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Swiss Canton Regions: A Model for Complex Objects in Geographic Partitions

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Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 9368))

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Abstract

Spatial regions are a fundamental abstraction of geographic phenomena. While simple regions—disk-like and simply connected—prevail, in partitions complex configurations with holes and/or separations occur often as well. Swiss cantons are one highlighting example of these, bringing in addition variations of holes and separations with point contacts. This paper develops a formalism to construct topologically distinct configurations based on simple regions. Using an extension to the compound object model, this paper contributes a method for explicitly constructing a complex region, called a canton region, and also provides a mechanism to determine the corresponding complement of such a region.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The other hole in Switzerland, filled by the German exclave of Büsingen, is a hole formed by the union of the cantons Schaffhausen, Thurgau, and Zürich so that no single Swiss canton has a hole filled by the German exclave.

  2. 2.

    Although most maps account only two holes in Vaud, a third hole is occupied by a monastery in Avenches, which is an exclave of the canton Fribourg. The swisstopo vector map swissBOUNDARIES3D captures the hole correctly. The 2000 Swiss Census also accounts for this Fribourgeois exclave.

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Acknowledgments

Matthew Dube is partially supported by a Michael J. Eckardt Dissertation Fellowship from the University of Maine. Max Egenhofer’s research was partially supported by NSF grant IIS-1016740. Joshua Lewis is supported by a teaching assistantship at the University of Maine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing and Information Science, University of Maine, 5711 Boardman Hall, Orono, ME, 04469-5711, USA

    Matthew P. Dube, Max J. Egenhofer, Joshua A. Lewis, Shirly Stephen & Mark A. Plummer

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  1. Matthew P. Dube
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Correspondence to Matthew P. Dube .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Sara Irina Fabrikant

  2. ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Martin Raubal

  3. School of Computer Science and Informatics, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Michela Bertolotto

  4. University of Winchester, Winchester, United Kingdom

    Clare Davies

  5. Dept. of Geography and Env. Studies, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

    Scott Freundschuh

  6. College of Arts and Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

    Scott Bell

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Dube, M.P., Egenhofer, M.J., Lewis, J.A., Stephen, S., Plummer, M.A. (2015). Swiss Canton Regions: A Model for Complex Objects in Geographic Partitions. In: Fabrikant, S., Raubal, M., Bertolotto, M., Davies, C., Freundschuh, S., Bell, S. (eds) Spatial Information Theory. COSIT 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9368. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23374-1_15

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