On ontology and epistemology of rough location

Abstract

Spatial objects are located in regions of space. In this paper the notions of exact, part, and rough location are discussed. Exact location is the relation between an object and the region of space it occupies. The notion of part location characterizes relations between parts of objects and parts of regions of space. The notion of rough location characterizes the location of a spatial object within a set of regions which form a regional partition of space. It links parts of spatial objects to parts of partition elements. The relationships between rough location, vague defined spatial objects, and indeterminacy of location are discussed. Knowledge about location of spatial objects in physical reality is based on observation and measurement. This paper argues that the the observations and measurement of location in physical reality yield knowledge about rough location rather than knowledge about exact location. The underlying regional partitions are created by the observation and measurement processes.