Theory for the integration of scale and representation formats: Major concepts and practical implications

Abstract

While GISs become ever more powerful and comfortable to use, spatial data integration has remained a difficult user responsibility with only sparse system support. A recent Ph.D. thesis has proposed a spatial theory that attempts to remove some major impediments to automation in this area. In particular, the work focuses on the integration of scale and format (raster/vector) differences. As a first of a planned series of publications, this paper describes the targeted problem, the major concepts of the solution, and discusses some practical implications that show potential benefits and difficulties of the described work.