The Endpoint Hypothesis: A Topological-Cognitive Assessment of Geographic Scale Movement Patterns

Movement patterns of individual entities at the geographic scale are becoming a prominent research focus in spatial sciences. One pertinent question is how cognitive and formal characterizations of movement patterns relate. In other words, are (mostly qualitative) formal characterizations cognitively adequate? This article experimentally evaluates movement patterns that can be characterized as paths through a conceptual neighborhood graph, that is, two extended spatial entities changing their topological relationship gradually. The central questions addressed are: (a) Do humans naturally use topology to create cognitive equivalent classes, that is, is topology the basis for categorizing movement patterns spatially? (b) Are ‘all’ topological relations equally salient, and (c) does language influence categorization. The first two questions are addressed using a modification of the endpoint hypothesis stating that: movement patterns are distinguished by the topological relation they e...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: COSIT
• Authors: Alexander Klippel, Rui Li
• Keywords: Conceptual Neighborhood Graph, COSIT 2009, Information Management, Movement Patterns, Topological Relations