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Department of Geomatics

The University of Melbourne

DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS
IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

PhD THESIS

Martin Tomko

Submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements


of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

April, 2007
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Abstract

An important difference exists between the way humans communicate route


knowledge and the turn-by-turn route directions provided by the majority of
current navigation services. Navigation services present route directions with
the same amount of detail regardless the route segment’s significance in the in-
structions, user’s distance from the destination, and finally the level of user’s
familiarity with particular parts of the environment.
A significant feature of human-generated route directions provided to peo-
ple is the hierarchical communication of route knowledge. References are made
to a simplified structure of the environment. Communication partners exchange
route directions assuming a shared knowledge of the coarse environment’s struc-
ture. Such destination descriptions provide an increased amount of detail as the
description approaches the proximity of the destination of the route.
The research presented in this thesis aims to improve the communication of
navigation information by presenting a formal model enabling the selection of
references for destination descriptions. The model is based on the analysis of the
reflection of the structure of the urban environment in destination descriptions
provided by locals. In such spatial communication, common knowledge of the
coarse structure of the city is inferred.
The main contribution of this thesis is the analysis of the reflection of the
structure of an urban environment in the route directions exchanged between
people with at least coarse knowledge of the environment, and the formalization
of these principles in a computational model that enables automated selection
of referents for destination descriptions. In the approach presented, the environ-
mental elements of the city structure are hierarchically integrated together with
a model of the communication processes underlying the creation of destination
descriptions .
Automated creation of directions with a variable level of detail will improve
the ability to reflect the alteration of local conditions. The resulting route di-
rections are usually shorter than those created by current navigation services,
and thus lower the cognitive workload of the wayfinder. The benefactors of
such a system are wayfinders frequently traveling to unfamiliar destinations in
partially-known urban environments, such as the police, emergency management
and tourism services, but also locals—everyday users of Web based navigation
portals.

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Keywords
destination descriptions, wayfinding, pragmatic communication, relevance, spa-
tial knowledge, a-priori spatial knowledge, familiarity

iv
Declaration

This is to certify that:

(i) the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where
indicated,

(ii) due acknowledgment has been made in the text to all other material used,

(iii) the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of table, maps,
bibliographies, appendices and footnotes.

Martin Tomko

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vi
Preface

The work presented in this thesis has been supported by the Cooperative Research
Centre for Spatial Information, whose activities are funded by the Australian
Commonwealth’s Cooperative Research Centres Programme.
The street network dataset of Hannover is part of the ATKIS Basis DLM
dataset provided by the National Mapping Agency of Lower Saxony (Landesver-
messung und Geobasisinformation Niedersachsen).

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Publications

During the course of this project, a number of publications and public presenta-
tions have been made which are based on the work presented in this thesis. They
are listed here for reference.

Journal Papers
Tomko, M., Winter, S., Claramunt, C., to appear 2007. Expe-
riential Hierarchies of Streets. Computers, Environment and
Urban Systems
Winter, S., Tomko, M., Elias, B., Sester, M., to appear 2007.
Landmark Hierarchies in Context. Environment and Planning
B: Planning and Design
Tomko, M., Winter, S., 2006c. Recursive Construction of Gran-
ular Route Directions. Journal of Spatial Science 51 (1), 101–
115

Book Chapters
Tomko, M., Winter, S., 2006b. Initial Entity Identification for
Granular Route Directions. In: Kainz, W., Riedl, A., Elmes,
G. (Eds.), Progress in Spatial Data Handling. 12th Interna-
tional Symposium on Spatial Data Handling. Springer-Verlag,
Vienna, Austria, pp. 43–60
Winter, S., Tomko, M., 2006. Translating the Web Semantics
of Georeferences. In: Taniar, D., Wenny Rahayu, J. (Eds.),
Web Semantics and Ontology. Idea Group Publishing, Her-
shey, Pennsylvania, USA, pp. 297–333

Reviewed Conference Papers


Tomko, M., Winter, S., 2005. Reconstruction of Scenes from
Geo-Referenced Web Resources. In: Spatial Science Confer-
ence. Spatial Science Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Tomko, M., 2004b. Case Study - Assessing Spatial Distribu-
tion of Web Resources for Navigation Services. In: Claramunt,
C., Boujou, A., Kwon, Y. J. (Eds.), 4th International Work-
shop on Web and Wireless Geographical Information Systems
W2GIS 2004. Goyang, Korea

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Invited Talk Winter, S., Tomko, M., 2005. Route Directions of Varying
Granularity. In: Seminar on Spatial Cognition. Schloss Dagstuhl,
Germany

Abstract Reviewed Papers


Tomko, M., Winter, S., 2006a. Considerations for Efficient
Communication of Route Directions. In: Cartwright, W., Yoshida,
H., Andrienko, G. (Eds.), ISPRS Workshop on Spatial Data
Communication and Visualization. ISPRS, Vienna, Austria
Winter, S., Tomko, M., 2004. Shifting the Focus in Mobile
Maps. In: Morita, T. (Ed.), Joint Workshop on Ubiquitous,
Pervasive and Internet Mapping UPIMap2004. Tokyo, Japan

Technical Reports
Winter, S., Klippel, A., Tomko, M., May 2, 2005 2005. Deliver-
able 3.3/2: Experiments on Usability. Internal report, CRC-SI
Australia
Tomko, M., August 23, 2004 2004a. Analysis of Wayfinding
Scenarios. Internal project report, CRC-SI Australia

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Acknowledgements

The three years during which I worked on this thesis were an amazing experience
which would not have been possible without the contribution of many people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr.
Stephan Winter. As a true guru, Stephan led me through the obstacles of sci-
entific thinking and writing on the way to become a researcher. Without his
encouragement, guidance, support and patience, this thesis would not exist.
My sincere thanks are extended also to my second supervisor, Dr. Matt
Duckham for all the feedback and suggestions, and to Dr. Alexander Klippel
for the sometimes turbulent discussions. Without the pressure to answer Alex’s
questions, many details in this thesis would remain unsolved. I would also like
to thank my industry mentor Maurits van der Vlugt for advice throughout this
project.
I express my gratitude to Prof. Christophe Claramunt of the Naval Academy
Research Center as well as to Dr. Monika Sester and Dr. Birgit Elias from the
University of Hannover for inspiring collaboration on parts of this thesis and for
providing the landmark dataset. Furthermore, Birgit was always keen to help with
her local knowledge of Hannover and assess the results produced in this thesis.
My thanks are extended to the colleagues from the Department of Geomatics,
Stefanie Andrae, Jochen Wilneff, Joanne Poon, Stephan Hansen, Sue Hope, Jane
Inall, Zaffar Sadiq and Patrik Laube for discussions, support, encouragement, fun
and table tennis matches, and especially Anna Boin for reading through the draft
of this thesis.
Writing a PhD thesis can be a lonely experience, the more that I wrote
mine far from home. First of all, I would like to thank Callum Eastwood for
support and friendship which I believe will last a long way beyond the PhD
years. Cheers, Bro! Ned Rogers, Marina Carpinelli, Elisa Toulson and Michael
Laity, along with the fellow paddlers, climbers and bushwalkers of the Melbourne
University Mountaineering Club created my closest social network. I would like
to thank Ertan Yesilnacar for being an understanding and patient flatmate during
the whole duration of this research.
Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to a few very special
people - my parents, Jana and Jan Tomko, and my brother Jakub Tomko, for the
years of love and encouragement. They always trusted me, and I always tried to
make them proud of being my parents. Last, but not least, I would like to thank
my partner Miranda Smith for her patience, support and love during the stressful
period of producing this thesis, as well as for proofreading the final drafts of the
thesis. Thank you for everything!

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Contents

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 The Familiar Structure of the Environment and Route Di-
rections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.3 Inferential Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.4 Current Approaches to Route Directions’ Personalization . 5
1.2 Scope and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4 Expected Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5 Thesis Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2 Background 11
2.1 Experiencing Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.1 Mental Representations of Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.2 Conceptualization of Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1.3 Hierarchical Structure of Spatial Mental Representations . 15
2.1.4 Route Planning and Wayfinding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.1 Communication Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.2 The Meaning of Utterances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.2.3 Relevance Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2.4 Knowledge, Context and Communication . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2.5 Referential Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.2.6 Communication about Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2.7 Directions and Cognitive Ergonomics . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3 Modeling and Formalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.3.1 Formalization and Functional Programming . . . . . . . . 33

xiii
CONTENTS

2.3.2 Modeling Complex Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34


2.3.3 Granularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3.4 Spatial Modeling and Network Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.3.5 Basic Measures for Network Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.3.6 Basic Elements of the Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

3 Destination Descriptions 41
3.1 Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.2 Definition of Destination Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.3 Structure of Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.4 Selection of Referents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.5 Common Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.6 Characteristics of Destination Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

4 Hierarchical Data Structures 55


4.1 Hierarchical Urban Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.2 Experiential Hierarchies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.3 Composition of the Urban Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.4 Hierarchization of Elements of the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.4.1 Hierarchies of Landmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.4.2 Hierarchies of Districts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.4.3 Hierarchies of Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.5 Integrated Experiential Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.6 Concept of Distance in Hierarchical Structures . . . . . . . . . . . 82

5 A Generic Model of Destination Descriptions 83


5.1 Context Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.2 Model Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.3 Structure of Destination Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.4 Relevance of a Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.5 Rules for Selecting District References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5.6 Rules for Selecting Landmarks References . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5.7 Rules for Selecting Paths References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.8 Integrated Destination Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

6 Model Implementation 105


6.1 Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

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M. TOMKO CONTENTS

6.2 Input and Output Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106


6.3 Main Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
6.3.1 Selection of District and Landmark References . . . . . . . 108
6.3.2 Integration of Path References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6.4 Model Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
6.4.1 Test of District and Landmark-Based Destination Descrip-
tions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.4.2 Test of Destination Descriptions with Paths . . . . . . . . 116
6.5 Observations of the Model Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

7 Conclusions 125
7.1 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.2 Main Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
7.3.1 Cognitive Workload and Destination Descriptions . . . . . 129
7.3.2 Reliability of Inference of Common Spatial Knowledge . . 131
7.3.3 Experiential Data Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
7.4 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
7.4.1 Descriptions and Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
7.4.2 The Where? Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
7.4.3 Externalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
7.4.4 Coupling of Inferential and Agent-Based Systems . . . . . 136
7.4.5 Complex Integrated Experiential Hierarchies . . . . . . . . 136
7.5 Concluding Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

A Landmark Names 139

B Input Dataset of Hannover 141

C Program Code 151

D Example Test Cases 157

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CONTENTS

xvi
List of Tables

4.1 Number of landmark objects selected by hierarchical level . . . . . 63


4.2 Betweenness centrality vector CdBi of Level 2 districts of central
j
Hannover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.3 Most prominent streets of central Hannover . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

6.1 Patterns in sets of references in destination descriptions. . . . . . 122

A.1 Common names of the landmarks of central Hannover. . . . . . . 139

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LIST OF TABLES

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List of Figures

1.1 Turn-based route directions from Hannover Airport to Luisen-


strasse (©2007, Google Maps). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2.1 Acquisition of spatial knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12


2.2 Wayfinding in unfamiliar environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3 Wayfinding in familiar environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3.1 Structure of navigation instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44


3.2 Structure of spatial communication for a route with a transition
point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.3 Schema of the hierarchy of references in the destination description
for the route from Hannover Airport to Luisenstrasse. . . . . . . . 47
3.4 Mental representations of the speaker (S) and the hearer (H). . . 47
3.5 Detail of the hierarchical structures of the sets S, H and C. . . . 48
3.6 Possible encodings of two contents in messages, and their interpre-
tation based on relevance theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.7 Detail of the hierarchical structure of the set C. . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.8 Structure of spatial communication with a negotiation dialog. . . 53

4.1 A map of the test area, the center of Hannover, Germany. . . . . 62


4.2 Landmarks with their reference regions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.3 Representation of top levels of the hierarchical structure of land-
marks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.4 Spatial distribution of Level 2 landmarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.5 Graph representations of a grid network of named streets. . . . . . 70
4.6 Graph representations of named streets grid with a diagonal street—
shortcut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.7 Primal graph representation of a star-shaped street network. . . . 71
4.8 Dual graph representations of streets in a star-shaped street network. 72
4.9 Alternative streets with equal betweenness related to their suburb
context. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

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LIST OF FIGURES

4.10 The graph of the connections of the level 2 districts by named streets. 76
4.11 Distribution of experiential rank values of the streets of Hannover. 77
4.12 33 most prominent streets of central Hannover. . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.13 Schema of relations between heterogeneous types of elements of
the city in integrated hierarchies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

5.1 Schematic representation of the hierarchical partition of space. . . 91


5.2 The hierarchical representation of reference selection in CD . . . . 91
5.3 Process of selection of references for the destination descriptions. . 94
5.4 Selection of landmark references for the destination descriptions . 99

6.1 Route between the Universität Hannover and the Staatstheater-


Oper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
6.2 Turn-based route directions for the route between the Universität
Hannover and the Staatstheater-Oper by ©2007, Google Maps. . 114
6.3 Map of the route between the Universität Hannover and the Staatstheater-
Oper (©2007, Google Maps). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
6.4 References selected for the destination description for the route
from Universität Hannover to the Staatstheater-Oper. . . . . . . . 118
6.5 References selected for the destination description for the route
from Allianz-Hochhaus to the Katasteramt. . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

7.1 Destination descriptions transiting into turn-based route directions


in the proximity of the destination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

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Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Motivation

1.1.1 Example

Current Web based map services, in-car navigation services and mobile naviga-
tion services are providing route directions to a variety of users in many contexts,
and for different purposes. Apart from traditional turn-based directions, with
references to street names and distance information, recent developments enable
the inclusion of point-of-interest (POI) and landmark information. Distance in-
formation is being replaced by more convenient estimates of travel times, along
with visualizations of the façades facing the street the wayfinder is navigating
along. The information provided is sufficient to identify a specific route, and
the significant actions that have to be taken along to route to follow it. The
information provided is thus sufficient even for a novice in the city.
A considerable proportion of the users of such navigation services consist of
people with at least coarse a-priori knowledge of the city in which they want to
navigate. Consider the following example of Stephanie, an inhabitant of Han-
nover, Germany, returning home from a business trip, and the directions she
provides to the taxi driver at the Airport:
Stephanie:“To Luisenstrasse, please.”
Taxi driver:“??”
Stephanie:“It is in the center, next to the Staatstheater, off Rathenaustrasse.”
Taxi driver:“Very well.”
...
Taxi driver:“Here is the Staatstheater, where should I go now?”
Stephanie:“It is that laneway after the theater. The house at the end, thank
you.”

1
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

Stephanie’s directions provide the taxi driver with a sketchy description of


the destination, without specifying the route to be take. Stephanie relies on the
taxi driver’s existing spatial knowledge, and only refers to prominent elements
of the city in the proximity of the destination. This form of communication of
spatial information is henceforth referred to as destination descriptions.
The contrast between destination descriptions and turn-based route direc-
tions can be illustrated by comparison with the directions provided to the taxi
driver by the navigation service of Google Maps (http://maps.google.com).
The turn-based route directions for the route from the Hannover Airport to
Luisenstraße are shown on Figure 1.1. Although other Web-based navigation
services may come with a different route, the characteristics of the route direc-
tions provided remain the same. The route is described based on the actions the
wayfinder has to take to reach the destination. This example highlights the signif-
icant differences between the hierarchical route directions composed by humans,
and the detailed, turn-by-turn route directions provided by current navigation
services.

1.1.2 The Familiar Structure of the Environment and Route


Directions

Consider the example of Stephanie and the taxi driver. A close look at the
references used reveals a spectrum of different types of referents: regions, such as
the city, notable buildings (the Staatstheater ), and linear referents along which the
wayfinder can navigate (Rathenaustrasse,the laneway). As we can see, references
to several types of elements of the city (Lynch, 1960) may occur in one set of
human-generated route directions. This is in contrast to the traditional approach
of current navigation services, that typically only include references to paths.
Furthermore, we can notice that Stephanie does not start her route directions
at her current position (at the airport), but instead refers to a distant and vaguely
delimited region distant from the airport—the center. She not only uses an
unofficial label for the district, but she also assumes that the taxi driver will be
able to identify it and knows how to get there. Her route directions proceed
from a reference to the larger neighborhood of the destination in steps closer and
closer to the destination, with each consecutive referent having lesser and lesser
probability of being known by the taxi driver. Stephanie does not enforce an
exact route to the taxi driver.

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M. TOMKO 1.1. MOTIVATION

(a) Overview of the route and turn-based route directions.

(b) Detail of the route destination.

Figure 1.1: Turn-based route directions from Hannover Airport to Luisenstrasse


(©2007, Google Maps).

3
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1.3 Inferential Communication

Let us consider the above example in more detail. Stephanie and the taxi driver
have never met before. Thus, Stephanie does not have any information about
the taxi driver’s spatial knowledge, nor does the taxi-driver have any information
about Stephanie’s spatial knowledge. If the classical communication theory which
assumes that all the information needed for understanding a message is contained
within the message (Shannon and Weaver, 1949), held true, the route directions
provided by Stephanie would not be sufficient to guide the taxi-driver to the
destination, as they do not contain the full information about the actions that
the wayfinder must take to reach the destination. The taxi-driver, however,
understands the meaning of the directions provided by Stephanie and gets her
home.
Stephanie makes several assumptions about the taxi driver, as she enters
the cab. These assumptions are made based on observations and common sense
knowledge of the situation. Stephanie may assume that the taxi driver has some
spatial knowledge of Hannover, assumes that the taxi driver will try to be coop-
erative by interpreting the directions provided by Stephanie, and that the cab in
which she is sitting will be used to get her home.
Many more, and finer grained assumptions can be made by Stephanie. Based
on these assumptions derived by inference from the situation at hand, Stephanie
provides route directions to the taxi driver. The assumptions made by Stephanie
are necessary to correctly interpret the situation in which the communication
occurs and provide information to the taxi driver in a way that will be understood.
People experience deficiencies of the classical communication model every
day. Linguists have addressed these deficiencies by developing theories of prag-
matic communication. This thesis explores situations where the referents included
in route directions exchanged between agents are assumed to be part of the com-
mon knowledge. The approach is grounded in the relevance theory of inferential
communication (Sperber and Wilson, 1986). Relevance theory is built on a gen-
eral view of human cognition with the assumption that human cognitive processes
tend to maximize the efficiency of any action. The relevance of possible referents
is evaluated, and the referent which satisfies the requirements for relevance in the
given situation is selected. This thesis aims to present a formal model of this
selection process.

4
M. TOMKO 1.1. MOTIVATION

1.1.4 Current Approaches to Route Directions’ Personal-


ization

Current research in navigation services focuses mostly on three broad areas in


which methods of personalization are studied: route planning, concerned with
planning better routes for specific users or groups of users (Caduff and Timpf,
2005; Duckham and Kulik, 2003; Haque et al., to appear 2007) or better user
interfaces, possibly with multi-modal interaction options, such as natural (spoken)
language (Dale et al., 2005) and content adaptation.
Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and other similar Web navigation services gener-
ate turn-based route directions, providing complete information of the actions the
wayfinder has to perform to follow the routes retrieved by the respective services.
The service MapQuest implements a route generalization algorithm LineDraw by
Agrawala and Stolte (2001), presenting the route with emphasized regions of high
complexity. Recent research of Klippel et al. (2003) and Richter (2007a) focused
on chunking of route directions based on the structural properties of the route
described, in order to decrease the number of information items in the result-
ing directions. The adaptation of the level of detail of the directions provided
is, however, determined purely by the route structure and does not consider the
possibility of the user’s partial familiarity with the environment.
In general, the focus of current services, as well that of major research ef-
forts is on wayfinders without previous experience with the environment. Locals,
however, may find turn-based directions excessive and patronizing. The level of
detail of the information provided by current navigation services is not appropri-
ate for users with previous spatial knowledge of the environment through which
the route leads. In the example of Stephanie and the taxi-driver, the information
contained in the last two instructions of the Google Maps route planning engine
is equivalent to the directions provided by Stephanie. The rest of the information
provided is excessive for the taxi driver, leading to a high cognitive workload
with no advantage or improvement of the wayfinding success. While in the case
of a taxi-driver this may not be critical, a driver of an ambulance would greatly
benefit from a system reducing the information overload. In today’s dense and
fast traffic, an ambulance driver driving fast to a casualty needs to concentrate
on driving, rather than on following directions. Furthermore, destination descrip-
tions similar to those frequently provided by humans are not prescriptive, even
allowing for route alterations in case of a changed traffic situation or a traffic jam.
This thesis focuses on the formalization of the process of selection of refer-
ences to environmental features, which are relevant in destination descriptions for

5
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

wayfinders with at least partial spatial knowledge of the environment. The bene-
factors of the research presented in this thesis are developers of navigation systems
for wayfinders frequently travelling to unfamiliar destinations in partially-known
urban environments, such as the police, emergency management and tourism ser-
vices, but also locals—everyday users of Web based navigation portals, location-
based services and in-car navigation services.

