An object-oriented knowledge representation structure for exploration data integration

Knowledge representation structure and reasoning processes are very important issues in the knowledge-based approach of integrating multiple spatial data sets for resource exploration. An object-oriented knowledge representation structure and corresponding reasoning processes are formulated and tested in this research on the knowledge-based approach of integrating spatial exploration data. The map-based prototype expert system developed in this study has self-contained knowledge representation structure and inference mechanisms. It is important to distinguish between lack of information and information providing negative evidence for a map-based system because the spatial distribution of data sets are uneven in most cases. Error and uncertainty estimation is also an important component of any production expert system. The uncertainty propagation mechanisms developed here work well for this type of integrated exploration problem. Evidential bellef function theory provides a natural theoretical basis for representing and integrating spatially uneven geophysical and geological information. The prototype system is tested using real mineral exploration data sets from the Snow Lake area, northern Manitoba, Canada. The test results outline the favorable exploration areas successfully and show the effectiveness of the knowledge representation structure and inference mechanisms for the knowledge-based approach.     

基于常识的空间推理研究

空间推理是空间信息智能化处理的难题之一,目前的空间推理过程缺乏柔性化与智能化的一个重要原因就是不能有效利用常识。该文中阐述常识、常识推理及常识的表示,研究空间推理、基于常识的空间推理的关键技术及其在空间信息处理中的作用。最后结合基于常识的空间推理的空间可视性分析示例,提出利用空间常识提高空间信息处理系统智能性的思路。     

A Review of: “Applications of Spatial Data Structures: Computer Graphics,Image Processing,and GIS”. By H. SAMET. (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company,Inc, 1989.) [Pp. xv + 507; figures,tables, appendix,references, name and credit index,subject index.] Price US $49.95. ISBN 020150300 X (hardback).

The introduction of automated generalisation procedures in map production systems requires that generalisation systems are capable of processing large amounts of map data in acceptable time and that cartographic quality is similar to traditional map products. With respect to these requirements, we examine two complementary approaches that should improve generalisation systems currently in use by national topographic mapping agencies. Our focus is particularly on self‐evaluating systems, taking as an example those systems that build on the multi‐agent paradigm. The first approach aims to improve the cartographic quality by utilising cartographic expert knowledge relating to spatial context. More specifically, we introduce expert rules for the selection of generalisation operations based on a classification of buildings into five urban structure types, including inner city, urban, suburban, rural, and industrial and commercial areas. The second approach aims to utilise machine learning techniques to extract heuristics that allow us to reduce the search space and hence the time in which a good cartographical solution is reached. Both approaches are tested individually and in combination for the generalisation of buildings from map scale 1:5000 to the target map scale of 1:25 000. Our experiments show improvements in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. We provide evidence that both approaches complement each other and that a combination of expert and machine learnt rules give better results than the individual approaches. Both approaches are sufficiently general to be applicable to other forms of self‐evaluating, constraint‐based systems than multi‐agent systems, and to other feature classes than buildings. Problems have been identified resulting from difficulties to formalise cartographic quality by means of constraints for the control of the generalisation process.     

URBAN CARTOGRAPHY AND THE MAPPING OF CHICAGO*

ABSTRACT. City maps are among the oldest and most popular forms of cartographic representation, yet urban cartography has received only limited scholarly attention. A review of the early history of city mapping suggests a progression of representational forms from profile to perspective to plan, a progression that parallels urban growth. The history of urban mapping reflects a desire to comprehend the geography of the city for reasons of curiosity and practical necessity, but the map also may become an icon that engenders a sense of pride and belonging, if not allegiance and control. An examination of Chicago maps indicates that, in addition to evolution in representational styles, the subjects of maps change to serve demands of the moment. City maps not only constitute a rich historical archive but also are dynamic agents in urban development. The urban landscape is shaped by cartographic vision.     

粤港澳大湾区协同创新的综合测度与演化特征

理解粤港澳大湾区协同创新的网络结构及其演化特征对于新时期大湾区的创新化发展转型至关重要。论文通过构建包括技术创新、知识生产、创新资本3个维度的协同创新测度指标体系,基于城市群流空间网络构建与社会网络分析方法,系统性研究了多创新维度下粤港澳大湾区协同创新的网络结构及其演化特征。结果表明：(1)粤港澳大湾区创新流空间结构呈现出显著的极化特征,且随着时间推移,极化效应不断强化,深圳、香港、广州在创新流空间网络中占据绝对核心地位;(2)多维度创新流要素网络结构呈现出显著差异性,技术创新与创新资本维度中,香港、深圳占据了城市群网络的核心,知识生产维度的核心城市则是广州与香港,广州在各维度网络中均扮演了重要的“枢纽型”城市角色,深圳在各维度网络中的创新层级随着时间推移在不断增长;(3)综合多维度指标的测度结果显示,香港与深圳分别是早期与新时期粤港澳大湾区协同创新网络的核心,当前大湾区整体呈现为穗深港三核心并立的城市群网络空间结构。研究可为新时期粤港澳大湾区创新资源的合理化配置提供理论与实证支撑。     

