A fuzzy set model of approximate linguistic terms in descriptions of binary topological relations between simple regions

  • Authors:

  • F. Benjamin Zhan

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Geography, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas

  • Venue:
  • Applying soft computing in defining spatial relations
  • Year:
  • 2002

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Abstract

While handling geospatial data, one often faces at least two types of fuzziness. The first type of fuzziness is found in the use of approximate linguistic terms to describe spatial objects and spatial relations. For instance, in "The flash flood in October of 1988 nearly completely flooded downtown San Marcos." the term "nearly completely" is approximate in nature. The second type of fuzziness is due to the indeterminate nature of the boundaries of some spatial objects. Good examples of such objects are climatic regions (e.g., hot versus warm regions) and polygons showing different soil types. This chapter is only concerned with the first type of fuzziness. It develops a fuzzy set model of approximate linguistic terms used in descriptions of binary topological relations between simple regions. After discussing related work, the author reviews cognitive evidences that demonstrate the fuzziness of approximate linguistic terms. Then a fuzzy set model of three approximate linguistic terms, 'a little bit,' 'somewhat,' and 'nearly completely,' is presented. A discussion of possible further research is followed by a summary at the end of the chapter.