Formal models of geographic space should support reasoning about its static and dynamic properties, its objects, their behaviors, and the relationships between them. Image schemas, used to embody spatiotemporal experiential abstractions, capture high-level perceptual concepts but do not have generally accepted formalizations. We provide a method for formally representing topological and physical image schemas using Milner’s bigraphical models. Bigraphs, capable of independently representing mobile locality and connectivity, provide formal algebraic specifications of geographic environments enhanced by intuitive visual representations. Using examples from a built environment, we define topological schemas CONTAINER and LINK as static bigraph components, dynamic schemas INTO and LINKTO as rule-based changes in static components, and more complex schemas RE MOVAL_OF_RESTRAINT and BLOCKAGE with sequences of rules. Finally, we demonstrate that bigraphs can be used to describe scenes with incomplete information, and that we can adjust the granularity of scenes by using bigraph composition to provide additional context.
Ambient Intelligent (AmbI) environments are places that react (hopefully in a useful fashion) to the presence of human beings. Currently, the most successful AmbI places are found indoors, for example in smart houses that automatically regulate room temperature and other settings based on user-specified preferences. Ubiquitous (pervasive, everywhere) computing relies on data received from one or many sensor networks and information systems to provide support via smart devices for tasks such as navigation or web browsing. One of our goals of the project is to create a ubiquitous computing system that will work indoors, in such venues as convention centers and hospitals. We are working on an Indoor Spatial Theory to model the critical properties, relationships, and behaviours of (mobile and stationary) indoor spatial objects. The theory will
Our theory will be captured in the following models:
My particular focus is on understanding the key dynamic properties of ambients (e.g. people, assets, functional regions) which must be modeled in context-aware applications for human navigation, personnel tracking, or space management. Key environmental changes to be tracked include blocked passages or repositioned equipment so that the smart device can respond to queries in both leisurely or emergency situations. See also the project scope and tasks and our technical results and publications for further details.
Lisa Walton
Graduate Research Assistant (Advisor: Dr. Michael Worboys)
Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering
University of Maine, Orono, ME. 04469
lisa DOT walton AT spatial DOT maine DOT edu
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