Qualitative Modelling of Place Location on the Linked Data Web and GIS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Khalid Obaid S. Almuzaini 2017 Cardiff University School of Computer Science & Informatics i DECLARATION This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in candidature for any degree or other award. Signed .................................................... (candidate) Date 31.03.2017 STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. Signed .................................................... (candidate) Date 31.03.2017 STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated, and the thesis has not been edited by a third party beyond what is permitted by Cardiff University’s Policy on the Use of Third Party Editors by Research Degree Students. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views expressed are my own. Signed .................................................... (candidate) Date 31.03.2017 STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available online in the University’s Open Access repository and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed .................................................... (candidate) Date 31.03.2017 STATEMENT 4: Previously approved bar on access I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available online in the University’s Open Access repository and for inter-library loan after expiry of a bar on access previously approved by the Academic Standards & Quality Committee. Signed .................................................... (candidate) Date 31.03.2017 ii Abstract When asked to define where a geographic place is, people normally resort to using qualitative expressions of location, such as north of and near to. This is evident in the domain of social geography, where qualitative research methods are used to gauge people’s understanding of their neighbourhood. Using a GIS to represent and map the location of neighbourhood boundaries is needed to understand and compare people’s perceptions of the spatial extent of their neighbourhoods. Extending the GIS to allow for the qualitative modelling of place will allow for the representation and mapping of neighbourhoods. On the other hand, a collaborative definition of place on the web will result in the accumulation of large sets of data resources that can be considered “location-poor”, where place location is defined mostly using single point coordinates and some random combinations of relative spatial relationships. A qualitative model of place location on the Linked Data Web (LDW) will allow for the homogenous representation and reasoning of place resources. This research has analysed the qualitative modelling of place location on the LDW and in GIS. On the LDW, a qualitative model of place is proposed, which provides an effective representation of individual place location profiles that allow place information to be enriched and spatially linked. This has been evaluated using the application of qualitative spatial reasoning (QSR) to automatic reasoning over place profiles, to check the completeness of the representation, as well as to derive implicit links not defined by the model. In GIS, a qualitative model of place is proposed that provides a basis for mapping qualitative definitions of place location in GIS, and this has been evaluated using an implementation-driven approach. The model has been implemented in a GIS and demonstrated through a realistic case study. A user-centric approach to development has been adopted, as users were involved throughout the design, development and evaluation stages. iii Acknowledgements Completing this project would not have been possible without the help of Allah (GOD) almighty, who granted me the ability to accomplish this work. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said; “who does not thank people does not thank God”. Therefore, I would like to thank all the people who have helped in any way, as their contributions have had an impact on this work. I would like to acknowledge several people whose support has been especially valuable. I would like to thank my respected supervisor, Dr. Alia Abdelmoty, whose encouragement, guidance and support helped me to acquire new research skills and a deeper understanding of this field. Also, I would like to thank my second supervisor, Professor Chris Jones, for his kind advice. Thanks also go to Dr. Stephen Burgess and Dr. Eva Elliott for their help in organising the mixed-methods experiment, the results of which have strengthened the data and models that underlie a very important part of this research. This is also an opportunity for me to extend my thanks to the School of Computer Science & Informatics at Cardiff University, UK, and all the staff members and my colleagues at the school. I would also like to thank my government (Saudi Arabia) for awarding me the scholarship and providing all the required financial support to complete my degree. Sincere thanks go to my mother, my wife and my children, who have supported me continuously in many different ways; they have always encouraged and motivated me in my endeavours. iv Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. iii Contents .................................................................................................................................... iv List of Publications ............................................................................................................. vii List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... viii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ xiii List of Algorithms ................................................................................................................. xv List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... xvi 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Overview and Research Context .................................................................................. 1 1.2. Motivation ............................................................................................................................ 3 1.3. Research Hypothesis........................................................................................................ 5 1.4. Objectives ............................................................................................................................. 6 1.5. Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 6 1.6. Contributions ...................................................................................................................... 8 1.7. Thesis Organisation ......................................................................................................... 8 1.8. Summary ............................................................................................................................ 10 2. Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 11 2.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 11 2.2. Geographic Place ............................................................................................................. 12 2.2.1. Representing Place Location .......................................................................................... 14 2.3. Linked Data Web (LDW) ............................................................................................... 18 2.3.1. Place Resources on the LDW .......................................................................................... 20 2.3.2. Manipulating and Querying RDF place resources on the LDW ........................ 25 2.3.3. Qualitative Spatial Representation and Reasoning .............................................. 27 2.4. Mixed-Methods Research and Qualitative GIS ...................................................... 28 2.5. Using Mixed-Methods to Study Neighbourhood................................................... 29 2.5.1. Participatory GIS ................................................................................................................. 31 2.5.2. Homogeneous Approaches to Qualitative GIS ........................................................ 32 2.5.3. Hybrid Approaches to Qualitative GIS ....................................................................... 34 2.6. Literature Gap Analysis ................................................................................................ 36 2.7. Discussion .........................................................................................................................