Geographic process modeling based on geographic ontology

Abstract

Considerable attention has been paid to geographic process-based studies in geographic information science research. Finding appropriate methods to express geographic processes is challenging, and working to reveal the dynamic evolution and underlying mechanisms behind these processes is worthwhile. This research proposes a process-centric ontology model that describes the geographical environment from three perspectives, namely, geographic scenes, geographic processes and geographic elements. These three aspects are combined to represent the dynamic changes of geographic phenomena. This research proposes a framework and constructs ten sub-ontologies. These sub-ontologies include the Element ontology, Scene ontology, and Process ontology. A soil erosion process is then selected to demonstrate the applicability of this framework. The entire process is divided into three sub-processes (detachment, transport and deposition), and each sub-process is described by identifying when and where the process occurred, the elements and their reactions, and the changes in the geographic scene. Different relationships among elements, scenes and processes are defined to explain how and why soil erosion occurred. This proposed approach can reveal the underlying mechanisms of geographic scenes, can be used to explore the occurrence and causes of geographic processes and support the complex representation of geographic elements.