1.2 Scope and Objectives

The goal of this research is to analyze how the structure of an urban environment
is reflected in the way humans describe route destinations, and to formalize these
principles in a computational model that would enable automated creation of
destination descriptions. The research question explored in this thesis is:

What is the relation between the city structure and the route directions of
familiar wayfinders?

The research presented in this thesis builds on the hypothesis that it is possi-
ble to construct a generic model of destination descriptions based on the knowl-
edge of the inherent functional city structure.
The answer to the research question leads to a formal model for the genera-
tion of destination descriptions for persons with previous spatial knowledge of the
environment. The objective is to identify the referents that are likely to be used
in the given context by humans. The model is based on the basic assumption of
pragmatic behaviour that rational beings try to limit their cognitive effort and
energy expenses while still being able to reach a goal. People try to minimize their
effort by being as efficient as possible while carrying out a task. In the context
of communication, the speaker is trying to transfer the information to the hearer
through a message while minimizing the effort required to do so. The recipient
of the information interprets the meaning of the message, also trying to minimize
her or his effort. In the situation of communication of destination descriptions
the communication partners mutually assume the possession of a-priori spatial
knowledge of the environment. Consequently, they refer to it in the destination
descriptions. The effort of both the speaker and the hearer is thus decreased.
This thesis focuses on the identification of relevant references in a given con-
text. The context is defined by a restricted set of characteristics: the spatial
context characterized by the start and destination of the route; and the commu-
nicators, two mutual strangers exchanging destination descriptions (and thus can
not refer to places previously experienced together). The certainty of the correct

6
M. TOMKO 1.3. APPROACH

identification of the referent by the hearer can thus not be granted through mu-
tual experience. It is not the goal of this thesis, however, to emulate the exact
behavior of specific humans, nor is the goal a cognitive study of the resulting
route directions.

1.3 Approach

The approach taken in this research starts from the empirical characterization
of human generated destination descriptions, such as Stephanie’s, allowing the
research hypothesis to be formulated. The comparison of the characteristics of
destination descriptions with the structure of space in which they are provided,
and with the human spatial mental representations identified in previous works,
the common properties of destination descriptions are identified. Once the charac-
teristics of route directions and the spatial, communicative and cognitive context
in which they are created are determined, the processes of the construction of
destination descriptions can be studied. The identification of references for des-
tination descriptions will be based on the characteristics of the spatial structure
in which they occur.
The approach applied builds on the interdependence of state and process de-
scriptions of complex systems (Simon, 1962), a common problem-solving method
in cognitive science and artificial intelligence research. Starting with a state
description of destination descriptions, the characteristics of the construction
process of destination descriptions is inferred. The process description is then
formalized, computationally implemented and applied on a test dataset. The
characteristics of the outcomes of the model are compared with the characteris-
tics observed empirically. If they are equivalent, the model is considered valid.
From the observation of similarities in route directions communicated by
people familiar with the environment, it can be concluded that common principles
are followed in the process of selection of references. The general characteristics
of such route directions are collected and form the basis of the hypothesis.
The empirical characteristics gathered are further interpreted with regard to
communication theory, psychology and cognitive science. The principles inferred
from this body of knowledge are then formalized in a general model of selection
of references in destination descriptions. The model consists of a set of rules
determining the selection process.
The constraints imposed on the model are limited to the hierarchical spatial
data model of the urban environment, without individual considerations of a

7
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

more detailed wayfinder’s profile. Thus, the model should provide plausible route
directions for wayfinders satisfying the condition of at least partial a-priori spatial
knowledge of a given urban environment.
The conceptual model is consecutively implemented in a computationally
executable model. The inputs are limited to the hierarchically structured dataset
of the environment and the route to be described. No other inputs are allowed
during the execution of the model implemented. The output of the model is
the the set of references constituting the destination description. This output is
verified against the specification of the previously gathered characteristics.

1.4 Expected Outcomes

The main objective of this research is to understand how the structure of an


urban environment is reflected in the way humans provide directions to famil-
iar wayfinders. The formalization of these principles in a computational model
is the main outcome of this research. A set of heterogeneous environmental ele-
ments of the city structure is considered in a concise model of destination descrip-
tions in route directions, together with a theoretical model of the communication
processes underlying the selection of the referents. The computational model
enables an automated creation of route directions with varying level of detail in
urban environments where hierarchically structured data can be made available.
The model thus allows the implementation of navigation systems filling the gap
between human generated route directions and the turn-based route directions of
current Web-based or on-line navigation systems.

1.5 Thesis Structure

This thesis is structured as follows: the next Chapter provides an overview of


relevant concepts and existing literature in the fields of spatial cognition, route
planning and wayfinding (Section 2.1) and communication theory, especially from
the perspective of inferential communication and the use of common knowledge
(Section 2.2). This section concludes with a discussion of modeling and formal-
ization of complex systems (Section 2.3).
Chapter 3 introduces the concept of destination descriptions, based on a
simple example scenario. This example is used to introduce the definition and
characteristics of destination descriptions, and the role of common spatial knowl-
edge in destination descriptions of locals.

8
M. TOMKO 1.5. THESIS STRUCTURE

In the following chapter (Chapter 4), experiential structures of spatial knowl-


edge are introduced as a necessary input for an implementation and testing of a
formal model of selection of references for destination descriptions. Furthermore,
the concepts presented are applied to construct an experiential, integrated and
hierarchical dataset of Hannover.
In Chapter 5, the pre-requisites for the model of selection of references for
destination descriptions are stated, and the model is formalized. The model is
presented as a set of rules allowing to select relevant references for destination
descriptions. These rules are serialized in a set of algorithms describing their
execution.
The model presented is then implemented and tested on a test dataset of
central Hannover. The computational implementation and the results of the
tests are discussed in Chapter 6.
The thesis concludes with Chapter 7, where the main contributions of the
thesis are discussed, and the outlook to future research is drafted.
The thesis is completed with several appendices providing more detail for
the interested reader. Appendix A and Appendix B contain details about the
test dataset, while Appendix C contains the code of the Haskell implementation
of the model. Finally, Appendix D contains the inputs and outputs of example
test cases of the model.

9
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

10
Chapter 2

Background

This chapter reviews previous work in the fields of spatial cognition, commu-
nication and computer science related to the acquisition and communication of
spatial knowledge.
People store their spatial knowledge in mental representations of space. This
environmental knowledge is acquired through interaction with the environment
and facilitated through perception. Mental representations of spatial knowledge
and their organization are discussed in Section 2.1.
Communication in and about space, such as direction giving, represents an
important use of people’s spatial mental representations. People familiar with
an environment share common spatial knowledge due to similar experience of
their environment. This knowledge is then used in place and route descriptions
they exchange. Concepts from the pragmatic theory of communication are intro-
duced in Section 2.2, and point to the significance common knowledge plays in
communication.
Section 2.3 provides an introduction to modelling and formalization and is an
introduction to the methods used in operationalization of the theoretical model
of destination descriptions presented in this thesis.

2.1 Experiencing Space

2.1.1 Mental Representations of Space

People learn the layout of their environment, be it natural or built, through con-
tinuous interaction. They perceive the environment through senses, learn the
layout of the environment and store the knowledge acquired in mental represen-
tations (Fig. 2.1).

11
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

Figure 2.1: Acquisition of spatial knowledge. A person perceives the environment,


learns its layout, and stores this knowledge in a mental representation (adapted
from Frank (2000) and Frank et al. (2001)).

With repetitive interaction, people get increasingly familiar with the layout
of the environment and develop spatial knowledge stored in spatial mental repre-
sentations (Siegel and White, 1975). With continuous interaction, the structure
of this spatial knowledge evolves through stages with different characteristics.
At first, landmark knowledge is acquired, characteristic by discrete knowledge
of salient spatial features. The spatial relations between these features may
not yet be established. Landmark knowledge is integrated into more complex
structures—sequences, also called routes. Hence, at this stage of spatial knowl-
edge evolution, route knowledge is formed. At this stage, landmarks are recalled
in the order as experienced along a learned route, and their complex spatial rela-
tionships may not be evident. As people become familiar with the environment,
survey knowledge is formed, enabling them to locate and infer directions and
distances (metric properties) between the individual spatial features.
Tversky (1993) proposed to distinguish spatial mental representations (re-
ferred to as mental maps) into further sub-categories of cognitive collages and
spatial mental models. Cognitive collages are patchy in nature, contain only
partial information on the environment, and are heavily distorted. In contrast,
spatial mental models allow integration of spatial knowledge from distant regions
as well as perspective taking and inference of directions between landmarks. Spa-
tial mental models may still be metrically inaccurate. Spatial mental models were
suggested to represent the spatial mental representations of familiar environment.
The speed with which people learn the environment and transit between
these stages of spatial mental representations is highly individual, and is largely
depending on their spatial abilities (Allen, 1999) and the frequency of interac-
tion with the environment. Continuous interaction with the environment allows
to proceed from landmark to route to survey knowledge. It has been recently
hinted, however, that these types of knowledge may be acquired simultaneously
(Ishikawa and Montello, 2006), depending on the individual’s spatial abilities. For
instance, some individuals may acquire basic metric characteristics of space after
relatively little interaction. Thus, continuing interactions allows the accuracy and

12
M. TOMKO 2.1. EXPERIENCING SPACE

completeness of the acquired spatial knowledge to improve, although individual


differences in spatial abilities effectively impose a limit to such improvements.
Thus, individuals with innate good spatial abilities or good spatial training (e.g.
geographers (Golledge et al., 1995), taxi drivers) may quickly form accurate and
relatively complete spatial mental models of the environment. This progression
happens, however, not in months or years as previously suggested, but within a
few trips through the environment in question (Ishikawa and Montello, 2006).
The mental representation acquired through direct experience of the environ-
ment is further supported by secondary, indirect spatial learning. Inhabitants of
a city enhance their spatial knowledge from sources such as maps, news articles,
advertisements and Web resources. These spatial narratives (Levine and Klin,
2001; Weissensteiner and Winter, 2004) and geo-referenced descriptions (Winter
and Tomko, 2006) add to the spatial mental representations of people residing in
a specific city during longer periods of time.

2.1.2 Conceptualization of Space

Following the representational theory of mind, the basic elements of mental rep-
resentations are called concepts (Margolis and Laurence, 2006). Concepts are the
result of a cognitive process of categorization of the knowledge acquired while
perceiving the world (Rosch, 1978). The goal of the cognitive process is to create
a simplified, abstract model of the knowledge acquired, in order to reduce its
complexity and thus the mental effort required to store it. Furthermore, con-
ceptualizations allow generalizations and abstract reasoning about the domain of
knowledge processed.
Mental conceptualizations of space and of spatial phenomena have been the
subject of intensive research (e.g., Downs and Stea, 1977; Freksa and Barkowsky,
1996; Hirtle, 2003; Klippel, 2003b; Klippel et al., 2004, 2003; Klippel and Winter,
2005; Lynch, 1960; Montello et al., 2003; Richter and Klippel, 2005). An essential
contribution to the conceptualization of space is the work of the urbanist Kevin
Lynch, studying the phenomenon of imageability of urban environments. In his
experiment, Lynch studied the composition of sketches provided by the inhabi-
tants of American cities (Lynch, 1960). Sketch maps represent common devices
people use to communicate spatial knowledge (Agrawala and Stolte, 2001), and
as such present a convenient and familiar way of externalizing spatial mental rep-
resentations in cognitive research (e.g., Kim and Penn, 2004). The analysis of
the sketches collected by Lynch revealed five basic structural elements of the city
form: paths, nodes, landmarks, districts and edges. These elements present the
basic concepts in the (static) spatial mental representations, i.e. the image of the

13
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

city people retain after experiencing it.


Briefly, Lynch defines the elements of the city form as follows:

• Path: a path is a one-dimensional physical entity of the environment along


which observers move. The city is experienced through movement along
paths. From the functional point of view, any network facilitating transport,
such as the street network, water canal network or railroad network can
represent a network of paths.

• Node: nodes are points, strategic foci of activity in which the observer
can enter. Typically, nodes are convergences of paths (junctions), where
concentrations of characteristic activities occur. As noted by Lynch, some
nodes are the focus and epitome of a district, of which they stand as a
symbol.

• Landmark: Landmarks are point-like spatial features, serving as spatial


references. The observer cannot enter within a landmark, it can only be
experienced—observed—from the exterior. According to Lynch’s definition,
landmarks stand out from their environment, thus being salient. Land-
marks present convenient clues in the spatial structure of the imagined
environment. Lynch distinguishes between distant landmarks, representing
inaccessible locations, and local landmarks, visible only in a restricted space
and from a certain viewpoint.

• District: defined by Lynch as medium-to-large sections of the city with a


two dimensional extent. Districts share some common characteristics and
have a distinct inside and outside. Districts and paths are singled out as
the most dominant and distinctive elements of the city form.

• Edge: In Lynch’s terminology, an edge is a linear element not considered as


path. Lynch states that they are usually the barriers between two kinds of
areas, or districts. They are impenetrable to cross-movement. The effect of
edges on the perception of the hierarchical structure in the urban environ-
ment is closely related to the boundaries between districts. The term edge
can be used interchangeably with barrier.

Lynch’s urbanistic analysis of elementary spatial concepts was based on a


medium scale view on the city and did not consider a more detailed structure
within the urban fabric of the urban environment. However, human hierarchical
reasoning is flexible in its ability to change the granularity levels of mental repre-
sentation across multiple granularities. Humans identify patterns and structures
within limited, smaller parts of the city, as well as in its larger region. This

14
M. TOMKO 2.1. EXPERIENCING SPACE

encourages the theory that the principles leading to the formation of a coarse
representation of the city also contribute to the representation of its parts. This
hypothesis of scalability (Carrera, 1997) explores the application of Lynch’s basic
urban morphemes to the analysis of a single square. Other attempts to re-define
spatial concepts constructing the structure of an urban space can be found in
the work of Singh (1997), specifically focusing on nodes defined as areas where
districts of multiple land use types meet.
It is necessary to note that the term landmark may also be used for any of
the type of elements of the city, if the element in question holds the quality of
landmarkness, i.e. is prominent due to salience of its characteristics in a given
environment (Raubal and Winter, 2002). The term landmark will be further used
according to Lynch, to refer to point-like features of high salience. It is implied
that all references to spatial features found in route direction have the property
of salience or prominence, standing out from the environment.
Furthermore, it is important to note the difference between physical features
of the world having the function of a path (i.e. locomotion occurs along them)
(Lynch, 1960; Montello, 2005), and the notion of paths used to design the results
of a path planning process (mental or computational). The terms route planning
and route will be further used in such cases, following the definition of Montello
(2005). Montello (2005) defines a route as a linear pattern of movement of a
wayfinder, as opposed to paths, a linear physical feature along which movement
occurs (also see Section 4.3). Although in urban environments the movement
along a route typically occurs on paths, this is certainly not a general limitation.
In less structured built environments (parks, squares) and natural environments,
wayfinders are not bound to paths (e.g. when crossing a meadow).
References to all five types of elements identified by Lynch may occur in
route directions communicated by people. The definitions of each of the type
of elements provided by Lynch are, however, vague. Refined definitions of the
elements of the city are therefore used for operationalization in the model of
destination descriptions (Section 3).

2.1.3 Hierarchical Structure of Spatial Mental Represen-


tations

Individual mental representations are distorted due to spatial abilities, individ-


ual experience of space and the cognitive processes leading to their construction.
The nature of these distortions provides valuable hints regarding the internal
organization of spatial knowledge in spatial mental representations. Individual

15
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

spatial behavior, cognitive capabilities and responses to specific properties of the


environment are the causes of the distortions in these representations (Stevens
and Coupe, 1978). Couclelis et al. (1987) suggest a hierarchical relation between
spatial cues and their areas of influence, where important spatial cues—anchor
points—were found to be foci of so called tectonic plates, regions in which the
cues tended to be strongly associated together. Distortions in representations of
the location of the anchor point were transmitted on the cues associated. Fur-
ther research confirms this hierarchical organization of spatial knowledge (Hirtle,
2003; Hirtle and Jonides, 1985; Taylor and Tversky, 1992). The hierarchical or-
ganization of mental representations is reflected in spatial reasoning tasks, where
dependence between the categorization of a specific spatial entity in the hier-
archy and its use in the spatial task was demonstrated (Plumert et al., 1995a;
Timpf and Kuhn, 2003; Wiener and Mallot, 2003). A graph based approach of
the development of such hierarchical spatial knowledge through wayfinding was
proposed by Chown et al. (1995), and implemented in a system called PLAN.
Mental spatial hierarchies are not likely to follow discrete, well defined hier-
archical levels as they are used in e.g. hierarchical data structures such as quad-
trees. While in computing hierarchical data structures are frequently adopted for
efficient retrieval of exact information, hierarchies in mental conceptualizations
emerge to lower the cognitive effort of storing and retrieval of the information.
The retrieved information may often be approximate, as far as it is sufficient
to support the task of the agent. The formation of chunks of information is a
means of lowering the cognitive effort and adapting the complexity and quan-
tity of information that has to be remembered (Cowan, 2001; Miller, 1956). As
further mentioned by Taylor and Tversky (1992), grouping, hierarchical organi-
zation and coherent linking contribute to comprehensibility. Thus, hierarchical
grouping of spatial information in mental representations is a means to effectively
cope with the complexity of the environment (Klippel et al., 2003; Tomko and
Winter, 2006a).
The necessity to narrow down the processing space (or the space of interest)
as a section of the surrounding environment is reflected in vague spatial concepts
such as far and near, derived from the physical and perceptual accessibility of the
places referred to. Montello (1993) proposes a hierarchically ordered framework
of psychological spaces, consisting of four major classes: figural, vista, environ-
mental and geographical. These classes are ordered by perceptual and physical
accessibility by the embodied agent. Figural space is projectively smaller than
the size of human body, while vista space is equivalent or larger, although still
perceivable from a single viewpoint. Environmental space is larger than human
body and surrounds it completely. It is too large to be perceived at once, and

16
M. TOMKO 2.1. EXPERIENCING SPACE

from a single viewpoint. Montello (1993) suggests that environmental space needs
to be learned by integrating the information acquired over significant periods of
time. Such spaces are then equivalent to cities and city neighborhoods. Finally,
spaces of geographical scale are projectively much larger then the human body
and cannot be learned by locomotion. Such spaces must be learned through
symbolic representations, such as maps. This thesis focuses on destination de-
scriptions in urban spaces of environmental scale. The performance of the model
of destination descriptions proposed in geographical spaces is possible, although
not tested.

2.1.4 Route Planning and Wayfinding

Once formed, spatial knowledge is used in day to day interaction with the envi-
ronment, such as route planning and wayfinding. Route planning is the mental
activity of planning the way through an environment. As noted by Couclelis
(1996), two stages of route planning can be distinguished. The first, coarse plan-
ning stage consists of the retrieval of a detached mental view of the area, resem-
bling a map-like view. Major structural elements of the environment as well as
channels between the start and the destination are retrieved from memory. This
stage is most likely to occur among subjects with high spatial abilities or good
familiarity with the environment. In hierarchical, regionalized environments, the
influence of important higher-order regions on route planning has been confirmed
(Wiener and Mallot, 2003).
In the next, fine-level route planning stage, a mental representation of the
route is developed, involving detailed, first person’s imagined travel through the
environment, including embodied actions at decision points. This representation
is then used during wayfinding (and compared to the environment perceived by
the agent during locomotion), or in the communication of route directions (Frank
et al., 2001).
In case of unfamiliar environments, spatial knowledge needed for wayfinding
has to be acquired prior to wayfinding. Other sources, such as maps and route di-
rections are used to form a mental representation of the environment (Figure 2.2).
These source are a form of communication between agents with a-priori spatial
knowledge of the environment (e.g., local experts, but also automatic route ser-
vices accessing spatial databases) and agents receiving this spatial knowledge
through communication without a-priori spatial knowledge (e.g., tourists). The
expert agent retrieves a route in a route planning process based on their own
expert judgment, or based on criteria specified by the wayfinder. A formal model
linking the stages of route planning with route directions and the navigation as

17
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

such was proposed by Timpf et al. (1992).

