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International Conference on Spatial Information Theory

COSIT 2013: Spatial Information Theory pp 299–319Cite as

From Descriptions to Depictions: A Conceptual Framework

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 8116))

Abstract

People use verbal descriptions and graphical depictions to communicate spatial information, thus externalizing their spatial mental representations. In many situations, such as in emergency response, the ability to translate the content of verbal descriptions into a sketch map could greatly assist with the interpretation of the message. In this paper, we present an outline of a semi-automatic framework enabling seamless transition between verbal descriptions and graphical sketches of precinct-scale urban environments. The proposed framework relies on a three-step approach: NL parsing, with spatial named entity and spatial relation recognition in natural language text; the construction of a spatial Property Graph capturing the spatial relationships between pairs of entities; and the sketch drawing step where the identified entities are dynamically placed on a canvas in a manner that minimizes conflicts between the verbalized spatial relationships, thus providing a plausible representation of the described environment. The approach is manually demonstrated on a natural language description of a university campus, and the opportunities and challenges of the suggested framework are discussed. The paper concludes by highlighting the contributions of the framework and by providing insights for its actual implementation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Building and Planning University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Maria Vasardani, Sabine Timpf & Stephan Winter

  2. Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Martin Tomko

  3. Department of Geography, University of Augsburg, 86135, Augsburg, Germany

    Sabine Timpf

Authors
  1. Maria Vasardani
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  2. Sabine Timpf
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  3. Stephan Winter
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  4. Martin Tomko
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Linguistics & English Language, Bangor University, College Road, LL57 2DG, Bangor, UK

    Thora Tenbrink

  2. School of Computing, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, LS2 9JT, Leeds, UK

    John Stell

  3. College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Harrison Building, North Park Road, EX4 4QF, Exeter, UK

    Antony Galton  & Zena Wood  & 

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Vasardani, M., Timpf, S., Winter, S., Tomko, M. (2013). From Descriptions to Depictions: A Conceptual Framework. In: Tenbrink, T., Stell, J., Galton, A., Wood, Z. (eds) Spatial Information Theory. COSIT 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8116. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01790-7_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01790-7_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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