Abstract
Following reviews of previous approaches to spatial reasoning, a completely qualitative method for reasoning about cardinal directions, without recourse to analytical procedures, is introduced and a method is presented for a formal comparison with quantitative formulae. We use an algebraic method to formalize the meaning of cardinal directions. The standard directional symbols (N, S, E, W) are extended with a symbol 0 to denote an undecided case, which greatly increases the power of inference. Two examples of systems to determine and reason with cardinal directions are discussed in some detail and results from a prototype are given. The deduction rules for the coordination of directional symbols are formalized as equations; for inclusion in an expert system they can be coded as a look-up table (given in the text). The conclusions offer some direction for future work.
Funding from NSF for the NCGIA under grant SES 88-10917, from Intergraph Corporation and Digital Equipment Corporation is gratefully acknowledged.
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Frank, A.U. (1991). Qualitative Spatial Reasoning with Cardinal Directions. In: Kaindl, H. (eds) 7. Österreichische Artificial-Intelligence-Tagung / Seventh Austrian Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Informatik-Fachberichte, vol 287. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-46752-3_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-46752-3_17
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