Figure 2.2: Wayfinding in unfamiliar environment. A hearer’s spatial mental rep-


resentation (Map 2) is acquired by communication from a knowledgeable agent,
the speaker.

In situations where a speaker is providing route directions in the form of


destination descriptions to a wayfinder with a-priori spatial knowledge of the
environment, the planning process is performed independently by the wayfinder,
combining the information contained in the destination description with his or her
own spatial knowledge (Section 2.2.6). The route resulting from the internal route
planning process of the speaker need not be identical to that of the wayfinder.
In recent years, the development of route planning services led to research
in, and specification of, route planning algorithms retrieving routes optimized to
satisfy characteristics more complex then length of the route, as is the case for
the well known Dijkstra and A∗ algorithms. Of special interest are algorithms
allowing the retrieval of low complexity routes (simplest paths) (Duckham and
Kulik, 2003; Mark, 1986) or those that can be described with least ambiguity
(Haque et al., to appear 2007).
With the increasing size of spatial datasets, the performance of algorithms
became an issue. Hierarchical route planning algorithms were proposed, allow-
ing the speed of calculation to be optimized by reducing the search space (Car,
1997; Jung and Pramanik, 2002). Such approaches are inspired by human hi-
erarchical spatial reasoning, where the overall planning of a route from fine to
coarse (the so-called skeleton) and back again to finer levels of detail was observed
(Kuipers, 2001). The route planning process seeks to find a route from the local
streets of low hierarchical level to hierarchically important roads representing the
skeleton of the road network. In the proximity of the destination, the inverse
process searches for local streets, allowing to reach the destination. While in
computational systems this approach gains importance with the increasing size
of the road networks, people employ hierarchical heuristics for route planning
in comparatively smaller regions, due to the cognitive complexity of retrieving a

18
M. TOMKO 2.2. COMMUNICATION

route.

2.2 Communication

This section introduces relevance theory (Sperber and Wilson, 1986), a funda-
mental communication theory in which the model of destination descriptions
presented in this thesis is grounded. After an introduction to communication
theory in general, and relevance theory in particular, the implications to spa-
tial communication are drawn, with the focus on place descriptions and route
directions.

2.2.1 Communication Models

Research in information technology, and certainly research in spatial information,


was predominantly built upon the classical, or code model of communication,
introduced by Shannon and Weaver (1949). The code model of communication
assumes a communicator—speaker —that encodes the information to be conveyed
to the receiver (hearer ). The well known semiotic triangle relates a referent, its
conceptualization in a mental representation, and the generated symbol (Ogden
and Richards, 2001). This symbol is then used by the speaker in communication
to convey the information about the referent. The information encoded in a
message is transmitted through a communication channel and decoded by the
hearer. Such a semiotic process is engaged in the encoding of the information
into the message by the speaker and in the decoding of the symbols from the
message by the hearer. In this thesis, the term reference is used instead of the
term symbol. The term referent is used for spatial elements that are referred to.
The central assumption is that the totality of information received by the
hearer was encoded by the speaker and transferred through the channel. Further-
more, the code model of communication provides for loss of information during
the transmission of the message along the channel by the influence of information
noise, or entropy.
As Worboys (2003) notes, the classical model of Shannon and Weaver does
not sufficiently account for several fundamental influences on communication of
spatial information, such as characteristics of the channel and context of the
hearer and the speaker. These deficiencies have been noted by linguists before,
especially when studying conversations and noting the linguistic context of utter-
ances. The deficiencies of the classical communication model have been addressed
in pragmatic theories of communication.

19
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

2.2.2 The Meaning of Utterances

Pragmatic theories of communication deal with utterances, which are defined as


specific intentional acts of speaking. Pragmatics analyse the meanings of utter-
ances, such as the meaning intended by the speaker, the meaning conveyed to the
hearer, the meaning understood by the hearer, as well as the circumstances of the
utterance. The fundamental difference between the classical theory and pragmat-
ics is in the realization that the explicitly encoded and transmitted content of a
communication is influenced by the context of the communication, the intentions
of the communicating parties, and other external and internal influences. The
content of a message conveyed may therefore be much richer then the one explic-
itly encoded in the message, for instance by implying additional meaning. Grice
(1957) defines the meaning of an utterance to be the cognitive effect produced by
the recognition of the intention of the utterance. Cognitive effect is defined by
Sperber and Wilson (1986) as the contextual implication caused by the stimulus
in a cognitive system. Thus, the cognitive effect is achieved in function of the
context (or cognitive environment) and the stimulus.
The realization that the meaning conveyed by an utterance may be funda-
mentally different to the meaning intended, or to the meaning conveyed, is one
of the important realizations of pragmatic theory relevant to this thesis. The
meaning implied by utterances was studied in the seminal works of Grice (1957,
1975, 1989). Grice formulated his cooperative principle:

Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the


stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the
talk exchange in which you are engaged (Grice, 1989).

Grice’s cooperative principle is operationalized by the speaker in a conversa-


tion by following four conversational maxims:

• quantity (“Make your contribution as informative as required by the pur-


pose of the exchange; do not make your contribution more informative than
is required.”);

• quality (“Do not say what you believe to be false; do not say that for which
you lack adequate evidence.”);

• relevance (“Be relevant.”)

• manner (“Avoid unnecessary prolixity; avoid ambiguity; be brief; be or-


derly.”).

20
M. TOMKO 2.2. COMMUNICATION

Grice assumes that the hearer rationally applies the maxims as rules of thumb
in understanding the implied meaning, carried by an utterance. The intended
meaning may not be conveyed by the speaker if the maxims are not respected.
The utterance may convey a changed meaning to the hearer, resulting in an im-
plicature. The recognition of the intentions of the speaker, oriented toward the
hearer in an overt manner is yet another contribution of Grice to pragmatics.
While largely discussed, Grice’s theories laid the foundations of modern prag-
matics.

2.2.3 Relevance Theory

The decoding of the meaning of an utterance is not satisfactorily explained by


Grice’s contributions. The understanding of the implied content requires another
reasoning step, that is the inference of the speaker’s intentions by the hearer.
The inferential communication model is at the core of the relevance theory of
Sperber and Wilson (1986), grounded on a model of human cognition. It uses
Grice’s concept of relevance in a much extended manner, and explains inferential
communication purely in terms of this concept.
Relevance theory emphasizes the importance of the cognitive environment
to the comprehension of an utterance. It defines a cognitive environment as
a set of assumptions available to a cognitive agent. In this environment, the
act of communication presents the act of construction of a verbal or non-verbal
stimulus, a phenomenon meant to achieve cognitive effects. This stimulus triggers
expectations of relevance by the act of changing the cognitive environment itself.
This conforms with Grice’s observation that the very fact of communicating
triggers, among the audience, expectations that it then exploits (Sperber and
Wilson, 1986, 37). It is, however, only valid in cases of ostensive communication,
i.e. when the act of communication is made explicitly manifest to the hearer.
The act of ostension itself guarantees relevance to the hearer. Relevance theory
is concerned with ostensive inferential communication. Relevance theory builds
upon two basic observations about relevance in cognition and communication: the
cognitive principle of relevance (Definition 1) and the communicative principle of
relevance (Definition 2), defined as follows:

Definition 1 Cognitive principle of relevance: Human cognition tends to be


geared toward maximisation of relevance.

and

21
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

Definition 2 Communicative principle of relevance: Every act of overt commu-


nication conveys a presumption of its own optimal relevance.

A stimulus is relevant if it connects with available contextual assumptions to


provide a positive cognitive effect. Of course, many stimuli of varying relevance
may be perceived by an individual at any time. Thus, building on the two pre-
vious principles, cognitive agents will pick the most relevant stimulus in a given
communication situation. It implies that the hearer is the one that interprets a
reference in a communication in the most relevant manner to him or herself. The
speaker, on the other hand, makes sure that the stimulus is perceived as relevant,
through content or form.
Based on these starting points, Sperber and Wilson (1986) formulate the
presumption of optimal relevance:

• The utterance is relevant enough to be worth processing

• It is the most relevant one compatible with the communicator’s abilities


and preferences

From there, the hearer can infer the meaning of the utterance. Again, several
meanings may be inferred (Sperber and Wilson, 2004, p.3):

“Intuitively, relevance is not just an all-or-none matter but a mat-


ter of degree. There is no shortage of potential inputs which might
have at least some relevance for us, but we cannot attend to them all.
Relevance theory claims that what makes an input worth picking out
from the mass of competing stimuli is not just that it is relevant, but
that it is more relevant than any alternative input available to us at
that time. Intuitively, other things being equal, the more worthwhile
conclusions achieved by processing an input, the more relevant it will
be.”

Sperber and Wilson use the expression degrees of relevance, implying that
certain stimuli may be more or less relevant then others, depending on the ration
of the processing effort and contextual implications they afford. The maximiza-
tion of relevance leads through a path of minimal effort, as living organisms tend
to minimize the expenditure of energy in every situation. As Sperber and Wil-
son (1986) state, human cognitive processes are geared toward maximizing the
cognitive effect of a stimulus, while minimizing the cognitive effort necessary to
process it:

22
M. TOMKO 2.2. COMMUNICATION

Definition 3 The principle of relevance:

• Everything else being equal, the greater the cognitive effect achieved by the
processing of a given piece of information, the greater its relevance for the
individual who processes it.

• Everything else being equal, the greater the effort involved in the processing
of a given piece of information, the lesser its relevance for the individual
who processes it.

Some of the meanings that can be inferred from the utterances require less
processing effort, and are thus more easily derived (Noveck and Sperber, 2006)
in a given context. This meaning represents the interpretation of the utterance
that is most naturally derived. Relevance theory assumes that hearers follow
heuristics of comprehension build on the principles stated above. Thus, they
follow the paths of minimal effort to interpret an utterance, infer its meaning in
a given cognitive environment, and stop as soon the meaning found satisfies the
expectation of relevance.
Of course, a different set of stimuli in the environment of the speaker may
lead to a different meaning inferred by the hearer. Also, the speaker does not have
to be optimally relevant in an utterance, as a better stimulus may be found in a
given situation. It only has to appear to the hearer that the utterance is optimally
relevant. The hearer may not know that the speaker may be able to construct a
stimulus of higher relevance; the hearer just believes that the stimulus received
is optimally relevant. Such deception is a frequent tool of lawyers in legal text,
where a statement may be deliberately worded in a manner allowing multiple
interpretations. And indeed, even in less critical situations, it has been shown
that speakers are not always trying to be cooperative to the full possible extent.
Even then, however, understanding can be achieved (Davies, 1995).

2.2.4 Knowledge, Context and Communication

In human communication, people share understanding of the world surround-


ing them. This environment is perceived and cognitively processed, it is thus a
cognitive environment, also known as context. This understanding significantly
influences the interpretation of information received in communication. An im-
portant part of the cognitive environment consists of knowledge previously ac-
quired, be it in previous utterances (i.e. linguistic context), or by interaction with
the environment. Sperber and Wilson (1982) defines context as follows:

23
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

Definition 4 Context . . . is the background information that can be brought to


bear on comprehension.

Sperber and Wilson, however, further note that what context consists of is difficult
to define. A common approach to context-adaptive information system therefore
usually consists of detailed definitions of relevant parameters of context.
In inferential communication, the speaker and the hearer may assume the
possession of tacit knowledge by the communication partner as an important
part of the communication partner’s cognitive environment. Tacit knowledge is
the part of one’s knowledge that has not been made explicit in the information
exchange. Tacit knowledge was identified as an important influence on commu-
nication in situations of co-ordination and collaboration. Researchers suggested
a theory of mutual knowledge to explain the use of tacit knowledge by commu-
nicators (e.g., Clark and Carlson, 1982). There, mutual knowledge (also mutual
belief) is defined as the kind of knowledge that is the product of an infinite series
of reciprocal expectations. Let us imagine two agents, A and B, and a mutual
belief of a phenomenon p:

Definition 5 Mutual knowledge

(1) A knows that p.

(1’) B knows that p.

(2) A knows that B knows that p.

(2’) B knows that A knows that p.

(3) A knows that B knows that A knows that p.

(3’) B knows that A knows that B knows that p.

...

Clark and Marshall (1981, cited by Sperber and Wilson (1982)) mention
physical co-presence, linguistic co-presence and community membership as factors
allowing the inference of mutual knowledge. The already complex establishment
of mutual knowledge becomes exponentially difficult with an increasing amount of
communicators (Clark and Carlson, 1982). Relevance theory therefore refuses the
concept of mutual knowledge on basis of cognitive effort, as it is implausible that
such a complex and infinite reasoning process would be necessary in frequent and
trivial communication tasks. Meaning inference is offered instead as a solution
(Sperber and Wilson, 1982).

24
M. TOMKO 2.2. COMMUNICATION

Some sort of existing knowledge, however, is undeniably present and referred


to in many coordination tasks, such as reference to objects, familiar place descrip-
tions and route directions. The term common knowledge, also known as shared
knowledge or common belief, is therefore used for knowledge that a communicator
assumes is known to all partners in communication. Note that the requirement
of mutuality is thus relaxed.
The factors identified by Clark and Marshall (1981) (physical co-presence,
linguistic co-presence and community membership) are necessary for the inference
of common knowledge of the communication partners in a given communication
context. These factors thus assist with the inferential identification of references
used in communication. A detailed taxonomy of co-presence is offered by Zhao
(2003), based on two factors: co-presence as mode of being with others, and
co-presence as sense of being with others. In this thesis, co-presence will be
operationalized as an important contributor to the construction of destination
descriptions (Section 5.1), allowing communicators to infer parts of their common
spatial knowledge.
The use of common knowledge as an important parameter of context im-
pacting on comprehension was explored in research on co-ordination games in
game theory. For example, in situations where two agents have limited means of
feedback, or lack means of direct communication, and concerted choice is sought,
people have shown high capacity of inference of the choice of the communication
partner. Typically, some entities at hand which have been known or assumed
to be known to the communication partner afforded themselves as natural co-
ordinating clues, also called focal points (Schelling, 1960). As Schelling (1960)
showed in his work on strategies in tacit coordination, objects or locations of high
uniqueness, that are part of common knowledge of the communicators and are
part of the communication domain, represented such focal points. These objects
and locations were then selected as references in situations of tacit inferential
communication. The example given by Schelling (1960) describes two soldiers
equipped with identical maps of the territory in which they had to meet, with no
means of communication. The most prominent or unique location shown on the
map presents a focal point, and is selected as the location where the likelihood
to meet is highest.
The research of Fussell and Krauss (1991), further confirmed by Lau and
Chiu (2001), shows that landmark knowledge estimates of other inhabitants of
a certain environment by their peers are accurate, although with a bias toward
one’s own knowledge. Such landmarks present focal points of the limited spec-
ified environment, e.g., a city. Furthermore, the differences between long-term

25
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

and short-term inhabitants are not major, which seems to be aligned with the
findings of Ishikawa and Montello (2006), about the relatively fast formation of
advanced forms of spatial knowledge. In this context, the five years long learning
period used to separate short-term from long-term inhabitants in the experi-
ments of Fussell and Krauss (1991) seems to be excessive. They draw, however,
a clear conclusion that the perceptions of the distribution of knowledge are so-
cially shared. Furthermore, one’s choice of characteristics and construction of
references in a referring expression is influenced by the perception of the hearer’s
familiarity with the described referent (Fussell and Krauss, 1992; Lau and Chiu,
2001).
In this thesis, the adjective familiar will be used for people with a-priori
spatial knowledge of the environment’s structure. The extent of this a-priori
knowledge is not known and has to be inferred by communication partners when
assessing the extent of common knowledge. People familiar with the environ-
ment can also be referred to as locals, a term which will be used in a restricted
sense, without its other social or regional connotations. The reasons why a rel-
atively limited amount of trips through a given environment suffices to judge an
individual a local will be presented later in the thesis.

2.2.5 Referential Communication

Referential communication is a type of communication where the speaker intends


to identify a referent to the hearer. In the most common case of referential
communication, the referent identified in the referring expression is unknown to
the hearer. A referring expression is defined by Dale (1992) as an expression
uniquely identifying a specific entity. Thus, a specific property of a referring
expression is that it has to be a distinguishing description of the entity referred
to. The speaker refers to a specific entity, member of a set of similar entities
(the context set), by singling out the distinguishing attributes (properties) of the
entity in mind. The combined role of the individual components of the referring
expression (the characteristic of the referent) is then to exclude the referent from
the context set, i.e. to single out the contrast set (Reiter and Dale, 1992). The
members of the contrast set are often called distractors.
Motivated by Grice’s conversational maxims, Dale provides a formalized
model to construct referring expressions, along with the Full Brevity Algorithm
(Dale, 1992), further improved in Reiter and Dale (1992). These algorithms con-
struct referring expressions that are the shortest description of a referent that is
still a distinguishing description of the referent.

26
M. TOMKO 2.2. COMMUNICATION

Several properties common to human-generated referring expressions, namely


the adherence to the Gricean maxims, should be satisfied by automatically refer-
ring expressions (Dale and Reiter, 1995). Among the most important are:

• accuracy;

• brevity;

• incremental structure (attributes are ordered to rule-out as many distractors


as possible as early as possible);

• low redundancy, relevance


(Note that minimal possible redundancy may not be achievable, for com-
putational complexity reasons. Some redundancy occurs also in human
generated referring expressions, possibly as a function of the principle of
relevance.)

In their conclusions, Dale and Reiter (1995) note that an a-priori, explicit
implementation of the maxims is hardly possible, but very likely also unnecessary.
The outputs of their algorithms satisfied the maxims by being goal-driven. In
some sense, this result confirms the objections to the maxims as stated by the
relevance theory (Sperber and Wilson, 1986). The principle of relevance alone
is able to satisfy the characteristics required by the maxims and is also much
simpler to formalize. This approach is close to the approach presented in this
thesis.
Worth mentioning is previous research on referring expressions related to
place descriptions and route directions. The collaboration on references to ob-
jects, either mutually known and visually accessible by the recipient (Clark and
Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986; Heeman and Hirst, 1995), or unknown and inaccessible by
the recipient (Edmonds, 1994) was studied.
In this thesis, the case of descriptions of routes through coarsely familiar
environment is explored. These descriptions are a series of references to spatial
objects that are commonly known, but visually inaccessible at the time of the
communication of the directions. There is so far little research that specifically
looks into human route communication to wayfinders familiar with the environ-
ment.

