Modelling Spatial Objects with Undetermined Boundaries using the Realm/ROSE Approach

Abstract

The diversity of geometric applications has led to many proposals both for the modelling of spatial data and for the design of new data models and query languages integrating traditional alphanumeric data as well as geometric data. This chapter introduces general criteria for the design of spatial data types regardless of the determinacy or indeterminacy of its objects. It sketches the Realm/ROSE model, and shows how this concept can be used to formally model general region objects with undetermined boundaries having good closure properties. An extension of the Realm/ROSE model to spatial objects with undetermined boundaries leads to very general data types vpoints, vlines and vregions, where the prefix V stands for the term ‘vague’, which unifies the two categories of uncertain and fuzzy spatial objects. These vague objects are to be defined by ‘sharp’ means using some concepts and definitions of the Realm/ROSE model.