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International Conference on Geographic Information Science

GIScience 2002: Geographic Information Science pp 161–180Cite as

Multi-agent Systems for Web-Based Map Information Retrieval

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2478))

Abstract

Many types of information are geographically referenced and interactive maps provide a natural user interface to such data. However, map presentation in geographical information systems (GISs) and on the Internet is closely related to traditional cartography and provides a very limited interactive experience. We present the MAPBOT, a web-based map information retrieval system to search geographical information using software agent techniques. Each kind of map feature such as a building or a road is treated as an agent called a Maplet. Each Maplet has a user interface level to assist the user to find information of interest and a graphic display level that controls the presence and the appearance of the feature on the map. Semantic relationships of Maplets are defined in an Ontology Repository (OR) and used to control their retrieval. To allow system developers to manipulate the OR, an Ontology Editor is implemented with a graphical user interface. Visualisation on the client is based on Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). The paper describes the current state of development of the prototype and presents, and evaluates experimentally, an agent-oriented graphical conflict resolution procedure, which demonstrates the potential for conflict resolution via low-level agent communication, as opposed to global control.

This research has been funded by UK EPSRC grant GR/N23172

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deptartment of Computer Science, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF24 3XF, UK

    Maozhen Li, Sheng Zhou & Christopher B. Jones

Authors
  1. Maozhen Li
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  2. Sheng Zhou
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  3. Christopher B. Jones
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering, National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Orono, ME, 04469-5711, USA

    Max J. Egenhofer

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469-5711, USA

    Max J. Egenhofer

  3. National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis Department of Geography, University at Buffalo, 105 Wilkeson Quad., Box 610023, Buffalo, NY, 14261-0023, USA

    David M. Mark

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Li, M., Zhou, S., Jones, C.B. (2002). Multi-agent Systems for Web-Based Map Information Retrieval. In: Egenhofer, M.J., Mark, D.M. (eds) Geographic Information Science. GIScience 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2478. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45799-2_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45799-2_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-44253-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45799-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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