Retrieval by contents of images from pictorial databases can be effectively performed through visual icon-based systems. In these systems, the representation of pictures with 2D strings, which are derived from symbolic projections, provides an efficient and natural way to construct iconic indexes for pictures and is also an ideai representation for the visual query. With this approach, retrieva...

Numerous experiments show that space and musical pitch are closely linked in people's minds. However, the exact nature of space-pitch associations and their neuronal underpinnings are not well understood. In an fMRI experiment we investigated different types of spatial representations that may underlie musical pitch. Participants judged stimuli that varied in spatial height in both the visual a...

We present an approach to spatial reasoning that is based on homogenous coordinate systems and their transformations. In contrast to qualitative approaches, spatial relations are not represented by symbolic expressions only but additionally by parameters with constraints, which are subsets of real numbers. Our work is based on the notion of mental models in text understanding introduced in cogn...

We present an approach to spatial reasoning that is based on homogenous coordinate systems and their transformations. In contrast to qualitative approaches, spatial relations are not represented by symbolic expressions only but additionally by parameters with constraints, which are subsets of real numbers. Our work is based on the notion of mental models in text understanding introduced in cogn...

We present a data structure used to represent planar spatial databases in the topological data model. Conceptually, such databases consist of points, lines between these points, and areas formed by these lines. The data structure has the distinctive feature that it is geared toward supporting queries involving topological properties of the database only: two databases that are topologically equ...