425 research outputs found
Towards development of fuzzy spatial datacubes : fundamental concepts with example for multidimensional coastal erosion risk assessment and representation
Les systĂšmes actuels de base de donnĂ©es gĂ©odĂ©cisionnels (GeoBI) ne tiennent gĂ©nĂ©ralement pas compte de l'incertitude liĂ©e Ă l'imprĂ©cision et le flou des objets; ils supposent que les objets ont une sĂ©mantique, une gĂ©omĂ©trie et une temporalitĂ© bien dĂ©finies et prĂ©cises. Un exemple de cela est la reprĂ©sentation des zones Ă risque par des polygones avec des limites bien dĂ©finies. Ces polygones sont crĂ©Ă©s en utilisant des agrĂ©gations d'un ensemble d'unitĂ©s spatiales dĂ©finies sur soit des intĂ©rĂȘts des organismes responsables ou les divisions de recensement national. MalgrĂ© la variation spatio-temporelle des multiples critĂšres impliquĂ©s dans lâanalyse du risque, chaque polygone a une valeur unique de risque attribuĂ© de façon homogĂšne sur l'Ă©tendue du territoire. En rĂ©alitĂ©, la valeur du risque change progressivement d'un polygone Ă l'autre. Le passage d'une zone Ă l'autre n'est donc pas bien reprĂ©sentĂ© avec les modĂšles dâobjets bien dĂ©finis (crisp). Cette thĂšse propose des concepts fondamentaux pour le dĂ©veloppement d'une approche combinant le paradigme GeoBI et le concept flou de considĂ©rer la prĂ©sence de lâincertitude spatiale dans la reprĂ©sentation des zones Ă risque. En fin de compte, nous supposons cela devrait amĂ©liorer lâanalyse du risque. Pour ce faire, un cadre conceptuel est dĂ©veloppĂ© pour crĂ©er un model conceptuel dâune base de donnĂ©e multidimensionnelle avec une application pour lâanalyse du risque dâĂ©rosion cĂŽtier. Ensuite, une approche de la reprĂ©sentation des risques fondĂ©e sur la logique floue est dĂ©veloppĂ©e pour traiter l'incertitude spatiale inhĂ©rente liĂ©e Ă l'imprĂ©cision et le flou des objets. Pour cela, les fonctions d'appartenance floues sont dĂ©finies en basant sur lâindice de vulnĂ©rabilitĂ© qui est un composant important du risque. Au lieu de dĂ©terminer les limites bien dĂ©finies entre les zones Ă risque, l'approche proposĂ©e permet une transition en douceur d'une zone Ă une autre. Les valeurs d'appartenance de plusieurs indicateurs sont ensuite agrĂ©gĂ©es basĂ©es sur la formule des risques et les rĂšgles SI-ALORS de la logique floue pour reprĂ©senter les zones Ă risque. Ensuite, les Ă©lĂ©ments clĂ©s d'un cube de donnĂ©es spatiales floues sont formalisĂ©s en combinant la thĂ©orie des ensembles flous et le paradigme de GeoBI. En plus, certains opĂ©rateurs d'agrĂ©gation spatiale floue sont prĂ©sentĂ©s. En rĂ©sumĂ©, la principale contribution de cette thĂšse se rĂ©fĂšre de la combinaison de la thĂ©orie des ensembles flous et le paradigme de GeoBI. Cela permet lâextraction de connaissances plus comprĂ©hensibles et appropriĂ©es avec le raisonnement humain Ă partir de donnĂ©es spatiales et non-spatiales. Pour ce faire, un cadre conceptuel a Ă©tĂ© proposĂ© sur la base de paradigme GĂ©oBI afin de dĂ©velopper un cube de donnĂ©es spatiale floue dans le system de Spatial Online Analytical Processing (SOLAP) pour Ă©valuer le risque de l'Ă©rosion cĂŽtiĂšre. Cela nĂ©cessite d'abord d'Ă©laborer un cadre pour concevoir le modĂšle conceptuel basĂ© sur les paramĂštres de risque, d'autre part, de mettre en Ćuvre lâobjet spatial flou dans une base de donnĂ©es spatiales multidimensionnelle, puis l'agrĂ©gation des objets spatiaux flous pour envisager Ă la reprĂ©sentation multi-Ă©chelle des zones Ă risque. Pour valider l'approche proposĂ©e, elle est appliquĂ©e Ă la rĂ©gion Perce (Est du QuĂ©bec, Canada) comme une Ă©tude de cas.Current Geospatial Business Intelligence (GeoBI) systems typically do not take into account the uncertainty related to vagueness and fuzziness of objects; they assume that the objects have well-defined and exact semantics, geometry, and temporality. Representation of fuzzy zones by polygons with well-defined boundaries is an example of such approximation. This thesis uses an application in Coastal Erosion Risk Analysis (CERA) to illustrate the problems. CERA polygons are created using aggregations of a set of spatial units defined by either the stakeholdersâ interests or national census divisions. Despite spatiotemporal variation of the multiple criteria involved in estimating the extent of coastal erosion risk, each polygon typically has a unique value of risk attributed homogeneously across its spatial extent. In reality, risk value changes gradually within polygons and when going from one polygon to another. Therefore, the transition from one zone to another is not properly represented with crisp object models. The main objective of the