2.2.6 Communication about Space

Place descriptions are expressions used to uniquely identify a place or a location


of an object in a restricted environment. In place descriptions, references to

27
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

elements of the city are introduced in a hierarchical order from general to highly
specific local references (Plumert et al., 1995b, 2001; Shanon, 1979). The answer
to the so-called where question varies with the context of the place description
(Tversky, 2003).
Route directions are verbal externalizations of mental representations of
routes, created during route planning and communicated by the speaker to the
hearer, i.e. the wayfinder. The goal of route directions is to unambiguously
describe the route to the hearer (Montello, 2005). As their goal is to uniquely
identify a place or a route, both place descriptions and route directions can be
perceived as spatial referring expressions.
The principles of route direction construction, their structure and the prin-
ciples of selection and inclusion of referents has been the object of research for
many years (e.g., Couclelis, 1996; Denis et al., 1999; Freundschuh et al., 1990;
Jarvella and Klein, 1982; Klein, 1979; Lovelace et al., 1999).
Route directions and place descriptions are constructed based on the spatial
knowledge of the speaker. The need to communicate a description of a specific
place or route to a wayfinder leads to a recall of this spatial knowledge, which
is selected and consequently externalized in form of a place description or route
directions. As noted by Couclelis (1996), the fine-level, detailed and embodied
route planning stage can be well formalized in computational models of navigation
and direction-giving. The result are so called turn-by-turn directions, typically
a series of references to streets using street names, connected by turn action
instructions. References to landmarks at decision points where turn actions occur
are more and more often included. The result are directions with a consistent
level of detail along the complete route. They are easily computed and provide
rich information to wayfinders with no previous environmental knowledge.
Turn-based route directions judged good by wayfinders in a series of exper-
iments are organized in an order which reflects wayfinder’s interaction with the
environment (Allen, 2000). The process of identification of locations along the
route that should be referred to in turn-based directions, and the identification of
appropriate environmental clues referred to was researched by Denis et al. (1999);
Lovelace et al. (1999); Michon and Denis (2001). References to salient features
along the route, mostly found at decision points (where turns occur in the route)
were found to be most useful in experiments (Lovelace et al., 1999; Michon and
Denis, 2001). An approach to automated identification of such salient features
has been presented by Raubal and Winter (2002), Winter et al. (2004), Notheg-
ger et al. (2004) and Elias (2003). They build on the research of Sorrows and
Hirtle (1999), studying the characteristics of landmarks, salient features of an en-

28
M. TOMKO 2.2. COMMUNICATION

vironment. The salience of a feature in its environment is due to its uniqueness,


prominence or prototypicality. Thus, landmarks stand out due to their visual,
semantic or structural characteristics. These properties of landmarks impact on
their recall and establish a form of hierarchy in spatial knowledge (Taylor and
Tversky, 1992).

2.2.7 Directions and Cognitive Ergonomics

Turn-based directions of long or complex routes are difficult to remember. The


wayfinder needs to dedicate a part of the mental effort to remember the instruc-
tions communicated in the directions. This mental effort is combined with the
effort required for locomotion, for executing the primary task, e.g. driving, and
for preserving safety (including her or his own safety, that of possible passengers,
and that of other members of the traffic). Means for decreasing the complexity of
the communicated route directions have therefore been an important part of re-
search, combining aspects of human-computer interaction, communication theory
and spatial cognition, among others.
The communication of route directions may occur prior to the wayfinding
action, or in accompanying route directions during wayfinding. Furthermore,
route directions can be provided in a collaborative dialog, when the hearer may
provide feedback to the speaker, or in a one-directional communication. A model
of collaborative references in direction-giving dialogs was presented by Edmonds
(1994). For technical reasons, such as the reliability of natural language genera-
tion and speech recognition systems impacting on the performance of the feedback
recognition system, collaborative route directions systems are still rare beyond
research.
In unidirectional communication of route directions, other means of reducing
cognitive effort of the wayfinder have to be taken. One possible approach to
structured communication of route directions is that of providing references to
parts of the route incrementally. An instruction is communicated to the wayfinder
during locomotion, shortly prior to entering the place where a turn action has to
be taken (Maass, 1993). This is the solution of choice for current car navigation
systems.
Structuring the content is another simple means of reducing the cognitive
effort. Information grouped into chunks allows the information to be stored in
the short-term memory of people by adapting to its span (Cowan, 2001; Miller,
1956). Chunking is thus an effective method to adapt the information conveyed
to a recipient and to his or her short-term memory span (e.g., Klippel et al., 2003;

29
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

Richter, 2007a).
Dale et al. (2002, 2003) implemented a computational system providing hi-
erarchical route descriptions in an urban environment. Road status hierarchies,
road lengths and turn structures were used to construct a hierarchy of chunks
of instructions. The resulting directions were structured in a hierarchical tree-
like representation for use on mobile devices. While computationally simple, the
use of administrative street hierarchies may not necessarily be always cognitively
plausible. Furthermore, in contrast to human-generated route directions, Dale
et al. (2002, 2003) do not reduce the detail of the directions communicated. The
new structure is expressed through a graphical user interface, where the route is
still communicated in detail, turn-by-turn.
Changes in granularities of route descriptions due to the complexity of the
route have been also suggested by Agrawala and Stolte (2001). A graphical layout
system was designed to improve the communication of complex routes to users,
based on the structural properties of the route.
A large body of work on conceptualizations of the structural and functional
properties of routes, especially those of junctions, is presented by Klippel (2003a)
and Klippel et al. (2004). A set of primitive conceptual elements of route direc-
tions was identified and designed by wayfinding choremes. In consecutive works,
the analysis and use of the properties of routes to conceptualize route-specific
chunks of route information is demonstrated (Klippel et al., 2003; Richter, 2007a).
Klippel et al. (2003) use the term spatial chunking for the process of construction
of these route-specific route direction chunks. The following types of the spatial
chunking process were identified: landmark chunking, numerical chunking and
structure chunking.
Landmark chunking uses the presence of salient spatial features at the deci-
sion points where a turn occurs in the route to chunk the directions, e.g. “. . . turn
left after the church.”. This spatial chunking process proved to be the approach
of choice in the subject testing performed. The selection of the appropriate land-
mark for landmark chunking in route directions was further studied by Klippel
and Winter (2005). Numerical chunking consists of counting the number of de-
cision points where turns do not occur between two decision points where a turn
occurs along the route. This allows the creation of chunks of the following type:
“. . . turn left at the third intersection.”. Structure chunking relies on the unique-
ness of the spatial structure of the decision-points—intersections—where turns
occur, as illustrated by the example: “. . . turn left at the T junction.”. In a later
paper (Richter and Klippel, 2005), a fourth type of spatial chunking is identified,
based on the relationship of the route and line-landmarks. An example of this

30
M. TOMKO 2.2. COMMUNICATION

type of spatial chunk is:“. . . follow the river.”. They suggest to extend the line-
landmark chunking approach with a stop criterion, e.g.:“. . . follow the river until
the bridge.”. The chunking processes may be applied to spatial chunks as such,
forming a hierarchy of chunks and higher-order chunks (e.g. “. . . turn left at the
next two T-junctions.”).
The experiment of Klippel et al. (2003) showed that spatial chunking is a pre-
ferred means to structure turn-based route directions by people for both a-priori
and accompanying route directions. Spatial chunking can be well operationalized
in computational algorithms and data structures (Hansen et al., 2006).
The spatial chunking approach relies completely on the structural and func-
tional properties of the route and its immediate environment for the construction
of the spatial chunk included in route directions. No information about the route
is avoided in the resulting route directions, making this approach usable also by
wayfinders with no a-priori knowledge of the environment. The resulting direc-
tions grow proportionally with the length and complexity of the route described.
While superior to traditional turn based directions, this approach may still lead
to the inclusion of excessive and thus irrelevant information to a wayfinder with
previous spatial knowledge of the city.
Finally, the reduction of the content communicated to only the pragmatically
necessary content offers itself as a means to reduce the cognitive workload of the
hearer. The pragmatic content of any message depends on the message itself (as
in classical communication theory), but also on the cognitive environment of the
hearer and of the speaker, and on the previous knowledge of the hearer (Grice,
1957; Sperber and Wilson, 1986). A schematic representation of the process of
communication and interpretation of route directions provided to a wayfinder
familiar with the environment is shown in Figure 2.3.
The knowledge of the hearer is inferred by the speaker. The existing spa-
tial knowledge of the hearer is used by the hearer to substitute the information
omitted in the place descriptions or route directions by the speaker for pragmatic
reasons. The speaker assumes that the hearer will be able to find her or his way
between the individual spatial features referenced in the route directions. Such
reduction of the content of route directions communicated is a method frequently
employed by people. It is, however, non-existent in current navigation systems.
Reduction is often in direct conflict with the requirement of providing certainty
that the information provided will be always usable.
The inspirational work of Frank (2003) provided the first insights into the
pragmatic information content in route directions, based on algebraic modeling.
An agent, i.e., a model of a human user, was represented as an algebra, and

31
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

(a) The speaker and the hearer have a-priori spatial knowledge of the
environment, stored in their respective spatial mental representations
(MR1 and MR2).

(b) The information communicated to the hearer is related to the spatial


knowledge in the hearer’s spatial mental representation MR2.

Figure 2.3: Wayfinding in familiar environment. Information communicated in


route directions is related to the hearer’s existing spatial knowledge.

so was represented a decision context, too. As discussed by Frank (2003), the


interpretation of route directions by the hearer depends on the decision context
in which every direction is evaluated. His approach focused on the general prin-
ciple of comparing different direction algebras and comparing their pragmatic
information content in a given decision context.
One of the important aspects of context is the existing knowledge of the
hearer. Every reference adds to the operationalized knowledge of the hearer, and
thus the context changes with every reference included in the directions. Sim-
ilarly, the context changes with with the changing location of the hearer. This
allows tailoring of the selection of the information to be included in a message
to the hearer. In this thesis, a model of destination descriptions is presented,
aiming to adapt the pragmatic information content of a message communicated
to the wayfinder by reducing the quantity of references included in the destina-
tion descriptions. It takes into consideration the context in which references are
selected and relates it to the decision context in which the reference is used while
wayfinding.
Such destination descriptions do not reduce redundancy by avoiding the in-
clusion of references to common spatial knowledge that can be provided directly
by the hearer, but they do react better to changes of environmental conditions,
such as a changed traffic situation. As mentioned by Frank (2003), some route

32
M. TOMKO 2.3. MODELING AND FORMALIZATION

directions fail if a minimal error in the instructions is included, or if a deviation


from the route occurs. Destination descriptions are less prescriptive and allow
the wayfinder to change the route taken to a large extent. In contrast to previous
approaches to route directions, destination descriptions include references to mul-
tiple types of elements of the city, thus allowing variety in the resulting directions,
adapting the selection of the reference to the situation and thus maximizing the
relevance of the resulting destination descriptions.

2.3 Modeling and Formalization

2.3.1 Formalization and Functional Programming

Conceptual models present an abstract description of complex systems and phe-


nomena, with the focus on their intrinsic properties. To test the properties of
these models, their properties have to be formalized and implemented in an exe-
cutable or computational model.
When computationally implementing formal models of complex systems it is
necessary to ensure that the programmatic formulation of the formal system is
faithful, i.e. preserving the semantics of the formal definition. Ideally, an exe-
cutable mathematical notation should be sufficient for a computational validation
of the formal notation. Most current programming languages focus on efficiency
and performance, and their properties require the programmer to focus on lower-
level properties of the code, such as memory allocation. As a consequence they
do not enforce a programming style that would provide an unambiguous interpre-
tation of a formal model. In this regard, functional programming represented by
a group of programming languages such as Lisp, Miranda, Haskell and Scheme is
especially suited for scientific and research problems, with an increasing body of
industrial systems’ implementations. The high reliability of a code programmed
with a functional programming approach is, e.g., used by the telecommunication
company Ericsson. Their functional programming language Erlang is used to
manage mobile network communication. Traditionally, the focus of functional
programming languages is on formal strictness, resulting in a reliable code.
In functional programming, the specification of the model consists of func-
tions returning values based on the input arguments. Functions are defined over
a well specified range of types, and also return results of a well determined type.
This property can be checked before executing any function and is not dependent
on the values of the input or output. Complex functions can be composed from
elementary ones, where the output of one elementary function serves as input for

33
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

the next one. Vice versa, the result of complex functions can be computed by
atomic evaluation of its elementary functions. The behavior of the whole pro-
gram is transparent, as no external influences and special cases can be executed
without affecting all the inputs and outputs.
The functional programming language Haskell, and its precursor Gofer, were
previously successfully used for formalization of algebraic specifications of spatial
models, where semantic purity and strictness is necessary (Car, 1997; Frank, 2001,
2003; Frank et al., 2001; Kuhn and Raubal, 2003; Timpf and Kuhn, 2003). The
applications focused primarily on ontological and semantic modeling (Kuhn and
Raubal, 2003), granularity transformations in hierarchical data structures and
processes (Car, 1997; Timpf and Kuhn, 2003) and algebraic modelling of com-
munication of spatial information between cognitive agents (Frank, 2000, 2003).
The common requirement of these models is the explicit representation of the
semantics of the model in the algebraic representation, along with the possibility
to verify the validity of the resulting specification.

2.3.2 Modeling Complex Systems

Complex systems are defined by Simon (1962) as systems consisting of a large


number (i.e. individually unobservable) of parts that interact in a non-trivial
manner:

“In such systems, the whole is more than the sum of the parts
. . . given the properties of the parts, and the laws of their interactions,
it is not a trivial task to infer the properties of the whole.” (p. 468)

Systems, such as living organisms (systems of organs and tissues), the society
(the system of people and their social interactions) or urban systems (cities and
their constituents, such as the street network) are examples of complex systems.
Complex systems can be analyzed in a hierarchical manner, with the consid-
eration of the whole as a system of parts of finer granularity. The hierarchical
properties of these systems are frequently the result of an evolutionary process
(Bejan, 2000). Hierarchical properties grant complex systems a high level of ro-
bustness and efficiency. This can be related to the properties of the hierarchies
assisting in handling complex information in mental representations (cf. Sec-
tion 2.1). Decomposability, the fundamental property of complex systems, allows
the simplification of their descriptions across multiple granularities. At coarser
granularities of the description, only the agglomerative properties of the parts
have to be considered.

34
M. TOMKO 2.3. MODELING AND FORMALIZATION

Two main types of descriptions are applied to the characterization of com-


plex systems: state descriptions and process descriptions (Simon, 1962). State
descriptions characterize the world as sensed, providing criteria for identifying or
modeling the elements of the system. Process descriptions characterize the sys-
tem as acted upon, by characterizing the actions necessary for the construction
of the system, or for the transition between individual granularities. Thus, both
models allow a more holistic picture of the system to be grasped.
This thesis presents a study of the state (what they consist of) and process
descriptions (how they are created) of destination descriptions. To provide the
process description of destination descriptions, the internal organization of the
representation of space they act upon must be described.
Granularity theory (Hobbs, 1985) provides an insight to the construction of
granular, hierarchical systems. Process descriptions of complex systems are built
upon relations of partial order, and the theory of granularity identifies processes
acting on the elements of the system which are at the cause of this partial order.
Network representations of complex systems allow the study of the struc-
tural properties resulting from the interactions between the parts of a system in
an abstract manner. Network analysis methods provide a plethora of measures
characterizing the role of individual elements of a system, their interactions and
the behaviour of a larger collection of network elements within the system (for
an overview, see Bocaletti et al., 2006; Hanneman and Riddle, 2005).
Network analysis and granularity theory provide means to describe the urban
systems in which the destination descriptions are generated. Network analysis is
a powerful tool to provide state descriptions of networked complex systems, while
granularity theory allows the processes contributing to the hierarchical properties
of those systems to be formalized.

2.3.3 Granularity

The processes in a complex, hierarchically organized system can be analysed by


studying the properties of its components and their interactions across multi-
ple granularities. The theory of granularity studies the principles of transition
between levels of complexity of a specific phenomena or model (Hobbs, 1985).
If, at a certain level of complexity of a system, two of its constituent phe-
nomena are indistinguishable from the perspective of the studied behaviour, the
system can be simplified by amalgamation or selection. It forms a system easier
to study, of a coarser granularity. Thus, granularity is the manifestation of the
relationship of indistinguishability.

35
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

The transition between individual granularities is based on rules of simplifi-


cation, consisting of operations executed upon the entities of the detailed set. In
the field of spatial information, these rules are amalgamation and selection (Stell
and Worboys, 1999). A hierarchical organization of a spatial dataset requires a
specification of a quantifiable property as a basis for the granular ordering. It is
important to emphasize that this research is concerned with semantic granularity,
depending on model simplification, as opposed to geometric granularity, so im-
portant for cartographic generalization. The semantics of an element considered
in the simplification relate to its functional importance in the structure.
The operations of simplification used determine whether the occurrence of
an element in a hierarchy is unique or finite (amalgamation) or repetitive (selec-
tion). During amalgamation, two or more elements of a set are merged into a
new element of coarser granularity. At coarser level, the constituent elements are
not present anymore. Selection, on the other hand, preserves the identity of the
selected element in coarser granularities, while other elements are left out. Fur-
thermore, the properties of the type of entities ordered determine the complexity
and the behaviour of the hierarchy. If the ordering is unique, the application
of amalgamation rules leads to hierarchical tree structures with fixed levels of
granularity. This is frequently the case of administrative hierarchies applied to
areal features, such as political land subdivision. It may not be the appropriate
ordering for other features, such as landmarks or streets (Alexander, 1988). For
instance, granular views of street networks will contain subsets of selected streets,
depending on a threshold value of a some property, but the identity of the streets
will not change.
Finally, the interdependence between the granularities of diverse types of
elements of the city is suggested by the characteristics of hierarchies in the spa-
tial mental representations. Thus, cognitively motivated hierarchical datasets
should allow for the transitions not only across granularities, but also between
the individual constituent types of element of the city form.

2.3.4 Spatial Modeling and Network Analysis

In complex systems, the structural characteristics of an element are largely deter-


mined by its relations to its peer elements. The distribution of the properties of
the individual elements are used to characterize the structural properties of the
whole system (Batagelj and Mrvar, 2006; Bocaletti et al., 2006).
In network analysis, networks are represented as graphs. Let G(V, E) denote
a graph G consisting of a set of vertices (vi , .., vn ) from the set V (V 6= 0),

36
M. TOMKO 2.3. MODELING AND FORMALIZATION

connected in pairs by edges e from the set of edges E. Let i, j and k be distinct
vertices of G. An edge e of the set E is then defined as an unordered pair of
vertices vi and vj : eij = (vi , vj ). A subgraph G′ of the graph G is a subset of
vertices V ′ of the set V , and the subset of edges E ′ of the set of edges E connecting
the vertices in the set V ′ . Any graph G can be represented in an adjacency matrix
A of dimensions V × V with entries aij (i, j = 1, . . . V ) equal to 1 if an edge exists
between two vertices vi and vj , and 0 otherwise. This matrix is symmetrical.
The reachability of two vertices vi and vj is a central property of network
analysis. A path from vi to vj is a sequence of vertices and edges between vi
and vj , such that no vertex or edge is repeated more than once. A shortest
path between vi and vj is the path of least costs between the two vertices. The
cost function can be assigned to the vertices, edges, or both. The simplest cost
function counts the number of either vertices or edges visited along the path.
Algorithms such as Dijkstra (1959) and A∗ (Hart et al., 1968) can be used to
compute shortest paths between two vertices in a graph, based on an arbitrary
cost function. Note that the graph-theoretic use of the term path is different
from that introduced in Section 2.1.2. A route through an environment may be
represented in a graph by a path (in its graph-theoretical meaning).
Traditionally, the basic analytic structures in geographic network analysis
are graph representations of networks isomorphic with their geographic layout.
Linear geographic elements, such as streets elements, are represented in the graph
by edges e and intersections of these linear elements by vertices v. Such repre-
sentations are called primal graph representations. Common network analysis in
geographic information systems largely relies on the analysis of the metric prop-
erties of networks, where the cost function analysed over a network is related
to the length of an edge. Shortest path problems, travelling salesman problems
and other analytic tasks then require the assignment of costs to the edges of the
graph.
In the geographic realm, space syntax theory was one of the first to use a
dual graph representations of urban networks where graph vertices represent lin-
ear spatial features, and their intersections are represented by edges (Hillier and
Hanson, 1984). Such a representation emphasize the purely structural character-
istics of the urban network (Bera and Claramunt, 2003; Claramunt and Winter,
2007; Hillier and Hanson, 1984; Porta et al., 2006), and is therefore appropriate
for the analysis of the purely structural properties of the system.
Graphs analysis not only allows the analysis of network-like urban structures,
but also of spatial partitions of urban space. Partitions of space have been for
a long time studied with the help of specific types of planar graphs—Voronoi

37
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

diagrams and Delaunay triangulations. The dual structure of a planar Voronoi


diagram is the Delaunay triangulation (Okabe et al., 1999). Thus, Delaunay tri-
angulations are duals of Voronoi diagrams. Voronoi polygons are specially suited
to analyse neighbourhood problems in space, where the focal spatial feature is
represented as a vertex in the Delaunay triangulation and its immediate neigh-
bourhood is delimited by its dual Voronoi polygon. Voronoi diagrams have also
been studied across multiple granularities as a hierarchical data structure (Gold
and Angel, 2006). In a similar manner, Voronoi diagrams will be used in Chap-
ter 4.4 to study the partitioning of space by the reference regions of landmarks.
Note the difference in terminology and properties with the dual graph represen-
tations of networks, where dual-graph representations of linear graphs are not
homomorphic, i.e. by constructing the dual graph representation of a dual graph
representation, the primal graph representation is not obtained. The properties
are not symmetrical.

