A General Object-oriented Spatial Temporal Data Model

Current research on spatial temporal data modelling meets many problems, such as the separation of space and time, applicationdriven, not incorporating human cognition and confusing of representation for discrete and continuous spatial change. This paper proposes a general object-oriented model that tries to overcome above problems. The model is directed by human cognition on spatial object that each object have what/where/when attributes. Attributes of theme, space, and time are tightly linked to each other in a unified object class. The precise and flexible structure of this model supports multi-semantics of space and time. Besides complex spatial relationships, it is also capable of modelling linear/branch/cyclic time order, various spatial change, and complex temporal relationships. Verified by different spatial temporal scenarios, this model is proven to be extendable to different spatial temporal applications.