Technological change has left many agencies managing numerous legacy systems and disparate architectures that, despite their limitations, remain valuable. To support cross-functional decision-making, some agencies are enhancing these systems by adopting data lake or data warehouse approaches. Advanced data representation and knowledge management techniques, such as developing a data ontology, could improve these strategies. A data ontology is a framework for characterizing and defining classes, attributes, and their relationships in a domain, providing a shared meaning across multiple users.

NCHRP Research Report 1169: Data Ontologies for Data-Driven Decision-Making: Development and Use, produced by TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program, explores the implementation of a conceptual framework designed to help guide transportation agencies in the development and implementation of data ontologies. The report addresses the value of data ontologies from both business and technical perspectives and emphasizes the organizational, functional, and technical needs for successful integration of data ontologies.

Supplemental to the report is NCHRP Web-Only Document 441: Data Ontologies for Data-Driven Decision-Making: Research Approach and Findings.

Infrastructure Assets: Highway Assets, Transit Assets
Resource Types: Research Report
Capabilities: Data & Information Systems, Organization & People, Tools & Technology
Management Processes: Monitoring & Adjustment, Performance Reporting & Communication, Strategic Direction