Toward a theoretical framework for geographic entity types

Abstract

This paper develops a theoretical framework for defining and representing kinds of geographic entities. The “Spatial Data Transfer Standard” (SDTS) of the United States ‘is used as a starting point for discussion. SDTS defines entities in the world, objects as mathematical or computational constructs, and features as both entities and the objects that represent them. The paper reviews the central role played by categories in human cognition, and the relationships between categories and words of natural language. Although categories may appear to exist in an objective world, they are more-properly (and conservatively) thought of as existing in human minds and cultures. This means that category definitions and boundaries can be expected to vary in cross-cultural, cross-linguistic, and cross-disciplinary comparisons, and even at an individual level. This in turn implies that development of ‘universal’ entity type schemes will be very difficult. Some of the difficulties are illustrated for the superficially-simple example of standing water bodies in English, French, and Spanish. Category boundaries appear to differ not only across languages but also geographically within languages. Human subjects testing will likely be required to explore the nature of geographical entity types as cognitive categories.