TOPOLOGICAL DATA MODELS FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED EXPERT SYSTEMS

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS EMPLOYING KNOWLEDGE BASED EXPERT SYSTEMSWORKING WITH OBJECT-ORIENTED DATA MODELS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE FEASIBILITY OF AUTOMATING THE CARTOGRAPHIC MAPPING AND CHART PRODUCTION CYCLE. AREAS WHERE CHART PRODUCTION EXPERTSYSTEMS ARE MOST BENEFICIAL ARE: AUTOMATED PLACEMENT OF FEATURE NAMES, MAP GENERALIZATION AT CHANGE OF SCALE, DETECTION AND RESOLUTION OF SYMBOL PLACEMENT CONFLICTS, AND SYMBOL DECLUTTERING OPERATIONS. AN AUTOMATED CHART PRODUCTION EXPERT SYSTEM REQUIRES NEW METHODS OF STRUCTURING AND MANIPULATING MAP AND CHART FEATURES. MAPPING AND CHART FEATURES INCLUDE NATURAL, MAN-MADE, AND ABSTRACT OBJECTS, WHICH ARE BEST REPRESENTED IN DATA STRUCTURES THAT CONTAIN BOTH SPATIAL AND OBJECT-ORIENTED TOPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS. CURRENTLY, TEXT AND SPATIAL DATA BASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS NOT ONLY ARE DIFFICULT TO INTEGRATE BUT ALSO LACK AN EASY METHOD TO IMPLEMENT TOPOLOGY. SPATIAL TOPOLOGICAL DATA STRUCTURES PROVIDE ENTITIES FOR MODE, EDGE, AND FACE OBJECTS WHICH CONTAIN GEOGRAPHIC ATTRIBUTES. OBJECT-ORIENTED TOPOLOGICAL DATA STRUCTURES ENABLE THE REPRESENTATION OF ABSTRACT OBJECTS BY THEIR CLASSAND SUB-CLASS CHARACTERISTICS. DBA SYSTEMS PROPOSES TO RESEARCH AND DEVELOP SOFTWARE MODULES FOR UTILIZING SPATIAL AND OBJECT-ORIENTED TOPOLOGICAL DATA STRUCTURES FOR AUTOMATED CARTOGRAPHY. THESE DATA STRUCTURES MAY BE UTILIZED IN EXISTING KNOWLEDGE BASED EXPERT SYSTEMS. ADDITIONALLY, THE OBJECT-ORIENTED DATA BASE MAY BE POPULATEDFROM EXISTING RELATIONAL OR GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS.