Research Activities in GIS
Developed in Lyon
Robert Laurini
Laboratory for Information Systems Engineering
Université Claude Bernard - INSA de Lyon
F - 69621 Villeurbanne
Email : Robert.Laurini@lisi.insa-lyon.fr
URL : http://www.insa-lyon.fr/People/LISI/laurini/
The goal of this paper is to present the research in GIS made in the Laboratory for Information
Systems Engineering, shared by the Claude Bernard University of Lyon, and the National
Institute for applied Sciences (INSA), under the head of Prof. Robert Laurini. The research
projects include: Photopolis project (updating urban database from aerial photos), Quality control
of geographic databases, Visual languages for GIS, Field-oriented databases in meteorology,
Auditory urban information system, Telegeomonitoring, and GIS Interoperability.
Present research team
Head:
Robert LAURINI
laurini@if.insa-lyon.fr
Associate professors:
Marie-Aude AUFAURE maufaure@if.insa-lyon.fr
Sylvie SERVIGNE
servigne@if.insa-lyon.fr
Ahmed LBATH
lbath@if.insa-lyon.fr
Present research actions
 Photopolis project (updating urban database from aerial photos)
 Quality control of geographic databases
 Visual languages for GIS
 Field-oriented databases in meteorology
 Auditory urban information system
 Telegeomonitoring
 GIS Interoperability
Photopolis project
The goal of the Photopolis project is updating urban geographic databases from aerial photos.
Preliminary works were done for the city of Padua, Italy during the PhD's of Sylvie SERVIGNE
(in 1993) and of Carlo SCHENONE (in 1994).
The key-idea was to compare aerial photos and cadasters in order to find differences. For that a
common model and a knowledge base must be defined and implemented.
Now TELLEZ Bruno (co-supervised with Sylvie SERVIGNE) has found several more efficient
algorithms and methods, especially based on Delaunay triangulation.
Key papers in English:
S. Servigne, R. Laurini Detecting Changes in Geographic Database Using Aerial Photos
Proceedings of the Symposium ISPRS "Mapping and GIS", Athens, Georgia, May 31- June 3,
1994. Volume 30, Part 4, Edited by Roy WELCH and M. REMILLARD, pp 318-324.
S. Servigne, R. Laurini Updating Geographic Databases Using Multi-Source Information.
Proceedings of the 3rd ACM International Workshop on Advances in Geographic Information
Systems, Baltimore, MD December 1-2, 1995. ACM Press. Edited by P. Bergougnoux, K.
Makki, N. Pissinou pp 119-126.
B. Tellez, S. Servigne, R. Laurini : Structural maps for matching aerial photos and cadastre.
First CASSINI International Workshop "Data Quality in Geographic Information: from Error to
Uncertainty" April 21-23 1997, Paris. Hermès, pp 173-185.
B. Tellez : Méthodologie pour une structuration commune des photos aériennes et des plans
cadastraux : application à la révision des bases de données urbaines. PhD submitted December
16, 1999. INSA de Lyon.
Quality control of geographic databases
The objective of this action is to organize the quality control of geographic database, especially
at topological level. Robert LAURINI and Françoise MILLERET-RAFFORT made preliminary
studies in 1991, by defining spatial integrity constraints. Then Thierry UBEDA in his PhD
(1997), co-supervised with Sylvie SERVIGNE, by using Egenhofer model has proposed a new
model, and a language for specifying topological quality control in order to automatically correct
topological errors. Then, a visual interface allows the correcting of ambiguities, or corrections
needing extra information. This research was partly financed by CASSINI1.
Alain PURICELLI's PhD made in connection with the Greater Lyon Council2 aims at controlling
all the geographic databases of this local authority (more than 1 300 000 inhabitants), only at
topological level.
Key papers in English:
R. Laurini, F. Milleret-Raffort Using Integrity Constraints for Checking Consistency of Spatial
Databases. GIS/LIS'91 Proceedings, Atlanta, Georgia, October 28 -November 1, 1991. ISBN 0944426-75-1 pp. 634-642.
R. Laurini, F. Milleret-Raffort Topological Reorganization of Inconsistent Geographic
Databases: a step Towards their Certification Computer and Graphics. Vol 18, 6 pp 803-813
December 1994.
T. Ubeda, A. Puricelli, S. Servigne, R. Laurini : A Methodology for Spatial Inconsistency
1
See: http://www.cmi.univ-mrs.fr/CASSINI/
2
See: http://www.grandlyon.com/
Checking and Correcting. First CASSINI International Workshop "Data Quality in Geographic
Information: from Error to Uncertainty" April 21-23 1997, Paris. Hermès, pp. 111-119.
