This paper has described a spatial reasoning system in which two-dimensional spatial data is represented as Quad Tesseral addresses. An important advantage of this data representation is the linearisation of space in a way which enables one-dimensional reasoning techniques to be applied, thus avoiding the combinatorial explosion of relations which are necessary in higher dimensions. The simple manipulation of groups of Quad Tesseral addresses is possible due to the associated Tesseral arithmetic and Morton sequencing.
This representation enables the user to reason directly about spatial - and therefore geographic - data, such as that manipulated in a GIS, and will facilitate and support the decision and prediction process. Thus it is envisaged that this integration of GIS and spatial reasoning will lead to the implementation of a system which will aid planners and developers who are involved in the preparation and interpretation of Environmental Impact Assessment Reports.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work described here is being carried as part of the d-GKBIS project and is being supported by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council.