present thesis is to develop a new approach combining GeoBI paradigm and fuzzy concept to consider the presence of the spatial uncertainty in the representation of risk zones. Ultimately, we assume this should improve coastal erosion risk assessment. To do so, a comprehensive GeoBI-based conceptual framework is developed with an application for Coastal Erosion Risk Assessment (CERA). Then, a fuzzy-based risk representation approach is developed to handle the inherent spatial uncertainty related to vagueness and fuzziness of objects. Fuzzy membership functions are defined by an expert-based vulnerability index. Instead of determining well-defined boundaries between risk zones, the proposed approach permits a smooth transition from one zone to another. The membership values of multiple indicators (e.g. slop and elevation of region under study, infrastructures, houses, hydrology network and so on) are then aggregated based on risk formula and Fuzzy IF-THEN rules to represent risk zones. Also, the key elements of a fuzzy spatial datacube are formally defined by combining fuzzy set theory and GeoBI paradigm. In this regard, some operators of fuzzy spatial aggregation are also formally defined. The main contribution of this study is combining fuzzy set theory and GeoBI. This makes spatial knowledge discovery more understandable with human reasoning and perception. Hence, an analytical conceptual framework was proposed based on GeoBI paradigm to develop a fuzzy spatial datacube within Spatial Online Analytical Processing (SOLAP) to assess coastal erosion risk. This necessitates developing a framework to design a conceptual model based on risk parameters, implementing fuzzy spatial objects in a spatial multi-dimensional database, and aggregating fuzzy spatial objects to deal with multi-scale representation of risk zones. To validate the proposed approach, it is applied to Perce region (Eastern Quebec, Canada) as a case study
Semantic Similarity of Spatial Scenes
The formalization of similarity in spatial information systems can unleash their functionality and contribute technology not only useful, but also desirable by broad groups of users. As a paradigm for information retrieval, similarity supersedes tedious querying techniques and unveils novel ways for user-system interaction by naturally supporting modalities such as speech and sketching. As a tool within the scope of a broader objective, it can facilitate such diverse tasks as data integration, landmark determination, and prediction making. This potential motivated the development of several similarity models within the geospatial and computer science communities. Despite the merit of these studies, their cognitive plausibility can be limited due to neglect of well-established psychological principles about properties and behaviors of similarity. Moreover, such approaches are typically guided by experience, intuition, and observation, thereby often relying on more narrow perspectives or restrictive assumptions that produce inflexible and incompatible measures. This thesis consolidates such fragmentary efforts and integrates them along with novel formalisms into a scalable, comprehensive, and cognitively-sensitive framework for similarity queries in spatial information systems. Three conceptually different similarity queries at the levels of attributes, objects, and scenes are distinguished. An analysis of the relationship between similarity and change provides a unifying basis for the approach and a theoretical foundation for measures satisfying important similarity properties such as asymmetry and context dependence. The classification of attributes into categories with common structural and cognitive characteristics drives the implementation of a small core of generic functions, able to perform any type of attribute value assessment. Appropriate techniques combine such atomic assessments to compute similarities at the object level and to handle more complex inquiries with multiple constraints. These techniques, along with a solid graph-theoretical methodology adapted to the particularities of the geospatial domain, provide the foundation for reasoning about scene similarity queries. Provisions are made so that all methods comply with major psychological findings about peopleâs perceptions of similarity. An experimental evaluation supplies the main result of this thesis, which separates psychological findings with a major impact on the results from those that can be safely incorporated into the framework through computationally simpler alternatives
Topological Foundations of Cognitive Science
