Temporal GIS

A GIS Comparative Analysis of Bronze Age Settlement Patterns and the Contemporary Physical Landscape in the Jazira Region of Syria

by Tony Mathys

Most of the datasets presented in this thesis are available for free in ArcGIS shapefile format on the ShareGeo Open data repository at http://www.sharegeo.ac.uk/.

These datasets are available for everyone to use as it is important to encourage data sharing in support of research activities.

There are also some CORONA satellite images available on ShareGeo for the Syrian Jazira region. The plan is to eventually provide complete CORONA coverage for this region, though geo-referencing will not be precise as it's intended to be more for user orientation.

Acknowledgement should go to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which makes CORONA imagery available via its EarthExplorer online data service at http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/NewEarthExplorer/
Many CORONA images are available to download for free from this service, though require processing and geo-referencing for use in a GIS or a software package for processing remotely sensed imagery.

Relevant to this, and the thesis, is the following paper presented which first introduced how CORONA satellite imagery could be applied to archaeological work in the Near East. Martin Fowler also wrote about the potential of CORONA in the Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG) news.

Mathys, Tony. “The Use of Declassified Intelligence Satellite Photographs in a GIS (IDRISI) to Map Archaeological Sites and the Surrounding Landscape in the Northeastern Region of the Syrian Jazirah. The University of Chicago Oriental Institute, NASA and St. Cloud State University Remote Sensing Applications in Archaeology Conference. St. Cloud, Minnesota, May 29-31, 1997.

Unfortunately, papers presented at this conference were not published.

My gratitude and thanks to Dr Sarah Parcak for citing this unpublished conference paper in her book (Satellite Remote Sensing in Archaeology), and to Dr Aled Rowlands and Dr Apostolos Sarris for citing it in their Journal of Archaeological Science article 34 (2007).

A new temporal GIS viewer based on the “Tree of Time” data structure

by Vitit Kantabutra

Note that the count of the erroneous intervals (i.e. 124 erroneous intervals) in the CHGIS database I claimed in this paper has not been verified completely. However, I will upload a report file as a separate "paper" on this site that will permit any interested person in verifying the data.

Managing Temporal Constraints with Preferences

by Malek Mouhoub

M. Mouhoub and A. Sukpan. Managing Temporal Constraints with Preferences. Spatial Cognition and Computation, Taylor & Francis, Vol. 8, No. 1-2, pages 131-149, 2008.

Preferences in temporal problems are common but significant in many real world applications. In this paper, we extend... more Preferences in temporal problems are common but significant in many real world applications. In this paper, we extend our temporal reasoning framework, managing numeric and symbolic information, in order to handle preferences. Unlike the existing models managing single temporal preferences, ours supports four types of preferences, namely: numeric and symbolic temporal preferences, composite preferences and conditional preferences. This offers more expressive power in representing a wide variety of temporal constraint problems. The preferences are considered here as a set of soft constraints using a c-semiring structure with combination and projection operators. Solving temporal constraint problems with preferences consists in finding a solution satisfying all the temporal constraints while optimizing the preference values. This is handled by a variant of the branch and bound algorithm, we propose in this paper, and where constraint propagation is used to improve the time efficiency. Experimental tests, we conducted on randomly generated temporal constraint problems with preferences, favor a variant of MAC as the constraint propagation strategy that should be used within the branch and bound algorithm.

An Efficient Lotos-based Framework for Describing and Solving (Temporal) CSPs

by Malek Mouhoub

S. Sadaoui, M. Mouhoub and B. Chen. An Efficient Lotos-based Framework for Describing and Solving (Temporal) CSPs. International journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (IJSEKE), Vol. 19(6), pages 765-789, 2009.

