Vagueness in Spatial Data

This entry examines aspects of vagueness in spatial data from the perspective of a spatial database used to support a geographic information system (GIS). A spatial database is a collection of data concerning objects located in some reference space that attempts to model some enterprise in the real world. The real world abounds in uncertainty, and any attempt to model aspects of the world should include some mechanism for incorporating uncertainty. There may be uncertainty in the understanding of the enterprise or in the quality or meaning of the data. There may be uncertainty in the model, which leads to uncertainty in entities or the attributes describing them. And at a higher level, there may be uncertainty about the level of uncertainty prevalent in the ...