A collection of papers presented at the First International Summer Institute in Cognitive Science, University at Buffalo, July 1994, including the following papers:
** Topological Foundations of Cognitive Science, Barry Smith
** The Bounds of Axiomatisation, Graham White
** Rethinking Boundaries, Wojciech Zelaniec
** Sheaf Mereology and Space Cognition, Jean Petitot
** A Mereotopological Definition of 'Point', Carola Eschenbach
** Discreteness, Finiteness, and the Structure of Topological Spaces, Christopher Habel
** Mass Reference and the Geometry of Solids, Almerindo E. Ojeda
** Defining a 'Doughnut' Made Difficult, N .M. Gotts
** A Theory of Spatial Regions with Indeterminate Boundaries, A.G. Cohn and N.M. Gotts
** Mereotopological Construction of Time from Events, Fabio Pianesi and Achille C. Varzi
** Computational Mereology: A Study of Part-of Relations for Multi-media Indexing, Wlodek Zadrozny and Michelle Ki
Developing a model and a language to identify and specify the integrity constraints in spatial datacubes
La qualité des données dans les cubes de données spatiales est importante étant donné que ces données sont utilisées comme base pour la prise de décision dans les grandes organisations. En effet, une mauvaise qualité de données dans ces cubes pourrait nous conduire à une mauvaise prise de décision. Les contraintes d'intégrité jouent un rÎle clé pour améliorer la cohérence logique de toute base de données, l'un des principaux éléments de la qualité des données. Différents modÚles de cubes de données spatiales ont été proposés ces derniÚres années mais aucun n'inclut explicitement les contraintes d'intégrité. En conséquence, les contraintes d'intégrité de cubes de données spatiales sont traitées de façon non-systématique, pragmatique, ce qui rend inefficace le processus de vérification de la cohérence des données dans les cubes de données spatiales. Cette thÚse fournit un cadre théorique pour identifier les contraintes d'intégrité dans les cubes de données spatiales ainsi qu'un langage formel pour les spécifier. Pour ce faire, nous avons d'abord proposé un modÚle formel pour les cubes de données spatiales qui en décrit les différentes composantes. En nous basant sur ce modÚle, nous avons ensuite identifié et catégorisé les différents types de contraintes d'intégrité dans les cubes de données spatiales. En outre, puisque les cubes de données spatiales contiennent typiquement à la fois des données spatiales et temporelles, nous avons proposé une classification des contraintes d'intégrité des bases de données traitant de l'espace et du temps. Ensuite, nous avons présenté un langage formel pour spécifier les contraintes d'intégrité des cubes de données spatiales. Ce langage est basé sur un langage naturel contrÎlé et hybride avec des pictogrammes. Plusieurs exemples de contraintes d'intégrité des cubes de données spatiales sont définis en utilisant ce langage. Les designers de cubes de données spatiales (analystes) peuvent utiliser le cadre proposé pour identifier les contraintes d'intégrité et les spécifier au stade de la conception des cubes de données spatiales. D'autre part, le langage formel proposé pour spécifier des contraintes d'intégrité est proche de la façon dont les utilisateurs finaux expriment leurs contraintes d'intégrité. Par conséquent, en utilisant ce langage, les utilisateurs finaux peuvent vérifier et valider les contraintes d'intégrité définies par l'analyste au stade de la conception
Dwelling on ontology - semantic reasoning over topographic maps
The thesis builds upon the hypothesis that the spatial arrangement of topographic
features, such as buildings, roads and other land cover parcels, indicates how land is
used. The aim is to make this kind of high-level semantic information explicit within
topographic data. There is an increasing need to share and use data for a wider range of
purposes, and to make data more definitive, intelligent and accessible. Unfortunately,
we still encounter a gap between low-level data representations and high-level concepts
that typify human qualitative spatial reasoning. The thesis adopts an ontological
approach to bridge this gap and to derive functional information by using standard
reasoning mechanisms offered by logic-based knowledge representation formalisms. It
formulates a framework for the processes involved in interpreting land use information
from topographic maps. Land use is a high-level abstract concept, but it is also an
observable fact intimately tied to geography. By decomposing this relationship, the
thesis correlates a one-to-one mapping between high-level conceptualisations
established from human knowledge and real world entities represented in the data.