T.Ubeda : "Contrôle de la Qualité spatiale des bases de données géographiques : cohérence
topologique et corrections d'erreurs". PhD, December 1st, 1997.
Visual languages for GIS
The goal of this research action is to define and implement visual concepts for defining and
manipulating geographic information. For that, Marie-Aude AUFAURE, in her PhD (1992)
defined visual operators for topology (CIGALES project). Then Ahmed LBATH (PhD in 1997)
has proposed and implemented a CASE tool for geomatic applications (AIGLE) visually
defining and manipulating geographic data, in connection with the CIRIL COMPANY.
Now, Christine BONHOMME and Franck FAVETTA co-supervised with Marie-AUFAURE,
continue this work, especially by extending CIGALES by using spatio-temporal visual operators,
and solving graphic ambiguities.
Key papers in English:
R. Laurini Towards Visual Interfaces for Multi-Source Updating of Geographic Information
NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Cognitive Aspects of Human Computer Interfaces for
Geographic Information Systems, Palma, March 21-24, 1994. Edited by T. Nyerges, D. Mark,
M. Engenhofer, R. Laurini. Spinger-Verlag. pp 147-162.
A. Lbath, MA Aufaure-Portier, R. Laurini, "Using Visual Language for the Design and Query in
GIS Customization". Second International Conference on Visual Information Systems. San
Diego December 1997, pp. 197-204.
C. Bonhomme, C. Trepied, MA Aufaure, R. Laurini (1999) A Visual Language for Querying
Spatio-Temporal Databases. Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on GIS,
ACMGIS'99, Kansas City, November 5-6, 1999, edited by C. Bauzer-Medeiros, ACM-Press, pp.
34-39.
Field-oriented databases in meteorology
The LISI has pioneered field-oriented database systems in Dillon PARIENTE's PhD submitted in
1994, for storing and manipulating continuous spatio-temporal information. The key-ideas were
first to define a new abstract data type for field data, and second using a pyramid of cellular
automata to estimate field data anywhere, by following spatio-temporal constraints and Laplace
equation.
With the LIFIA laboratory of National University of Plata-Buenos Aires in Argentina, for Silvia
GORDILLO's PhD, we have decided to extend Pariente's work in order to develop a more
powerful field-oriented language, to index field data and to extend operators for dealing with
global (earth-wide) fields. Catty MOSTACCIO from the same university will study
implementation aspects of field-oriented databases.
The goal of Said Ouatik El Alaoui's PhD, made at the University of Rabat, Morocco, under the
responsibility of Dr. Salma Mouline in connection with us, is to extend SQL in order to deal with
continuous spatio-temporal field-orientation (submitted end of July 1999).
Key papers in English:
R. Laurini, D. Pariente Towards a Field-oriented Language: First Specifications. In
"Geographic Objects with Indeterminate Boundaries" Edited by Burrough and Frank, Taylor and
Francis, 1996, pp. 225-236.
R. Laurini, S. Gordillo (2000) Field Orientation for Continuous Spatio-temporal Phenomena.
International Workshop on Emerging Technologies for Geo-based Applicatons, Ascona,
Switzerland, May 22-26, 2000. 25 pages.
Auditory urban information system
Noise appears as a nuisance in cities, but a soundless city with at all is not possible. The goal of
this research action, started in 1997 is to define the concept of soundscape, to define an auditory
urban database, to implement it in order to compare soundscape everywhere in cities, and to
simulate sounds for new urban developments. The French Cities Agency, and CASSINI finance
this work; it is done in collaboration with the Grenoble laboratories CRESSON and CSTB, under
the responsibility of Sylvie SERVIGNE.
Myoung-Ah KANG is in charge of this action for her PhD, in collaboration with Dr Ki Joune LI
of the South Korean Pusan National University, and a grant from EIFFEL.
Key papers in English:
Laurini R., Li KJ, Servigne S., Kang MA (1999) Modeling an Auditory Urban Database with a
Field-Oriented Approach. INFORMATICA, Volume 23 (1999) pp. 169-185.
Servigne S., Kang MA, Laurini R., (1999) First Specifications of an Information System for
Urban Soundscape. IEEE International Conference on Multimedia Computing and Systems '99,
Florence, June 7-11, 1999, Volume II, pp. 262-266.
Servigne S., Laurini R., Kang MA, Balay O., Arlaud B., Li Kj (1999) A Prototype of an
Information System for Urban Soundscape. 21st Urban Data Management Symposium, Venise,
20-22 Avril 1999.
Laurini R., Servigne S. An Information System for Urban Soundscape URISA'99, Urban and
Regional Information Systems Association, Chicago, August 21-25, 1999.