Simulation of complex Lotos specifications is not always efficient due to the space explosion problem of their... more Simulation of complex Lotos specifications is not always efficient due to the space explosion problem of their corresponding transition systems. To overcome this difficulty in practice, we present in this paper a novel approach which integrates constraint propagation techniques into the Lotos specifications. These solving techniques are used to reduce the size of the search space before and during the search for a solution to a given combinatorial problem under constraints. In order to do that, we first tackle the challenging task of describing combinatorial problems in Lotos using the Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) framework. In this regard, we provide two generic Lotos templates for describing CSPs and temporal CSPs (CSPs involving temporal constraints). To evaluate the time performance of the framework we propose, we have conducted several experimental tests on instances of the N-Queens, the machine scheduling and randomly generated CSPs. The results of these experiments are promising and demonstrate the efficiency of Lotos simulation when CSP techniques are integrated.

Dynamic path consistency for interval-based temporal reasoning

by Malek Mouhoub

M. Mouhoub. Dynamic Path Consistency for Interval-based Temporal Reasoning. 21st International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Applications(AIA '2003). Innsbruck Austria, Feb 10-13 2003.

Path consistency is an important component of the resolution method needed to check for the consistency of an Allen’s... more Path consistency is an important component of the resolution method needed to check for the consistency of an Allen’s Interval-based temporal network. While this local consistency algorithm reduces, in general, the size of the search space before applying the backtrack search, it implies the consistency of the problem for some specific temporal networks. Our goal in this paper is to maintain the path consistency of a temporal network in a dynamic environment i.e anytime a temporal relation is added or removed. For this purpose we propose a dynamic path consistency algorithm based on van Beek’s path consistency technique. Experimental tests on randomly generated dynamic interval-based temporal networks demonstrate the efficiency of our algorithm to deal with large size temporal problems in a dynamic environement.

Dynamic CSPs for interval-based temporal reasoning

by Malek Mouhoub

M. Mouhoub and J. Yip. Dynamic CSPs for Interval-based Temporal Reasoning . The 15th International Conference on Industrial & Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems(IEA/AIE'02). Published in Lectures Notes in Computer Science(LNCS) 2358, pages 575-585, 2002

Many applications such as planning, scheduling, computational linguistics and computational models for molecular... more Many applications such as planning, scheduling, computational linguistics and computational models for molecular biology involve systems capable of managing qualitative and metric time information. An important issue in designing such systems is the efficient handling of temporal information in an evolutive environment. In a previous work, we have developed a temporal model, TemPro, based on the interval algebra, to express such information in terms of qualitative and quantitative temporal constraints. In order to find a good policy for solving time constraints in a dynamic environment, we present in this paper, a study of dynamic arc-consistency algorithms in the case of temporal constraints. We show that, an adaptation of the new AC-3 algorithm presents promising results comparing to the other dynamic arc-consistency algorithms. Indeed, while keeping an optimal worst-case time complexity, this algorithm has a better space complexity than the other methods.

Reasoning about numeric and symbolic time information

by Malek Mouhoub

M. Mouhoub. Reasoning about Numeric and Symbolic Time Information. The Twelfth IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence(ICTAI'2000), pages 164-171, Vancouver, Canada, 2000.

Many applications such as planning, scheduling and natural language processing involve managing both symbolic and... more Many applications such as planning, scheduling and natural language processing involve managing both symbolic and numeric aspect of time. We have developed a temporal model, TemPro, based on the interval algebra, to express such applications in terms of qualitative and quantitative temporal constraints. TemPro extends the interval algebra relations of Allen to handle numeric information. To solve a temporal constraint problem represented by TemPro, we have developed a method using constraint propagation, at the numeric and symbolic levels. In order to deal with real time applications or those applications where a complete solution cannot be obtained, we have modified the propagation techniques so that they will be able to solve temporal problems by giving a solution with a quality depending on the time allocated for computation.

