Forward
This book, entitled Advances in Spatial Data Handling, is a compendium of
papers resulting from the International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling
(SDH), held in Ottawa, Canada, July 9-12, 2002. The SDH conference series has
been organised as one of the main activities of the International Geographical
Union (IGU) since it was first started in Zurich in 1984.
In the late 1990’s the IGU Commission of Geographic Information Systems
was discontinued and a study group was formed to succeed it in 1997. Much like
the IGU Commission, the objectives of the Study Group are to create a network of
people and research centres addressing geographical information science and to
facilitate exchange of information. The International Symposium on Spatial Data
Handling, which is the most important activity of the IGU Study Group, has,
throughout its 18 year history been highly regarded as one of the most important
GIS conferences in the world.
In the spring of 2000, IGU and the International Society for Phtogrammetry and
Remote Sensing (ISPRS) established an agreement to facilitate collaboration
between the two organisations. In so doing the present collaborative symposium
was planned to foster closer relations and provide opportunities for greater
interaction among the larger geomatics communities especially among those
involved in research, development, applications or management of geo-spatial
data and information. The Canadian Institute for Geomatics, which hold an
annual geomatics conference, was invited to host their 95th Annual Conference
jointly with the 2002 SDH and ISPRS Commission IV symposium. Collectively,
some 279 papers and 56 posters were submitted to the combined event “Joint
International Symposium on Geospatial Theory, Processing and Application”.
This 10th International SDH symposium presents a set of papers that
demonstrate a maturing in geographical information science (GISc). Looking
back over close to two decades since the SDH was started, it is clear that a larger
community now accepts GISc. International standards such as those put forward
by the International Organisation for Standards (ISO) now include topology
operators first developed by Egenhofer and Clementini, the results of which are
available in commercial products. Other issues that are still found in current
research endeavours have undergone remarkable progress such as integration of
heterogeneous data through spatial and semantic operators, spatial-temporal
modelling for real time object assessments in mobile GIS, application of
methodologies for on-demand dynamic web mapping. Advances resulting from
Internet access are especially far reaching, such as the research undertaken in
interoperability, search and access protocols for data discovery, and visualisation
and analysis of distributed and heterogeneous sources. Both the more traditional
topics and emerging issues can be found within the SDH, presented as solid
contributions to the scientific literature.
V
Of the many remaining challenges under the general topic of spatial data
handling, 12 representative categories were identified as essential elements that
require in-depth research and development and that reflect the purview of the IGU
science objectives. These topics were selected as a means of focussing the
symposium and in an effort to bring together research efforts. These are the topics
under which the paper submissions appear in the table of contents.
The SDH is a refereed conference. Full papers were submitted by authors and
reviewed by a minimum of three experts in the field, and in addition, were
reviewed by both editors. The criteria for the paper review involved an
assessment of the originality, its contribution to existing knowledge, soundness of
the methodology, and the overall scientific quality and presentation. Papers were
then ranked accordingly. Of the 59 papers that were submitted to the SDH, only
40 have been accepted for publication. A number of other papers submitted to
SDH have been presented at the conference, as they were interesting and
innovative, but have not been published in the volume at hand, as they did not
meet the publication requirements for this particular compendium.
Dianne Richardson and Peter van Oosterom
Ottawa, April 13, 2002
Acknowledgements
Each person involved in organising the Spatial Data Handling Symposium
balanced existing workloads, ongoing commitments, and the contribution of many
long hours to the conference arrangements. The first words of thanks go to Craig
Dillabaugh and Liza Charbonneau (Canada Centre for Remote Sensing), for their
ever cheerful contributions in compiling the proceedings and for their help in
every aspect of the symposium. Appreciation is also extended to Brian
Klinkenberg, co-chair of the organising committee and to Peter van Oosterom and
Henk Ottens Co-chairs of the Programme Committee. Appreciation is also
extended to the Programme Committee who is responsible for the quality of the
overall programme. Finally, thanks also to Elfriede Fendel of the Delft University
of Technology, for proof reading a selection of papers, and to Marguerite Trindade
for her excellent design work, portions of which have been used for the cover of
this book.
