Semantic interoperability in eGovernment initiatives

Interoperability has been identified as a major issue to be addressed by every egovernment initiatives. In order to tackle this issue, the egovernment agencies have developed tools to facilitate the interchange of information between departments when providing public services to citizens and businesses through internet. This paper surveys how the egovernment agencies in Europe and the United States have developed tools such as interoperability frameworks and enterprise architectures. It covers specifically how the semantic technologies and standards have been incorporated into the interoperability frameworks. The incorporation is a sign of maturity, because interoperability is to cover not only technical aspects, but also semantic and, in the end, organisational aspects.