2.3.5 Basic Measures for Network Analysis

Among the most important structural properties of network elements are their
centrality characteristics. Three basic centrality measures allow the structural
significance of a network element to be characterized: degree centrality, closeness
centrality and betweenness centrality.
Degree centrality CiD of a vertex vi , in space syntax called connectivity, is a
measure specifying the number of direct neighbours (vertices connected by edges)
of a vertex:
X
CiD = eij (2.1)
j∈V

Degree centrality is a local measure, determining the characteristics of a vertex


only within the context of its direct neighbors.
Closeness centrality is a measure reflecting the average length of the shortest
paths from the vertex vi to all other nodes of the graph. Let pij denote the length
of the shortest path between the vertices vi and vj , and ni the number of such
shortest paths in the graph G:

(ni − 1)
CiC = P (2.2)
j=1..n pij

Nodes with high closeness centrality have low average length of the path to all
other nodes in the graph. When applied to a given urban network, this measure
reflects global properties of the structure of the city, revealing its core. In space
syntax this measure is known as global integration, or relative asymmetry, and

38
M. TOMKO 2.3. MODELING AND FORMALIZATION

is applied on dual graph representations of the axial graph (Hillier and Hanson,
1984).
A localized measure of integration, considering only the network within a
radius of three steps is frequently used to reveal the variation of integration
across the network. This step-distance is based on empirical findings related to
the average length of pedestrian walks (Penn et al., 1998).
Betweenness centrality (also load, choice) quantifies the likelihood a graph
vertex lies on a shortest path between two other vertices of the graph. Between-
ness centrality CiB of the vertex vi was defined by Freeman (1977) as follows:

X njk (i)
CiB = (2.3)
i6=j6=k
njk

where njk (i) is the number of paths between vj and vk leading through vi . Be-
tweenness centrality provides a global value of a network element and thus allows
its structural characteristics to be compared with all other nodes in the graph.
Betweenness centrality is less influenced by the choice of the study area then local
characteristics of centrality.
Geographically embedded street networks or river systems display structural
patterns that can be studied by exploring the properties of their graph represen-
tations (Heinzle et al., 2006). The distribution of values of the different centrality
measures of graph elements reveals structural properties of the network and its
pattern. For example, regular grid-like street networks can be characterized in
terms of the distribution of the degree centrality and closeness centrality values
of the streets. The hierarchical model of space used in this thesis will be based
on the study of the distribution of betweenness centrality over several patterns
of urban networks to reveal their hierarchical structure.

2.3.6 Basic Elements of the Network

The selection of the elementary constituent of an urban network has an important


impact on the results of the analysis. Most geographers, urban analysts, and
therefore also traditional geographic information systems use street segments as
the building block of the street network.
Urban planners promoting the space syntax theory introduced the concept
of axial lines for urban space analysis (Hillier and Hanson, 1984). They define
axial lines as the longest line of sight in a convex space. The minimal graph of
axial lines, i.e. a graph with the smallest possible number of axial lines covering
all the convex spaces of the studied environment, is unique (Turner et al., 2005).

39
CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND

Axial lines have been studied as the basic building element of graph rep-
resentations for their relation to the conceptualization of convex spaces. It has
been, however, shown that further concatenations of street segments and/or axial
lines take place in human mental representations. Approaches based on strokes
or continuity lines have been proposed to account for such cognitive chunking of
linear elements of space (Figueiredo and Amorim, 2005; Thomson and Richard-
son, 1999). Concatenations of street segments sharing street names into named
streets was proposed by Jiang and Claramunt (2004), leveraging the semantic
properties of the analytical elements in combination with their structural proper-
ties. Such named streets then represent a functional modelling element of street
networks. Named streets are defined as the set street segments sharing a label
(street name), and are represented as a single modelling element of the network
analysed. Named streets are further used as the basic modelling element of net-
works in this thesis.

40
Chapter 3

Destination Descriptions

In this chapter, the concept of destination descriptions is introduced, as well as


their basic characteristics. These properties are derived from empirical experience
and illustrated with example scenarios.

3.1 Scenario

Let us return to the example of Stephanie, an inhabitant of Hannover return-


ing home from a business trip, as presented in the introduction of this thesis
(Section 1.1). In the given situation the two communication partners can make
several assumptions. The taxi driver can make at least the following inferences
about Stephanie:

• Stephanie wants to get to the centre of Hannover, not another city, nor
the centre of a local village. If she wanted to get to these places—unusual,
although possible destinations for a taxi driver at the Hannover airport, she
would specify them in more detail. Furthermore, the whole set of directions
enforces the assumption (the centre combined with Staatstheater).

• Stephanie is trying to be collaborative, and provides optimal directions in


the given situation. This inference is simple to make, as it is Stephanie’s
interest to get home as soon as possible (at least due to taxi costs). Longer
directions may not only not be necessary (the driver will find the way), but
restricting the driver to a specific route removes the driver’s options to op-
timize the route with his expert knowledge (e.g. in case of changes in traffic
conditions). Finally, this could be interpreted as patronizing behaviour.

• Stephanie wants to be driven to her destination in the cab she is sitting in,
i.e. she does not want to change modes of transport midway. Thus, the
road network available to cars (taxis) will be used.

41
CHAPTER 3. DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

• Stephanie has some knowledge of Hannover (i.e., either from a map, or she
may even be an inhabitant of Hannover). This inference may be based on
the fact that she knows the centre (a vague concept, someone with no prior
knowledge of a city tends to use official references), knows that Luisenstrasse
is a laneway, and knows a landmark in its vicinity. Finally, after the first
unsuccessful utterance an unfamiliar visitor of Hannover would ask the taxi
driver to find his own way with a map.

On the other hand, Stephanie can assume at least the following in the given
situation:

• The taxi driver knows Hannover (i.e., has previous knowledge acquired by
driving around the city. This may include, e.g. the capability to drive out
of the airport, and reach the city.).

• As they have never met, the taxi driver does not know her house (thus, she
has to provide some route directions).

• The taxi driver knows the most prominent places, landmarks and streets of
Hannover. She also assumes that the taxi driver knows what she means by
centre and Staatstheater.

• The taxi driver may not know all the streets in Hannover (the street name
and number would be otherwise sufficient). This is confirmed by the un-
successful utterance of Luisenstrasse.

• The taxi driver will make an effort to understand and interpret her direc-
tions correctly (i.e. will behave collaboratively, as he wants to earn his
money, which he only gets if he gets to the correct destination).

• The taxi driver will use the cab to drive her home. Thus, route directions
provided should be optimized for a car driver (and not e.g. a helicopter
pilot, which would need only a set of coordinates).

The assumptions inferred from the situation at hand may be coarser or more
detailed. Some may even seem far-fetched and ridiculous. They demonstrate,
however, the richness of background information that may be used to interpret
the directions given and that is not uttered explicitly. Difficulties in interpretation
may arise, but the context brought by the remaining references clarifies them.
Should the taxi driver know a prominent street Luisenstrasse elsewhere in the
city, the reference to the centre and the Staatstheater make it obvious that it
is not the correct interpretation of the reference. Should he not know such a

42
M. TOMKO 3.2. DEFINITION OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

street at all, he may infer from the directions that the street is right next to
the Staatstheater, and will wait for environmental clues in its vicinity to see
whether he needs more information. Of course, in case that the taxi driver knows
the Luisenstrasse in the centre of the city, the additional references may seem
redundant. The role of the additional references is to construct a full referring
expression, uniquely identifying the destination, and thus to reduce ambiguity.
The type of route directions provided by Stephanie to the taxi driver will
be from now on called destination descriptions. A more formal definition of the
destination descriptions, along with their main properties, follows.

3.2 Definition of Destination Descriptions

In this thesis, destination descriptions in urban environment are defined as fol-


lows:

Definition 6 Destination Descriptions (in urban environment): Destination de-


scriptions are a referring expression uniquely describing a destination of a route
in a given urban environment, consisting of a hierarchically ordered set of ref-
erences to prominent spatial features of various types, provided in the context of
inferential communication to a hearer with assumed a-priori spatial knowledge of
the environment.

Destination descriptions are closely related to place descriptions and route


directions. They combine the characteristics of place descriptions, with the added
constraint to adapt the description to the context of the route. As such, desti-
nation descriptions focus on the specification of the destination, thus giving the
answer to the Where? question, as opposed to turn-based route directions, fo-
cusing on providing information about How? to get to the destination. In the
example above, Stephanie provides the taxi-driver with a description of the vicin-
ity of the destination, as opposed to the turn-based directions as provided, e.g.,
by Google Maps (Figure 1.1) providing full information on the actions to take to
reach the destination. In destination descriptions, the speaker assumes that the
hearer is able to fill this information from a-priori spatial knowledge.

43
CHAPTER 3. DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

3.3 Structure of Communication of Route Di-


rections

Consider Figure 3.1, which presents three templates of the structure of the route
directions communication process. Figure 3.1a schematically depicts turn-by-turn
directions between the start and the destination (T BT ). Such route directions
contain references to to streets, connected with action directions at decision points
along the route. This is in contrast to destination descriptions, as depicted on
Figure 3.1b. A sequence of references identifies the destination of the route.
Destination descriptions (DD) are communicated with the context of the start in
mind (either explicitly requested by the hearer, or inferred in case of co-location of
the speaker and the hearer). The references included in destination descriptions
do not cover the whole route. In fact, the route is never communicated to the
hearer. Thus, the first reference of destination descriptions relates to a spatial
feature in the proximity of the destination, and not in the proximity of the start of
the route. The speaker assumes that the references made are part of the common
knowledge, shared with the hearer.

(a) Turn-based directions (TBT)

(b) Destination description (DD)

(c) Destination description followed by a series


of turn-based directions

Figure 3.1: Structure of navigation instructions from start to destination of a


route (see text for more details).

The structures of communication of route directions can be merged to provide


a generic structure of route directions for a hearer with a-priori spatial knowledge
(Figure 3.1c). Destination descriptions continue until they reach a level of detail
where either the speaker assumes no further reference is part of the a-priori spatial
knowledge of the hearer, or the hearer provides feedback when unable to identify
the reference in her or his a-priori spatial knowledge. The speaker then changes
the form of communication of route directions from destination descriptions to

44
M. TOMKO 3.4. SELECTION OF REFERENTS

turn-by-turn directions, providing detailed instructions about how to reach the


destination. Until then, the references include in destination descriptions are
non-prescriptive, i.e. do not require the hearer to follow an specific route to
the destination. Thus, although references to streets are made in the example
of Stephanie and the taxi-driver (“(Luisenstrasse) . . . is off Rathenausstrasse.”),
the taxi-driver is free to come from a different direction and uses the references
only as a description of the destination’s vicinity.
The transition to turn-based directions may happen earlier or later in the de-
scription, depending on the extent of the inferred hearer’s a-priori spatial knowl-
edge. If the wayfinder is highly familiar with the environment and thus her or his
a-priori spatial knowledge is rich, the sequence of turn-based route directions pro-
viding detailed information about the route to take is not present in the resulting
route directions.
The generic structure of communication of route directions can be extended
for routes with several destinations, such as in the travelling salesman problem.
As shown in Figure 3.2, the structure in Figure 3.1c can be used repeatedly to
produce route directions for multiple destinations (i.e., Dest.’,Dest.).

Figure 3.2: Structure of spatial communication for a route with a transition point
(Dest.’ )(see text for details).

3.4 Selection of Referents in Destination De-


scriptions

In an ideal case where the destination of the route is known to the speaker and the
hearer, and this knowledge is also mutually known, the speaker may use a direct
reference. It is, however, almost impossible to establish such mutual knowledge
(Section 2.2.4). Furthermore, for most locations of a particular city, such mutual
knowledge is also highly unlikely. Only members of a narrow group of people with
large overlaps in common knowledge (e.g. family members, colleagues, fellow
students or members of a social club), have means to infer the mutuality of their
spatial knowledge.
Thus, the speaker includes also references to entities of coarser granularities
in the destination descriptions, to construct a spatial referring expression and
thus uniquely identify the referent to the hearer. Among multiple alternatives,

45
CHAPTER 3. DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

the reference to the most prominent feature provides highest likelihood of correct
interpretation (Pattabhiraman and Cercone, 1990). It requires the least cognitive
effort from the speaker to be retrieved from the set of alternatives. Furthermore,
the speaker assumes that a prominent referent will require a low cognitive effort
of the hearer when linking the references made by the speaker to his or her spatial
mental representations of the same referents.
So, the speaker refers to well-known elements of the city in the proximity
or containing the destination. With every additional reference made, the spa-
tial extent in consideration is more restricted. Consecutive references point to
entities within the extent of the previous referent. Every reference specifies the
destination in more detail, as well as mutually enforcing the interpretation of
the other references. The selection of consecutive references by the speaker is
made in a manner maximally exploiting the meaning of the previous reference,
thus maximizing its relevance. Furthermore, the understanding of every consecu-
tive reference is achieved in the enriched context of which the previous reference
is part. The combination of the references uniquely describes the destination,
and any omission of a reference would increase the ambiguity of the resulting
directions.
The hearer expects a reference to a referent of maximal possible relevance in
a given context. If multiple interpretations of a reference are possible, the optimal
one is the one maximizing the relevance of the utterance (Hasida et al., 1995).
The cognitive environment (Sperber and Wilson, 1986) of the hearer changes
with every reference made. Every reference enriches this environment and makes
it less ambiguous.
The destination description provided by Stephanie in the example above
can be represented by a schema of the referents included (Figure 3.3). The
hierarchy of granular references reflects their prominence within Hannover. The
prominence of a spatial feature drives the selection of referents for destination
descriptions. The cognitive effort to link the reference to its mental representation
is lower among prominent entities. Thus, by applying the principle of relevance,
prominent spatial features are more likely to be included in route directions.
Let us explore the selection of the referents more formally. Let us call the spa-
tial mental representation of the speaker S and that of the hearer H (Figure 3.4).
The content of S and H are the mental representations of the experienced ele-
ments of the city, i.e. the reality R. Thus, S and H are sets of these mental
representations, and they are incomplete representations of R. The perception of
the environment by an agent is subjective, incomplete, and determined by per-
sonal characteristics of the agent, and therefore the content of the sets S and H

46
M. TOMKO 3.4. SELECTION OF REFERENTS

Figure 3.3: Schema of the hierarchy of references in the destination description


for the route from Hannover Airport to Luisenstrasse.

are not equal (S 6= H).

Figure 3.4: Mental representations of the speaker (S) and the hearer (H), formed
by experiencing the reality. Common knowledge of the speaker and the hearer
(C) represents the subset of mental representations of elements of the city shared
in S and H. Note that the hierarchical structures of S, H and C are represented
as tree-like structures for simplicity only (Arc denote the partial order in the
hierarchy).

S and H, consist of mental representations of elements e1..n of any of Lynch’s


five types of elements of the city. The elements in S and H are organized in hierar-
chical structures defined by the respective partial orders hS (S, ≤) and hH (H, ≤).
The structures hS and hH are different, as they are results of individual spatial
experience of the reality R (hS 6= hH ).
To be able to infer the meaning of the route directions correctly, the structure
of the hearer’s spatial knowledge must be compatible with that of the speaker. As
the familiarity of a person with a certain environment increases, the person’s spa-
tial mental representation increases in size and the hierarchical structure emerges.

47
CHAPTER 3. DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

If the spatial behaviour of the speaker and the hearer has common characteristics,
as is the case with most people inhabiting a certain area, the structures hS and hH
share some common characteristics. The intersection of the sets S and H is the
set of elements forming the common knowledge C of the speaker and the hearer
(S ∩ H = C). The common knowledge C has a hierarchical structure hC (C, ≤).
For any two elements ea and eb , parts of common knowledge C (ea , eb ∈ S, H, C),
the following holds true {ea , eb |if ea ≤S eb and ea ≤H eb then ea ≤C eb } . In case
that the set of elements in C is large, i.e. the size of C approaches that of S, the
speaker can provide destination descriptions to the hearer in an inferential spatial
communication, and the likelihood of the hearer inferring the meaning intended
by the speaker is high.
The following cases may then happen in the communication:

1. The reference provided by the speaker is to an element ex that is part of the


common knowledge (ex ∈ C). Assuming that there are no linguistic barriers
(the reference to the referent is made so that the meaning interpreted by
the hearer is to the same referent), understanding is achieved.

Figure 3.5: Detail of the hierarchical structures S, H and C (see text for details).

Imagine that the referent is to the element e5 in Figure 3.5 (detail of Fig-
ure 3.4), and that the reference to this referent is unambiguous (e.g., it is a
castle, and there is only one castle in the set C). If the castle was also the
destination of the route described in the destination description, the direc-
tions: “Go to the castle.” will be correctly understood by the hearer. This
is a frequent case in the communication with taxi drivers where the intended
destination is a well known, prominent location with an unambiguous and
familiar name.

2. The reference provided by the speaker is to an element ex that is not com-


monly known ((ex ∈ S) ∧ (ex ∈ / H)). In such a case, a coarser referent in
the spatial vicinity of the destination should be selected by the speaker.

48
M. TOMKO 3.4. SELECTION OF REFERENTS

This can be demonstrated by a small alteration of the above scenario. As-


sume that the area of the castle consists of the Old Palace (element e10 )
and the New Palace (element e11 ) (Figure 3.5). If the speaker refers to e11 ,
which is not known to the hearer, understanding is not be reached. Then,
the speaker should provide the reference of coarser granularity (e.g. e5 , the
Castle).

Note that the semantics of the reference may allow the hearer to infer the
meaning of the reference: a palace is a part of the Castle; once there, the
driver may ask for detailed turn-based directions, or find the palace based
on environmental clues. If it is not possible to provide references of coarser
granularity, turn-based directions of full detail must be provided.

An extension of this scenario can be imagined. Imagine that the set C con-
tains elements that can be referred to with the same reference (e.g., a name). A
simple, direct reference to one of these entities is then ambiguous in the spatial
context in which the destination description is provided. Destination descrip-
tions are referring expressions, as they must identify the destination of a route
uniquely. Incomplete referring expressions lead to a lack of orientation (Paraboni
and van Deemeter, 2002). The principle of relevance drives the interpretation of
the references—the cognitive environment in which the references are provided
contains also parameters of spatial context. The current location assists with the
hearer’s interpretation of the reference.
This reasoning is closely related to the interpretation of meanings in collab-
orative games, as introduced by Hasida et al. (1995) and Hasida (1996). If a
communicator sends a message m1 , and this message may encode the contents
c1 and c2 , and there is a possibility of the message m2 to convey the content c2
uniquely, then the most relevant interpretation of a message m1 corresponds to
the content c1 (Figure 3.6). Note that Hasida et al. (1995) provide the reasoning in
terms of Grice’s cooperative principle, as opposed to the interpretation provided
here, which follows the more cognitively plausible relevance theory of communi-
cation. The implications for the selection of references and the interpretation of
their meaning are illustrated in the following examples.
Let us assume that there are numerous castles in the proximity of the location
in which the communication of the route directions occurs, all present in the
common spatial knowledge C (Figure 3.7). Furthermore, let us assume that the
directions are provided by the speaker to the hearer in the spatial context of
the start location e13 . The destination castle where the speaker wishes to get is
represented by e5 . Several scenarios are then possible:

49
CHAPTER 3. DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

(a) Possible encoding of con- (b) Relevance-based inter-


tent by messages pretation of the encoding

Figure 3.6: Possible encodings of two contents in messages, and their interpreta-
tion based on relevance theory.

Figure 3.7: Detail of the hierarchical structure of the set C (see text for details).

1. A second castle is found in the proximity, represented by the element e9 .


The speaker and the hearer are in the spatial context of e13 . The directions:
“To the Castle!” will be interpreted by the hearer to mean: “to e5 ”, as pre-
dicted by the principle or relevance. The element e9 is of lower prominence
then e5 , requiring more cognitive effort to relate to the reference made. The
meaning conveyed by the stimulus is interpreted in a manner to maximize
the relevance of the stimulus.