Based on a middle-out approach, it develops a conceptual model that incrementally
links different levels of detail, and thereby derives coarser, more meaningful
descriptions from more detailed ones. The thesis verifies its proposed ideas by
implementing an ontology describing the land use âresidential areaâ in the ontology
editor Protégé. By asserting knowledge about high-level concepts such as types of
dwellings, urban blocks and residential districts as well as individuals that link directly
to topographic features stored in the database, the reasoner successfully infers instances
of the defined classes. Despite current technological limitations, ontologies are a
promising way forward in the manner we handle and integrate geographic data,
especially with respect to how humans conceptualise geographic space
A conceptual framework and a risk management approach for interoperability between geospatial datacubes
De nos jours, nous observons un intĂ©rĂȘt grandissant pour les bases de donnĂ©es gĂ©ospatiales multidimensionnelles. Ces bases de donnĂ©es sont dĂ©veloppĂ©es pour faciliter la prise de dĂ©cisions stratĂ©giques des organisations, et plus spĂ©cifiquement lorsquâil sâagit de donnĂ©es de diffĂ©rentes Ă©poques et de diffĂ©rents niveaux de granularitĂ©. Cependant, les utilisateurs peuvent avoir besoin dâutiliser plusieurs bases de donnĂ©es gĂ©ospatiales multidimensionnelles. Ces bases de donnĂ©es peuvent ĂȘtre sĂ©mantiquement hĂ©tĂ©rogĂšnes et caractĂ©risĂ©es par diffĂ©rent degrĂ©s de pertinence par rapport au contexte dâutilisation. RĂ©soudre les problĂšmes sĂ©mantiques liĂ©s Ă lâhĂ©tĂ©rogĂ©nĂ©itĂ© et Ă la diffĂ©rence de pertinence dâune maniĂšre transparente aux utilisateurs a Ă©tĂ© lâobjectif principal de lâinteropĂ©rabilitĂ© au cours des quinze derniĂšres annĂ©es. Dans ce contexte, diffĂ©rentes solutions ont Ă©tĂ© proposĂ©es pour traiter lâinteropĂ©rabilitĂ©. Cependant, ces solutions ont adoptĂ© une approche non systĂ©matique. De plus, aucune solution pour rĂ©soudre des problĂšmes sĂ©mantiques spĂ©cifiques liĂ©s Ă lâinteropĂ©rabilitĂ© entre les bases de donnĂ©es gĂ©ospatiales multidimensionnelles nâa Ă©tĂ© trouvĂ©e. Dans cette thĂšse, nous supposons quâil est possible de dĂ©finir une approche qui traite ces problĂšmes sĂ©mantiques pour assurer lâinteropĂ©rabilitĂ© entre les bases de donnĂ©es gĂ©ospatiales multidimensionnelles. Ainsi, nous dĂ©finissons tout dâabord lâinteropĂ©rabilitĂ© entre ces bases de donnĂ©es. Ensuite, nous dĂ©finissons et classifions les problĂšmes dâhĂ©tĂ©rogĂ©nĂ©itĂ© sĂ©mantique qui peuvent se produire au cours dâune telle interopĂ©rabilitĂ© de diffĂ©rentes bases de donnĂ©es gĂ©ospatiales multidimensionnelles. Afin de rĂ©soudre ces problĂšmes dâhĂ©tĂ©rogĂ©nĂ©itĂ© sĂ©mantique, nous proposons un cadre conceptuel qui se base sur la communication humaine. Dans ce cadre, une communication sâĂ©tablit entre deux agents systĂšme reprĂ©sentant les bases de donnĂ©es gĂ©ospatiales multidimensionnelles impliquĂ©es dans un processus dâinteropĂ©rabilitĂ©. Cette communication vise Ă Ă©changer de lâinformation sur le contenu de ces bases. Ensuite, dans lâintention dâaider les agents Ă prendre des dĂ©cisions appropriĂ©es au cours du processus dâinteropĂ©rabilitĂ©, nous Ă©valuons un ensemble dâindicateurs de la qualitĂ© externe (fitness-for-use) des schĂ©mas et du contexte de production (ex., les mĂ©tadonnĂ©es). Finalement, nous mettons en Ćuvre lâapproche afin de montrer sa faisabilitĂ©.Today, we observe wide use of geospatial databases that are implemented in many forms (e.g., transactional centralized systems, distributed databases, multidimensional datacubes). Among those possibilities, the multidimensional datacube is more appropriate to support interactive analysis and to guide the organizationâs strategic decisions, especially when different epochs and levels of information granularity are involved. However, one may need to use several geospatial multidimensional datacubes which may be semantically heterogeneous and having different degrees of appropriateness to the context of use. Overcoming the semantic problems related to the semantic heterogeneity and to the difference in the appropriateness to the context of use in a manner that is transparent to users has been the principal aim of interoperability for the