A new temporal csp framework handling composite variables and activity constraints

by Malek Mouhoub

M. Mouhoub and A. Sukpan. A New Temporal CSP Framework Handling Composite Variables and Activity Constraints. The 17th IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI'05), pages 143-149, Hong Kong, November 14-16, 2005

A well known approach to managing the numeric and the symbolic aspects of time is to view them as Constraint... more A well known approach to managing the numeric and the symbolic aspects of time is to view them as Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs). Our aim is to extend the temporal CSP formalism in order to include activity constraints and composite variables. Indeed, in many real life applications the set of variables involved by the temporal constraint problem to solve is not known in advance. More precisely, while some temporal variables (called events) are available in the initial problem, others are added dynamically to the problem during the resolution process via activity constraints and composite variables. Activity constraints allow some variables to be activated (added to the problem) when activity conditions are true. Composite variables are defined on finite domains of events. We propose in this paper two methods based respectively on constraint propagation and stochastic local search (SLS) for solving temporal constraint problems with activity constraints and composite variables. We call these problems Conditional and Composite Temporal Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CCTCSPs). Experimental study we conducted on randomly generated CCTCSPs demonstrates the efficiency of our exact method based on constraint propagation in the case of middle constrained and over constrained problems while the SLS based method is the technique of choice for under constrained problems and also in case we want to trade search time for the quality of the solution returned (number of solved constraints).

Reasoning with numeric and symbolic time information

by Malek Mouhoub

M. Mouhoub. Reasoning with numeric and symbolic time information. Artificial Intelligence Review. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Vol. 21, pages 25-56, 2004.

Representing and reasoning about time is fundamental in many applications of Artificial Intelligence as well as of... more Representing and reasoning about time is fundamental in many applications of Artificial Intelligence as well as of other disciplines in computer science, such as scheduling, planning, computational linguistics, database design and molecular biology. The development of a domain-independent temporal reasoning system is then practically important. An important issue when designing such systems is the efficient handling of qualitative and metric time information. We have developed a temporal model, TemPro, based on the Allen interval algebra, to express and manage such information in terms of qualitative and quantitative temporal constraints. TemPro translates an application involving temporal information into a Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP). Constraint satisfaction techniques are then used to manage the different time information by solving the CSP. In order for the system to deal with real time applications or those applications where it is impossible or impractical to solve these problems completely, we have studied different methods capable of trading search time for solution quality when solving the temporal CSP. These methods are exact and approximation algorithms based respectively on constraint satisfaction techniques and local search. Experimental tests were performed on randomly generated temporal constraint problems as well as on scheduling problems in order to compare and evaluate the performance of the different methods we propose. The results demonstrate the efficiency of the MCRW approximation method to deal with under constrained and middle constrained problems while Tabu Search and SDRW are the methods of choice for over constrained problems.

Experimental analysis of numeric and symbolic constraint satisfaction techniques for temporal reasoning

by Malek Mouhoub

M. Mouhoub, F. Charpillet and J.P. Haton. Experimental Analysis of Numeric and Symbolic Constraint Satisfaction Techniques for Temporal Reasoning. Constraints: An International Journal, Vol. 2, pages 151-164, Kluwer Academic Publishers, June 1998.

Many temporal applications like planning and scheduling can be viewed as special cases of numeric and symbolic... more Many temporal applications like planning and scheduling can be viewed as special cases of numeric and symbolic temporal constraint satisfaction problem. We have developed a temporal model, TemPro, based on the interval algebra, to express such applications in terms of qualitative and quantitative temporal constraints. TemProextends the interval algebra relations of Allen to handle numericinformation. To solve a constraint satisfaction problem, different approaches have been developed. These approaches generally use constraint propagation to simplify the original problem, and backtracking to directly search for possible solutions. Constraint propagation can also be used during backtracking to improve the performance of the search. The objectiveof this paper is to assess different policies for checking if aTemPro network is consistent. The main question we want to answer is how much constraint propagation is useful forfinding a single solution for a TemPro constraint graph. For this purpose, we have randomly generated large consistent networks for which arc and/or path consistency algorithms (AC-3, AC-7 and PC-2) were applied. The main result of this study is an optimal policy combining these algorithms either at the symbolic (Allen relation propagation) or at the numerical level.