Kang MA, Servigne S., Li KJ, Laurini R. (1999) Indexing Field Values in Field Oriented
Systems: Interval Quadtree. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Information
Knowledge Management (CIKM'99), Kansas City, November 2-6, 1999, edited by S. Gauch,
ACM-Press, pp. 335-342.
Telegeomonitoring
The connection of GIS and telecommunication is more and more important. Tullio TANZI's PhD
(submitted in 1998), made in connection with the GRANIOU and ESCOTA companies, aimed at
defining a real-time system for motorway safety and management. In parallel, an action (19961999) was made with Hassan II University of Mohammedia with Prof. Azedine
BOULMAKOUL for the design of a real time GIS for the transportation of hazardous material,
with a French-Moroccan grant (CMIFM). After those actions, the concept of telegeomonitoring
was clear.
As a consequence, it was decided to organize in May 1999 a workshop in Lyon on
TeleGeoProcessing (TeleGeo 99). The second was in Nice (TeleGeo 20003) in May 2000.
Second, with the CIRIL Company, following the know-how issued from Ahmed LBATH's PhD,
it was decided to launch a research project with this company for developing a CASE tool for
telegeomonitoring systems. This is the goal of François PINET's PhD initiated in February 1999.
On this domain, seminars have been given to the National University of La Plata/Buenos Aires in
February 1999, at the University of Ottawa in August 1999, in Algiers October 1999 and in
Lisbon November 1999.
3
See: http://www.insa-lyon.fr/Labos/LISI/telegeo/
Key papers in English:
Tanzi T, Guiol R., Laurini R., Servigne S. (1998) A System for Motorway Management Based on
Risk Rate Estimation. Safety Science 30 (1998) pp. 9-23.
Laurini R. TeleGeomonitoring, Invited Paper, GISRUK Conference Southampton, UK, April 1416, 1999
Boulmakoul A., Laurini R., Servigne S. Idrissi MAJ (1999) First Specifications of a
TeleGeoMonitoring System for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials.Computers,
Environment and Urban Systems, Volume 23,4, July 1999, pp.259-270.
Tanzi T, Laurini R., Servigne S. (1999) A Prototype of TeleGeoMonitoring System for Road
Safety and Maintenance. First International Workshop on TeleGeoProcessing, Lyon, France,
Lyon, France - May 6-7, 1999 Proceedings edited by R. Laurini, pp. 103-111.
Laurini R. (2000) A Short Introduction to TeleGeoProcessing and TeleGeoMonitoring. Second
International Symposium on TeleGeoProcessing (TeleGeo 2000), May 10-11, 2000, Nice,
France.12 pages. Will be published by Springer Verlag in LNCS.
GIS Interoperability
After the Nourdine BADJI's PhD submitted in 1991, it became apparent that research has to be
done for geographic distributed databases, especially for environmental planning. So, Robert
LAURINI has initiated research in this domain, assisted by some Master students. One of the
main issue was the solving the problem of semantic, topological and geometric continuity in
zonal fragmentations in order to ensure GIS interoperability. During a few years, Robert
LAURINI has been a member of the Open GIS Consortium4.
Following this action, the French CNRS "City" program has asked us to develop a system in
order to ensure interoperability between urban data and models. This is the goal of Alain
BECAM's PhD initiated in October 1998 and co-supervised with Maryvonne MIQUEL.
Key papers in English:
R. Laurini Sharing Geographic Information in Distributed Databases 32nd Annual Conference
URISA (Urban and Regional Information Systems Association) Milwaukee, August 7-11, 1994,
pp. 441-455.
R. Laurini, F. Milleret-Raffort Distributed Geographical Databases: some Specific Problems
and Solutions. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed
Computing Systems. Las Vegas, October 5-8, 1994, pp. 276-283.
R. Laurini, Spatial Multidatabase Indexing and Topological Continuity of Fragmented
Geographic Objects. Proceedings of the 9th ISCA International Conference on Parallel and
Distributed Computing Systems, September 25-27, 1996, Dijon, Edited by K. Yetongnon and S.
Hariri, ISBN 1-880843-17-X, pp. 784-787.
R. Laurini (1998) Spatial Multidabase Topological Continuity and Indexing: a Step towards
Seamless GIS Data Interoperability. International Journal of Geographical Information
Sciences. Vol. 12,4, June 1998, pp. 373-402.
D. Benslimane, F. Jouanot, R. Laurini, K. Yetongnon, N. Cullot, M. Savonnet (1999)
Interopérabilité de SIG (Partie I): un état de l'art. Revue Internationale de Géomatique. vol 9, 3,
1999, pp. 279-316.
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See: http://www.opengis.org/