Informed Virtual Geographic Environments for Knowledge Representation and Reasoning in Multiagent Geosimulations

Abstract —In this paper, we propose a novel approach thatextends our Informed Virtual Geographic Environment (IVGE)model in order to effectively manage knowledge about theenvironment and support agents' cognitive capabilities andspatial behaviours. Our approach relies on previous wellestablished theories on human spatial behaviours and theway people apprehend the spatial characteristics of theirsurroundings in order to navigate and to interact with thephysical world. The main contribution of our approach is toprovide cognitive situated agents with: (1) knowledge about theenvironment represented using Conceptual Graphs (CG); (2)tools and mechanisms that allow them to acquire knowledgeabout the environment; and (3) capabilities to reason aboutthis knowledge and to autonomously make decisions and to actwith respect to both their own and the virtual environment'scharacteristics.Keywords -Informed Virtual Geographic Environments,Knowledge Management, Agent and Action Archetypes, Agen-tication of Geographic Features, Spatial Situation.

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