Analysis of Approximation Algorithms for Maximal Temporal Constraint Satisfaction Problems

by Malek Mouhoub

M. Mouhoub. Analysis of Approximation Algorithms for Maximal Temporal Constraint Satisfaction Problems. The 2001 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence(IC-AI'2001), pages 165-171, Las Vegas, 2001.

This paper presents an experimental study of the different local
search techniques to solve Maximal Temporal... more This paper presents an experimental study of the different local
search techniques to solve Maximal Temporal Constraint Satisfaction Problems. Comparisons were carried out using Min-Conflicts-Random-Walk, Steepest-Descent-Random-Walk and Tabu Search methods. Empirical evidence shows that the Min-Conflicts-Random-Walk method finds almost always solutions of better quality, i.e solutions having smaller number of violated constraints and is faster than the other approximation methods to find solutions of the same quality.

Using the Newly‐created ILE DBMS to Better Represent Temporal and Historical GIS Data

by J. B. (Jack) Owens

* Kantabutra, V., Owens, J. B., Ames, D. P., Burns, C. N., and Stephenson, B. (2010). “Using the Newly-created ILE DBMS to Better Represent Temporal and Historical GIS Data.” Transactions in GIS 14, s1: 39-58; doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9671.2010.01222.x.

This article introduces a type of DBMS called the Intentionally-Linked Entities (ILE) DBMS for use as the basis for... more This article introduces a type of DBMS called the Intentionally-Linked Entities (ILE) DBMS for use as the basis for temporal and historical Geographical Information Systems. ILE represents each entity in a database only once, thereby mostly eliminating
redundancy and fragmentation, two major problems in Relational and other database systems. These advantages of ILE are realized by using relationship objects and pointers to implement all of the relationships among data entities in a native fashion using dynamically-allocated linked data structures. ILE can be considered to be a modern and extended implementation of the E/R data model. ILE also facilitates storage of things that are more faithful to the historical records, such as gazetteer entries of places with imprecisely known or unknown locations. This is difficult in Relational database systems but is a routine task using ILE because ILE is implemented using modern memory allocation techniques. We use the China Historical GIS (CHGIS) and other databases to illustrate the advantages of ILE. This is accomplished by modeling these databases in ILE and comparing them to the existing Relational implementations.

Fuzzy Set Theory (or Fuzzy Logic) to Represent the Messy Data of Complex Human (and other) Systems

by J. B. (Jack) Owens

Co-authored with Emery A. Coppola, Jr.

Historians and Human Geographers deal with human systems or subsystems of considerable complexity. This situation... more Historians and Human Geographers deal with human systems or subsystems of considerable complexity. This situation presents a dilemma to those who use computational technologies, which demand a high level of precision to organize, analyze, and visualize information: the more complex the system is, the greater the imprecision of the available data. Historians and geographers often feel that their imprecise, ambiguous, contradictory, messy, largely qualitative information does not “fit” well in the available software categories, and they have trouble discussing the results produced when they work within computational environments because category assignment seems so arbitrary. This dilemma appears dramatically with the use of Geographically-Integrated History (GIH) as a research strategy. In this paper, we introduce fuzzy set theory (or fuzzy logic) as a proven solution for dealing with imprecision in complex systems.

Recycling pulp mill sludge to improve soil fertility using GIS tools

by Antonio Albuquerque

P. Ribeiro, A. Albuquerque, L. Quinta-Nova, V. Cavaleiro
Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2010, V. 54, 12, 1303–1311.

Pulp mill sludge produced in the Cova da Beira region (Portugal) contains organic matter (11–47%), nitrogen (38–2560mg... more Pulp mill sludge produced in the Cova da Beira region (Portugal) contains organic matter (11–47%), nitrogen (38–2560mg N/kg) and phosphorus (167–370mg P/kg), which may be valuable for increasing soil productivity. The levels of heavy metals are below the limits recommended by legislation and the
amount of nitrogen and phosphorous to be introduced in soils does not present a risk for nutrient leaching.
After identifying the environmental and technical restrictions on its application, an area of 1650 ha was identified where the sludge can be applied in forage crops, fruit trees, olive groves and vineyards. A suitable area was also found for a biosolids storage centre. The use of GIS allowed to define a sludge
application index and to produce land-use suitability maps, which can be useful for sludge management.

