Results 1 - 10
of
55
Formal Ontology and Information Systems
, 1998
"... Research on ontology is becoming increasingly widespread in the computer science community, and its importance is being recognized in a multiplicity of research fields and application areas, including knowledge engineering, database design and integration, information retrieval and extraction. We sh ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 897 (11 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Research on ontology is becoming increasingly widespread in the computer science community, and its importance is being recognized in a multiplicity of research fields and application areas, including knowledge engineering, database design and integration, information retrieval and extraction. We shall use the generic term information systems, in its broadest sense, to collectively refer to these application perspectives. We argue in this paper that so-called ontologies present their own methodological and architectural peculiarities: on the methodological side, their main peculiarity is the adoption of a highly interdisciplinary approach, while on the architectural side the most interesting aspect is the centrality of the role they can play in an information system, leading to the perspective of ontology-driven information systems.
Qualitative Spatial Representation and Reasoning: An Overview
- FUNDAMENTA INFORMATICAE
, 2001
"... The paper is a overview of the major qualitative spatial representation and reasoning techniques. We survey the main aspects of the representation of qualitative knowledge including ontological aspects, topology, distance, orientation and shape. We also consider qualitative spatial reasoning inclu ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 264 (18 self)
- Add to MetaCart
The paper is a overview of the major qualitative spatial representation and reasoning techniques. We survey the main aspects of the representation of qualitative knowledge including ontological aspects, topology, distance, orientation and shape. We also consider qualitative spatial reasoning including reasoning about spatial change. Finally there is a discussion of theoretical results and a glimpse of future work. The paper is a revised and condensed version of [33, 34].
A Pointless Theory of Space Based on Strong Connection and Congruence
- In Proceedings of Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR96
, 1996
"... We present a logical theory of space where only tridimensional regions are assumed in the domain. Three distinct primitives are used to describe their mereological, topological and morphological properties: mereology is described by a parthood relation satisfying the axioms of Closed Extensional Mer ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 102 (12 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
We present a logical theory of space where only tridimensional regions are assumed in the domain. Three distinct primitives are used to describe their mereological, topological and morphological properties: mereology is described by a parthood relation satisfying the axioms of Closed Extensional Mereology; topology is described by means of a "simple region" predicate, by which a relation of “strong connection ” between regions having at least a surface in common is defined; morphology is described by means of a "congruence " primitive, whose axioms exploit Tarski's analogy between points and spheres. 1
Qualitative Spatial Representation and Reasoning
- An Overview”, Fundamenta Informaticae
, 2001
"... The need for spatial representations and spatial reasoning is ubiquitous in AI – from robot planning and navigation, to interpreting visual inputs, to understanding natural language – in all these cases the need to represent and reason about spatial aspects of the world is of key importance. Related ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 71 (10 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
The need for spatial representations and spatial reasoning is ubiquitous in AI – from robot planning and navigation, to interpreting visual inputs, to understanding natural language – in all these cases the need to represent and reason about spatial aspects of the world is of key importance. Related fields of research, such as geographic information science
Fiat and Bona Fide Boundaries
- PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH
, 1997
"... ..."
(Show Context)
Boolean Connection Algebras: A New Approach to the Region-Connection Calculus
- Artificial Intelligence
, 1999
"... The Region-Connection Calculus (RCC) is a well established formal system for qualitative spatial reasoning. It provides an axiomatization of space which takes regions as primitive, rather than as constructions from sets of points. The paper introduces boolean connection algebras (BCAs), and prove ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 50 (6 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
The Region-Connection Calculus (RCC) is a well established formal system for qualitative spatial reasoning. It provides an axiomatization of space which takes regions as primitive, rather than as constructions from sets of points. The paper introduces boolean connection algebras (BCAs), and proves that these structures are equivalent to models of the RCC axioms. BCAs permit a wealth of results from the theory of lattices and boolean algebras to be applied to RCC. This is demonstrated by two theorems which provide constructions for BCAs from suitable distributive lattices. It is already well known that regular connected topological spaces yield models of RCC, but the theorems in this paper substantially generalize this result. Additionally, the lattice theoretic techniques used provide the first proof of this result which does not depend on the existence of points in regions. Keywords: Region-Connection Calculus, Qualitative Spatial Reasoning, Boolean Connection Algebra, Mer...
A Complete Axiom System for Polygonal Mereotopology of the Real Plane
, 1997
"... This paper presents a calculus for mereotopological reasoning in which two-dimensional spatial regions are treated as primitive entities. A first order predicate language L with a distinguished unary predicate c(x), function-symbols +; : and \Gamma and constants 0 and 1 is defined. An interpretation ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 47 (5 self)
- Add to MetaCart
This paper presents a calculus for mereotopological reasoning in which two-dimensional spatial regions are treated as primitive entities. A first order predicate language L with a distinguished unary predicate c(x), function-symbols +; : and \Gamma and constants 0 and 1 is defined. An interpretation R for L is provided in which polygonal open subsets of the real plane serve as elements of the domain. Under this interpretation the predicate c(x) is read as "region x is connected" and the function-symbols and constants are given their meaning in terms of a Boolean algebra of polygons. We give an alternative interpretation S based on the real closed plane which turns out to be isomorphic to R. A set of axioms and a rule of inference are introduced. We prove the soundness and completeness of the calculus with respect to the given interpretation.
Ontological Tools for Geographic Representation
- Formal Ontology in Information Systems
, 1998
"... Abstract. This paper is concerned with certain ontological issues in the foundations of geographic representation. It sets out what these basic issues are, describes the tools needed to deal with them, and draws some implications for a general theory of spatial representation. Our approach has ramif ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 41 (7 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Abstract. This paper is concerned with certain ontological issues in the foundations of geographic representation. It sets out what these basic issues are, describes the tools needed to deal with them, and draws some implications for a general theory of spatial representation. Our approach has ramifications in the domains of mereology, topology, and the theory of location, and the question of the interaction of these three domains within a unified spatial representation theory is addressed. In the final part we also consider the idea of nonstandard geographies, which may be associated with geography under a classical conception in the same sense in which non-standard logics are associated with classical logic. 1.
Ontologies for Plane, Polygonal Mereotopology
, 1997
"... Several authors have suggested that a more parsimonious and conceptually elegant treatment of everyday mereological and topological reasoning can be obtained by adopting a spatial ontology in which regions, not points, are the primitive entities. This paper challenges this suggestion for mereotop ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 32 (3 self)
- Add to MetaCart
Several authors have suggested that a more parsimonious and conceptually elegant treatment of everyday mereological and topological reasoning can be obtained by adopting a spatial ontology in which regions, not points, are the primitive entities. This paper challenges this suggestion for mereotopological reasoning in 2-dimensional space. Our strategy is to define a mereotopological language together with a familiar, point-based interpretation. It is proposed that, to be practically useful, any alternative region-based spatial ontology must support the same sentences in our language as this familiar interpretation. This proposal has the merit of transforming a vague, open-ended question about ontologies for "practical" mereotopological reasoning into a precise question in model theory. We show that (a version of) the familiar interpretation is countable and atomic, and therefore prime. We conclude that useful alternative ontologies of the plane are, if anything, less parsimonious than the one which they are supposed to replace.
