An Approach for Spatial Query Based on Natural-Language Spatial Relations

In daily communication,people usually use natural language to describe the position relations between spatial entities in the real world.This expression includes the spatial predicates and the quantifiers which are used to limit the predicate.The former can be classified into topological predicates,directional predicates,metric predicates,and so on.The latter may be universal quantifiers,existential quantifiers,fuzzy quantifiers,and critical quantifiers.In order to realize the spatial query based on natural-language spatial relations,we firstly classify the predicates and the quantifiers of natural-language spatial relations based on the perspective of spatial cognitive linguistics.Then,4 types of syntax models of natural language query are established,which are consistent with the characteristics of spatial query language.Finally,a basic framework is designed for spatial query based on natural-language spatial relations.