Merging Qualitative Constraint Networks Defined on Different Qualitative Formalisms

Abstract. This paper addresses the problem of merging qualitative constraint networks (QCNs) defined on different qualitative formalisms. Our model is restricted to formalisms where the entities and the relationships between these entities are defined on the same domain. The method is an upstream step to a previous framework dealing with a set of QCNs defined on the same formalism. It consists of translating the input QCNs into a well-chosen common formalism. Two approaches are investigated: in the first one, each input QCN is translated to an equivalent QCN; in the second one, the QCNs are translated to approximations. These approaches take advantage of two dual notions that we introduce, the refinement and abstraction between qualitative formalisms.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: COSIT
• Authors: Jean-François Condotta, Souhila Kaci, Pierre Marquis, Nicolas Schwind
• Keywords: COSIT 2009, GIS, Input Qcn, Qualitative Constraint Networks, Qualitative Formalisms