A Belgian public-sector geographic data organisation is preparing BelgoNyms, a toponymic dataset, for publication as Linked Open Data. This Linked Open Data specialist role combines conceptual and semantic modeling, stakeholder workshops, and technical recommendations for RDF-based publication, knowledge graphs, and interoperability with GeoSPARQL and INSPIRE.
The mission
BelgoNyms will make Belgian place-name data available as open data and needs a practical route into the international Web of Data. You will assess the current structure, identify relevant entities, attributes, and relationships, and compare suitable ontologies, vocabularies, and standards. The study will produce a target semantic model and recommendations for alignment with external references such as Wikidata, GeoNames, and INSPIRE, while considering European interoperability standards.
Your scope covers both business analysis and technical design. You will work closely with domain experts and data specialists to identify stakeholders, facilitate workshops, prioritise use cases, and formulate competency questions that test the model. You will also define URI/IRI governance, assess RDF transformation, publication, and storage options, recommend a target architecture, and set out an implementation roadmap with dependencies, risks, and indicative sequencing.
Your responsibilities
- Analyse BelgoNyms data structures to establish a reliable basis for semantic transformation and reuse.
- Produce a documented conceptual model covering domain entities, attributes, relationships, and supporting UML or RDF representations.
- Apply ontology design and align the domain model with appropriate vocabularies, including RDF, OWL, SKOS, GeoSPARQL, and INSPIRE.
- Facilitate workshops with business and data stakeholders to prioritise use cases and define competency questions.
- Establish URI/IRI governance covering naming conventions, stable identifiers, and long-term management rules.
- Evaluate RDF transformation, publication, and storage tools, then translate findings into a target architecture and phased LOD roadmap.
Your profile
Essential skills
- Bring medior-level experience in Linked Open Data, semantic modeling, knowledge graphs, or related data architecture work.
- Turn business requirements into conceptual models, semantic models, diagrams, and documented recommendations.
- Apply ontology design principles and work confidently with RDF, OWL, SKOS, and SPARQL.
- Understand GeoSPARQL, INSPIRE, and geographical data standards, including their relevance to interoperability and alignment.
- Assess external reference sources such as Wikidata and GeoNames and identify practical interconnection opportunities.
- Facilitate workshops with technical and non-technical stakeholders, structure decisions, and communicate trade-offs clearly.
- Define URI/IRI governance that supports stable, persistent, and reusable identifiers.
- Evaluate architecture and tooling choices for RDF transformation, knowledge graph publication, and data storage.