土壤类型遥感识别推理决策器研究

介绍了干旱区土壤类型遥感识别推理决策器的设计原理与实现方法。在用TM遥感图像对土壤类型进行非监督分类的基础上，建立了正向推理与逆向推理相结合的推理机制，对土壤类型进行分类识别决策。用知识表示的产生式规则与框架式规则相结合的数据结构表示土壤学专家的土壤分类识别知识。用像结构模式建立了土壤分类识别的规则，构造了土壤分类判决树，并用典型像例模式进行了各类型土壤判据文件的组织。用该方法对新疆天山北麓阜康试验区的土壤分类识别进行了试验研究。结果表明，该方法分类精度可靠，为干旱区土壤分类识别开辟了一条新的途径。     

Integration of linear and areal hierarchies for continuous multi-scale representation of road networks

Spatial data can be represented at different scales, and this leads to the issue of multi-scale spatial representation. Multi-scale spatial representation has been widely applied to online mapping products (e.g., Google Maps and Yahoo Maps). However, in most current products, multi-scale representation can only be achieved through a series of maps at fixed scales, resulting in a discontinuity (i.e., with jumps) in the transformation between scales and a mismatch between the available scales and users' desired scales. Therefore, it is very desirable to achieve smoothly continuous multi-scale spatial representations. This article describes an integrated approach to build a hierarchical structure of a road network for continuous multi-scale representation purposes, especially continuous selective omission of roads in a network. In this hierarchical structure, the linear and areal hierarchies are constructed, respectively, using two existing approaches for the linear and areal patterns in a road network. Continuous multi-scale representation of a road network can be achieved by searching in these hierarchies. This approach is validated by applying it to two study areas, and the results are evaluated by both quantitative analysis with two measures (i.e., similarity and average connectivity) and visual inspection. Experimental results show that this integrated approach performs better than existing approaches, especially in terms of preservation of connectivity and patterns of a road network. With this approach, efficient and continuous multi-scale selective omission of road networks becomes feasible.     

基于场所的GIS研究

探讨从地理空间认知出发,实现基于场所的GIS（PB—GIS）的相关问题。PB—GIS以场所为核心,显式表达地理空间知识,并遵循特定规则进行定性空间推理,从而服务于空间行为决策。比较PB—GIS与基于坐标的GIS（CB—GIS）之间的差异和适合解决的问题,并描述定性空间推理的特点及其在PB—GIS中的应用。在分析实现PB—GIS的关键技术基础上,采用三层架构设计了一个PB-GIS的概念体系结构。     

Applying case-based reasoning techniques in GIS

This paper outlines an approach in applying artificial intelligence techniques to solve spatial problems. The approach consists of combining casebased reasoning with geographical information systems to form a hybrid system to solve spatial problems. In this paper, the hybrid is applied to the problem of soil classification which is solved by searching the case base for other spatial cases similar to the problem case. The knowledge from the retrieved case is used to formulate an answer to the problem case. The paper compares the results from this new approach with a traditional method of soil classification.     

全新世中期以来山东半岛东北岸相对海面变化与海积地貌发育

山东半岛东北岸发育有许多大型海积地貌体,其中尤以龙口屺岛连岛沙坝、烟台芝罘岛连岛沙坝和荣成石岛湾口沙坝规模最大,形态最典型。这三个形成于不同自然地理条件下的沙坝之间,既有成因、沉积结构、泥沙来源等方面的显着差异性,又有地貌与沉积方面的的可比性。对这些差异性、可比性的深入分析表明,全新世中期以来短时间尺度、小幅度的相对海面变化,对海积地貌发育有着深刻的控制作用。这种控制作用包括海面升降引起的海岸横剖面调整和入海河流河床纵剖面调整,进而对沿岸纵向泥沙流强度和沙坝发育产生深刻影响。     

