3 A science of topography : From qualitative ontology to digital representations
3 A science of topography : From qualitative ontology to digital representations
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3 地形学：从定性本体论到数字表示
DOI：
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发表时间：
2012
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Barry Smith
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
David;Mark;Barry Smith
山脉是最突出的地理特征之一（Smith 和 Mark，2001）。它们还具有社会和情感意义，在许多文化中成为崇拜的对象，并在许多文化中成为地标。当然，山脉也给冒险家和科学家带来了挑战。因此，地貌学家和其他环境科学家被吸引到山区进行研究也就不足为奇了。但山到底是什么？他们的本体论或现实的本质是什么？当然，山脉并不是最典型的物体例子。典型的物体（苹果、人、汽车）具有独特的、完整的、封闭的边界，将它们在空间上与周围环境分开。相比之下，山脉仅与上方的大气层有清晰的边界。在它们下方和侧面与地面接触的地方，典型的山脉没有清晰的边界将它们与周围环境明显分开。相反，每座山脉逐渐融入邻近的山脉，或者逐渐融入山麓或平原，并融入下方的地球主体（地球本身就是一个典型的物体，其边界由表面具有凹凸区域的不规则地壳构成）。但是山脉本身是否作为研究对象存在？制图师长期以来通过间接表示山脉来避免由于山脉缺乏清晰的边界界定而引起的问题。山顶通常在地图上用点符号标记，该符号可能有相关的名称或海拔。此外，山的总体形状可以通过等高线或山体阴影来指示，但限制（水平
Mountains are among the most prominent of geographic features (Smith and Mark, 2001). They also have social and emotional significance, serving as objects of worship in many cultures and as landmarks in many more. And, of course, mountains provide challenges to adventurers and scientists alike. Thus it should come as no surprise that geomorphologists and other environmental scientists have been drawn to mountains in conducting their research. But what exactly are mountains; what is their ontology, or the nature of their reality? Certainly, mountains are not among the most typical examples of objects. Typical objects (apples, people, cars) have distinct, complete, closed boundaries that separate them spatially from their surroundings. Mountains, in contrast, have crisp boundaries only with the atmosphere above. Where they meet the earth below and laterally, typical mountains do not have crisp boundaries that separate them sharply from their surroundings. Instead, each mountain blends gradually into neighboring mountains, or fades into foothills or plains and into the body of the Earth beneath (which itself is a prototypical object, its boundary being constituted by an irregular crust whose surface has concave and convex regions).i But do mountains exist as objects of study in their own right? Cartographers have long avoided the problems raised by the absence of crisp boundary delimitations in the case of mountains by representing the latter indirectly. The summit of the mountain is often marked on a map by a point symbol, which may have an associated name or elevation. In addition, the general shape of the mountain may be indicated by contours or hill shading, but the limits (horizontal