Conceptual Neighborhood and its role in temporal and spatial reasoning

An extension of Allen’s approach to interval-based temporal reasoning is presented. The new method allows for temporal and spatial reasoning on the basis of incomplete or imprecise knowledge of the kind that is available from inference and perception processes. The central idea of the representation method is the structuring of knowledge according to the conceptual neighborhood of temporal and spatial relations. This representation allows for integration of coarse and fine knowledge. Logical reasoning on the basis of such knowledge therefore takes place within a unified scheme. The method presented not only is more efficient than Allen’s method, it also is more ‘cognitively adequate’ in comparison with previous approaches.