Methods for Handling Imperfect Spatial Information

by Jeansoulin, Robert; Papini, Odile; Prade, Henri; Schockaert, Steven

• ISBN13: 9783642147548
• ISBN10: 3642147542
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-10-23
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Spatial information is pervaded by uncertainty. Indeed, geographical data is often obtained by an imperfect interpretation of remote sensing images, while people attach ill-defined or ambiguous labels to places and their properties. As another example, medical images are often the result of measurements by imprecise sensors (e.g. MRI scans). Moreover, by processing spatial information in real-world applications, additional uncertainty is introduced, e.g. due to the use of interpolation/extrapolation techniques or to conflicts that are detected in an information fusion step. To the best of our knowledge, this book presents the first overview of spatial uncertainty which goes beyond the setting of geographical information systems. Uncertainty issues are especially addressed from a representation and reasoning point of view. In particular, the book consists of 14 chapters, which are clustered around three central topics. The first of these topics is about the uncertainty in meaning of linguistic descriptions of spatial scenes. Second, the issue of reasoning about spatial relations and dealing with inconsistency in information merging is studied. Finally, interpolation and prediction of spatial phenomena are investigated, both at the methodological level and from an application-oriented perspective. The concept of uncertainty by itself is understood in a broad sense, including both quantitative and more qualitative approaches, dealing with variability, epistemic uncertainty, as well as with vagueness of terms.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Uncertainty Issues in Spatial Information	p. 1
Describing Spatial Configurations
Spatial Vagueness	p. 15
A General Approach to the Fuzzy Modeling of Spatial Relationships	p. 49
Bipolar Fuzzy Spatial Information: Geometry, Morphology, Spatial Reasoning	p. 75
Fuzzy and Rough Set Approaches for Uncertainty in Spatial Data	p. 103
Symbolic Reasoning and Information Merging
An Exploratory Survey of Logic-Based Formalisms for Spatial Information	p. 133
Revising Geographical Knowledge: A Model for Local Belief Change	p. 165
Merging Expressive Spatial Ontologies Using Formal Concept Analysis with Uncertainty Considerations	p. 189
Generating Fuzzy Regions from Conflicting Spatial Information	p. 211
Prediction and Interpolation
Fuzzy Methods in Image Mining	p. 243
Kriging and Epistemic Uncertainty: A Critical Discussion	p. 269
Scaling Cautious Selection in Spatial Probabilistic Temporal Databases	p. 307
Imperfect Spatiotemporal Information Analysis in a GIS: Application to Archaeological Information Completion Hypothesis	p. 341
Uncertainty in Interaction Modelling: Prospecting the Evolution of Urban Networks in South-Eastern France	p. 357
Author Index	p. 379
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