Interpretative and constructive processes in spatially organized knowledge structures
 

Christian Freksa, Thomas Barkowsky, Alexander Klippel

University of Bremen , Department for Informatics

Duration: 1996 - 2002

Project homepage: http://www.cosy.informatik.uni-bremen.de/research/spp-projects/karten.html
 

The project investigates geographic maps and map-like depictions as knowledge representation structures which combine spatial and symbolic knowledge in a joint representation medium. Of particular interest are representations which focus on specific aspects of the spatial environment they represent. The construction and interpretation of these structures is analyzed and modeled under an interdisciplinary perspective. From a cognitive science point of view, examining maps is interesting as this may help to improve the understanding of mental spatial knowledge processing; this, in turn, may lead to cognitively more adequate presentations of spatial information. The project deals with schematic maps (e.g. public transportation network maps) to examine how these maps represent spatial knowledge and how they are used and misused for spatial information purposes. Moreover, automatic schematization methods for map-like representations are developed. An artificial intelligence architecture for representing and processing spatial knowledge has been designed and implemented. The project's results are applied in using schematic spatial representations for the communication with autonomous robots and in designing cognitively adequate you-are-here maps for human orientation purposes.
 

Approaches: modeling, implementation
Areas of Research: artificial intelligence; cognitive science
Topics: qualitative knowledge; vagueness; spatial reasoning/inference; cognitive maps; geographic maps; navigation; context
 

Project publications

Publications of project cooperations:

M - MeMoSpace
Q - Spatial Inference