Databases and Information Systems Commons^™

Areas Of Same Cardinal Direction, Periyandy Thunendran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cardinal directions, such as North, East, South, and West, are the foundation for qualitative spatial reasoning, a common field of GIS, Artificial Intelligence, and cognitive science. Such cardinal directions capture the relative spatial direction relation between a reference object and a target object, therefore, they are important search criteria in spatial databases. The projection-based model for such direction relations has been well investigated for point-like objects, yielding a relation algebra with strong inference power. The Direction Relation Matrix defines the simple region-to-region direction relations by approximating the reference object to a minimum bounding rectangle. Models that capture the direction between …

Service Quality Monitoring In Confined Spaces Through Mining Twitter Data, Mohammad Masoud Rahimi, Elham Naghizade, Mark Stevenson, Stephan Winter

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Promoting public transport depends on adapting effective tools for concurrent monitoring of perceived service quality. Social media feeds, in general, provide an opportunity to ubiquitously look for service quality events, but when applied to confined geographic area such as a transport node, the sparsity of concurrent social media data leads to two major challenges. Both the limited number of social media messages--leading to biased machine-learning--and the capturing of bursty events in the study period considerably reduce the effectiveness of general event detection methods. In contrast to previous work and to face these challenges, this paper presents a hybrid solution based …

The Impact Of Urban Road Network Morphology On Pedestrian Wayfinding Behaviour, Debjit Bhowmick, Stephan Winter, Mark Stevenson, Peter Vortisch

Journal of Spatial Information Science

During wayfinding pedestrians do not always choose the shortest available route. Instead, route choices are guided by several well-known wayfinding strategies or heuristics. These heuristics minimize cognitive effort and usually lead to satisfactory route choices. Our previous study evaluated the costs of four well-known pedestrian wayfinding heuristics and their variation across nine network morphologies. It was observed that the variation in the cost of these wayfinding heuristics increased with an increase in the irregularity of the network, indicating that people may opt for more diverse heuristics while walking through relatively regular networks, and may prefer specific heuristics in the relatively …

How Does Socio-Economic And Demographic Dissimilarity Determine Physical And Virtual Segregation?, Michael Dorman, Tal Svoray, Itai Kloog

Journal of Spatial Information Science

It is established that socio-economic and demographic dissimilarities between populations are determinants of spatial segregation. However, the understanding of how such dissimilarities translate into actual segregation is limited. We propose a novel network-analysis approach to comprehensively study the determinants of communicative and mobility-related spatial segregation, using geo-tagged Twitter data. We constructed weighted spatial networks representing tie strength between geographical areas, then modeled tie formation as a function of socio-economic and demographic dissimilarity between areas. Physical and virtual tie formation were affected by income, age, and race differences, although these effects were smaller by an order of magnitude than the geographical …

Geocomputation 2019 Special Feature, Antoni Moore, Mark Gahegan

Journal of Spatial Information Science

No abstract provided.

Modelling Orebody Structures: Block Merging Algorithms And Block Model Spatial Restructuring Strategies Given Mesh Surfaces Of Geological Boundaries, Raymond Leung

Journal of Spatial Information Science

This paper describes a framework for capturing geological structures in a 3D block model and improving its spatial fidelity, including the correction of stratigraphic, mineralisation and other types of boundaries, given new mesh surfaces. Using surfaces that represent geological boundaries, the objectives are to identify areas where refinement is needed, increase spatial resolution to minimise surface approximation error, reduce redundancy to increase the compactness of the model and identify the geological domain on a block-by-block basis. These objectives are fulfilled by four system components which perform block-surface overlap detection, spatial structure decomposition, sub-blocks consolidation and block tagging, respectively. The main …

Big Issues For Big Data: Challenges For Critical Spatial Data Analytics, Chris Brunsdon, Alexis Comber

Journal of Spatial Information Science

In this paper we consider some of the issues of working with big data and big spatial data and highlight the need for an open and critical framework. We focus on a set of challenges underlying the collection and analysis of big data. In particular, we consider 1) inference when working with usually biased big data, challenging the assumed inferential superiority of data with observations, n, approaching N, the population n -> N. We also emphasise 2) the need for analyses that answer questions of practical significance or with greater emphasis on the size of the effect, rather than the …