2. The current location of the speaker and the hearer (e13 ) is within a second
castle (element e6 ). Note that both elements e5 and e6 have equivalent
granularity in the structure of the space concerned, i.e. they have similar
prominence. Physical co-presence is a strong determinant for the interpreta-
tion of references. The principle of relevance will lead the hearer to interpret
the reference to the castle as meaning the element e6 . The relevance of the
directions: “To the Castle!” will be judged low by the hearer, as a location
matching this reference has already been reached. The meaning intended
by the speaker will not be the meaning understood by the hearer. A refer-
ence to a coarser element of C therefore needs to be added, such as e2 . The
resulting directions will then consists of two references (to e2 (Prague) and

50
M. TOMKO 3.5. COMMON KNOWLEDGE

e5 (castle)), such as: “the Prague Castle”.

3. The destination is located close to multiple elements of similar names and


prominence. Imagine three neighboring, equidistant castles of similar promi-
nence e4 , e5 and e6 . The castles e4 and e5 have the same distance from the
current location e13 . The interpretation of any direct reference to e4 or e5
would be ambiguous, and at the granularity of e2 both castles are indistin-
guishable. Destination descriptions to the element e2 should be provided,
and from there, turn-based directions are necessary. Note that we assume
that the reference to both elements is the Castle. Should it not be so, the
proper noun, or a referring expression based on characteristic of the castle
can be used: the Old Castle, the Prague Castle.

3.5 Common Spatial Knowledge of the Environ-


ment

Destination descriptions require the hearer to use a-priori spatial knowledge in


combination with the content explicitly communicated in destination descriptions
through references. The meaning of the references has to be interpreted, and this
interpretation requires the consideration of the context in which the reference is
made. These characteristics fundamentally differentiate destination descriptions
from turn-based directions, where neither a-priori spatial knowledge, nor the
contexts in which the directions are generated are required to properly interpret
the meaning of the directions and reach the destination.
A-priori spatial knowledge required for successful communication or inter-
pretation of destination descriptions has all the properties discussed earlier: an
experiential and integrated hierarchical structure. As the speaker provides infor-
mation about the destination of the route, he or she must always have a-priori
spatial knowledge of the environment.
On the other hand, the existence of a-priori spatial knowledge of the hearer
must be inferred by the speaker from the perceivable characteristics of the hearer
and other stimuli in the cognitive environment, defining the communication con-
text. The hearer relates the directions received to her or his own spatial knowl-
edge, as shown in Figure 2.3.
It is common to qualify people living in and knowledgeable of certain lo-
cations as locals. The term local will be used in this thesis as alternative for
agent with a-priori knowledge of the environment. An overlap in the mental
representations of the speaker and the hearer (the domains), as well as in their

51
CHAPTER 3. DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

hierarchical structures is assumed in this thesis. The coverage of their common


spatial knowledge enables inferential communication of route directions in a given
urban environment. In the communication situation of a navigation system and
a human user, the system has to infer that the wayfinder has some a-priori spa-
tial knowledge of the environment. The references included in the destination
descriptions have to be selected in a manner maximizing the reliability of the
resulting destination descriptions.
The hearer makes an effort to interpret the destination descriptions in a man-
ner that will maximize their relevance in conjunction with the current context and
her or his spatial knowledge. The principle of relevance is the driving force guid-
ing the interpretation of the destination descriptions. To reach consensus between
the speaker and the hearer, the reference selected by the speaker is communicated
in a destination description and related to the most relevant entity in the spatial
mental representation of the hearer. In case of unambiguous interpretation of the
reference by the hearer, the related spatial mental representation refers to the
same entity in the real world. This is only possible if the speaker referred to an
entity that is part of the common knowledge of the two communicators.
In the example above, Stephanie communicates a destination description to
the taxi driver in an inferential communication process. Stephanie and the taxi
driver are mutual strangers. They mutually assume at least coarse familiarity of
the communication partner with Hannover, and thus the existence of common
knowledge. This assumption is based on inference from the respective cognitive
environments of the two communicators.
Supportive evidence (e.g., sitting in a cab, current location) allow them to
tacitly assume a shared functional perspective on the urban structure, determined
by the ostensive choice of the mode of transport and the starting point to which
the directions are related. With this tacit evidence, the hearer is able to reach
understanding about the meaning of the references selected by Stephanie for the
destination description.
In these references, Stephanie’s spatial knowledge is disclosed ostentatively
to the taxi driver. The hearer discloses the shared possession of this knowledge by
the act of driving, without questioning the content of the destination description.
Similarly, in the first communication attempt, the taxi-driver disclosed the lack of
spatial knowledge by not driving to Luisenstrasse directly after the reference to
this street. It is thus possible to extend the generic model of route directions with
the case of communication of route directions in a dialog, where a negotiation
about references may be included at any stage (Figure 3.8). Ambiguity resolution
may also be implemented in a computational system as a detailed, hierarchically

52
M. TOMKO 3.6. CHARACTERISTICS OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

finer, set of turn-based route directions included upon request by the user.

Figure 3.8: Structure of spatial communication with a negotiation dialog (N eg.).

Note that incorrect interpretation of the references is possible, and osten-


tatively manifested by the driver driving to a different destination than the one
meant by the speaker. Such situations can be disambiguated by the sequence
of multiple references, where each consecutive reference specifies the destination,
as well as the previous references, in more detail. The combination of the refer-
ences is highly unique in a given communication context. As such, a full referring
expression is composed.

3.6 Characteristics of Destination Descriptions

Destination descriptions represent a specific case of referring expressions as de-


fined by Dale (1992). They serve the goal of uniquely identifying the destination
of a route to a wayfinder with at least coarse previous spatial knowledge of the
environment in question. They do so without prescribing the detailed route to
be taken, leaving the freedom of choice and the possibility of alteration to the
wayfinder during locomotion itself. Furthermore, the brevity of destination de-
scriptions is a significant property lowering the effort necessary to remember them
and so allows the wayfinder to concentrate the cognitive effort on other tasks, such
as wayfinding or driving.
In destination descriptions, references are serialized hierarchically, usually
in order from references to best known, most prominent referents in the wider
vicinity of the destination or in its coarse direction, to more detailed references
to spatial features in the close vicinity of the destination. The ordering of the ref-
erences in the actual verbalization may, however, differ due to linguistic reasons.
Note that the change in granularity of references selected is due to the narrowing
of the space within which the destination has to be singled out and not to the
structure of the route as such. Changes in granularities of route descriptions due
to the complexity of the route have been previously suggested by Agrawala and
Stolte (2001), Klippel et al. (2003) and Richter (2007a), among others.
As each reference provides information about a narrower section of the space
described, even descriptions of long and complex routes are relatively brief. The
presence of references to a variety of types of spatial features allows an efficient

53
CHAPTER 3. DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

and brief description of the route. As the directions proceed from general to more
detailed references, the certainty of the speaker that the hearer has sufficient
spatial knowledge decreases. In human communication, speakers then change
from destination descriptions to turn-based directions.
The examples presented show how the current location and the granular
structure of the environment impact on the selection of references by the speaker,
and consecutively their interpretation by the hearer. The minimum spatial detail
communicated in a reference occurring in destination descriptions is that of the
first reference. The selection of consecutive references then consists of the task of
retrieving a relevant reference within the context area specified by the previous
reference.
The examples presented point to the importance of a cognitively motivated
model of the space, in order to be able to execute a formal model of destina-
tion descriptions computationally. Therefore, before introducing the model of
destination descriptions, the cognitively motivated, experiential structure of the
environment will be discussed.

54
Chapter 4

Hierarchical Data Structures for


Destination Descriptions

In this chapter, the hierarchical organization of the urban environment is ex-


plored, in order to derive means of structuring spatial datasets hierarchically for
use with the model of destination descriptions.

4.1 Hierarchical Structure of the Urban Envi-


ronment

The urban environment consists of various spatial features, such as suburbs,


prominent landmarks, streets and their junctions in the street network, water
canals and city walls, to name a few. All and any of those may and do appear in
human generated route directions.
These spatial features may be hierarchically organized in individual hierar-
chies, a fact often used in formalized classification systems, such as administrative
hierarchies of land subdivisions or the classification of streets in urban networks
by number of lanes and other designer criteria. Note that this organization is
only conceptual and not perceivable in reality.
As mentioned, administrative classifications are not necessarily suitable for
cognitively ergonomic provision of route directions. This is due to several factors:

Classification criteria Administrative partition of space is motivated by other


then experiential criteria, and is thus not necessarily compatible with the
experiential classification of urban space in spatial mental hierarchical repre-
sentations of locals. Similarly, the classification of streets in street networks
may not correlate well with the experience of prominence of streets in the
city.

55
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

Structure Administrative hierarchical classifications are designed to provide a


finite number of hierarchically ordered classes of the features classified, de-
termined in advance. They form a levelled hierarchy that has a partial
order between its classes. Such discrete levels are not necessarily reflected
in our mental representations. An element may appear through multiple
levels of granularity. Imagine a landmark, such as the Eiffel Tower —it can
well serve as a global landmark embodying the whole of Paris, as well as a
local navigation aid for a wayfinder in its vicinity.

Homogeneity Administrative classifications of spatial features are usually ho-


mogeneous. Only one type of Lynch’s elements of the city is classified in
the hierarchy. The interdependent inclusion of spatial features from sev-
eral of such experiential hierarchies in destination descriptions suggests a
single, integrated hierarchical structure. Thus, the relationships between
the individual hierarchies of different types need to be established for inter-
changeable provision of destination descriptions.

As discussed later in this section, prominence is the principal factor influenc-


ing the structure of experiential hierarchies. Thus, in order to computationally
implement the model of destination descriptions presented, spatial data struc-
tured along cognitively motivated principles are required. The consideration of
the prominence of the spatial features that can be selected as references is an
essential factor influencing the composition of the destination descriptions.
The transition between the level of detail of references in destination descrip-
tions is often accompanied with a change of the type of the referent. At a certain
granularity, people make the choice of the referent most appropriate to the spatial
structure of the route described. The concept of integrated spatial hierarchies and
their construction is introduced in more detail in Section 4.5.

4.2 Experiential Hierarchies

Experiential hierarchies form in mental representations as a product of the in-


teraction of wayfinders with the environment. The intensity of experience of
a spatial feature is related to its functional, structural or semantic (individual)
prominence in a specific environment. This experience of prominence establishes
a partial order between the mental representations of the individual spatial fea-
tures, and an experiential hierarchy emerges. People’s individual experiential
hierarchies represent one of the fundamental structures on which they base their
assumptions about the spatial knowledge of others (Fussell and Krauss, 1992).

56
M. TOMKO 4.2. EXPERIENTIAL HIERARCHIES

Individual experiential hierarchies cannot be externalized. Common properties


of such structures among locals—overlaps in the content and hierarchical orga-
nization of common spatial knowledge—warrant the success of inferential com-
munication. Common knowledge of a spatial feature may be inferred, and the
selection of references to elements of a city in communication such as destination
descriptions is possible. Thus, the construction of hierarchical datasets following
cognitively motivated principles will provide means to draw qualified estimates of
the relative prominence of spatial features in a given environment. For simplicity,
such hierarchical orderings of spatial datasets are called experiential hierarchies,
too.
The prominence of a spatial feature influences its rank in hierarchical mental
representations. Two properties must be met by a spatial feature to be included
in destination descriptions:

Prominence The feature must stand out from the background, be salient, dis-
tinct, or unique (Sorrows and Hirtle, 1999).

Identity To be included in destination descriptions, the feature must also be


uniquely identifiable. If this condition is not met, it is difficult for the
speaker to select it as an unambiguous reference.

The prominence of each of the types of elements of the city is the result of
its visual, semantic and structural characteristics. For each of these types, how-
ever, the relevance of these characteristics is different. Districts are difficult to
be perceived from a single point. They are experienced as an cohesive, homo-
geneous environment, sharing characteristics and distinct from its surrounding.
The semantic and structural characteristics are therefore comparatively stronger
then visual ones. Paths may be experienced due to their structural properties,
facilitating frequent trips through the city due to their structural embedding.
Landmarks are remembered due to their unique visual or semantic properties,
such as the distinct characteristics of their façades or the type of business resid-
ing in a building.
The identifiability of the feature is an important parameter in communica-
tion among mutual strangers. If two locals are not mutual strangers (i.e., are
member of a community, such as a family), their common spatial knowledge has
the properties of mutual knowledge. This extended, shared context allows for
descriptive reference in destination descriptions, such as: “Go to the cafe where
we celebrated your birthday last year”. Among strangers, such references are
not possible. Thus, the speaker has to rely on a common system of labelling of
spatial features, such as street names, suburb names, and well-known vernacular

57
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

toponyms. In this model, we will rely on administrative toponyms, such as suburb


names and street names. Note that the entities labeled by those toponyms may
not necessarily have the exact extent as specified in the administrative specifica-
tions. The hearer does not need to know the exact specification of the boundaries
of Hannover to understand the reference to it.

4.3 Composition of the Urban Environment

As introduced in Section 2.1.2, five elements of the city form (concepts) are
recognized as the basic building blocks of mental representations of urban space.
In the model of destination descriptions presented later, three of those elements
are explored, namely districts, landmarks and paths. Due to their vague definition
and operationalization in the work of Lynch (1960) (for a different approach to
re-definition of the types of elements of the city, see Conroy Dalton and Bafna,
2003), their refined definitions as used in this thesis are introduced:

Path: a path is defined as a one-dimensional conceptual entity of the environ-


ment along which observers move. In this thesis, the city is experienced
through movement along streets, forming the street network. The streets
are then the physical entity along which the wayfinders move. Note the
distinction with the use of path as a graph-theoretical term.

The basic element of this network is the named street (further used inter-
changeably with street), consisting of all the street segments sharing the
same name (label). Reasons for this choice are explained later in this chap-
ter.

District: a section of the city with a two-dimensional extent, sharing some com-
mon characteristics and have a distinct inside and outside.

Landmark: Landmarks are point-like spatial features, serving as spatial refer-


ences standing out from their environment.

Two types of districts are explored in our model: the hierarchical partition of
space into suburbs (administrative partition), and a more cognitively motivated
hierarchy of spatial partitions, created by reconstructing the reference regions of
landmarks.
The two remaining types of elements of the city, nodes and edges, are not
formally explored in the remainder of this thesis. The extension of the model to
include these elements is a subject for future work.

58
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

4.4 Hierarchization of Elements of the City

Complex systems, such as the urban structure, may be analysed at multiple


granularities. The definition of the elementary block, the finest granularity of
the system, is an arbitrary choice of the analyst, motivated by the characteristics
of the phenomena studied. In this Section, the principles of hierarchisation of
the three types of elements of the city are introduced, as used in the model of
destination descriptions. In order to rank elements in a hierarchy, a parameter
determining the partial order of the elements is determined. Furthermore, the
integration of these diverse hierarchies is explored.

4.4.1 Hierarchies of Landmarks1

A landmark is prominent due to its visual, structural or semantic properties. It is


prominent only as far as it is either unique, or highly salient in the specific spatial
context—the reference region of the landmark. The landmark is the anchor of
its reference regions (Kettani and Moulin, 1999). In its reference region, the
landmark is dominant, i.e. it is the most prominent element of the region. This
determines the reference region as the region of prominence of a landmark, and is
a parameter for establishing a partial order—hierarchical ranking—of landmarks.
The example given by Montello et al. (2003): “The area around Eiffel Tower.”
suggests that a landmark (the Eiffel Tower) is a generator of a cognitive represen-
tation of a region in its vicinity. The region may be of the size of its vista space,
as it is the case of the local 7-Eleven, but may be even larger. The uniqueness of
the Eiffel Tower in its visual, semantic and structural parameters grants it a ref-
erence region of minimally the size of Paris. Furthermore, in its reference region,
a landmark has the properties of a focal point, a natural focus of the given region
toward which attention in the given spatial context will gravitate, for instance in
tacit communication (Schelling, 1960).
Lynch distinguishes between distant landmarks, physically inaccessible, and
visible from a large region, and local landmarks, physically and visually accessible
in a restricted space. Therefore, there may be several levels of reference regions
of the landmarks. The properties of the reference regions will be further explored
as an input for integration of district and landmark hierarchies.

1
Parts of this section were previously published in (Winter et al., to appear 2007). I acknowl-
edge the contribution of my co-authors Stephan Winter, Birgit Elias and Monika Sester. The
support of the National Mapping Agency of Lower Saxony, Germany (Landesvermessung und
Geobasisinformation Niedersachsen) which provided the testing dataset for Hannover (ATKIS
Basis DLM (www.atkis.de)) is gratefully acknowledged.

59
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

Salience measures the distinction of a feature from its background. Measures


for automatically quantifying the salience of a landmark in a city environment
have previously been identified and implemented by Elias (2003); Nothegger et al.
(2004); Raubal and Winter (2002), and further extended to include their struc-
tural properties by Klippel and Winter (2005). These measures allow the salience
of spatial features to be quantified and their rank order established.
If we observe the urban structure at a certain granularity, only landmarks of a
certain hierarchical order appear. These are landmarks of similar salience. Global
landmarks have a much larger reference region then local landmarks and their
occurrence in the hierarchy is much less frequent then that of local landmarks.
The size of the reference region therefore allows the establishment of a strat-
ified hierarchical system over several granularity levels. Any location in an urban
space may be characterized by reference to a landmark, i.e. it belongs to a refer-
ence region of a landmark. In the data model presented, the space consists of a
finite number of jointly exhaustive reference regions and their landmarks, across
multiple granularities. The reference regions must be mutually disjoint, as their
generator landmarks are the most salient in the given area. The reference regions
of the landmarks thus constitute a spatial partition. Note that the subset of
landmarks present at a coarser granularity level is present also at the finer level
(e.g., the Eiffel Tower may be considered as a global landmark of Paris, as well as
a local landmark for navigation in its direct vicinity). Thus, landmarks’ reference
regions constitute a hierarchy of partitions, not a hierarchical partition.

Construction of Hierarchies of Landmarks

To build the hierarchy of landmarks, a set of landmarks in the environment has


to be identified. Landmarks at intersections present an important element of
route directions, especially where turns occur (Klippel and Winter, 2005; Michon
and Denis, 2001). If the regional identification method is applied to features
in vista space of each street intersection in an urban space, the collection of
the vista spaces in which the landmarks are evaluated covers the street space
exhaustively. This is due to the high number of landmarks, where the vista space
of each landmark contains several neighbouring landmarks. The identification of
landmarks follows the principles described in Elias (2003, 2006). Landmarks are
selected among buildings at the intersections, based on visibility analysis (Elias,
2006). The result is a list of landmarks for each junction. A more detailed
specification of the methods and data used is discussed in the following section.
The landmarks identified are used as seeds of Voronoi polygons, thus creating

60
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

a Voronoi partition. Each Voronoi polygon is a minimal convex space in which


the landmark is dominant. Note the use of Voronoi polygons instead of vista
spaces, as vista spaces may overlap.
A leveled hierarchy of landmarks can then be computed by the application
of a recursive selection procedure (Winter et al., to appear 2007)(Algorithm 1).

Algorithm 1: Recursive selection of landmarks through consecutive gran-


ularity levels.
Data: L1 : Set of landmarks lk1 at level 1
Result: L1..i : Sets of landmarks at granularity levels i
i i
1 foreach landmark lk ∈ L do
2 compute the most salient landmark lk. max in its immediate
neighborhood Lik = {lj |dist(lj , lk ) ≤ 1, lj ∈ Li }. The distance is defined
as topological distance on Delaunay triangulation;
i i
3 Put {lk. max |lk ∈ L } as the set of landmarks at the next higher level of
i+1
salience, L ;
i+1
4 if the number of landmarks in the set |L | > 1 then
5 compute the Voronoi partition and the Delaunay triangulation for all
lki+1 ∈ Li+1 ;
6 Go to step 1;
7 else
8 Stop

All landmarks exist at the lowest, or finest level i = 1. The landmarks present
at higher levels are subsets of the set L1 . Each landmark can be characterized
by the maximal level m at which it appears in the leveled hierarchy (lm ), and by
the current level i at which it is used in discourse (li ), with i ≤ m. The difference
is the reference region associated with the landmark. Landmarks at level 1 can
be considered local landmarks. Landmarks of higher levels (i > 1) are more and
more global in their spatial context.

