Artificially intelligent geostatistics: A framework accommodating qualitative knowledge-information

The purpose of this paper is to stress the need to examine Al-based models and techniques in dealing with qualitative knowledge, information, and expertise in geostatistics. A model of artificially intelligent geostatistics is proposed as a general framework. The model focuses on the Geostatistician, an abstraction of the collective knowledge and intelligence of the geostatisticians, be they theoreticians and/or practitioners. Dynamic aspects of the model are examined in the context of an explicit knowledge formalism, integrating geostatistical knowledge, symbolic non-algorithmic techniques for knowledge-information representation and inference, and standard numerical data processing. Two implementations of related computer systems are given together with case studies.