Dianne Richardson
Ottawa, April 13, 2002
VI
Table of Contents
Data Mining
A Decision Tree for Multi-Layered Spatial Data
Nadjim Chelghoum, Karine Zeitouni and Azedine Boulmakoul
1
Computational and Visual Support for Geographical Knowledge
Construction: Filling in the Gaps Between Exploration and
Explanation
Mark Gahegan and Boyan Brodaric
11
Polygonization of Point Clusters through Cluster Boundary
Extraction for Geographical Data Mining
Ickjai Lee and Vladimir Estivill-Castro
27
Databases and Interoperability
The Impact of Filtering on Spatial Continuous Queries
Thomas Brinkhoff
41
An Object Model for Geologic Map Information
Boyan Brodaric and Jordan Hastings
55
Indexing and Browsing Digital Maps with Intelligent Thumbnails
Christoph Schlieder and Thomas Vögele
69
Modelling and Manipulating Multiple Representations of Spatial
Data
Christelle Vangenot, Christine Parent and Stefano Spaccapietra
81
DEM, Terrain and Landscape Modelling
Terrain Modelling Based on Contours and Slopes
Christopher Gold and Maciej Dakowicz
95
109
Siting Observers on Terrain
Wm Randolph Franklin
VII
Generalisation
An Agent-Based Framework for Polygonal Subdivision
Generalisation
Martin Galanda and Robert Weibel
121
Template Matching in Support of Generalisation of Rural Buildings
Desmond Rainsford and William Mackaness
137
Minimising Positional Errors in Line Simplification Using Adaptive
Tolerance Values
Nadia Shahriari and Vincent Tao
153
Integration and Fusion
A New Merging Process for Data Integration Based on the Discrete
Fréchet Distance
Thomas Devogele
167
Above-Ground Biomass Estimation of Successional and Mature
Forests Using TM Images in the Amazon Basin
Dengsheng Lu, Paul Mausel, Eduardo Brondizio and Emilio Moran
183
Grid Computing for Real Time Distributed Collaborative
Geoprocessing
Yi Shi, Ashton Shortridge and Jon Bartholic
197
The Balance Between Geometry and Topology
Peter van Oosterom, Jantien Stoter, Wilko Quak and Sisi Zlatanova
209
Spatial and Temporal Data Modelling and Analysis
STOQL: An ODMG-Based Spatio-Temporal Object Model and
Query Language
Bo Huang and Christophe Claramunt
225
A Semantics for Version Queries in GIS Databases
Hanna Kemppainen
239
A Differential Spatio-temporal Model: Primitives and Operators
Giorgos Mountrakis, Peggy Agouris and Anthony Stefanidis
255
A QTM-based Algorithm for Generation of the Voronoi Diagram on
a Sphere
Xuesheng Zhao, Jun Chen and Zhilin Li
269
VIII
Spatial Reasoning
The Dimensional Model:
A Framework to Distinguish Spatial Relationships
Roland Billen, Siyka Zlatanova, Pierre Mathonet and Fabien Boniver
285
A Quantitative Description of Spatial Configurations
Francisco Godoy and Andrea Rodríguez
299
Implementing Topological Predicates for Complex Regions
Markus Schneider
313
Route Specifications with a Linear Dual Graph
Stephan Winter
329
Topographic and Thematic Digital Processing
Projecting a Regular Grid onto a Sphere or Ellipsoid
Rune Aasgaard
339
Creating Spatial Information: Commissioning the UK Land Cover
Map 2000
Alexis Comber, Peter Fisher and Richard Wadsworth
351
A Methodology for Updating Geographic Databases Using Map
Versions
Ally Peerbocus, Geneviève Jomier and Thierry Badard
363
Uncertainty, Accuracy and Error
Revealing Uncertainty in Maps of Glacial Lake Algonquin
Scott Drzyzga, Ashton Shortridge and Randall Schaetzl
377
Spatio-Temporal Methods to Reduce Data Uncertainty in Restricted
Movement on a Road Network
Nirvana Meratnia, Wolfgang Kainz and Rolf de By
391
Quantifying Uncertainty of Digital Elevation Models Derived from
Topographic Maps
Qihao Weng
403
IX
Urban Modelling and Applications
