Spatio-temporal ontology based model for data warehousing

A Data Warehouse (DW) is a database that stores a copy of operational data with an optimized structure for query and analysis. There are many facets due to the number of variables that are needed to consider in the integration phase design. It is not easy to generate and maintain the integrated scheme. In this paper we describe a spatio-temporal extension of an ontology language which facilitates the generation of the scheme of the DW as well as the design of the processes which extract, transform and load the data from the sources in the DW according to the temporal characteristics of the data sources. The proposed model allows the user to concentrate in the problem itself and not in the issues of dealing with the temporal and the spatial concepts found in many of the data sources usually used in the enterprises information systems.