Matching Names and Definitions of Topological Operators

In previous empirical work humans did not recognize the definition of most topological operators for regions by their names in two geospatial information systems (GIS). This work differentiates the not corresponding definitions and comprises more topological terms in order to find better term/definition matches. The main hypothesis is that the majority of acceptable matches – defined as matches selected by the majority of subjects are others than those used in GIS. In an explorative questionnaire study, 34 native German speaking subjects matched German topological terms to graphical depictions of topological relations. The acceptability of matches was tested with the approximate binomial test (null hypothesis: 50 percent of the subjects or less select a match). Ten matches are acceptable (significance level 0.10 or higher); only one of them appears in the GIS. This supports the main hypothesis and indicates how to revise topological operators in GIS.