Spatial Computing How Spatial Structures Replace Computational Effort

At the Advanced Study Institute on Cognitive and Linguistic Aspects of Geographic Space in Las Navas del Marqués in July 1990, I presented a chapter on Qualitative Spatial Reasoning. In that chapter, I suggested that spatial inference engines might provide the basis for rather general cognitive capabilities inside and outside the spatial domain. In the present chapter, I will follow up on this perspective and I will illustrate the ways in which research in spatial cognition has progressed towards understanding spatial reasoning and spatial computing in a more literal sense: using a spatial substrate. The chapter presents a progression of approaches to spatial reasoning from purely descriptive to increasingly spatially structured. It demonstrates how spatial structures are capable of replacing computational processes. It discusses how these approaches could be developed and implemented in a way that may help us to better understand higher-level spatial abilities of cognitive systems that are frequently attributed to the right cerebral hemisphere in humans. The chapter concludes by discussing the special role of space and time for cognition and advocates a thorough overall analysis of the specific problem to be solved to identify the most suitable approach to computation.