National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

This report describes the results of NCGIA Research Initiative 2 "Languages of Spatial Relations". It compares the background and objectives of the initiative as originally planned with the understanding of the problem following the work carried out during the initiative. It then assesses the work in detail against five criteria: 1. Research Accomplished; 2. Research Agenda Development; 3. Contribution to GIS Education; 4. Implications for Science Policy; and 5. Comments on the Research Initiative Process. These criteria are applied to the initiative's research objectives to:

1)  Identify formal cognitive/semantic models of spatial concepts and relations in natural language;

2) Develop reliable methods for determining reference frames for spatial language;

3) Construct formal mathematical/logical models of spatial concepts and relations based on topology and geometry; and

4) Integrate the two kinds of formal models into a general theory of spatial relations.