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Summary: UTILISATION OF QUALITATIVE SPATIAL
REASONING IN GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
Carl P.L. Schultz, Timothy R. Clephane, Hans W. Guesgen, Robert Amor
Department of Computer Science
University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Abstract
Spatial reasoning is a fundamental part of human cognition, playing an impor-
tant role in structuring our activities and relationships with the physical world.
A substantial body of spatial data is now available. In order to make effective
use of this large quantity of data, the focus of GIS tools must shift towards help-
ing a user derive relevant, high quality information from the data available.
Standard GIS tools have lacked focus in this area, with querying capabilities be-
ing limited, and requiring a user to have specialised knowledge in areas such as
set theory, or Structured Query Language (SQL). A fundamental issue in stan-
dard GIS is that, by relying entirely on numerical methods when working with
spatial data, vagueness and imprecision can not be handled. Alternatively, qua-
litative methods for working with spatial data have been developed to address
some key limitations in other standard numerical systems. TreeSap is a GIS ap-
plication that applies qualitative reasoning, with a strong emphasis on providing
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