Planned NCGIA Research Initiative 21: Formal Models of
Common-Sense Geographic Worlds
Approach
Formalizations of geographic common sense must bridge between
different scientific perspectives; therefore, researchers must
combine different research methodologies, and integrate results
obtained from them. It will be the interplay between the different
approaches that will provide the exciting and useful results. A
promising framework for developing formal models of common-sense
geographic knowledge consists of two different yet complimentary
research methodologies: (1) the development of formalisms of
common-sense geographic models for particular tasks or sub-problems
so that programmers can implement simulations on computers; and (2)
the testing and analyzing of formal models to assess how closely
the formalizations match human performance. The two research
methods are only useful if they are closely integrated and embedded
in a feedback loop to ensure that (1) mathematically sound models
are tested (bridging between formalism and testing) and (2) results
from tests are brought back to refine the formal models (bridging
between testing and implementable formalisms). The outcome of such
a complete loop leads to refined models, which in turn should be
subjected to new, focused evaluations. In an ideal scenario, this
leads to formal models that ultimately match closely with human
perception and thinking. From the refinement process we may gain
new insight into common-sense reasoning and we may actually derive
certain reasoning patterns.