Spatial Information Theory: Foundations of Geographic Information Science

The 5th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory, COSIT 2001, took place at the Inn at Morro Bay, California, USA, September 19 23, 2001. COSIT grew out of a series of workshops/NATO Advanced Study Institutes/NSF Specialist Meetings during the 1990s concerned with theoretical and applied aspects of representing large scale space, particularly geographic or environmental space (this history is elaborated in the prefaces of previous COSIT proceedings). These are spaces in which (and on which) human action takes place, and which are represented and processed in digital geographic information systems. In these early meetings, the need for well founded theories of spatial information representation and processing was identified, particularly theories based on cognition and on computation. This concern for theory provided an early foundation for the newly emerging field of geographic information science. COSIT is not backed by any particular scientific society but is organized as an independent enterprise. The conference series was established in 1993 as an interdisciplinary biennial European conference on the representation and processing of large scale spatial information after a successful international conference on the topic had been organized by Andrew Frank et al. in Pisa in 1992 (frequently referred to as "COSIT 0"). After two successful European COSIT conferences with strong North American participation (COSIT '93: Island of Elba, Italy; COSIT '95: Semmering, Austria), COSIT '97 moved across the pond to the United States, and was held in the Laurel Highlands, Pennsylvania.

Inhalt

Keynote Lecture.- A Geographer Looks at Spatial Information Theory.- Geospatial Ontology and Ontologies I.- True Grid.- A Taxonomy of Granular Partitions.- A Geometric Theory of Vague Boundaries Based on Supervaluation.- Qualitative Spatio-Temporal Reasoning I.- When Tables Tell It All: Qualitative Spatial and Temporal Reasoning Based on Linear Orderings.- Computational structure in three-valued nearness relations.- Qualitative Spatio-Temporal Continuity.- Formalizations of Human Spatial Cognition.- Application of Supervaluation Semantics to Vaguely Defined Spatial Concepts.- Spatial and Cognitive Simulation with Multi-agent Systems.- A Virtual Test Bed in Support of Cognitively-Aware Geomatics Technologies.- Space, Cognition, and Information Systems I.- Evaluating the Usability of the Scale Metaphor for Querying Semantic Spaces.- A Semantic Map as Basis for the Decision Process in the www Navigation.- Pragmatism and Spatial Layout Design.- Navigation: Human and Machine Approaches.- Spatial Frames of Reference Used in Identifying Direction of Movement: An Unexpected Turn.- The Role of a Self-Reference System in Spatial Navigation.- The Utility of Global Representations in a Cognitive Map.- Keynote Lecture.- How Spoken Language and Signed Language Structure Space Differently.- Language and Space.- Two Path Preposition: Along and Past.- Ambiguity in Acquiring Spatial Representation from Descriptions Compared to Depictions: The Role of Spatial Orientation.- When and Why Are Visual Landmarks Used in Giving Directions?.- Space, Cognition, and Information Systems II.- Recognition of Abstract Regions in Cartographic Maps.- Geographical Information Retrieval with Ontologies of Place.- Qualitative Spatial Representation for Information Retrieval by Gazetteers.- Keynote Lecture.- Spatial representation and updating: Evidence from neuropsychological investigations.- Cognitive Mapping.- Mental Processing of Geographic Knowledge.- Spatial Cognition and the Processing of Verticality in Underground Environments.- Grid Patterns and Cultural Expectations in Urban Wayfinding.- Qualitative Spatio-Temporal Reasoning II.- The House Is North of the River: Relative Localization of Extended Objects.- Double-Crossing: Decidability and Computational Complexity of a Qualitative Calculus for Navigation.- Spatial Reasoning: No Need for Visual Information.- Geospatial Ontology and Ontologies II.- A Formal Theory of Objects and Fields.- What's in an Image?.- Features, Objects, and other Things: Ontological Distinctions in the Geographic Domain.