Uncertainty analysis of space-time prisms based on the moment-design method

Space-time prism (STP) is a key concept in geography that measures the movement of objects in space and time. A space-time prism can be treated as a result of the potential path line revolving around in the three dimensional space. Though the concept has found applications in time geography, research on the analysis of uncertainty in space-time prism, particularly under high degree of nonlinearity, is scanty. Based on the moment-design (M-D) method, this paper proposes an approach to deal with nonlinear error propagation problems on the potential path areas and their intersections. In comparison with the Monte Carlo method and the implicit function method, simulation results show the advantages of the M-D method for the analysis of error propagation in space-time prisms.