Using SparQ for Matching Sketch Maps

Qualitative spatial relations have been argued to play an important role in the interpretation and analysis of sketch maps as typically only rough qualitative categories are preserved in these kinds of externalized spatial representations. In this paper, we look at processing sketch maps from a qualitative spatial reasoning (QSR) perspective. In particular in focus is the matching problem of finding the correct correspondences between a sketch and another representation (e.g., a georeferenced data set or another sketch). We identify involved subtasks, such as qualification, constraint propagation, consistency checking, matching and merging, and how support for these tasks is realized in our QSR toolbox SparQ. Moreover, we report on a case study in which the different SparQ services are combined into a prototype system for matching sketches of street networks to OpenStreetMap data.