Route Schematization With Landmarks, Marcelo De Lima Galvao, Jakub Krukar, Martin Noellenburg, Angela Schwering

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Predominant navigation applications make use of a turn-by-turn instructions approach and are mostly supported by small screen devices. This combination does little to improve users' orientation or spatial knowledge acquisition. Considering this limitation, we propose a route schematization method aimed for small screen devices to facilitate the readability of route information and survey knowledge acquisition. Current schematization methods focus on the route path and ignore context information, specially polygonal landmarks (such as lakes, parks, and regions), which is crucial for promoting orientation. Our schematization method, in addition to the route path, takes as input: adjacent streets, point-like landmarks, and polygonal …

Local Modelling: One Size Does Not Fit All, A. Stewart Fotheringham

Journal of Spatial Information Science

This editorial piece considers what happens when we abandon the concept that models of social processes have global application in favor of a local approach in which context or the influence of 'place' has an important role. A brief history of this local approach to statistical modelling is given, followed by a consideration of its ramifications for understanding societal issues. The piece concludes with futures challenges and prospects in this area.

Indigeneity And Spatial Information Science, Matt Duckham, Serene Ho

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Spatial information science has given rise to a set of concepts, tools, and techniques for understanding our geographic world. In turn, the technologies built on this body of knowledge embed certain ways of knowing." This vision paper traces the roots and impacts of those embeddings and explores how they can sometimes be inherently at odds with or completely subvert Indigenous Peoples' ways of knowing. However advancements in spatial information science offer opportunities for innovation whilst working towards reconciliation. We highlight as examples four active research topics in the field to support a call to action for greater inclusion of Indigenous …

Inferring Movement Patterns From Geometric Similarity, Maike Buchin, Carola Wenk

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Spatial movement data nowadays is becoming ubiquitously available, including data of animals, vehicles and people. This data allows us to analyze the underlying movement. In particular, it allows us to infer movement patterns, such as recurring places and routes. Many methods to do so rely on the notion of similarity of places or routes. Here we briefly survey how research on this has developed in the past 15 years and outline challenges for future work.

Why Are Events Important And How To Compute Them In Geospatial Research?, May Yuan

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Geospatial research has long centered around objects. While attention to events is growing rapidly, events remain objectified in spatial databases. This paper aims to highlight the importance of events in scientific inquiries and overview general event-based approaches to data modeling and computing. As machine learning algorithms and big data become popular in geospatial research, many studies appear to be the products of convenience with readily adaptable data and codes rather than curiosity. By asking why events are important and how to compute events in geospatial research, the author intends to provoke thinking into the rationale and conceptual basis of event-based …

Integrated Science Of Movement, Urska Demsar, Jed A. Long, Katarzyna Sila-Nowicka

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Recent technological advances in movement data acquisition have enabled researchers in many disciplines to study movement at increasingly detailed spatial and temporal scales. Yet there is little overlap in the sharing of methods and models between disciplines, despite similar research objectives and data models. Attempts to bridge this gap are leading towards the establishment of an overarching interdisciplinary science, termed the Integrated Science of Movement. Here we present opportunities and challenges of this process and outline the crucial role that GIScience as a discipline with a focus on space, place, and time can play in the integrated science of movement.

From Spatial To Platial - The Role And Future Of Immersive Technologies In The Spatial Sciences, Alexander Klippel

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality have been part of the technology mindset in computer and geospatial sciences early on. The promise of delivering realistic experiences to the human senses that are not bound by physical reality has inspired generations of scientists and entrepreneurs alike. However, the vision for immersive experiences has been in stark contrast to the ability to deliver at the technology end; the community has battled nuisances such as cybersickness, tethers, and the uncanny valley for the last decades. With the 'final wave' of immersive technologies, we are now able to fulfill a long-held promise …

Thinking Spatial, Mohamed F. Mokbel

Journal of Spatial Information Science

The systems community in both academia and industry has tremendous success in building widely used general purpose systems for various types of data and applications. Examples include database systems, big data systems, data streaming systems, and machine learning systems. The vast majority of these systems are ill equipped in terms of supporting spatial data. The main reason is that system builders mostly think of spatial data as just one more type of data. Any spatial support can be considered as an afterthought problem that can be supported via on-top functions or spatial cartridges that can be added to the already …

Cartographic Generalization, Monika Sester

Journal of Spatial Information Science

This short paper gives a subjective view on cartographic generalization, its achievements in the past, and the challenges it faces in the future.

