A model for change classification of geographical data based on four hierarchal factors

A growing number of organizations and individuals improve efficiency by utilizing geographical data. When the geographical data are updated, the changed information must be transferred to the end-users to keep their client-databases current. Distinguishing and identifying the change types of the geographical objects is the premise of transferring the change information. But now the methods for classifying changes have some limitation. So in order to identity the change typology of the geographical objects, we propose a new classification model of change classification based on the four hierarchal factors. The model can be described as Change = F (OO, PP, SS, RR). The four factors are the geographical object (denoted as ‘OO’), the property of geographical object (denoted as ‘PP’), the state of geographical object and geographical object property (denoted as ‘SS’), and the result of calculation on the property values (denoted as ‘RR’). According to the model, there are three steps to identify change types. The three steps can identify all change types of the geographical objects. Based on the new method proposed in this work, we established software for automatic extracting change information and publishing them. The practical application effect indicated that this new method is satisfied to the requirements of many spatial data producers.