The Hierarchical Dataset of Landmarks of Hannover

To demonstrate Algorithm 1, consider a testing dataset covering the central part


of the city of Hannover (Figure 4.1). Landmark data were available for 283
intersections, evaluated by the application of the ID3 algorithm to 2200 build-
ings (Elias, 2003, 2006). The landmark identification procedure automatically
identifies building landmarks at each intersection, based on a complex dataset
consisting of the cadastral map, the topographic data set ATKIS, and a high-
resolution 3D city model generated from airborne laser scanning, were available.
Each potential decision point is investigated detecting the salient buildings in its
vista space.

61
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

Figure 4.1: A map of the test area—center of Hannover, Germany (approximately


4 × 4 km, landmarks used are locted in the area highlighted in grey).

Together, 868 building objects were selected as potential landmarks, on av-


erage three for each junction. Due to the short distance between intersections in
urban road networks, many buildings are visible from multiple junctions. There-
fore, the analysis procedure can select individual buildings for more than one
junction as a potential landmark. In the test area there are buildings that are se-
lected only once, but also a building that is selected at 48 junctions as a potential
landmark. Removing the redundant counts, the list of all potential landmarks in
the test area consists of the 295 different building objects.
All objects in this set of potential landmarks are considered equally salient.
For the application of the Algorithm 1, a relative quantification of salience is
necessary. To determine such a graduation of saliency, route-specific aspects may
be considered, or the frequency of selection of a specific building can be assessed.
The second approach was selected for its independence from individual routes
and better relation to the general experience of a city. In this way, visibility is
ranked higher among all characteristics.
The landmark dataset contains landmarks represented as point geometries
and their reference regions as polygon geometries, at the respective hierarchical
levels as identified by Algorithm 1. Together, the hierarchy of landmarks consisted
of 7 levels (Figure 4.2a-4.2d, the starting set of landmarks of Level 0 is not shown).

62
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

The counts of landmarks retained per level level of selection is shown in Table 4.1.
A textual list of landmarks and a link list of the ancestor landmarks selected in
their reference regions was reconstructed for each level of the hierarchy. This was
derived from the Delaunay triangulation, providing a neighborhood structure of
the landmarks compared.

Table 4.1: Number of landmark objects selected by hierarchical level


Level 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Landmarks 295 95 32 11 4 3 2 1

For further analysis and application of the selection of references for desti-
nation descriptions, only the top six levels of the partition were used. This limits
the number of landmarks and thus simulates a sparser distribution of prominent
features through the study space, which would otherwise not be possible with the
dataset of the size available. A hierarchy of six levels also provides a sufficient
depth of the dataset to demonstrate the functionality of the model.
The hierarchical structure of the dataset is demonstrated on Figure 4.3 for
Levels 3-7. With every finer level of the partition, the number of elements grows
exponentially and thus Level 2 (the least granular level used in the model of
destination descriptions) is not shown. The common names of the landmarks
used are shown in Table A.1 in Appendix 1. The distribution of the landmarks
if Level 2 on the background of the street network of Hannover is shown on
Figure 4.4.

4.4.2 Hierarchies of Districts

Apart from the hierarchy of partitions of the dual regions of landmarks, another
such partition fulfilling our criteria of identifiability of its constituent elements
is the administrative hierarchical partition of a city. Parts of the city, such as
suburbs, referred to by their names, occur frequently as referents in destination
descriptions of locals. Administrative partitions are therefore instances of the
spatial concept of Lynch’s type district, and administrative spatial partitions are a
data structure explored for the automated generation of destination descriptions.
Many researchers have pointed to the fact that administrative hierarchical
partitions of space do not reflect the commonsense conceptualizations, claiming
that people’s conceptualizations of boundaries between parts of the city are usu-
ally not crisp (Alexander, 1988; Dalton, 2006). As hinted by Dalton (2006), the
experience of suburbs of the locals does not exactly match the administrative
partition of the city, but is strongly determined by other structural properties,

63
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

Level 2
Level 1

(a) (b)

Level 3
Level 4

(c) (d)

Level 5
Level 6

(e) (f)

Level 7

(g)

Figure 4.2: (a): Local landmarks with their reference regions (outlined in black)
and neighbored landmarks (black dots). (b)-(f): hierarchical levels of more and
more salient landmarks. (g): the most salient landmark, present through all
levels.

64
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

Figure 4.3: Representation of the top levels of the hierarchical structure of land-
marks (Levels 3 − 7).

Figure 4.4: Spatial distribution of Level 2 landmarks on the background of their


reference regions (black lines) and the street network of Hannover (grey lines).

65
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

such as the structure of the street network. An example of such structure emerg-
ing from individual experience is the partition of the city by reference regions of
landmarks.
Administrative hierarchical partitions can be represented as tree structures.
The boundaries between the partitions are crisp and well defined (Montello, 2003;
Smith and Varzi, 2000). The boundaries are shared by partitions across multi-
ple levels of granularity, with the coarsest level containing elements of the size
of whole continents or countries. Intermediate levels of granularity are country
specific, and contain elements equivalent to states, other larger regions, counties,
down to cities and suburbs. The partial order establishing the hierarchy is that
of containment. The finest building block of an administrative partition of space
is usually a lot or a house, the smallest region delimited by ownership bound-
aries. The elements at this level of detail are rarely used in communication, and
references to concrete buildings—landmarks are used instead.
In historical cities, the delineation of suburbs is close to the experience of the
locals. This relation between the administrative partition and the experience is
evolutionary and important. Structures of historical cities often emerge by amal-
gamation of villages, usually with a historical market town at the core. Still, in
modern, planned cities, the delineation of the boundaries between administrative
partitions does not necessarily follow the experience of locals. Furthermore, while
administrative partitions such as cities or suburbs have well known names, their
size is too coarse a reference for destination descriptions.
Reference regions of landmarks have a strong experiential basis (i.e., visual
experience of the landmark), and should therefore be considered when construct-
ing experiential hierarchies of districts. Their identifiability is granted by the
name of the generator landmark (“the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower”). The hier-
archical rank of the reference region and the landmark may then be considered
structurally equivalent.
Reference regions of landmarks relate to the empirical phenomenon where a
region around a central landmark embodies the characteristics of a whole suburb
or even a larger region around. Thus, a portion of the city may belong to multiple
regions of the hierarchically higher partition (Figure 4.3).
To include references to districts into destination descriptions , the selection
model must account for a variety of hierarchical structures of districts, such as hi-
erarchical partitions (tree-like structures) and hierarchies of partitions. This must
be done in an integrated manner, as the hierarchical structure may have differ-
ent characteristics at different granularities. Both types of hierarchical structures
occur in the test dataset of Hannover, and are accounted for by the selection

66
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

model.

4.4.3 Hierarchies of Paths2

In destination descriptions, references to prominent paths (following the defin-


ition of paths of Montello (2005) presented in Section 2.1.2) are frequent. For
pedestrians and car drivers, the network of paths available is represented by the
street network. Consider the directions given to the taxi driver by Stephanie once
again (Section 3). Stephanie assumes that the knowledge of the prominent street
Rathenaustrasse is common, without asking the driver first. She also assumes
that Luisenstrasse is not prominent enough to be localized by the taxi driver
without previous reference to Rathenaustrasse. While the administrative hier-
archy of streets classifies Luisenstrasse and Rathenaustrasse at the same level,
Stephanie assumes that Luisenstrasse may not be known to the taxi driver.
Administrative hierarchies of streets are widely discussed in the literature
(Eppell et al., 2001; Marshall, 2004). Such hierarchies of streets primarily serve
the function of urban traffic and transportation planners. Often the specification
attributing a street to a specific hierarchical level is only vaguely stated and
depends on the designer or traffic planning authority. Administrative hierarchies
of streets are therefore unsuitable for a reliable inference of prominence and the
selection of path references in destination descriptions .
Locals are able to relate information provided by others to their own knowl-
edge. This is only possible to the extent to which the two hierarchies are corre-
sponding. Among locals that do not share mutual knowledge (see Section 2.2.4),
this similarity is necessarily due to the structural properties of the environment,
e.g., the street network and its higher-order functional partition.
The semantic and visual properties of streets are represented by the cumu-
lative semantic and visual properties of the building facades along them. The
semantic and visual properties of a street as such are therefore secondary or in-
herited. The space embodied by the street only acquires these parameters of
prominence once it is experienced by the wayfinder, possibly multiple times to
enforce the strength of the experience. In what follows, an argumentation sup-
porting the consideration of the structural properties of streets in the construction
of experiential hierarchies is presented.
2
Parts of this section were previously published in (Tomko et al., to appear 2007). I ac-
knowledge the contribution of my co-authors Stephan Winter and Christophe Claramunt. The
support of the National Mapping Agency of Lower Saxony, Germany (Landesvermessung und
Geobasisinformation Niedersachsen) which provided the testing dataset for Hannover (ATKIS
Basis DLM (www.atkis.de)) is gratefully acknowledged.

67
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

Street Network Elements

Experiential hierarchies of elements of street networks cannot be created without


the ability to characterize the prominent parts of the street network by quantifi-
able properties. First, the identification of the elementary part of the hierarchy
has to be performed. As reviewed in Section 2.3.6, the street network can be
modeled with different elements in mind (e.g. street centerline segments, axial
lines, strokes, or named streets).
Street networks are not the result of a partial order established by the part-of
relationship, in a manner similar to districts. No relation of containment or con-
trol can be established between two-dimensional elements of the same kind. A
different relationship thus establishes the partial-order between streets in experi-
ential hierarchies. Note that this is different for different kinds of two-dimensional
elements, e.g. a stroke may consist of multiple named streets, which in turn con-
sist of several street segments.
The model presented in this thesis builds on the selection of a named street
as the building block of the network (Jiang and Claramunt, 2004). A street name
is often the only characteristic of a street that is part of common knowledge.
Thus, named streets allow an integration of the semantic properties of the street
network, which allow to identify a street in a referring expression, such as a
destination description. Further in this thesis, in primal graph representations of
street networks, named streets will be represented as a single edge, in dual graph
representations as a vertex.

Experiential Hierarchies of Streets

The selection of an appropriate measure for the quantification of the importance


of the named street is motivated by its relation to wayfinding behaviour. This
motivation is specific in its cognitive grounding, and complements previous struc-
tural approaches motivated by hierarchical spatial data generalization (Jiang and
Claramunt, 2003).
Frequently experienced parts of the network are prominent, and thus rank
high in the hierarchical mental representations. Street connectivity influences
the pattern of urban movement flows and determines the intensity of learning
the urban layout. The prominence of streets in the network thus relates to the
structural properties of the street network.
Structurally prominent parts of the street network are not only frequently
experienced directly by wayfinders, but this experience is further strengthened

68
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

by secondary influences. Indirect sources, such as Web pages and news articles
reflect on the prominent streets, further supporting the individual experience.

Centrality Values in Street Networks

The inference of the shared experience of parts of the street network is related
to the structural properties of the network. The hierarchy created by experience
needs to take into account the likelihood of the usage of a specific street, not only
its central aspect. A comparison of the values of centrality measures and their
distribution, starting with regular street networks, follows. By the introduction
of irregularities in the regular patterns, the distribution of the centrality values
is altered and the effect is evaluated from the perspective on the impact on the
shared experience of individual streets. This allows centrality measures to be
identified, that reveal structural properties of named streets contributing to their
experiential prominence.
Rectangular grid patterns consist of perpendicular streets forming blocks.
All junctions have the same degree and are thus identical in their local structure.
Such urban layouts are typical for modern planned cities. Downtown areas of
major US and Australian cities follow this pattern, as well as some European
planned cities, e.g. Barcelona. Some of these cities have a few streets intersecting
the grid pattern diagonally. Such streets are usually well known.
Betweenness centrality reveals the relative importance of these streets, as
shown by comparison with the degree and closeness centrality. Figure 4.5 presents
a grid pattern and its dual graph representation consisting of 6 orthogonal streets,
forming a grid of 2 × 2 blocks. The dual graph analysis was performed using
the software Pajek (Batagelj and Mrvar, 2006). The graphs reveal the bipartite
structure of the north-south and east-west streets. The betweenness values of
the network of named streets are all equal. If we consider named streets as the
building element of the grid-like street network, no structural difference between
the individual streets is revealed by in any of the degree, closeness or between-
ness centrality measures. If the element of analysis is a street segment, higher
betweenness and closeness centrality values are attributed to the central part of
the grid. As all the streets are intersected by the same number of connecting
streets, degree centrality remains uniform in the whole grid.
In such a regular grid, however, the hierarchical ranking of streets by be-
tweenness and closeness is identical. Hence, irregularities in urban layouts that
impact on the perception of the city as such also cause variance between the cen-
trality values. The addition of a diagonal street (Node 7 in Figure 4.6b) in the

69
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

[0.10] 2 [0.10] 3

[0.10] 1 [0.10] 4

[0.10] 6 [0.10] 5

Pajek

(a) Street network (primal graph rep- (b) Street network (dual graph representation).
resentation) Labels represent betweenness values of streets.

Figure 4.5: Graph representations of a grid network of named streets.

grid network leads to a change of betweenness values of the streets. The north-
south streets intersect all of the streets in the network and thus would lie on most
shortest paths. They rank on top of the hierarchy when ordered by betweenness.
The newly introduced shortcut follows in the ranking. The ranking by closeness
centrality or degree centrality would, however, not reflect the direct experience
of the urban structure appropriately.
In a star-like network (Figure 4.7), the insertion of a shortcut (Street 4)
changes the reachability of the peripheries involved. Values of betweenness cen-
trality reflect this change in a manner reflecting the likelihood of common ex-
perience of a network element. Betweenness centrality thus reflects better the
evolution of experiential hierarchies of streets of wayfinders.
It is the occurrence of shortcuts between internally highly connected sub-
graphs that motivates the use of betweenness for the reconstruction of the hier-
archical structure of the street network. In a street network, such subgraphs may
stand for districts, where the internal connectivity of the street sub-network is
higher than that in the remainder of the city.
The dual graph representation of the street network from Figure 4.7 reveals
the structural changes caused by the shortcut (Figure 4.8). By the addition of
Street 4, the two distant peripheral parts of the network become directly con-
nected. A new urban core is created by the triangle 1, 3 and 4. The individual
importance of Streets 1 and 3 decreased with the introduction of the Street 4.
The measure of betweenness reveals the alteration of experiential prominence of

70
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

[0.05] 3

[0.05] 2

[0.05] 4

[0.08] 1

[0.08] 5

[0.07] 7

[0.08] 6

Pajek

(a) Street network (primal graph (b) Street network (dual graph representa-
representation) tion). Labels represent betweenness values
of streets.

Figure 4.6: Graph representations of named streets grid with a diagonal street—
shortcut.

Figure 4.7: A primal graph representation of a star-shaped street network with


streets labeled 1, 2, 3 and 4. Street 4 forms a shortcut.

streets in the network. It preserves the high prominence of Street 2 and reflects
the lowering of the importance of Streets 1 and 3. Before the insertion of Street
4, betweenness values for the Streets 1, 2 and 3 in the network were equal, 0.44.
After the insertion of Street 4, Street 1 has a betweenness centrality value of 0.41,
Streets 1 and 3 have values of 0.23 and Street 4 a value of 0.18.
Closeness centrality fails to reveal the alteration of this street network ap-
propriately. The closeness centrality value of Street 2 decreases as Street 4 is
inserted. Street 2, however, remains the only means of access to a significant
portion of the graph. Also, the relatively high values of closeness of the streets on
the peripheries of the graph compared to the central streets have little justifica-
tion from the experiential point of view. Thus, closeness centrality fails to reveal
the relative importance of the streets to the overall structure of the city. The
importance of Streets 2 and 4 would become even more prominent if a partition

71
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

(a) Dual graph representation of the street net- (b) Dual graph representation of the street net-
work, with betweenness centrality values. work, with closeness centrality values.

Figure 4.8: Dual graph representations of streets in a star-shaped street network


with added shortcut (Street 4).

of the network into a suburb was introduced. The peripheral, cohesive parts of
the graphs can be clustered into a district. In such a case, the significance of
Streets 2 and 4 as links in the functional structure of the city would be further
emphasized.
Due to its local character, degree centrality does not provide a measure of
prominence of a network element outside of its immediate neighborhood. In natu-
rally evolved spatial transport networks with high degree of asymmetry, closeness
centrality does not provide a reliable measure of hierarchical importance of a net-
work element in the overall network. It distorts the hierarchy by assigning higher
values to the streets in the core of the network. Side-lanes and alley-ways located
at the geographic center of the area of interest will always get high closeness
values, as long as they form loops (cycles) and thus do not lie on the periphery
of the graph. This structural property, however, does not necessarily make them
prominent.
Betweenness centrality reflects the probability of a street to be selected by
a frequent wayfinder for a trip within the street network. With the increasing
number of trips performed, the likelihood that betweenness approximates the
agent’s experience of the urban environment increases.

Experiential Street Hierarchies and the District Partition

The structural role of the streets facilitating movement between the functional
partitions of the city into suburbs should be considered for a refined ranking of
streets in experiential hierarchies.

72
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

The importance of a street is relatively higher if it provides the only access


to a district, for instance a suburb. It is, however, more common to have several
streets that connect the same suburbs. In turn, their respective betweenness val-
ues are lower, as the streets are part of alternative access routes. This is frequently
the case in modern agglomerations with regular grid patterns in the center of the
city. Those streets, however, are still prominent, as their prominence is in turn
supplemented by their membership in a structurally important suburb. As illus-
trated by Figure. 4.9, the two streets present alternatives for travel between the
two nodes. Their respective betweenness centrality values would, in a network,
be equal to half of the value of a single street connecting the two nodes. These
streets, however, connect a central suburb to to peripheral suburbs, which may
change the perception of their prominence in a city.

Figure 4.9: Alternative streets with equal betweenness related to their suburb
context (primal graph representation).

The higher-order structural embedding of a street contributes to its hierar-


chical ranking in experiential hierarchies. The urban district partition thus rep-
resents an overlaying functional structure over the basic structure of the street
network. To fine-tune the experiential hierarchy of streets, considering the struc-
tural relations between the districts should be explored.
In order to combine the functional and structural characteristics of the urban
structure, the betweenness centrality of districts is considered as a second para-
meter influencing the rank of streets in the network. A second graph is derived
from the partition of districts where suburbs are the nodes of the graph, edges
adjacency relationships between districts, as facilitated by streets. Betweenness
centrality allows for consideration of the following structural properties in the
street-district relationship as:

• Districts of high betweenness are crossed by a high proportion of possible


trips in the network.

• Streets contained in districts of high betweenness are likely to be experi-


enced more often.

Based on the betweenness centrality values of streets and districts, a novel


measure for ranking of the streets in an experiential hierarchy of the street network
can be introduced.

73
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

More formally, these notions are denoted as follows:

• Let i denote a street in the street network;

• D the set of districts in the city;

• Di the set of districts intersected by the street i;

• dij a district out of Di ;

• CiB the betweenness centrality value of the street i;

• CdBi the betweenness centrality of the district dij ;


j

• ndk dl the number of shortest paths linking two districts dk and dl of D;

• ndk dl (dij ) the number of shortest paths linking two districts dk and dl that
contains dij .

Betweenness centrality of a district CdBi then equals:


j

X ndk dl (dij )
CiB = (4.1)
ndk dl
dij 6=dk 6=dl

The experiential rank value E i for a named street i in the experiential hierarchy
of the street network based on the betweenness centralities of the street network
(Eq. 2.3) and the district partition of space (Eq. 4.1) is then defined as follows:
X
Ei = CiB × CdBi (4.2)
j
j

The value of Ei is calculated based on the adjacency matrix of districts and


streets. This matrix contains relations of districts intersected by streets in the
street network. If such a relation exists, the betweenness centrality CiB value of
the street i is multiplied by the betweenness centrality values of the districts in
Di (CdBi ), and the resulting values are summarized. Ei is not a normalized value,
j
and thus can be greater than 1. The values of Ei are calculated only for the
purpose of ranking, their direct comparisons between different street networks
are meaningless. Thus, Ei is an ordinal measure.
The results of a structural analysis of the street network and its higher-order
functional partition provide a relative estimate of the prominence of a street
in the city structure, presented as a ranking of the streets in an experiential
hierarchy. Such ranking allows the abstraction of the urban network at different
granularities, preserving the inherent logic of its structure. For the application

74
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

and verification of the method on a dataset of the street network and district
partition of Melbourne, Australia, see Tomko et al. (to appear 2007).

