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A Computational Model for Reference Object Selection in Spatial Relations

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Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2013)

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

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Abstract

Automatic generation of adequate spatial relations with regard to reference object selection is a nontrivial problem. In the present paper, we develop, implement and evaluate a computational model for reference object selection using empirically derived conceptual spatial strategies. The attribution of roles (reference object and located object) in object configurations was investigated to derive conceptual spatial strategies with regard to size and position of the objects. These strategies were implemented in a computational model to generate spatial descriptions of furniture configurations. To evaluate the automatically generated descriptions, we contrasted them with analog sentences with inverted roles of reference and located object and asked participants to choose the more adequate description out of the two. The spatial descriptions automatically generated were chosen significantly more often. This indicates that taking spatial conceptual strategies into account improves the adequacy of automatically generated spatial descriptions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies, Bielefeld University, Universitätsstr. 25, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany

    Katrin Johannsen & Jan P. De Ruiter

  2. Applied Informatics Group, Bielefeld University, Universitätsstr. 25, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany

    Agnes Swadzba, Leon Ziegler & Sven Wachsmuth

Authors
  1. Katrin Johannsen
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  2. Agnes Swadzba
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  3. Leon Ziegler
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  4. Sven Wachsmuth
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  5. Jan P. De Ruiter
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Editor information

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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© 2013 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Johannsen, K., Swadzba, A., Ziegler, L., Wachsmuth, S., De Ruiter, J.P. (2013). A Computational Model for Reference Object Selection in Spatial Relations. 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_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01790-7_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-01789-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-01790-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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