Bridging Geospatial and Semantic Worlds: Enhancing Analysis of Place-Based Concepts in GIS

Omid Reza Abbasi, Ali Asghar Alesheikh (), Aynaz Lotfata and Chiara Garau ()
Additional contact information
Omid Reza Abbasi: Department of Geospatial Information Systems, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran 19967-15433, Iran
Ali Asghar Alesheikh: Department of Geospatial Information Systems, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran 19967-15433, Iran
Aynaz Lotfata: Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 90616, USA
Chiara Garau: Department of Civil, Environmental Engineering, and Architecture (DICAAR), University of Cagliari, 09124 Cagliari, Italy

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: People’s actions and behaviours contribute to the diversity and personality of a space, transforming it into a vibrant and thriving living environment. The main goal of this research is to present a GIS-based framework for assessing places. The framework is constructed based on the idea of conceptual spaces, integrating spatial and semantic concepts inside a geometric structure. The explanation of place-related concepts is achieved via the use of linear programming and convex polytopes. By projecting these concepts into the spatial domain, a strong connection between geographical and semantic space is established. This connection allows a wide range of analytical calculations using geographic information systems to be carried out. The study focuses on the sense of city centre in Tehran, Iran, by employing questionnaires administrated on-site to evaluate the correlation between identified city centres and the participants’ responses. The findings demonstrate a good correlation, as shown by a Pearson correlation value of 0.74 and a rank correlation coefficient of 0.8. Interestingly, the city centres that were selected did not always align with the geographic centre. However, participants still perceived them as city centres. This framework serves as a valuable tool for planners and policymakers, providing a comprehensive understanding of the built environment. By considering both semantic and geographical aspects, the framework emphasises the importance of emotions, memories, and meanings in creating an inclusive environment.

Keywords: GIScience; place; conceptual spaces; convex polytopes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/3/377/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/3/377/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:3:p:377-:d:1358321

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().