Skip to main content

A Study on how Humans Describe Relative Positions of Image Objects

  • Conference paper
Headway in Spatial Data Handling

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography ((LNGC))

  • 1276 Accesses

Abstract

Information describing the layout of objects in space is commonly conveyed through the use of linguistic terms denoting spatial relations that hold between the objects. Though progress has been made in the understanding and modelling of many individual relations, a better understanding of how human subjects use spatial relations together in natural language to is required. This paper outlines the design and completion of an experiment resulting in the collection of 1920 spoken descriptions from 32 human subjects; they describe the relative positions of a variety of objects within an image space. We investigate the spatial relations that the subjects express in their descriptions, and the terms through which they do so, in an effort to determine variations and commonalities. Analysis of the descriptions determines that common elements of spatial perception do indeed exist between subjects, and that the subjects are quite consistent with each other in the use of spatial relations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

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.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Freeman, J. (1975) “The Modeling of Spatial Relations”, Computer Graphics and Image Processing, (4),156-171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gapp, K. P. (1995) “Angle, Distance, Shape, and their Relationship to Projective Relations”, Proceedings of the17th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, San Diego, CA, 112-117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, E. T. (1966) The Hidden Dimension, New York: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halpern, D. F. (1986) Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herskovits, A. (1986) Language and Spatial Cognition: A Interdisciplinary Study of the Prepositions in English. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landau, B. (1996) “Multiple Geometric Representations of Objects in Language and Language Learners”, in P. Bloom, M. Peterson, L. Nadel, and M. Garrett (eds), Language and Space, Cambridge: MIT Press, 317-363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linn, M. C. and Petersen, A. C (1985) “Emergence and Characterization of Gender Differences in Spatial Ability: A Meta-Analysis”, Child Development, 56(6), 1479-1498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mark, D. M., Comas, D., Egenhofer, M. J., Freundschuh, S. M., Gould, M. D. and Nunes, J (1995) “Evaluating and Refining Computational Models of Spatial Relations Through Cross-Linguistic Human-Subjects Testing”, in Frank, A. U. and Kuhn, W. (eds), Spatial Information Theory: A Theoretical Basis for GIS, number 998, Springer-Verlag, Lecture Notes in Computer Sciences: Berlin, 553-568.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mark, D. M. and Egenhofer, M. J. (1994) “Modeling Spatial Relations Between Lines and Regions: Combining Formal Mathematical Models and Human Subjects Testing”, Cartography and Geographic Information Systems, 21(4),195-212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montello, D. R. (1995) “How Significant Are Cultural Differences in Spatial Cognition?”, in Frank, A. U. and Kuhn, W. (eds), Spatial Information Theory: A Theoretical Basis for GIS, Springer-Verlag, Lecture Notes in Computer Sciences: Berlin, 485-500.

    Google Scholar 

  • Regier, T. P. (1992) The Acquisition of Lexical Semantics for Spatial Terms: A Connectionist Model of Perceptual Categorization”, PhD thesis, University of California at Berkeley, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, V. B. (1990) “Interactive Machine Acquisition of a Fuzzy Spatial Relation”, Computers and Geosciences, 16(6), 857-872.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talmy, L. (1983) “How Language Structures Space”, in Pick, H. and Acredolo, L. (eds), Spatial Orientation: Theory, Research, and Application,New York: Plenum Press, 225-282.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, X. and Keller, J. M. (1999) “Fuzzy Surroundedness”, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 101(1), 5-20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, X. and Keller, J. M. (1997) “Human-based Spatial Relationship Generalization through Neural Fuzzy Approaches”, Proceedings of the Sixth IEEE International Congress on Fuzzy Systems, Barcelona, Spain, 1173-1178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whorf, B. L. (1940) “Science and Linguistics”, Technological Review, 42(6), 229-231, 247-248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worboys, M. F. (2001) “Nearness Relations in Environmental Space”, International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 15(7), 633-651.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhan, F. B (2002) “A Fuzzy Set Model of Approximate Linguistic Terms in Descriptions of Binary Topological Relations Between Simple Regions”, in Matsakis, P. and Sztandera, L.M. (eds), Applying soft computing in defining spatial relations, Physica-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany, 179-202.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Wang, X., Matsakis, P., Trick, L., Nonnecke, B., Veltman, M. (2008). A Study on how Humans Describe Relative Positions of Image Objects. In: Ruas, A., Gold, C. (eds) Headway in Spatial Data Handling. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68566-1_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics