This is a preliminary report of part of a long term project on the foundations of spatial representation. In prospective, our aim is to unfold a general framework where the major results and open problems in this field can be set up and addressed in a uniform fashion. Here, our concern is mainly with (i) analysing some notions that can be (or have been) used as primitives for this purpose (points, places, regions, and bodies in the first place), and (ii) assessing the degree and significance in which the choice of any such primitive may condition the resulting representation system. We are also interested in investigating connections between spatial representation systems and various fundamental intuitive notions such as localization, penetrability, and movement, though we shall not here go beyond some very general remarks. In this regard our purpose is mainly to illustrate what we take to be an important methodological desideratum, namely a combination of some affinity with common sense (on the one hand) with an adequate degree of formal sophistication and efficiency (on the other). Although this can only be appreciated in regard with specific case-studies, we believe that a fruitful interplay between methodological and substantial aspects will lay the groundwork for an innovative perspective on the potentialities of spatial representation theories
Basic Issues in Spatial Representation
1995-01-01
Abstract
This is a preliminary report of part of a long term project on the foundations of spatial representation. In prospective, our aim is to unfold a general framework where the major results and open problems in this field can be set up and addressed in a uniform fashion. Here, our concern is mainly with (i) analysing some notions that can be (or have been) used as primitives for this purpose (points, places, regions, and bodies in the first place), and (ii) assessing the degree and significance in which the choice of any such primitive may condition the resulting representation system. We are also interested in investigating connections between spatial representation systems and various fundamental intuitive notions such as localization, penetrability, and movement, though we shall not here go beyond some very general remarks. In this regard our purpose is mainly to illustrate what we take to be an important methodological desideratum, namely a combination of some affinity with common sense (on the one hand) with an adequate degree of formal sophistication and efficiency (on the other). Although this can only be appreciated in regard with specific case-studies, we believe that a fruitful interplay between methodological and substantial aspects will lay the groundwork for an innovative perspective on the potentialities of spatial representation theoriesI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
