Data Mining and Reverse Engineering, p. 455-475
DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-35300-5_19
Time is an essential dimension to analyse and understand real-world evolution. Although many temporal extensions to spatial models have been proposed, there is still a need to define modelling methods to describe and represent real-world phenomena. This paper presents a set of design patterns modelling spatio-temporal processes expressed in an object-relationship data model. The proposed framework is based on an analysis of spatio-temporal processes and on properties of object-oriented and entity-relationship data models. 1. Introduction Geographical processes involve entities and changes that are located in both space and time. Therefore, building a taxonomy of spatio-temporal processes (STP) implies an analysis of the representation of facts and events within a space-time framework. According to Peuquet (1994), scientists retain two complementary ontological views to define space-time structures. The absolute approach (introduced by Newton) identifies space as a collection of points...