Monica Wachowicz - Böcker

There has been an increasing demand in GIS for systems that support historical data: time-series data as well as mobility information. From a modelling perspective, there are advantages in integrating object-oriented analysis and design to databases as well as to visualisation capabilities of GIS.Object-Oriented Design for Temporal GIS explores the major components of the object-oriented analysis and design methods, how they can be used for modelling spatio-temporal data, and how these components are developed and maintained within a GIS. It also offers practical guidance to object-oriented methods by demonstrating the feasibility of applying such methods to issues involved in handling spatio-temporal data. The author demonstrates how this knowledge might be used in a wide range of applications such as political boundary record maintenance (historical data), disease incidence rate analysis in epidemics (diffusion rate), and environmental studies of climate change (time-series data). This understanding contributes to the development of theory in GIS and improves the design of GIS to support the modelling of semantics, space and time elements of geographical information.

There has been an increasing demand in GIS for systems that support historical data: time-series data as well as mobility information. From a modelling perspective, there are advantages in integrating object-oriented analysis and design to databases as well as to visualisation capabilities of GIS.Object-Oriented Design for Temporal GIS explores the major components of the object-oriented analysis and design methods, how they can be used for modelling spatio-temporal data, and how these components are developed and maintained within a GIS. It also offers practical guidance to object-oriented methods by demonstrating the feasibility of applying such methods to issues involved in handling spatio-temporal data. The author demonstrates how this knowledge might be used in a wide range of applications such as political boundary record maintenance (historical data), disease incidence rate analysis in epidemics (diffusion rate), and environmental studies of climate change (time-series data). This understanding contributes to the development of theory in GIS and improves the design of GIS to support the modelling of semantics, space and time elements of geographical information.

The Association of Geographic Information Laboratories for Europe (AGILE) conferences provide a multidisciplinary forum for an increasingly varied landscape of scientific knowledge production and dissemination, to th GI Scientists from around the world. This year’s landmark 10 AGILE Conference, held at the top of Europe in Aalborg, Denmark, brought a number of significant changes to the well-established conference series. For the first time the call for papers included a full-paper submission track of original, unpublished, fundamental scientific research, the results of which you will find published in this volume. The response for this call provides ample evidence that GI Science and Systems are alive and well in Europe. Twenty-eight papers (out of 62 submissions) were accepted for this volume (acceptance rate: 45%). Judging by the author’s affiliations in this volume, the diverse AGILE Community includes (but is not limited to) computer scientists, geographers, geomatic engineers, GI Science pr- titioners, just to mention a few. The breadth of submissions reflects a vibrant and globally interc- nected GI Science community. You will find contributions from all four corners of Europe, as well as from China, Japan, and the United States.