POWRE: Extend Geographic Representation to Support Knowledge Discovery in Geographic Information Systems

该POWRE项目将提供所需的资源，以研究动态地理过程的表示，以及关于地理信息系统(GIS)中这些过程的模式和行为的地理空间知识发现方法。这项研究将解决三个关键的研究问题：(1)什么样的信息对理解地理过程是有用的？(2)地理过程应该如何表示，以便从地理数据库中计算出所需的信息？以及(3)如何利用所提出的地理表示来设计探索性和分析工具以促进在地理信息系统中的知识发现？动态地理过程的表示研究是迫切需要的，并且可以对所有使用地理空间数据来理解物理和人类系统动态的科学的方法论产生重大影响。随着地理信息系统的发展逐渐融入主流信息技术，强调地理信息表示和分析的计算基础的创新的地理信息系统研究需要在地理信息系统、信息技术和选定的应用领域的高级知识和技能。为了迎接这样一个多学科的挑战，POWRE研究将开启一条新的研究路线，应用地理信息系统中的数据挖掘和知识发现方法，从气象和气候数据中揭示天气行为的空间模式。这项研究的研究框架将很容易应用于其他应用领域的地理信息系统知识发现。POWRE奖将给最近获得终身教职的PI一个独特的机会，在她职业生涯的这个关键时刻发展一项关于地理表示和地理信息系统知识发现的重大研究计划。这最终将有助于更好地整合地理信息系统和信息技术，以提高以惊人速度获得的昂贵科学数据的有用性。

This POWRE project will provide the resources needed to study representations of dynamic geographic processes and methods of geospatial knowledge discovery about patterns and behaviors of these processes in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The study will address three key research questions: (1) What kinds of information are useful to understand geographic processes? (2) How should geographic processes be represented so that needed information can be computed from GIS databases? and (3) How can exploratory and analytical tools be designed with the proposed geographic representation to facilitate knowledge discovery in GIS?Research on representation for dynamic geographic processes is urgently needed and can have a significant impact on methodologies for all sciences that use geospatial data to understand the dynamics of physical and human systems. As GIS development gradually merges into mainstream information technology (IT), innovative GIS research that emphasizes the computational fundamentals of geographic information representation and analysis requires advanced knowledge and skills in a melange of GIS, IT, and a chosen application domain. To meet such a multidisciplinary challenge, the POWRE study will start a new line of research that applies data mining and knowledge discovery methods in GIS to unveil spatial patterns of weather behaviors from meteorological and climatological data. The research framework to be developed in the study will be readily applicable to GIS knowledge discovery in other application domains.The POWRE award will give the PI, recently granted academic tenure, a unique opportunity to develop a major research program in geographic representation and knowledge discovery in GIS at this juncture in her career. This ultimately will contribute to a greater integration of GIS and IT technologies to enhance the usefulness of volumetric scientific data that are costly acquired at a phenomenal rate.