Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
is
or
has
. The relation is set as Domain
D(f)
and Range
H(f).
The fig. 9 shows the relation
between class MapSymbol and class SymbolVariable. The name of property is
“hasVariable”.
The main cartographic terms were necessary for the pilot project that concern only to two
cartographic methods for thematic maps based on Quantitative data. The Choroplets map
methods and Chart map methods are aimed. The system of the class hierarchy was
designed more detailed for them than other part of the ontology. The names and division
of these methods differ in the Czech and English version of the ontology. The last
important class for method based on quantitative data is class Scale. This class expresses
the
scale of values
(not scale of the map). This call contents two subclasses
FunctionalScale and IntervalScale.
The definition of hierarchy of classes and definition of properties represent the collection of
stored knowledge for the domain of cartography. Ontology gathers mainly declarative
knowledge.
Declarative knowledge
is the set of definitions of terms from the specific
domain - cartography. The set is not only list of terms (thesaurus) but important is grouping
terms to joint classes and creation of taxonomy.
Procedural knowledge
is the second type of
knowledge. Procedural knowledge describes activities and processes in map creation. This
type procedural knowledge can not be introduced to ontology. They can be record as rules
and such some mathematical equations.
5. Conclusion
Intelligent systems have already covered a range of usages, the growing trend can be traced
in their development especially in recent years. The possibility of their usage is increasing
with the increasing power of computer technology. It is commendable that some attempts of
creation of intelligent system to force GIS have occurred recently.
Within the development, it is necessary to require the presence of thematic cartographer in
the role of the knowledge expert and equally important expert - the knowledge engineer
who is able to incorporate this information into the intelligent system. Knowledge
acquisition and building knowledge base is a complex and time-consuming stage of
intelligent system development which is indispensable without collaborating between
experts (cartographers) and knowledge engineers. An effectively deployed intelligent
system must do more than embody expertise. Its rule base must be complete, non-
contradictory, and reasonable. Knowledge engineers employ a variety of techniques for
eliciting information from the expert in order to construct a complete and consistent rule
base.
The situation in the field of professional software is still insufficient. Even the world's largest
producers of GIS software do not implement tools that should increasingly guide the
process of map-making in the accordance with the cartographical rules in their products. It
is still necessary to have at least basic cartographic knowledge to visualize maps properly.
So far, there has been no comprehensive tool, which can easily deal with the problem of
thematic cartography completely. The main reason is the complexity and
comprehensiveness of a map-making process. To build a hierarchy of rules, affect all types
