39,351 research outputs found
A storage and access architecture for efficient query processing in spatial database systems
Due to the high complexity of objects and queries and also due to extremely
large data volumes, geographic database systems impose stringent requirements on their
storage and access architecture with respect to efficient query processing. Performance
improving concepts such as spatial storage and access structures, approximations, object
decompositions and multi-phase query processing have been suggested and analyzed as
single building blocks. In this paper, we describe a storage and access architecture which
is composed from the above building blocks in a modular fashion. Additionally, we incorporate
into our architecture a new ingredient, the scene organization, for efficiently
supporting set-oriented access of large-area region queries. An experimental performance
comparison demonstrates that the concept of scene organization leads to considerable
performance improvements for large-area region queries by a factor of up to 150
Geospatial Narratives and their Spatio-Temporal Dynamics: Commonsense Reasoning for High-level Analyses in Geographic Information Systems
The modelling, analysis, and visualisation of dynamic geospatial phenomena
has been identified as a key developmental challenge for next-generation
Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In this context, the envisaged
paradigmatic extensions to contemporary foundational GIS technology raises
fundamental questions concerning the ontological, formal representational, and
(analytical) computational methods that would underlie their spatial
information theoretic underpinnings.
We present the conceptual overview and architecture for the development of
high-level semantic and qualitative analytical capabilities for dynamic
geospatial domains. Building on formal methods in the areas of commonsense
reasoning, qualitative reasoning, spatial and temporal representation and
reasoning, reasoning about actions and change, and computational models of
narrative, we identify concrete theoretical and practical challenges that
accrue in the context of formal reasoning about `space, events, actions, and
change'. With this as a basis, and within the backdrop of an illustrated
scenario involving the spatio-temporal dynamics of urban narratives, we address
specific problems and solutions techniques chiefly involving `qualitative
abstraction', `data integration and spatial consistency', and `practical
geospatial abduction'. From a broad topical viewpoint, we propose that
next-generation dynamic GIS technology demands a transdisciplinary scientific
perspective that brings together Geography, Artificial Intelligence, and
Cognitive Science.
Keywords: artificial intelligence; cognitive systems; human-computer
interaction; geographic information systems; spatio-temporal dynamics;
computational models of narrative; geospatial analysis; geospatial modelling;
ontology; qualitative spatial modelling and reasoning; spatial assistance
systemsComment: ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (ISSN 2220-9964);
Special Issue on: Geospatial Monitoring and Modelling of Environmental
Change}. IJGI. Editor: Duccio Rocchini. (pre-print of article in press
A semantic and language-based representation of an environmental scene
The modeling of a landscape environment is a cognitive activity that requires appropriate spatial representations. The research presented in this paper introduces a structural and semantic categorization of a landscape view based on panoramic photographs that act as a substitute of a given natural environment. Verbal descriptions of a landscape scene provide themodeling input of our approach. This structure-based model identifies the spatial, relational, and semantic constructs that emerge from these descriptions. Concepts in the environment are qualified according to a semantic classification, their proximity and direction to the observer, and the spatial relations that qualify them. The resulting model is represented in a way that constitutes a modeling support for the study of environmental scenes, and a contribution for further research oriented to the mapping of a verbal description onto a geographical information system-based representation
A qualitative approach to the identification, visualisation and interpretation of repetitive motion patterns in groups of moving point objects
Discovering repetitive patterns is important in a wide range of research areas, such as bioinformatics and human movement analysis. This study puts forward a new methodology to identify, visualise and interpret repetitive motion patterns in groups of Moving Point Objects (MPOs). The methodology consists of three steps. First, motion patterns are qualitatively described using the Qualitative Trajectory Calculus (QTC). Second, a similarity analysis is conducted to compare motion patterns and identify repetitive patterns. Third, repetitive motion patterns are represented and interpreted in a continuous triangular model. As an illustration of the usefulness of combining these hitherto separated methods, a specific movement case is examined: Samba dance, a rhythmical dance will? many repetitive movements. The results show that the presented methodology is able to successfully identify, visualize and interpret the contained repetitive motions
Multi-Paradigm Reasoning for Access to Heterogeneous GIS
Accessing and querying geographical data in a uniform way has become easier in recent years. Emerging standards like WFS turn
the web into a geospatial web services enabled place. Mediation
architectures like VirGIS overcome syntactical and semantical heterogeneity
between several distributed sources. On mobile devices,
however, this kind of solution is not suitable, due to limitations,
mostly regarding bandwidth, computation power, and available storage
space. The aim of this paper is to present a solution for providing
powerful reasoning mechanisms accessible from mobile applications
and involving data from several heterogeneous sources.
By adapting contents to time and location, mobile web information
systems can not only increase the value and suitability of the
service itself, but can substantially reduce the amount of data delivered
to users. Because many problems pertain to infrastructures
and transportation in general and to way finding in particular, one
cornerstone of the architecture is higher level reasoning on graph
networks with the Multi-Paradigm Location Language MPLL. A
mediation architecture is used as a “graph provider” in order to
transfer the load of computation to the best suited component –
graph construction and transformation for example being heavy on
resources. Reasoning in general can be conducted either near the
“source” or near the end user, depending on the specific use case.
The concepts underlying the proposal described in this paper are
illustrated by a typical and concrete scenario for web applications
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