What is Spatiotemporal Representation

Temporal Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology has been a top research subject since late the 1980s. Langran’s Time in Geographic Information Systems (Langran, 1992) sets the first milestone in research that addresses the integration of temporal information and functions into GIS frameworks. Since then, numerous monographs, books, edited collections, and conference proceedings have been devoted to related subjects. There is no shortage of publications in academic journals or trade magazines on new approaches to temporal data handling in GIS, or on conceptual and technical advances in spatiotemporal representation, reasoning, database management, and modeling. However, there is not yet a full-scale, comprehensive temporal GIS available. Most temporal GIS technologies developed so far are either still in the research phase (e.g., TEMPEST developed by Peuquet and colleagues at Pennsylvania State University in the United States) or with an emphasis on mapping (e.g., STEMgis developed by Discovery Software in the United Kingdom).