last fifteen years. However, in spite of successful initiatives, today's solutions have evolved in a non systematic way. Moreover, no solution has been found to address specific semantic problems related to interoperability between geospatial datacubes. In this thesis, we suppose that it is possible to define an approach that addresses these semantic problems to support interoperability between geospatial datacubes. For that, we first describe interoperability between geospatial datacubes. Then, we define and categorize the semantic heterogeneity problems that may occur during the interoperability process of different geospatial datacubes. In order to resolve semantic heterogeneity between geospatial datacubes, we propose a conceptual framework that is essentially based on human communication. In this framework, software agents representing geospatial datacubes involved in the interoperability process communicate together. Such communication aims at exchanging information about the content of geospatial datacubes. Then, in order to help agents to make appropriate decisions during the interoperability process, we evaluate a set of indicators of the external quality (fitness-for-use) of geospatial datacube schemas and of production context (e.g., metadata). Finally, we implement the proposed approach to show its feasibility
Formalising cartographic generalisation knowledge in an ontology to support on-demand mapping
This thesis proposes that on-demand mapping - where the user can choose the geographic features to map and the scale at which to map them - can be supported by formalising, and making explicit, cartographic generalisation knowledge in an ontology. The aim was to capture the semantics of generalisation, in the form of declarative knowledge, in an ontology so that it could be used by an on-demand mapping system to make decisions about what generalisation algorithms are required to resolve a given map condition, such as feature congestion, caused by a change in scale.
The lack of a suitable methodology for designing an application ontology was identified and remedied by the development of a new methodology that was a hybrid of existing domain ontology design methodologies. Using this methodology an ontology that described not only the geographic features but also the concepts of generalisation such as geometric conditions, operators and algorithms was built. A key part of the evaluation phase of the methodology was the implementation of the ontology in a prototype on-demand mapping system.
The prototype system was used successfully to map road accidents and the underlying road network at three different scales. A major barrier to on-demand mapping is the need to automatically provide parameter values for generalisation algorithms. A set of measure algorithms were developed to identify the geometric conditions in the features, caused by a change in scale. From this a Degree of Generalisation (DoG) is calculated, which represents the âamountâ of generalisation required. The DoG is used as an input to a number of bespoke generalisation algorithms. In particular a road network pruning algorithm was developed that respected the relationship between accidents and road segments. The development of bespoke algorithms is not a sustainable solution and a method for employing the DoG concept with existing generalisation algorithms is required.
Consideration was given to how the ontology-driven prototype on-demand mapping system could be extended to use cases other than mapping road accidents and a need for collaboration with domain experts on an ontology for generalisation was identified. Although further testing using different uses cases is required, this work has demonstrated that an ontological approach to on-demand mapping has promise
Dagstuhl News January - December 2008
"Dagstuhl News" is a publication edited especially for the members of the Foundation "Informatikzentrum Schloss Dagstuhl" to thank them for their support. The News give a summary of the scientific work being done in Dagstuhl. Each Dagstuhl Seminar is presented by a small abstract describing the contents and scientific highlights of the seminar as well as the perspectives or challenges of the research topic
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