Fundamental theories of spatial similarity relations in multi-scale map spaces

Abstract

Similarity relation is one of the spatial relations in the community of geographic information science and cartography. It is widely used in the retrieval of spatial databases, the recognition of spatial objects from images, and the description of spatial features on maps. However, little achievements have been made for it by far. In this paper, spatial similarity relation was put forward with the introduction of automated map generalization in the construction of multi-scale map databases; then the definition of spatial similarity relations was presented based on set theory, the concept of spatial similarity degree was given, and the characteristics of spatial similarity were discussed in detail, including reflexivity, symmetry, non-transitivity, self-similarity in multi-scale spaces, and scale-dependence. Finally a classification system for spatial similarity relations in multi-scale map spaces was addressed. This research may be useful to automated map generalization, spatial similarity retrieval and spatial reasoning.