Spatiotemporalontologyfor

digitalgeographies

ProfessorJonathanRaper
giCentre@City
PlacrLimited
 Digitalgeographies
WearemovingfromGIStodigitalgeography
Adigitalgeographyisaconceptually
integratedsetofspatialrepresentations
(maps,models)
Digitalcities
HistoricalGIS
Conceptualintegration isoftenweak
because
Representationalcompromises
Limitedontologicalfoundations
Zeroorpoormetadata
Sodigitalgeographiesarecurrentlylimited
 Digitalgeographyresearchagenda
CurrentGISrepresentations
Twoorthreedimensionalontology
Geometryandfields
Static(cannotrepresentchange)
Immanentprocesses(operateoverisotropic spaces/forms)
Requireddigitalgeographyrepresentations
Fourdimensionalontology(spaceintegratedwithtime)
Geometryandfieldsplusfunctions,models
Dynamicandselfevolvingobjects
Contingentprocesses(adapttoformsateachtimestep)
Cannotadvanceknowledgewithoutaddressingthese
 Spatiotemporalontology
Newontologiesarethemostfundamentalchallenge
Endurants:objectsboundedinspaceatatimei.e.exist
separatelyinallpartsoftheirlives
MostGISuseendurants andofferobjectsonlayerse.gparcels
Allobjectsmustbecrispandgeometricallyvalid
Needmultiplelayerstorepresentchange>updateproblem
Perdurants:objectsare4Dextendedanddefinedby
identitycriteria
4Ddatastoredinaspatialdatabase
Composeobjectsfromtemporalrangequeriesindatabase
Objectsmustbeconjecturedintoexistence,taggedbycreator
 4Dconjecturaldigitalgeography
Objectconjecturesusespatiotemporalidentitycriteria
Empiricaldatae.g.fromsurveymeasurements
Modeloutpute.g.interpolated surfacevalues
Digitisation e.g.photointerpretation
Thresholding ofspatiotemporalidentitycriteriacan
producearangeofcandidateobjects
Crispobjectse.g.buildingfootprintsdistinctinalldefinitions
Fuzzyobjectse.g.coastlinescanhaveversions/alternatives
Nonspatialidentitycriteria
SoilpHcandefineapedological catena (soilcrossprofile)
Housepricescandefineneighbourhoods
 Challengesforconjectural
approach
Toproducescalefreeobjectswithexistence
acrossscalesofperception
Toreifyobjectsproducedbyprofessional
practicee.g.marinesurveying
Existenceofdefactonaturalkinds
Fiatobjectscharacterised by
Salience
Difference
Scolt Head,EasternEngland
1840

1997
Twodecadesofdatacollection
Dynamiccoastalbehaviour
Productionofgeoobjects
 Toolsforaconjecturaldigital
geography
Usergeneratedcontent
PhotosharingsiteslikeFlikr
LandscapedefinitionslikeGeograph
Objectsindiscourses
thesilkroute;WestEnd ofLondon;sargasso sea
Fuzzyalternativescanhaveindependentidentity
Narrativescanbeinstantiatedspatiotemporally
Newgenerationofspatialdatabaseeg PostgreSQL
Storesatomicpoints/linesetc.
Composesobjectsfromqueries
 Londontravelbehaviour
OpenStreetMap
Productionofrouteobjects
 Newontologies,newinsights
GISaredataorientedsystems
Historyislitteredwithspatialobjectsthatcannotbe
reifiedwithexistingtechnology
Neednexttierofknowledgeorientedsystems
Beginwithfieldworkamongstidentitycriteria
Collectgenerative objects,composethem
Caninvolvecooperationamongusers
Createmultipleworkinghypotheses
Critical scienceevaluationoftheirexplanatory
power
 Thankyou
Email:raper@soi.city.ac.uk
Blog:DigitalGeographer
Twitter:MadProf

JournalofLocationBasedServices
Placr Limited