A Semantic Knowledge Graph of European Mountain Value Chains.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Sociology
• Economics
• Geospatial Information Science

Background:

• Global rural populations are declining, with significant impacts on mountain regions.
• Mountain areas are crucial for European goods supply and face threats to cultural heritage, well-being, and economic sustainability.
• Understanding the multifaceted effects of depopulation in these vital regions is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a comprehensive, geospatially explicit semantic knowledge graph of European mountain value chains.
• To provide a structured resource for analyzing the economic, environmental, and societal dimensions of mountain areas.
• To facilitate the exploration of territorial complexities and the discovery of new knowledge to mitigate rural depopulation.

Main Methods:

• Construction of a large-scale, structured knowledge graph using ontology-based semantic modeling.
• Semi-automatic data compilation from unstructured information provided by mountain area expert scholars.
• Development of narrative representations for value chains within the graph.

Main Results:

• Creation of the first large-size, structured collection of information on 454 European mountain value chains.
• The knowledge graph enables exploration through interactive Story Maps and a semantic Web service.
• Semantic queries demonstrate the graph's capability to reveal territorial complexities and new insights.

Conclusions:

• The developed knowledge graph offers a powerful tool for understanding European mountain value chains.
• It supports the exploration of environmental, societal, territorial, and economic aspects crucial for addressing depopulation.
• This resource can aid in developing strategies to sustain mountain communities and their heritage.