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Cognitive Aspects of Human-Computer Interaction for Geographic Information Systems pp 163–178Cite as

Definition of a Visual Language for GIS

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Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASID,volume 83))

Abstract

This paper presents a graphical query language for geographic information systems called Cigales. The basic idea of this language is to express a query by drawing a pattern that corresponds to the results the user wants to be displayed. This drawing is in accordance with its representation of the real world. A set of active icons compose graphical forms, which are the representation of geometric objects (e.g., line and area), and operations such as inclusion and intersection. The graphical query is then translated into a functional language. This intermediate language guarantees the independence of Cigales from the data management system (DBMS). The user need not worry about physical storage of data and does not have to learn a new language. The functional expression is then optimized and translated into specific DBMS commands (e.g., extended SQL). This paper also describes an extended SQL of a geographic DBMS, which was used as a first platform for the implementation of Cigales. The advantages and limits of using a graphical approach are discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Systèmes d’Information, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, F-69 621, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Marie-Aude Aufaure-Portier

Authors
  1. Marie-Aude Aufaure-Portier
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, DP-10, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA

    Timothy L. Nyerges

  2. National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Department of Geography, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, 14261, USA

    David M. Mark

  3. Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Systèmes d’Information, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, F - 69621, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Robert Laurini

  4. National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering, Department of Computer Science, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, 04469-5711, USA

    Max J. Egenhofer

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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Aufaure-Portier, MA. (1995). Definition of a Visual Language for GIS. In: Nyerges, T.L., Mark, D.M., Laurini, R., Egenhofer, M.J. (eds) Cognitive Aspects of Human-Computer Interaction for Geographic Information Systems. NATO ASI Series, vol 83. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0103-5_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0103-5_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4049-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-0103-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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