Simulation of urban blocks densification

by Julien Perret

Co-authored with Florence Curie and Anne Ruas, presented at the 13thAGILE International Conference, Guimaraes, Portugal

This paper addresses urban block densification in a simulation context. The simulation of such a process requires... more This paper addresses urban block densification in a simulation context. The simulation of such a process requires several spatial analysis tools and specific knowledge on the types of objects accounting for the increased urban density. In this paper, only buildings creation is considered. The method proposed hereby takes into account the existing spatial organisation of an urban block in order to respect it while creating new buildings.

Understanding Urban Dynamics : the use of vector topographic databases and the creation of spatio-temporal databases

by Julien Perret

Co-authored with Annabelle Boffet Mas and Anne Ruas, 24th International Cartography Conference, Santiago, Chile, 2009

Conception of a GIS-Platform to simulate urban densification based on the analysis of topographic data

by Julien Perret

COMPRENDRE LES DYNAMIQUES URBAINES: L'UTILISATION DE BASES DE DONNÉES TOPOGRAPHIQUES ET LA CRÉATION DE BASES DE DONNÉES …

by Julien Perret

Vegetation Change Over Sixty Years in the Central Sierra Nevada, CA, USA

by Brian Morgan

Published in Madrono 55(3)

In California, the Vegetation Type Map (VTM) project of the 1930’s has provided valuable historical vegetation data.... more In California, the Vegetation Type Map (VTM) project of the 1930’s has provided valuable historical vegetation data. Albert Wieslander led this effort to survey the forests of California in the 1930’s. His crews surveyed over 150,000 km2, drawing detailed vegetation maps, taking 3000 photos and 17,000 vegetation plots. We developed a technique to digitize the Placerville 309quadrangle VTM, rendering it to a Geographic Information System (GIS). The map covers 2408.8 km2 of the west slope of the Sierra Nevada. In this area VTM crews identified 59 dominant plant species and eight genera or land cover classes and mapped their distribution into 3422 polygons. They identified recently disturbed areas that covered 13.5%of the landscape. We compared the digital VTM quad to CALVEG, a satellite-derived vegetation map from 1996. Land cover change for California Wildlife Habitat Relationship (WHR) vegetation types had occurred on 42.1%of the area. WHR types with the largest gains were: Montane Hardwood, Douglas-Fir, and Annual Grassland. Low elevation hardwoods, particularly Blue Oak Woodland (dominated by Quercus douglasii, Fagaceae), chaparrals and upper elevation conifers were the types that lost the most area. Differences in mapping techniques are unlikely to be the cause of this change because the analysis used controlled for map-based errors.  Potential causes of the observed change at these physiognomic levels of classification include human perturbation, succession, and climate change.

A Method for the Visual Representation of Historic Multivariate Point Data

by Deb Verhoeven

Co-authored with Alwyn Davidson and Colin Arrowsmith in ADVANCES IN CARTOGRAPHY AND GISCIENCE. VOLUME 2, Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography, 2011, Volume 6, Part 2, 163-178

The visual representation of multivariate spatial and temporal data is important for interpreting and analysing... more The visual representation of multivariate spatial and temporal data is important for interpreting and analysing historical geographic patterns that change over time. The introduction of geospatial technologies in historical scholarship has challenged the suitability of current visual representations due to the need for greater temporal emphasis and the tracking of historical events over time. This research presents a holistic multivariate approach to historical visual representation for point based historical data. The method has been developed through extending the spatial presence in information graphics and through meaningful spatial classification. This paper demonstrates the benefits gained from integrating historical, geographic, temporal, and attribute data through the development of a case study on the history of Melbourne’s cinema venues between 1946 and 1986.