Making space for time: issues in space-time data representation

Abstract

Even with much activity over the past decade (1989-99), including organized efforts on both sides of the Atlantic, the representation of both space and time in digital databases is still problematic, and functional space-time systems have not gone beyond the limited prototype stage. Why is this the case? Why did it take twenty years from the first GIS for the representation and analysis in the temporal, as well as the spatial dimension, to begin? The author explores the answers to these questions by giving a historical overview of the development of space-time representation in the geographic information systems and database communities. Within the context of this perspective, she also questions what seems to be a spirit of self-accusation in which they have been discussed in the literature and in meetings of GIS researchers. The author closes by offering her own interpretation of current research issues on space-time data models and languages.