Josis' 10th Anniversary Special Feature: Part Two, Benjamin Adams, Somayeh Dodge, Ross Purves

Journal of Spatial Information Science

No abstract provided.

Umaine System Data Governance Annual Report 2020, University Of Maine System Data Advisory Committee

General University of Maine Publications

This report constitutes the third, annual UMS Data Governance Report. UMS Data Governance processes are becoming integrated into all of the work undertaken across the System, ensuring collaborative and effective solutions to data issues and, most importantly, consistency in the use and understanding of data among the UMS universities and users. Data Governance ensures and maintains the quality of data for the long term and identifies areas where updates in technology are required.

Ums Data Governance Charter & Framework, University Of Maine System Data Governance Council

General University of Maine Publications

The University of Maine System Data Governance program launched in 2017, in order to emphasize the importance of data integrity, and to formalize processes related to data management and usage. The program embraces the following vision:

Data Governance Vision: Data of the University of Maine System (UMS) are system-wide institutional assets that are leveraged to foster a culture of data-informed decisions to benefit all UMS institutions and stakeholders. This vision can be achieved through successful implementation of the following mission:

Data Governance Mission: UMS Data Governance promotes data stewardship and communication to ensure that valid and reliable data are protected …

Umaine System Data Governance Annual Report 2019, University Of Maine System Data Advisory Committee

General University of Maine Publications

The University of Maine System Data Governance program serves the missions of all seven state university campuses by integrating academic and administrative data practices to become a more effective and responsive organization. In order to meet the needs of Maine's local, statewide, and national communities, UMS must be able to utilize data to make optimal decisions in support of students, faculty, and staff. This cooperative work helps provide a common understanding of data codes and processes across campuses. It also builds a stronger framework for unifying services and focusing resources on the most innovative and relevant investments in instruction, research, …

A Qualitative Representation Of Spatial Scenes In R2 With Regions And Lines, Joshua Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Regions and lines are common geographic abstractions for geographic objects. Collections of regions, lines, and other representations of spatial objects form a spatial scene, along with their relations. For instance, the states of Maine and New Hampshire can be represented by a pair of regions and related based on their topological properties. These two states are adjacent (i.e., they meet along their shared boundary), whereas Maine and Florida are not adjacent (i.e., they are disjoint).

A detailed model for qualitatively describing spatial scenes should capture the essential properties of a configuration such that a description of the represented objects …

A Hidden Markov Model For Matching Spatial Networks, Benoit Costes, Julien Perret

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Datasets of the same geographic space at different scales and temporalities are increasingly abundant, paving the way for new scientific research. These datasets require data integration, which implies linking homologous entities in a process called data matching that remains a challenging task, despite a quite substantial literature, because of data imperfections and heterogeneities. In this paper, we present an approach for matching spatial networks based on a hidden Markov model (HMM) that takes full benefit of the underlying topology of networks. The approach is assessed using four heterogeneous datasets (streets, roads, railway, and hydrographic networks), showing that the HMM algorithm …

Evaluating Existing Manually Constructed Natural Landscape Classification With A Machine Learning-Based Approach, Rok Ciglic, Erik Strumbelj, Rok Cesnovar, Mauro Hrvatin, Drago Perko

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Some landscape classifications officially determine financial obligations; thus, they must be objective and precise. We presume it is possible to quantitatively evaluate existing manually constructed classifications and correct them if necessary. One option for achieving this goal is a machine learning method. With (re)modeling of the landscape classification and an explanation of its structure, we can add quantitative proof to its original (qualitative) description. The main objectives of the paper are to evaluate the consistency of the existing manually constructed natural landscape classification with a machine learning-based approach and to test the newly developed general black-box explanation method in order …

Discovery Of Topological Constraints On Spatial Object Classes Using A Refined Topological Model, Ivan Majic, Elham Naghizade, Stephan Winter, Martin Tomko

Journal of Spatial Information Science

In a typical data collection process, a surveyed spatial object is annotated upon creation, and is classified based on its attributes. This annotation can also be guided by textual definitions of objects. However, interpretations of such definitions may differ among people, and thus result in subjective and inconsistent classification of objects. This problem becomes even more pronounced if the cultural and linguistic differences are considered. As a solution, this paper investigates the role of topology as the defining characteristic of a class of spatial objects. We propose a data mining approach based on frequent itemset mining to learn patterns in …

Ums Data Governance Annual Report 2018, University Of Maine System Data Advisory Committee

General University of Maine Publications

The newly formed University of Maine System Data Governance program was launched to improve the System's capacity to collect information and deploy resources in service to the students and in response to Maine's dire demographic and workforce challenges.