Detecting Building Alignments for Generalisation Purposes
Sidonie Christophe and Anne Ruas
419
Temporal GIS and Statistical Modelling of Personal Lifelines
Marius Thériault, Christophe Claramunt, Anne-Marie Séguin and
Paul Villeneuve
433
Urban Simulation Using Neural Networks and Cellular Automata
for Land Use Planning
Anthony Gar-On Yeh and Xia Li
451
Visualisation
Creation of the Anamorphoses-Based 3D-Pyramidal BlockDiagrams
Nikita A.Bogomolov, Ilya Rylskiy and Vladimir Tikunov
465
Schematic Networks: An Algorithm and its Implementation
Sergio Cabello and Marc van Kreveld
475
Developing Lightweight, Data-Driven Exploratory Geo-visualisation
Tools for the Web
Erik Steiner, Alan MacEachren, and Diansheng Guo
487
Web-based Mapping
GAP-Tree Extensions Based on Skeletons
Tinghua Ai and Peter van Oosterom
501
Improving Automated Generalisation for On-Demand Web
Mapping by Multiscale Databases
Alessandro Cecconi, Robert Weibel and Mathieu Barrault
515
Map Samples to Help GI Users Specify their Needs
Frédéric Hubert
533
Representation of Map Objects with Semi-Structured Data Models
Emmanuel Stefanakis
547
X
Author Index
Aasgaard, Rune
Agouris, Peggy
Ai, Tinghua
Badard, Thierry
Barrault, Mathieu
Bartholic, Jon
Billen, Roland
Bogomolov, Nikita
Boniver, Fabien
Boulmakoul, Azedine
Brinkhoff, Thomas
Brodaric, Boyan
Brondizio, Eduardo
Cabello, Sergio
Cecconi, Alessandro
Chelghoum, Nadjim
Chen, Jun
Christophe, Sidonie
Claramunt, Christophe
Comber, Alexis
Dakowicz, Maciej
de By, Rolf
Devogele, Thomas
Drzyzga, Scott
Estivill-Castro, Vladimir
Fisher, Peter
Franklin, Wm Randolph
Gahegan, Mark
MacEachren, Alan
Galanda, Martin
Godoy, Francisco
Gold, Christopher
Guo, Diansheng
Hastings, Jordan
Huang, Bo
Hubert, Frédéric
Jomier, Geneviève
Kainz, Wolfgang
Kemppainen, Hanna
Lee, Ickjai
Li, Xia
Li, Zhilin
Lu, Dengsheng
339
255
501
363
515
197
285
465
285
1
41
11, 55
183
475
515
1
269
419
255, 433
351
95
391
167
377
27
351
109
11
487
121
299
95
487
55
225
533
363
391
239
27
451
269
183
Mackaness, William
Mathonet, Pierre
Mausel, Paul
Meratnia, Nirvana
Moran, Emilio
Mountrakis, Giorgos
Parent, Christine
Peerbocus, Ally
Quak, Wilko
Rainsford, Desmond
Rodríguez, M Andrea
Ruas, Anne
Rylskiy, Ilya
Schaetzl, Randall
Schlieder, Christoph
Schneider, Markus
Séguin, Anne-Marie
Shahriari, Nadia
Shi, Yi
Shortridge, Ashton
Spaccapietra, Stefano
Stefanakis, Emmanuel
Stefanidis, Anthony
Steiner, Erik
Stoter, Jantien
Tao, Vincent
Thériault, Marius
Tikunov, Vladimir
van Kreveld, Marc
van Oosterom, Peter
Vangenot, Christelle
Villeneuve, Paul
Vögele, Thomas
Wadsworth, Richard
Weibel, Robert
Weng, Qihao
Winter, Stephan
Yeh, Anthony Gar-On
Zeitouni, Karine
Zhao, Xuesheng
Zlatanova, Sisi
Zlatanova, Siyka
XI
137
285
183
391
183
255
81
363
209
137
299
419
465
377
69
103
433
153
197
197, 377
81
547
255
487
209
153
433
465
475
209, 501
81
433
69
351
121, 515
403
329
451
1
269
209
285
Programme Committee
Co-chairs
Peter van Oosterom and Henk Ottens
Henri
Dave
Tinghua
Mike
Nicholas
Eliseo
Leila
Paulino
Geoffrey
Max
Peter
Pip
Randolph
Barend
Chris
Mike
Stephen
Paul
John
Angela
Chris
Wolfgang
Brian
Menno-Jan
Aalders
Abel
Ai
Barry
Chrisman
Clemetini
De Floriani
Di Felice
Edwards
Egenhofer
Fischer
Forer
Franklin
Gehrels
Gold
Goodchild
Guptill
Hardy
Herring
Ionita
Jones
Kainz
Klinkenberg
Kraak
Robert
Pal
David
Bela
Martien
Esa
Ferjan
Wanning
Donna
Tom
Wilko
Anna
Hanan
Tapani
Monika
Jack
Vladimir
Thierry
Marc
Jan
Edward
Rob
Mike
Anthony
XII
Laurini
Lavai
Mark
Markus
Molenaar
Mononen
Ormeling
Peng
Peuquet
Poiker
Quak
Raus
Samet
Sarjakoski
Sester
Snoeyink
Tikunov
Toutin
van Krefeld
van Roessel
Verbree
Weibel
Worboys
Yeh