained on Prospective Graduate Students.

Courses

FALL

• IST240 - Introduction to Computer Languages
  This course provides an introduction to computer languages including the fundamental concepts underlying their specification; their history, evolution, and taxonomy; and how different languages from different paradigms serve different purposes in the development of information systems (IS). The term computer language is used in a general sense to include modeling and design languages for information systems specification, programming languages, scripting languages, markup languages, and others.

• IST503 - Introduction to IST Research
  This course is a study of major methodological, normative, and theoretical issues in the philosophy of science related to research in information science and technology. A significant part of this course will involve coordinating issues and problems customarily associated with the philosophy of science in general with current research in information science and technology (IST) in particular. In order to achieve this coordination, the study of classical texts in the philosophy of science will be interspersed at appropriate places with lectures and topics that exhibit relevant faculty research in various IST related disciplines.
• IST311 - Object Oriented Design and Software Applications
  This course provides an introduction to computer languages including the fundamental concepts underlying their specification; their history, evolution, and taxonomy; and how different languages from different paradigms serve different purposes in the development of information systems (IS). The term computer language is used in a general sense to include modeling and design languages for information systems specification, programming languages, scripting languages, markup languages, and others.

Projects

ITR:(GEO/SBE) Ontologies in Action: An Information Architecture to Support Investigation of Linked Health-Environment Interactions

with Mark Gahegan

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Amount: $299,994

Summary: An information architecture to support investigation of linked Health-Environment Interaction using ConceptVISTA, an ontology creation and visualization tool developed by researchers at the GeoVISTA Center, that allows users to define and link concepts and resources pertaining to a conceptual domain. Users can add and view additional information related to concepts and resources. ConceptVISTA stores ontologies in the Web Ontology Language (OWL) format and can import outside ontologies. ConceptVISTA provides users with a useful set of ontology management functions.

Editorial

Guest Editor

• Transactions in GIS (2007)
• Earth Science Informatics (2009)
  

Chair

• GeoS 2007
• GeoInfo (2005)

Honors & Awards

2006

2006 UCGIS Research Award.

2005

The George McMurtry Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award.

2000

NASA/EPSCoR Fellowship.

2000

University of Maine College of Engineering Graduate Research Assistant of the Year.

1999

ESRI/IGIF Student Scholarship Award.

1975

IBM scholarship for the best student of the semester.

Affiliations

I am associated with the following centers:

I work with the following professors:

• James Martin
• Gilberto Camara
• Clodoveu Davis
• Mark Gahegan
• Maria Andrea Rodriguez

Contact

Fred Fonseca

 Associate Professor

College of Information Sciences and Technology

The Pennsylvania State University

307E IST Building

University Park, PA - U.S.A.

16802-6823

Phone: (814) 865-6460

Fax: (814) 865-6426

fredfonseca@ist.psu.edu