National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

The two papers contained in this report summarize the major themes of Research Initiative #2 of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, entitled "Languages of Spatial Relations". They are being published as a technical report to make them accessible before they are published and printed in permanent outlets. The first paper, entitled "Experiential and Formal Models of Geographic Space", has been prepared for an audience primarily composed of geographers, and summarizes the main conceptual and cognitive issues that we believe will be of greatest interest to that community. It is hoped that it will be published in a refereed journal in geography. The second paper, "Language Issues for Geographical Information Systems", was written for the GIS community, and will appear as a chapter in "Geographical Information Systems: Principles and Applications", edited by David Maguire, David Rhind and Michael Goodchild, a reference volume that will be published by Longmans Publishing Co.