Spatial Relations for Semantic Similarity Measurement

Measuring semantic similarity among concepts is the core method for assessing the degree of semantic interoperability within and between ontologies. In this paper, we propose to extend current semantic similarity measures by accounting for the spatial relations between different geospatial concepts. Such integration of spatial relations, in particular topologic and metric relations, leads to an enhanced accuracy of semantic similarity measurements. For the formal treatment of similarity the theory of conceptual vector spaces— sets of quality dimensions with a geometric or topologic structure for one or more domains—is utilized. These spaces allow for the measurement of semantic distances between concepts. A case study from the geospatial domain using Ordnance Survey's MasterMap is used to demonstrate the usefulness and plausibility of the approach.