From objects to events: GEM, the geospatial event model

Abstract

This paper discusses the construction of a modeling approach for dynamic geospatial domains based on the concepts of object and event. The paper shows how such a model extends traditional object-based geospatial models. The focus of the research is the introduction of events into the object-based paradigm, and consequent work on the classification of object-event and event-event relationships. The specific geospatial nature of this model is captured in the concept of a geosetting. The paper also introduces an extension of UML diagrams to incorporate events and their relationship to each other, and to objects. The paper briefly considers an example to show the working of some of the modeling constructs, and concludes with a discussion of further research needed on event aggregation and event-based query languages. © Springer-Verlag 2004.