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

这个power项目将提供研究动态地理过程的表示以及在地理信息系统（GIS）中发现这些过程的模式和行为的地理空间知识的方法所需的资源。该研究将解决三个关键的研究问题：(1)哪些类型的信息对理解地理过程有用？(2)如何表示地理过程，以便从GIS数据库中计算所需的信息？(3)如何使用所建议的地理表示来设计探索和分析工具，以促进GIS中的知识发现？动态地理过程的表征研究是迫切需要的，并且可以对使用地理空间数据来理解物理和人类系统动态的所有科学的方法产生重大影响。随着GIS的发展逐渐融入主流信息技术（IT），强调地理信息表示和分析的计算基础的创新性GIS研究需要在GIS、IT和选定的应用领域中融合先进的知识和技能。为了应对这样的多学科挑战，power研究将开启一条新的研究路线，应用GIS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。本研究所建立的研究架构，将可适用于其他应用领域的GIS知识发现。POWRE奖将为最近获得终身教职的PI提供一个独特的机会，在她职业生涯的这个关键时刻，开展地理表征和地理信息系统知识发现方面的重大研究项目。这最终将有助于将地理信息系统和信息技术更大程度地结合起来，以提高体积科学数据的效用，而这些数据是以惊人的速度获得的，代价高昂。

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.