Modeling Moving Geospatial Objects from an Event‐based Perspective
Kathleen Stewart Hornsby, Stephen J. Cole · Transactions in GIS · 2007
Abstract In this paper, the dynamic happenings or occurrents experienced by entities in a geospatial domain, are modeled aseventsand from an analysis of these events, we show how meaningful information about the movement of objects can be abstracted. The semantics of moving objects are captured based on different events, for example, specialized events, such asdeparture,arrival,orunexpected destination events.The paper presents an approach for abstracting patterns of movement from event sequences based on key attributes: object identity, event description, and event location. A set of eight possible event pattern types are distinguished and discussed in the paper. From these patterns, three notable patterns of events are presented, i.e. identifiable trends of movement that are worthy of further attention or perhaps intervention. Two of these patterns,repeatingandcollocating, capture particular kinds of movement within a traversal ortransitof a domain by a single moving object, such as a zigzag movement or reversal of direction, while areiteratingpattern of events corresponds to a movement pattern associated with multiple objects and describes, for example, convergence in a region. The inclusion of events in the data model provides a foundation for distinguishing particular semantics of movement based on patterns of events, providing a basis for querying different kinds of events as well as providing a foundation for developing automated event notification systems.