Object-based representation and classification of spatial structures and relations

This paper is concerned with the representation and classification of spatial relations and structures in an object-based knowledge representation system. In this system, spatial structures are defined as sets of spatial entities connected with topological relations. Relations are represented by objects with their own properties. We propose to define two types of properties: the first are concerned with relations as concepts while the second are concerned with relations as links between concepts. In order to represent the second type of properties, we have defined facets that are inspired from the constructors of description logics. We describe these facets and how they are used for classifying spatial structures and relations on land-use maps. Links between the present work and related work in description logics are also discussed.