The UMS campuses and administrative units make up a complex system that requires a strategic approach to data collection and analysis. From understanding the intricacies of distance education and online programs, to aligning human resource and financial department codes, unified data governance is essential to ensuring the integrity and reliability of the University of Maine System's data.

Towards An Efficient, Scalable Stream Query Operator Framework For Representing And Analyzing Continuous Fields, John Whittier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advancements in sensor technology have made it less expensive to deploy massive numbers of sensors to observe continuous geographic phenomena at high sample rates and stream live sensor observations. This fact has raised new challenges since sensor streams have pushed the limits of traditional geo-sensor data management technology. Data Stream Engines (DSEs) provide facilities for near real-time processing of streams, however, algorithms supporting representing and analyzing Spatio-Temporal (ST) phenomena are limited.

This dissertation investigates near real-time representation and analysis of continuous ST phenomena, observed by large numbers of mobile, asynchronously sampling sensors, using a DSE and proposes two novel stream …

Principles And Guidelines For Advancement Of Touchscreen-Based Non-Visual Access To 2d Spatial Information, Hari Prasath Palani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Graphical materials such as graphs and maps are often inaccessible to millions of blind and visually-impaired (BVI) people, which negatively impacts their educational prospects, ability to travel, and vocational opportunities. To address this longstanding issue, a three-phase research program was conducted that builds on and extends previous work establishing touchscreen-based haptic cuing as a viable alternative for conveying digital graphics to BVI users. Although promising, this approach poses unique challenges that can only be addressed by schematizing the underlying graphical information based on perceptual and spatio-cognitive characteristics pertinent to touchscreen-based haptic access. Towards this end, this dissertation empirically identified a …

Exploring The Human Body Space: A Geographical Information System Based Anatomical Atlas, Antonio Barbeito, Marco Painho, Pedro Cabral, João Goyri O'Neill

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Anatomical atlases allow mapping the anatomical structures of the human body. Early versions of these systems consisted of analogical representations with informative text and labeled images of the human body. With computer systems, digital versions emerged and the third and fourth dimensions were introduced. Consequently, these systems increased their efficiency, allowing more realistic visualizations with improved interactivity and functionality. The 4D atlases allow modeling changes over time on the structures represented. The anatomical atlases based on geographic information system (GIS) environments allow the creation of platforms with a high degree of interactivity and new tools to explore and analyze the …

A Context-Sensitive Conceptual Framework For Activity Modeling, Rahul Deb Das, Stephan Winter

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Human motion trajectories, however captured, provide a rich spatiotemporal data source for human activity recognition, and the rich literature in motion trajectory analysis provides the tools to bridge the gap between this data and its semantic interpretation. But activity is an ambiguous term across research communities. For example, in urban transport research activities are generally characterized around certain locations assuming the opportunities and resources are present in that location, and traveling happens between these locations for activity participation, i.e., travel is not an activity, rather a mean to overcome spatial constraints. In contrast, in human-computer interaction (HCI) research and in …

Μ-Shapes: Delineating Urban Neighborhoods Using Volunteered Geographic Information, Matt Aadland, Christopher Farah, Kevin Magee

Journal of Spatial Information Science

Urban neighborhoods are a unique form of geography in that their boundaries rely on a social definition rather than a well-defined physical or administrative boundary. Currently, geographic gazetteers capture little more than then the centroid of a neighborhood, limiting potential applications of the data. In this paper, we present µ-shapes, an algorithm that employs fuzzy-set theory to model neighborhood boundaries suitable for populating gazetteers using volunteered geographic information (VGI). The algorithm is evaluated using a reference dataset and VGI from the Map Kibera Project. A confusion matrix comparison between the reference dataset and µ-shape's output demonstrated high sensitivity and accuracy. …