An Ontology Approach to Manage Land Use Planning Knowledge in Iran

Land-use planning knowledge in Iran includes a large body of data and information that necessitates efficient managing methods. Through definition of knowledge in land use planning studies of each sector, data exchange and sharing of information become easier and more useful. In recent years, ontological structuring of the terms related to a specific domain of knowledge and the relationships among them has developed greatly. The use of ontology approach facilitates exchange of information and understanding of the concepts and the relationships among users in different areas of knowledge. In this paper, using the software Protege, the relationships were defined among land use information via the Web Ontology Language (WOL). Due to the vast extent of data gathered in land use planning studies in different fields, this study is limited to the environmental sector. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a model for managing land use planning knowledge based on ontology, and create a framework of concepts and different relationships in this field. In doing this, the hope is to share data and knowledge among specialists and organizations involved and increase the efficiency of these studies in Iran. As we know, the land use planning for the 31 provinces of Iran is becoming completed where each province has used its hard and software to handle and disseminate data and information produced during the process. Using the ontology concept introduced in the paper can help unify these measures and prevent reinventing the wheel as much as possible.