Algebraic Operations on Spatiotemporal Data Based on RDF

In the context of the Semantic Web, the Resource Description Framework (RDF), a language proposed by W3C, has been used for conceptual description, data modeling, and data querying. The algebraic approach has been proven to be an effective way to process queries, and algebraic operations in RDF have been investigated extensively. However, the study of spatiotemporal RDF algebra has just started and still needs further attention. This paper aims to explore an algebraic operational framework to represent the content of spatiotemporal data and support RDF graphs. To accomplish our study, we defined a spatiotemporal data model based on RDF. On this basis, the spatiotemporal semantics and the spatiotemporal algebraic operations were investigated. We defined five types of graph algebras, and, in particular, the filter operation can filter the spatiotemporal graphs using a graph pattern. Besides this, we put forward a spatiotemporal RDF syntax specification to help users browse, query, and reason with spatiotemporal RDF graphs. The syntax specification illustrates the filter rules, which contribute to capturing the spatiotemporal RDF semantics and provide a number of advanced functions for building data queries.