On Layer-based Systems for Undetermined Boundaries
Thanasis Hadzilacos · 2020
Coming from the ‘rational world of exact objects’, there are two extremes on the spectrum of reactions to ‘entities with undetermined boundaries’. One is that in order to handle undetermined boundaries one need a totally different philosophical and cognitive approach and a correspondingly different mathematical and computational model. The other extreme reaction is to view them as a natural extension and try to accommodate them in the same models that are used for entities with exact boundaries. This chapter determines what extensions are needed in order for the models to deal with undetermined boundaries. ‘Undetermined’ boundaries are due to fuzziness or uncertainty. Fuzziness is usually a property of the geographic entity or phenomenon itself, while uncertainty is usually caused by limitations of the observation. Administrative boundaries, set for reasons of social necessity and often the subject of geographic information systems, tend to be crisply defined, well-known and stable.