Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Application of Supervaluation Semantics to Vaguely Defined Spatial Concepts

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2001)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2205))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

The paper examines ways in which the interpretation of spatial concepts is affected by vagueness and suggests mechanisms for taking account of this within spatial information systems. The theory of supervaluation semantics is explained and applied to the spatial domain and to particular problems of defining geographical concepts such as ‘forest’.

This work was supported by the EPSRC under grant GR/M56807.

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 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
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

  • Alker, S., Joy, V., Roberts, P. and Smith, N.: 2000, The definition of brownfield, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 43(1), 49–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, B.: 1998, Modal semantics for knowledge bases dealing with vague concepts, in A. G. Cohn, L. Schubert and S. Shapiro (eds), Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference (KR-98), Morgan Kaufman, pp. 234–244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, B.: 2001, What is a forest? on the vagueness of certain geographic concepts, Topoi 20(2).

    Google Scholar 

  • Burrough, P. and Frank, A. (eds): 1996, Geographical Objects with Undetermined Boundaries, GISDATA, Taylor and Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvanese, D., Lenzerini, M. and Nardi, D.: 1998, Description logics for conceptual data modelling, in J. Chomicki and G. Saake (eds), Logics for Databases and Information Systems, Kluwer, chapter 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohn, A. G. and Gotts, N. M.: 1996a, The ‘egg-yolk’ representation of regions with indeterminate boundaries, in P. Burrough and A. M. Frank (eds), Proceedings, GISDATA Specialist Meeting on Geographical Objects with Undetermined Boundaries, Francis Taylor, pp. 171–187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohn, A. G. and Gotts, N. M.: 1996b, Representing spatial vagueness: a mereological approach, in J. D. L C Aiello and S. Shapiro (eds), Proceedings of the 5th conference on principles of knowledge representation and reasoning (KR-96), Morgan Kaufmann, pp. 230–241.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eschenbach, C.: 2000, Ontology, predicates and identity, in S. Winter (ed.), Geographical Domain and Geographical Information Systems, Vol. 19 of Geoinfo, Institute for Geoinformation, Vienna University of Technology, pp. 33–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, M.: 1978, Can there be vague objects?, Analysis 38, 208. reprinted in his Collected Papers, Oxford, Clarendon Press 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, K.: 1975, Vagueness, truth and logic, Synthèse 30, 263–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, A.: 1997, Spatial ontology: a geographical information point of view, in O. Stock (ed.), Spatial and Temporal Reasoning, Kluwer, Dordrecht, chapter 5, pp. 321–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodchild, M. F.: 1993, Data models and data quality: problems and prospects, in M. F. Goodchild, B. O. Parks and L. T. Steyaert (eds), Visualization in Geographical Information Systems, John Wiley, New York, pp. 141–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodchild, M. F. and Gopal, S. (eds): 1989, Accuracy of Spatial Databases, Taylor and Francis, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heuvelink, G. B.: 1998, Error Propagation in Environmental Modelling with GIS, Taylor and Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, C.: 1986, Is a thing just the sum of its parts?, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 86, 213–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Husch, B., Miller, C. and Beers, T.: 1963, Forest Mensuration, Wiley. 3rd edition 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston, D. and Lowell, K.: 2000, Forest volume relative to cartographic broundaries and sample spacing, unit size and type, Geographical and Environmental Modelling 4(1), 105–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kulik, L.: 2000, Vague spatial resoning based on supervaluation, in S. Winter (ed.), Geographical Domain and Geographical Information Systems, Vol. 19 of Geoinfo, Institute for Geoinformation, Vienna University of Technology, pp. 73–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann, F. and Cohn, A. G.: 1994, The EGG/YOLK reliability hierarchy: Semantic data integration using sorts with prototypes, Proc. Conf. on Information Knowledge Management, ACM Press, pp. 272–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maling, D.: 1989, Measurements from Maps: principles and methods of cartometry, Pergamon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mark, D. and Csillag, F.: 1989, The nature of boundaries on ‘area-class’ maps, Cartographica 26, 65–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, J.: 1993, Notes on formalizing context, Proceedings of the thirteenth international joint conference on artificial intelligence (IJCAI-93).

    Google Scholar 

  • McGee, V.: 1997, Kilimanjaro, Canadian Journal of Philosophy pp. 141–195. supplementary volume 23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ordnance Survey: 2000, Land-Line User Guide v3.0. http://www.os.co.uk/downloads/vector/landline/Lline_w.pdf.

  • OrMlowska, E. (ed.): 1997, Incomplete Information–rough set analysis, Physica-Verlag, Heidelberg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, B.: 1995, On drawing lines on a map, in A. Frank and W. Kuhn (eds), Spatial Information Theory–Proceedings of COSIT’95, number 988 in Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, Berlin, pp. 475–484.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO: 1973, International classi.cation and mapping of vegetation, A report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Series 6, Ecology and Conservation.

    Google Scholar 

  • USGS: 1994a, Field Methods for Vegetation Mapping, United States Geological Survey, NPS Vegetation Mapping Program. http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/fieldmethods/index.html.

  • USGS: 1994b, Standardized National Vegetation Classification System, United States Geological Survey, NPS Vegetation Mapping Program. http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/classification/index.html.

  • Vckovski, A.: 1997, Interoperability and spatial information theory, Proceedings of Interop97, International Conference on Interoperating Information Systems.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, F. and Brent Hall, G.: 1996, Fuzzy representation of geographical boundaries in GIS, International Journal of GIS 10(5), 573–590.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, T.: 1994, Vagueness, The problems of philosophy, Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zadeh, L. A.: 1975, Fuzzy logic and approximate reasoning, Synthese 30, 407–428.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Brandon Bennett

Authors
  1. Brandon Bennett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Daniel R. Montello

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Bennett, B. (2001). Application of Supervaluation Semantics to Vaguely Defined Spatial Concepts. In: Montello, D.R. (eds) Spatial Information Theory. COSIT 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2205. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45424-1_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45424-1_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42613-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45424-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation