New Generation Computing, 24(2006)267-288
Ohmsha, Ltd. and Springer

Seeing Things:
Inventive Reasoning with Geometric Analogies and Topographic Maps

Diarmuid P. OfDONOGHUE
Dept. of Computer Science/National Center for Geocomputation
National University of Ireland Maynooth
Co. Kildare, Ireland
diarmuid.odonoghue@nuim.ie
Amy BOHAN and Mark T. KEANE
School of Computer Science and Informatics
University College Dublin
Dublin 4, Ireland
{amy.bohan,mark.keane}@ucd.ie

Received 1 December 2005
Revised manuscript received 3 February 2006

Abstract

This paper examines two seemingly unrelated qualitative spatial reasoning domains; geometric proportional analogies and topographic (land-cover) maps. We present a Structure Matching algorithm that combines Gentner's structure mapping theory with an attribute matching process. We use structure matching to solve geometric analogy problems that involve manipulating attribute information, such as colors and patterns. Structure matching is also used to creatively interpret topographic (land-cover) maps, adding a wealth of semantic knowledge and providing a far richer interpretation of the raw data. We return to the geometric proportional analogies, identify alternate attribute matching processes that are required to solve different categories of problems. Finally, we assess some implications for computationally creative and inventive models.

Keywords:Intelligent Systems, Geometric Proportional Analogies, Attribute Matching, Topographic Maps, Creative Interpretation.

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