A Generic Model Describing Topological Relations among Area Objects in GIS
DENG Min1, LIU Wen-bao2, FENG Xue-zhi1
(1. Department of Urban and Resources Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China; 2. Institute of Geosciences and Technology, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Tai'an 271019,China)
Abstract£ºThe theory of spatial relations in GIS theory has been strongly demanded by spatial data modeling, spatial database query, spatial reasoning, cartographic generalization, and natural-language interface design among many others. However, there is no universal formal model that can be used to describe topological relations among area objects. This paper focuses on establishing a formal model to fill up the knowledge gaps. Our studies demonstrate that topological relations can be identified upon the changes of topological properties of spatial object sets and its components before and after their interactions. First, we propose a generalized model describing topological relations by using mapping transformations from relational algebraic. We found that the current existing models can be categorized as specific cases of our model. Subsequently, the model that we proposed here is a generic model in terms of representing area/area relations. In addition, the concepts of topological distance and topological complexity are defined within the model framework. Based on the concepts, we set up a conceptual model toward neighborhoods of topological relations, which agrees with practical cases and can be applied to the real-world problems.
Key words£ºtopological relations; formal description; topological distance; conceptual neighborhood; spatial reasoning