一种垂向卸荷型浅生时效构造的地质力学模拟

采用地质力学模拟方法 ,再现了铜街子水电站浅生时效构造的形成演化过程。研究表明 ,它是区域性剥蚀卸荷过程中因岩体中残余应变能释放、时效变形而在浅部岩体中形成的一种垂向卸荷型变形破裂迹象。     

Assessing the application and value of participatory mapping for community bushfire preparation

The increased ease for individuals to create, share and map geographic information combined with the need for timely, relevant and diverse information has resulted in a new disaster management context. Volunteered geographic information (VGI), or geographic information voluntarily created by private citizens enabled through technologies like social media and web-based mapping, has changed the ways people create and use information for crisis events. Research has focussed on disaster response while largely ignoring prevention and preparedness. Preparing for disasters can reduce negative impacts on life and property, but despite strategies to educate communities, preparation remains low. This study assesses the application and value of VGI in bushfire risk reduction through a participatory mapping approach. It examines VGI as a social practice and not simply a data source by considering the user experience of contributing VGI and the potential for these activities to increase community connectedness for building disaster resilience. Participatory mapping workshops were held in bushfire-risk communities in Tasmania. Workshop activities included a paper-mapping exercise and web-based digital mapping. Survey results from 31 participants at three workshops indicated the process of mapping and contributing local information for bushfire preparation with other community members can contribute to increased social connectedness, understanding of local bushfire risk, and engagement in risk reduction. Local knowledge exchange was seen as valuable, but the social dimension appeared even more engaging than the specific information shared. Participants reported collaborative maps as effective for collating and sharing community bushfire information with a preference for digital mapping. Some limitations of online sharing of information were also reported by participants, however, including potential issues of privacy, data quality and source trustworthiness. Further work is needed to extrapolate findings from the study sample to the broader population.     

基于GIS的地质勘察信息系统设计与实现

从地质勘察领域分析入手,揭示三类主要数据内容及其内在联系,把握地质勘察领域的实质问题。采用信息系统实现关键技术与方法,建立地质勘察领域UML可视化需求模型,构建系统的三层架构体系,设计系统功能可视化组件图和系统数据库结构图。此研究内容与方法在深圳市地质勘察信息系统中成功实现,研究成果被列为科技项目成果推广应用。     

Validation of the relation between structural patterns in fractured bedrock and structural information interpreted from 2D-Variogram maps of water-well yields in Loudoun county,Virginia

Field geology was used to validate the hypothesis that the variography of the initial yields of water wells drilled into fractured crystalline bedrock reveals the geologic structure of the bedrock. Patterns in two-dimensional (2D)-variogram maps were predicted for four areas using geology gained from field mapping. Variograms were calculated for the areas and compared with the predictions. The predictions made by the field geologist (Scott Southworth) corresponded well with the variograms. This implies that variography may suggest the underlying geologic structure in areas that have many water wells but little rock outcrop.     

Geographic space as a living structure for predicting human activities using big data

Inspired by Christopher Alexander’s conception of the world – space is not lifeless or neutral, but a living structure involving far more small things than large ones – a topological representation has been previously developed to characterize the living structure or the wholeness of geographic space. This paper further develops the topological representation and living structure for predicting human activities in geographic space. Based on millions of street nodes of the United Kingdom extracted from OpenStreetMap, we established living structures at different levels of scale in a nested manner. We found that tweet locations at different levels of scale, such as country and city, can be well predicted by the underlying living structure. The high predictability demonstrates that the living structure and the topological representation are efficient and effective for better understanding geographic forms. Based on this major finding, we argue that the topological representation is a truly multiscale representation, and point out that existing geographic representations are essentially single scale, so they bear many scale problems such as modifiable areal unit problem, the conundrum of length and the ecological fallacy. We further discuss on why the living structure is an efficient and effective instrument for structuring geospatial big data, and why Alexander’s organic worldview constitutes the third view of space.     

Hydrogeologic Significance of the Association Between Well-Yield Variography and Bedrock Geologic Structures,Pinardville Quadrangle,New Hampshire

The spatial continuity of water-well yields is associated with the fracture properties of the crystalline basement rocks in the Pinardville quadrangle, New Hampshire. The analysis reported in this paper expands upon previous work of a study of 939 wells in the quadrangle. This expanded analysis was performed on updated and new geologic map data, new fracture-set data and analyses, and a set of water-well yields that was expanded by 752 newly located wells. Variogram mapping of the water-well yields formed the basis for the synthesis of the spatial continuity in well yield with the geological data. A variety of associations were determined that directly relate the spatial properties of well yields to the characteristics and structure of the crystalline bedrocks in the quadrangle.     

