Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

SPARQS: Automatic Reasoning in Qualitative Space

  • Conference paper
Research and Development in Intelligent Systems XX (SGAI 2003)

Abstract

In this paper the design and implementation of a general qualitative spatial reasoning engine (SPARQS) is presented. Qualitative treatment of information in large spatial databases is used to complement the quantitative approaches to managing those systems, in particular, it is used for the automatic derivation of implicit spatial relat ionships and in maintaining the integrity of the database. To be of practical use, composition tables of spatial relationships between different types of objects need to be developed and integrated in those systems . The automatic derivation of such tables is considered to be a major challenge to current reasoning approaches. In this paper, this issue is addressed and a new approach to the automatic derivation of composition tables is presented. The method is founded on a sound set-theoretical approach for the representation and reasoning over randomly shaped objects in space. A reasoning engine tool, SPARQS, has been implemented to demonstrate the validity of the approach . The engine is composed of a basic graphical interface where composition tables between the most common types of spatial objects is built . An advanced interface is also provided, where users are able to describe shapes of arbitrary complexity and to derive the composition of chosen spatial relationships. Examples of the application of the method using different objects and different types of spatial relationships is presented and new composition tables are built using the reasoning engine.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. El-Geresy B.A. and Abdelmoty A.I. Order in Space: A General Formalism for Spatial Reasoning. Int. J. on Artificial Intelligence Tools, 6(4):423–450, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. B. Bennett. Spatial Reasoning with Propositional Logics. In Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR94), pages 51–62. Morgan Kaufmann, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  3. B. Bennett, A. Isli, and A. Cohn. When does a composition table provide a complete and tractable proof procedure for a relational constraint language, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  4. I. Bloch. Fuzzy Relative Position between Objects in Image Processing: a Morphological Approach. IEEE Translations on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 21(7):657–664, 1999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. A.G.P. Brown and F.P. Coenen. Spatial reasoning: improving computational efficiency. Automation in Construction, 9(4):361–36, 2000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. A. Clementini and P. Di Felice. A Model for Representing Topological Relationships Between Complex Gemetric Features in Spatial Databases. Information Sciences, 3:149–178, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. E. Clementini and P. Di Felice. An Algebraic Model for Spatial Objects with Indeterminate Boundaries. In P.A. Burrough and A.U. Frank, editors, Geographic Objects with Indeterminate Boundaries, GISDATA, pages 155–169. Taylor & Francis, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  8. E. Clementini, P. Di Felice, and G. Califano. Composite Regions in Topological Queries. Information Systems, 20(7):579–594, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. F.P. Coenen and V. Pepijn. A generic ontology for spatial reasoning. In Research and Development in Expert Systems XV, proc. of ES’98, pages 44–57. Springer Verlag, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  10. A.G. Cohn and SM Hazarika. Qualitative spatial representation and reasoning: An overview. Fumdamenta Informaticae, 46(1-2):1–29, 2001.

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  11. A.G. Cohn, B. Bennett, J. Gooday, and N.M. Gotts. Qualitative Spatial Representation and Reasoning with the Region Connection Calculus. Geoinformatica, 1(3):1–42, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. A.G. Cohn and N.M. Gotts. The “Egg-Yolk” Representation of Regions with Indeterminate Boundaries. In P.A. Burrough and A.U. Frank, editors, Geographic Objects with Indeterminate Boundaries, GISDATA, pages 171–187. Taylor & Francis, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  13. A.G. Cohn, D.A. Randell, Z. Cui, and B. Bennet. Qualitative Spatial Reasoning and Representation. In P. Carrete and M.G. Singh, editors, Qualitative Reasoning and Decision Technologies, pages 513–522, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  14. M.J. Egenhofer. Deriving the composition of Binary Topological Relations. Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, 5:133–149, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. M.J. Egenhofer, E. Clementini, and Di Felicem P. Topological Relations Between Regions With Holes. Int. J. Geographic Information Systems, 8(2):129–142, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. M.J. Egenhofer and R.D. Franzosa. PointSet Topological Spatial Relations. Int. J. Geographic Information Systems, 5(2): 161–174, 1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. M.J. Egenhofer and J.R. Herring. A Mathematical Framework for the Definition of Topological Relationships. In Proceedings of the 4th international Symposium on Spotial Data Handling, volume 2, pages 803–13, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  18. H.W. Guesgen and J. Albrech. Imprecise reasoning in geographic information systems. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 113(1):121–131, 2000.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  19. Guesgen, H.W. Spatial reasoning based on allen’ s temporal logic. Technical Report TR-89-049, International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, California, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  20. F. Karbou. An interval approach to fuzzy surroundedness and fuzzy spatial relations. In 19th International Conference of the North American Fuzzy Information Proauing Society, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Joy Lee and F-J Hsu. Picture Algebra for Spatial Reasoning oflconic Images Represented in 2D G-string. Pattern Recognition, 12:425–435, 1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. A. Mukerjee and G. Joe. A Qualitative Model for Space. In Proceeding of the 5th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, AAAI, 1990, pages 721–727, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  23. V.H. Nguyen, C. Parent, and S. Spaceapietra. Complex Regions in Topological Queries. In Proceeding of the Internation Conference on Spatial Information Theory COSIT’97, volume LNCS 1329, pages 175–192. Springer Verlag, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  24. D. Papadias and T. Sellis, Spatial reasoning using symbolic arrays. In Theories and Methods of SpatioTemporal Reasoning in Geographic Space, LNCS 716, pages 153–161. Springer Verlag, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. D. Randell and M. Wikowski. Building Large Composition Tables via Axiomatic Theories. In Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference (KR-SOOS), pages 26–35. AAAI Press, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  26. D.A. Randell, A.G. Cohn, and Z. Cni. Computing Transitivity Tables: A Challenge for Automated Theorem Provers. In Proceedings of CADE 11, Lecture Notes In Computer Science, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  27. K. Sridharan and H.E. Stephanou. Fuzzy distances for proximity characterization under uncertainty. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 103(3):427–434, 1999.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  28. M.F. Worboys and E. Clementini. Integration of imperfect spatial information. Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, 12:61–80, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing, University of Glamorgan, Treforest, Wales, UK

    Baher A. EI-Geresy

  2. Department of Computer Science, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK

    Alia I. Abdelmoty

Authors
  1. Baher A. EI-Geresy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alia I. Abdelmoty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Frans Coenen

  2. Dept of Computer Science, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

    Alun Preece

  3. Napier University, International Teledemocracy Centre, Edinburgh, EH10 5DT, UK

    Ann Macintosh BSc, CEng

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2004 Springer-Verlag London

About this paper

Cite this paper

EI-Geresy, B.A., Abdelmoty, A.I. (2004). SPARQS: Automatic Reasoning in Qualitative Space. In: Coenen, F., Preece, A., Macintosh, A. (eds) Research and Development in Intelligent Systems XX. SGAI 2003. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-412-8_18

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-412-8_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-85233-780-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-85729-412-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation