FEATURE-BASED SPATIO-TEMPORAL DATA MODEL AND ITS APPLICATION IN LANDUSE MONITORING

Traditional data model takes the geometric object as the modeling target and results directly in decomposing geographic phenomena into a series of objects. Furthermore, the temporal data and spatial data are stored separately. All of those restrict the development of GIS and resources monitoring. Feature-based spatio-temporal data model can support the next generation of GIS effectively. In this paper, based on the landuse monitoring research project of the five year plan of our country, we propose a new spatio-temporal data model based on the states of the changing feature (SCFSTDM) in order to serve for integrating geographic phenomena and geographic information as well as applying object-oriented analysis method to support spatio-temporal analysis, simulation and data sharing. Finally, we develop a prototype of the temporal landuse information system in which there is a spatio-temporal database based on the feature. With this system, we can query states of the feature instance directly, for example, to query the states and to play the developing process of a feature instance, to make the spatio-temporal reasoning. * LI Xiao-juan,College of Resources, Environment & Tourism, Capital Normal University. Email: xjli2000@sina.com.cn