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Location-Based Access Control Using Semantic Web Technologies

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Geospatial Semantics and the Semantic Web

Part of the book series: Semantic Web and Beyond ((ADSW,volume 12))

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Abstract

Location-based applications are an important case within context-aware applications. They pose interesting challenges when access control is considered for they must satisfy requirements arising from the mobility of both users and resources. Further challenges arise in collaborative environments where resources are shared by users of different organizations. In this paper we propose an access control framework based on the Role Based Access Control (RBAC) model where users and resources are abstracted as sets of attributes that include their geospatial position. In our framework, collaboration is achieved through the interoperation of the access control systems of the collaborating organizations. We use Semantic Web languages, namely OWL and SPARQL. We argue that their expressive power can model a wide range of RBAC policies. In particular, reasoning as provided by OWL supports both a standard enforcement mechanism and interoperation. We have implemented our framework and studied time performance as a function of the number of users and of the roles they can assume. Our implementation also features an interface that visually depicts users and resources on a map. As users move around, the set of actions that they can execute on the resources is shown.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.w3.org/TeamSubmission/turtle/

  2. 2.

    http://protege.stanford.edu/

  3. 3.

    http://owlapi.sourceforge.net/

  4. 4.

    http://clarkparsia.com/pellet/

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by NSF Awards IIS-0513553 and IIS-0812258. We would also like to thank Greg Jarzab for his contributions to the prototype implementation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ADVIS Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Rigel Gjomemo

Authors
  1. Rigel Gjomemo
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  2. Isabel F. Cruz
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Correspondence to Rigel Gjomemo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of California - Irvine, Irvine, 92697, California, USA

    Naveen Ashish

  2. Dept. Computer Science &, Engineering, Wright State University, Colonel Glenn Way 3640, Dayton, 45435-0001, Ohio, USA

    Amit P. Sheth

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Gjomemo, R., Cruz, I.F. (2011). Location-Based Access Control Using Semantic Web Technologies. In: Ashish, N., Sheth, A. (eds) Geospatial Semantics and the Semantic Web. Semantic Web and Beyond, vol 12. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9446-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9446-2_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-9445-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-9446-2

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