Increasing the spatial resolution of agricultural land cover maps using a Hopfield neural network

Land cover class composition of remotely sensed image pixels can be estimated using soft classification techniques increasingly available in many GIS packages. However, their output provides no indication of how such classes are distributed spatially within the instantaneous field of view represented by the pixel. Techniques that attempt to provide an improved spatial representation of land cover have been developed, but not tested on the difficult task of mapping from real satellite imagery. The authors investigated the use of a Hopfield neural network technique to map the spatial distributions of classes reliably using information of pixel composition determined from soft classification previously. The approach involved designing the energy function to produce a ‘best guess’ prediction of the spatial distribution of class components in each pixel. In previous studies, the authors described the application of the technique to target identification, pattern prediction and land cover mapping at the sub-pixel scale, but only for simulated imagery. We now show how the approach can be applied to Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) agriculture imagery to derive accurate estimates of land cover and reduce the uncertainty inherent in such imagery. The technique was applied to Landsat TM imagery of small-scale agriculture in Greece and largescale agriculture near Leicester, UK. The resultant maps provided an accurate and improved representation of the land covers studied, with RMS errors for the Landsat imagery of the order of 0.1 in the new fine resolution map recorded. The results showed that the neural network represents a simple efficient tool for mapping land cover from operational satellite sensor imagery and can deliver requisite results and improvements over traditional techniques for the GIS analysis of practical remotely sensed imagery at the sub pixel scale.     

中国城市知识复杂性的空间特征及影响研究

学者和政策制定者一致认为“知识”是推动经济长期增长的关键因素之一,且并非所有知识都具有相同价值。然而,经济地理学一直致力于计量知识的投入和产出,而忽视评估知识质量。为此,首先借鉴Hidalgo等的“双峰网络模型”构建了知识复杂性的测度模型,并根据中国知识产权局1986-2015年间的14349355条专利记录,依照122项专利分类识别中国城市的技术结构。将中国城市知识复杂性的分布、集聚特征和演化过程地图化,以探索知识的空间分布及其复杂性的关联。结果表明：① 具有最复杂技术结构的城市未必是那些专利申请率最高的城市,说明强调知识的数量与质量并重,有助于科学衡量中国知识的生产格局;② 知识复杂性在中国呈不均匀分布,其空间集聚显著,演化过程显示热点区域“南下”态势明显;③ 专利转移数据进一步证明,知识复杂性越高的城市,其知识的空间粘性越大,越不易流动,因此将区域知识结构从低复杂度转化为高复杂度将有助于地区重塑自身优势。     

Automatic revision of rules used to guide the generalisation process in systems based on a trial and error strategy

Automating the generalisation process, a major issue for national mapping agencies, is extremely complex. Several works have proposed to deal with this complexity using a trial and error strategy. The performance of systems based on such a strategy is directly dependent on the quality of the control knowledge (i.e. heuristics) used to guide the trials. Unfortunately, most of the time, the definition and updation of knowledge is a fastidious task. In this context, automatic knowledge revision can not only improve the performance of the generalisation, but also allow it to automatically adapt to various usages and evolve when new elements are introduced. In this article, an offline knowledge revision approach is proposed, based on a logging of the system and on the analysis of outcoming logs. This approach is dedicated to the revision of control knowledge expressed by production rules. We have implemented and tested this approach for the automated generalisation of groups of buildings within a generalisation model called AGENT, from initial data that reference a scale of approximately 1:15,000 compared with the target map's scale of 1:50,000. The results show that our approach improves the quality of the control knowledge and thus the performance of the system. Moreover, the approach proposed is generic and can be applied to other systems based on a trial and error strategy, dedicated to generalisation or not.     

Ontologies and representation spaces for sketch map interpretation

In this paper, we present a systematic approach to sketch map interpretation. The method decomposes the elements of a sketch map into a hierarchy of categories, from the material sketch map level to the non-material representational sketch map level, and then interprets the sketch map using the five formal representation spaces that we develop. These spaces (set, graph, metric and Euclidean) provide a tiered formal representation based on standard mathematical structures. We take the view that a sketch map bears information about the physical world and systematises this using extensions of existing formal ontologies. The motivation for this work is the partially automatic extraction and integration of information from sketch maps. We propose a set of ontologies and methods as a first step in the direction of a formalisation of partially automatic extraction and integration of sketch map content. We also see this work as a contribution to spatial cognition, where researchers externalise spatial knowledge using sketch mapping. The paper concludes by working through an example that demonstrates the sketch map interpretation at different levels using the underlying method.