A visualization method for geographic conceptual modelling

Abstract

Because of the difficulty in sharing of modelling conceptions, the complexity of modelling methods, the difficulty of cooperative modelling for experts in different domains and so on, many problems have arisen during the geographic conceptual modelling process. A formalization and visualization method of geographic conceptual modelling is studied in this article for solving these problems. With respect to the traditional entity-relationship model, two issues are studied in this article: one is the establishment of a supporting system, in which the expression methods of geographic concept, the use of geographic conceptual icons as well as the designing methods are illustrated in detail. The other step is using the former to build geographic conceptual models as follows: the concept of geo-entities is represented by geographic conceptual icons and the concept of relationships between geo-entities is represented by directed lines; then geographic conceptual models can be built by dragging those elements into a geographic conceptual scenario in a guided way. Moreover, the geographic conceptual scenarios can be saved as templates for reuse and further modification. Experiments have shown that compared with traditional graphical conceptual modelling methods, apart from enhancing the intelligence of the modelling environment and promoting the visual ability during conceptual modelling process, this approach can also support conceptual model sharing and knowledge reuse. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.