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Spatial Computing

How Spatial Structures Replace Computational Effort

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Cognitive and Linguistic Aspects of Geographic Space

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography ((LNGC))

Abstract

At the Advanced Study Institute on Cognitive and Linguistic Aspects of Geographic Space in Las Navas del Marqués in July 1990, I presented a chapter on Qualitative Spatial Reasoning. In that chapter, I suggested that spatial inference engines might provide the basis for rather general cognitive capabilities inside and outside the spatial domain. In the present chapter, I will follow up on this perspective and I will illustrate the ways in which research in spatial cognition has progressed towards understanding spatial reasoning and spatial computing in a more literal sense: using a spatial substrate. The chapter presents a progression of approaches to spatial reasoning from purely descriptive to increasingly spatially structured. It demonstrates how spatial structures are capable of replacing computational processes. It discusses how these approaches could be developed and implemented in a way that may help us to better understand higher-level spatial abilities of cognitive systems that are frequently attributed to the right cerebral hemisphere in humans. The chapter concludes by discussing the special role of space and time for cognition and advocates a thorough overall analysis of the specific problem to be solved to identify the most suitable approach to computation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    www.sfbtr8.spatial-cognition.de/project/r3/sparq/ (accessed: 1 Jan 2012).

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful for valuable and detailed comments on earlier versions of this chapter from Thomas Barkowsky, Mehul Bhatt, Stefano Borgo, Holger Schultheis, Thora Tenbrink, Diedrich Wolter, several anonymous reviewers, and the editors of this book. Generous support from the German Research Foundation to the Spatial Cognition Research Center SFB/TR 8 Bremen and Freiburg is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Spatial Cognition Research Center SFB/TR 8, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Christian Freksa

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  1. Christian Freksa
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Correspondence to Christian Freksa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Institute of Cartography, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 15, Zurich, 8093, Switzerland

    Martin Raubal

  2. , Department of Geography, University of Buffalo, Wilkeson Quad 105, New York, 14261, USA

    David M. Mark

  3. , Institute for Geoinformation, TU Wien, Gusshausstr. 27-29, Vienna, 1040, Austria

    Andrew U. Frank

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Freksa, C. (2013). Spatial Computing. In: Raubal, M., Mark, D., Frank, A. (eds) Cognitive and Linguistic Aspects of Geographic Space. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34359-9_2

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