Landscaping the use of semantics to enhance the interoperability of agricultural data

Andres Ferreyra, Xian Guojian, Clement Jonquet, Antonis Koukourikos, Valeria Pesce, Ivo Pierozzi Jr, Catherine Roussey, Anne Toulet, ​ ​ Ferdinando ​ ​ Villa, ​ ​ Brandon ​ ​ Whitehead ​ , ​ ​ ​​ Xuefu ​ ​ Zhang, ​ ​ Erick ​ ​ Antezana Executive ​ ​ Summary In this document we aim at composing a high level overview of the ​ use of semantics in the production, exchange and use of agricultural data ​ . In particular, we focus on the use of semantics for data management, and the resources, tools and services available for its production. ​ ​ We ​ ​ also ​ ​ look ​ ​ at ​ ​ the ​ ​ current ​ ​ research ​ ​ trends ​ ​ in ​ ​ the ​ ​ area. Semantics refers to the description of the meaning of data, made possible by “semantic resources” (aka “semantic structures”) aiming at making explicit the information that may help ​ ​ to ​ ​ find, ​ ​ understand, ​ ​ and ​ ​ reuse ​ ​ data(sets). ​ ​ Semantics ​ ​ may ​ ​ also ​ ​ make ​ ​ explicit ​ ​ the ​ ​ entities and relations the data embody. Granted that no data is ever produced or distributed without some attempts to describe its meaning (all databases have column names, all documents have a title and often some ways to indicate what topics they are about), the level of semantic ​ richness, ​ ​ accuracy, ​ ​ shareability ​ ​ and ​ ​ reusability ​ ​ of ​ ​ the ​ ​ resources ​ ​ used ​ ​ ​ ​ greatly. The goal of our this is to indicate the main tasks where semantics