The Hierarchical Dataset of the Street Network of Hannover

To demonstrate the distribution of the values of Ei , the dataset of the the street
network of Hannover and the second level partition of the city by landmark
reference regions (Figure 4.2b) was used. The second level partition was selected
as it presents the basic partition of the city into reference regions of all the
landmarks considered. The consideration of partitions of coarser granularities
would lead to a loss of detail, as more streets would connect a single district.
First, the street centerline dataset was processed in order to merge streets
segments into street names. The unique Street ID attribute was used to merge
related street segments. Note that this was considered to be a more reliable
method then merging by real street names, as the street name attributes were
incomplete.
The betweenness centrality analysis was performed in the space syntax soft-
ware Mindwalk (Figueiredo, 2002) on a street network of 1350 named streets, out
of which 394 were located in the study area of the center of Hannover. Mindwalk
implements a computationally efficient version of betweenness centrality, called
fast choice. It considers only one random shortest path between each pair of
nodes in a graph, instead of generating all the alternative shortest paths. In
larger networks, such as the one used in the example, the differences in central-
ity values resulting from fast choice are statistically insignificant. This can be
simply verified by multiple analysis of the same network, noting that the values
computed do not change. The result of the analysis is a vector of betweenness
centrality values CiB for all the named streets in the study area.
In parallel, a matrix recording the connectivity of districts by named streets
A394×32 was created (the 394 streets in the study area intersect 32 Level 2 dis-
tricts). The matrix was based on a link-list of named streets and districts con-
nected through them. The reduction from such a 2-mode network into a 1-mode
network was performed in the network analysis software Pajek (Batagelj and
Mrvar, 2006). Consecutively, the vector of betweenness centrality values for the
districts CdBi was calculated. The resulting values are reported in Table 4.2 and
j
the connectivity of the districts is shown in Figure 4.10.
Note that the adjacency graph of the districts (Figure 4.10) is different to
the Delaunay triangulation of the landmarks. Named streets connect multiple
districts which are thus considered connected, although they may not be adjacent

75
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

Table 4.2: Betweenness centrality vector CdBi of Level 2 districts of central Han-
j
nover

District CdBi District CdBi


j j
2_H074YH2 0.333685403 cont.
2_H03WTT1 0.327886062 2_H05TWH4 0.023800516
2_H03PNBO 0.101352828 2_H05JJHO 0.023800516
2_H04SBR1 0.09743539 2_H06KOBS 0.023800516
2_H063YJC 0.071779952 2_H03PO3Z 0.022947207
2_H01P2HN 0.069681854 2_H09DX6M 0.016543923
2_H05V43Q 0.063629053 2_H04PTS0 0.015997843
2_H05V4AW 0.057025478 2_H06E9I7 0.005319844
2_H03P85A 0.055171356 2_H05T3WR 0.004174156
2_H03Q6S0 0.052112675 2_H03NG5F 0.003225806
2_H01F6M0 0.044038213 2_H05MF0G 0.002133835
2_H03WUC7 0.038127862 2_H06Y0NB 0.001971326
2_H01O23Z 0.034489386 2_H01FM8E 0.001171779
2_H01BHXG 0.034489386 2_H05RN6G 0
2_H097TLK 0.029566636 2_H05IWO5 0
2_H03NGBE 0.025948269 2_H05V49E 0
2_H03PO1O 0.025144542

Figure 4.10: The graph of the connections of the level 2 districts by named streets
(betweenness centrality values in square brackets).

76
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

in the Voronoi partition of the space.


The vectors CiB and CdBi , and the adjacency matrix of named paths and
j
districts A were combined to calculate the experiential rank values Ei for each of
the named streets, according to Equation 4.2. The plot of the Ei values for all
the named streets in the study area, in descending order, is shown in Figure 4.11.

Figure 4.11: Distribution of experiential rank values of the streets of Hannover.


Left of the dotted line are the streets of experiential rank above mean.

The values of Ei range between 0 and 0.147. The mean value calculated from
the sample was x̄ = 0.0019 with a standard deviation in the dataset σ = 0.0113.
The distribution of experiential rank values follows a power-law distribution
(Newman, 2005). The dotted line splits the named streets with Ei values above
the mean value (left of the line) from the named streets with Ei values under the
mean value (right of the line).
There are in total 33 streets with Ei above the mean x̄, and only 9 such that
their experiential rank value is more than a σ above x̄ (Table 4.3).
Individual experiential hierarchies are continuous rankings, and it is impos-
sible to draw a line separating prominent and non-prominent streets. It is, how-
ever, possible to approximate this limit by the mean value in the distribution.
The streets of above-mean experiential rank values will be called prominent. The
bulk of the streets in the hierarchy are below the mean value of prominence. In
the case of the city of Hannover, the streets around the mean value of Ei are
more than a thousand times as prominent as those with the lowest values (null
values were not considered).
Figure 4.12 shows the 33 most prominent streets of the study are in central

77
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

Table 4.3: Most prominent streets of central Hannover

Rank Street ID Street name Rank Street ID Street name


1 N01FU95 Engelbosteler 18 N20B4C7 Celler Straße
Damm
2 N00E2TA Bremer 19 N01FUV6 Kurt-Schumacher
Damm Straße
3 N20C8LF Nienburger 20 N01FUFK Herrenhäuser
Straße Straße
4 N202568 Königsworther 21 N01FUKU Herrenhäuser
Platz Allee
5 N20256S Leibnizufer 22 N01FVRO Marienstraße
6 N20256D Brühlstraße 23 N01FUVH Maschstraße
7 N01FUQO Joegerstraße 24 N01H2FY Weddigenufer
8 N01FUSL Friederikenplatz 25 N20C8N2 Lodyweg
9 N01FVOF Osterstraße 26 N01FVVY Burgstraße
10 N202566 Goethestraße 27 N2025VG Schmiedestraße
11 N01FVPX Herschelstraße 28 N202578 Platz der Göttinger
Sieben
12 N20GR7U Culemannstraße 29 N01FUTR Goseriede
13 N20GR5B Walter-Großmann 30 N01FUJS Karmarschstraße
Weg
14 N20256U Lavesallee 31 N01FVP7 Andreastraße
15 N202569 Calenberger 32 N01FUU3 Leinstraße
Straße
16 N01FVYX Arndtstraße 33 N01H2TY Große
Packhofstraße
17 N20DDIH Friedrichswall

78
M. TOMKO 4.4. HIERARCHIZATION OF ELEMENTS OF THE CITY

Hannover in an overlay with the boundaries of the study area and the second-level
Voronoi partition of the area by landmark reference regions.

N01F
UFK

N0
1FU
95
N2
0C
8L
F
N
20
G
R
5B

N X 7
01 VY 4C
FU 1F
N0 N0 0B

N0
1F
UQ
KU N2

1F
O

VP
X
N0
2
0E
2T
A 8N N2
0C
02
N2

56
D
FY
1 H2 6
N0 N01FUV

N2
02
56
8
6
56

N202
02

UJ S
N2

N2

N0

5VG

N01F
025

1F
VV
6S

Y
N0

N01
1F
2569 UU N01FVRO
N20

FVO
3
N01FUSL

F
N20
DDIH

N0
1F
UV
H
N2
0G
R7
U

U
56
02
N2

Figure 4.12: 33 most prominent streets of central Hannover (named streets of


Ei ≥ x̄), labeled by street ID.

The joint consideration of the street network structure together with the sub-
urb partition of the city allow for a reliable identification of the most prominent
streets of the street network, as shown on the example of central Hannover and
in a previous study of a larger area in Melbourne, Australia (Tomko et al., to
appear 2007). The result illustrates the plausibility with which the novel measure
reveals the experiential hierarchy in an urban network.
The prominent streets identified represent empirically important connectors
of central Hannover, including the prominent streets along the boundary and
across the study area: Engelbosteler Damm, Bremer Damm, Nienburger Straße,
Friederikenplatz, Brühlstraße and Leibnizufer, among others.
The exploration of the spatial distribution of the prominent streets shows
that they are relatively evenly distributed across the study area, without mani-
festation of the boundary effect. This was expected, as the constituting measure,
betweenness centrality, is not susceptible to boundary effects. The distribution
corresponds with the empirical experience where a relatively small proportion of

79
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

streets in a city form a cognitively important skeleton structure. This means that
in any urban structure there is a relatively large number of streets with a low
prominence, and only a few prominent ones.
The empirical success of route direction communication in our daily lives
suggests that there is a large overlap in the structures of our spatial knowledge,
and that the knowledge of the prominent parts is common. Thus, a certain de-
gree of difference in individual experiential hierarchies is not a barrier to reaching
understanding. The match between the prominent parts of the hierarchies of the
speaker and of the hearer is high when most of their elements are identical, but
not necessarily ranked in the same order. Due to the power-law distribution of
street prominence values in the experiential hierarchies, highly prominent streets
have values higher by magnitudes than those of low prominence. Thus, while the
individual rankings in the mental representations of streets of a speaker and a
hearer may be different, the sets of the prominent streets will by largely overlap-
ping. This also allows the use of the proposed objectivized experiential hierarchy,
for an automated construction of route directions by an automated service. Even
a small sub-set of all the streets in the street network may provide a sufficient set
of potential referents for place and route descriptions in the area in consideration
(Kuipers et al., 2003).

4.5 Integration of Elements of the City in an


Experiential Hierarchy

As shown, it is possible to construct cognitively motivated, experiential hier-


archies of diverse elements of the city. The next step is the construction of a
single, integrated experiential hierarchy of the urban environment, necessary for
a coherent selection of references in destination descriptions. The interdepen-
dent insertion of references to elements of different types relies on such integrated
structures. The development of an integrated hierarchical dataset of multiple
elements of the city, allowing for the selection of the most relevant referents for
destination descriptions, is critical.
The three types of elements of the city are organized in hierarchies of very
different properties:

• named streets are organized in a rank-order which is the function of the


frequency of occurrence of their experiential rank values in the dataset;

• landmarks may be ordered in a rank of similar properties, but are also linked

80
M. TOMKO 4.5. INTEGRATED EXPERIENTIAL HIERARCHY

through the properties of their reference regions in a containment hierarchy


of partition, which is an m : n relationship;

• administrative districts may be organized in a containment hierarchy, mostly


by their size. However, through the property of containment, they also
structurally integrate paths and landmarks.

Other relationships are also possible. The structure of the street network may
determine the experiencing of the districts, or even their genesis. Dalton (2006)
for example suggests a redefinition of suburbs as a function of the structure of
the street network.
Of course, these types of elements of the city form have also relations at the
same level, not only across hierarchical levels or granularities. Paths connect dis-
tricts, while landmarks have a perceptual influence on their reference regions and
thus give context to districts (i.e., as seeds of the Voronoi partition). Landmarks
are also experienced by wayfinders navigating along paths, they are en route.
Figure 4.13 schematically depicts these possible relationships.

Figure 4.13: Schema of relations between heterogeneous types of elements of the


city in integrated hierarchies.

As shown in Figure 4.13, the integration of the individual hierarchies is possi-


ble through the hierarchical structure of districts. They provide a dual structure
for the organization of landmarks, and also provide a containment hierarchy for
paths. Thus, the structural embedding of the ranked order of paths and the hi-
erarchy of landmarks in the structure of districts will be used in the model of
destination descriptions proposed in Chapter 6.
To distinguish between a referent to districts and landmarks, the adminis-
trative names for the suburbs of Hannover will be used at the coarse levels of
granularity in the integrated structure of landmarks and districts, as the tracing
of the limit between well-known and presumably not-known districts is still the
subject of future research.

81
CHAPTER 4. HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURES

4.6 Concept of Distance in Hierarchical Struc-


tures

The concept of topological distance is operationalized upon the hierarchical ur-


ban structure proposed in order to execute the model for selection of references
for destination descriptions. The topological distance of two elements in the hi-
erarchical model of the urban structure is computed as the minimum number of
elements of the same type and granularity, lying between the two input elements.
Thus, a pair of neighboring districts of the same granularity has a topological
distance 0. Imagine two districts of the same granularity dA and dB , separated
by a third district of equal granularity dC , such that dA and dC , and dB and
dC are neighbours. Then, the topological distance |dA dB | = 1. Note that if
two elements have different granularities, topological distance is not defined. If
the spatial model is analysed at coarse granularity, finer-granularity elements are
not present. In such case, the topological distance is calculated as the minimal
topological distance of the coarser of the two elements in question, and a super-
ordinate (or ancestor) element of the finer element. The notation Supere will be
used for the set of elements that are superordinate to e, and the notation Supe
will be used for a parent, i.e. directly superordinate, element of e.
To calculate the topological distance in the hierarchical spatial data struc-
ture, topological relations of neighbourhood between the elements are analysed.
Two elements are considered neighbouring if they share a boundary and are con-
nected. In the spatial data model used, two districts are neighbours if they share
a boundary and are connected by a path. Landmarks are neighbours if their refer-
ence regions are neighbours and they are connected by a path. Paths are modelled
as a concatenation of finest-granularity districts through which a named-street
leads. Thus, two paths are considered neighbours if they share one or more of
their defining districts. By analogy, the relations of neighbourhood between a
district and a landmark are defined. Finally, a path is considered neighbour of a
district or a landmark if the district or the reference region of the landmark are
among the defining districts of the path.

82
Chapter 5

A Generic Model of Destination


Descriptions

The cognitive environment of the speaker and the hearer, i.e. the context in
which the communication of destination descriptions occurs, determines the se-
lection of references. Modeling context is, however, a non-deterministic problem
(Dey, 2000). The parameters of context relevant in a specific task depend on the
individual. As noted by Clark and Marshall (1981, cited in Sperber and Wilson
(1982)), physical co-presence, linguistic co-presence and community membership
are factors facilitating the inference of common knowledge among communica-
tors. Each of these broad groups of parameters could be further decomposed in
detailed parameters of context. A system developer will invariably make subjec-
tive assumptions about the users of the system developed. The more assumptions
a developer commits to, the less general and adaptive the resulting system will
be. The approach presented in this thesis therefore relies on a minimal set of
assumptions about the cognitive environment of the speaker and the hearer.

5.1 Context Specifications for Modelling Desti-


nation Descriptions

The model of destination descriptions in urban environment presented is based


on a minimal specification of the context in which the destination descriptions di-
rections are communicated. These specifications are focused on the characteristic
of the hearer:

A-priori spatial knowledge (Super condition) The hearer is assumed to have


common spatial knowledge formed by experiencing the space during navi-
gation in a finite number of previous trips. The extent of this knowledge is

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CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

not made explicitly known to the speaker, and it is therefore left unspecified
in the model proposed.

Functional perspective A functional perspective on the urban structure is de-


termined by the selection of the means of transport, ostensively disclosed
to the speaker.

Co-presence The references retrieved will be relevant from the perspective of


the current location, physically or virtually shared by the hearer with the
speaker at the moment of selection of a reference by the speaker.

Community membership is reinforced by the requirement of the hearer to


have at least coarse spatial knowledge of the environment, i.e. the hearer may be
considered a local. The knowledge of the hearer will be acquired by perceiving
the environment while navigating in the city.
The requirement of a functional perspective on the spatial knowledge of the
hearer links to the condition of possession of a-priori spatial knowledge. It as-
sumes that the a-priori spatial knowledge of the hearer is conventional in nature,
i.e. the means of transport used to follow the directions provided to the hearer
allows the use of the spatial knowledge of the speaker. This requirement allows
to classify the elements of the city to the five types of Lynch by their function.
For example, the streets in the street network accessible by car will be used as
paths by a taxi-driver, and the canals of Venice will be used as a network of paths
in the case of a Venetian gondolier.
Co-presence allows the speaker to assume the spatial context the hearer will
have on the urban environment when interpreting a given reference. This co-
presence need not be physical, but can be virtual (Zhao, 2003), or projected
(Gerrig et al., 2001). Projected co-presence allows the speaker to infer the spatial
context of the hearer at the moment of interpretation of a reference provided in
the destination descriptions. A reference is interpreted by a hearer in the spatial
context specified by the previous reference, or in case of the first reference of
the destination descriptions in the context of the start of the route. Co-presence
requirement has a fundamental impact on the selection of references in destination
descriptions.
These specifications of the hearer’s context reflect the three major groups of
context characteristics. They represent the minimal assumptions made about the
hearer by the speaker, here modeled as a computational system.

84
M. TOMKO 5.2. MODEL CONSTRAINTS

5.2 Model Constraints

As presented in Section 3.4 and shown in Figure 3.4, the common knowledge of
the speaker and the hearer C, is the intersection of the mental representations of
the reality by the speaker (S) and the hearer (H), acquired by perception of the
urban environment. The references made by the speaker in a given environment
can only be to elements e1..m of the set S, e1..m ∈ S. To reach understanding,
however, these references must also be members of C. Otherwise, the hearer
will not be able to identify the referents in her or his spatial representation and
understanding will not be reached. In the model presented, a necessary and
explicit assumption is made: the understanding of the speaker and the hearer is
possible, i.e. the relative ranking of elements in the spatial mental representations
of the hearer and the speaker is preserved {ea , eb | if eSa > eSb then eH H
a ≥ eb } (see
Section 3.4 for the discussion on reference selection).
The constraints of the model presented are summarized as follows:

• Application exclusive to urban (anthropomorphic) environment. In natural


environments the conceptual elements constituting the structure of space
may be different (e.g., mountains and rock formations acting as landmarks).
Their salience and ranking is not modelled, and the principles of their se-
lection may differ.

• Extent of distortions in spatial knowledge of the hearer allowing understand-


ing of the speaker. The preservation of the relative ranking of the elements
in the hierarchies of the sets S (operationalized as an experiential hierarchi-
cal data set) and H is assumed. The knowledge of other aspects of context
of the hearer, such as community membership, may be used to improve the
inference of spatial knowledge of the hearer and the consequent selection of
references. This is, however, not considered in the model proposed. The
combination of the inferential model of destination descriptions with agent
based approaches to assess individual spatial knowledge is envisaged (see
Chapter 7).

5.3 Structure of Destination Descriptions

In destination descriptions, the route is not described by the speaker to the hearer
in full detail. Only the referents selected by the speaker during route planning as
the most relevant are communicated to the hearer. Note that the route imagined
by the speaker fulfils the speaker’s own route planning criteria.

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CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

Imagine the speaker, mentally travelling through the mental representation


of the route and its surrounding vista spaces, and referring to prominent entities
which are part of this mental representation. The selection of the type of referent
(i.e., path, landmark or district) is determined by such factors as the prominence
of all potential referents and the structure of the route described. The referent
selected should be the most relevant one in the given context.
The immediate, visually accessible, vicinity of the route is called route con-
text. In this model, the route context is considered in the process of selection of
referents for the destination description. The notation routes,t is introduced for
a given route retrieved by the speaker, either human or a computational system.
The route is modelled as a concatenation of paths or their parts. A route is
considered equivalent to the route context, as it is composed of districts of finest
granularity available in the experiential hierarchical spatial dataset. The first
district of the set representing the route is the start s, where the speaker and
the hearer are co-located at the moment of selection of the references. The last
district of the routes,t is the destination t.
Destination descriptions can therefore be represented as a serialization of
references of increasingly fine granularity, selected from the set C:

r1 , r 2 , . . . , r n

This can be illustrated on the example of the Castle from Section 3.4 (Fig-
ure 3.5).
the Castle, the N ew P alace

e5 , e11

The last reference rn may be identical to the reference to the destination


itself, t, and will be of the finest granularity in the destination description. On
the other hand, the first reference r1 will always be of the coarsest granularity
in the destination description. This reference can also be called the initial ref-
erence. Every consecutive reference is then of finer granularity (and thus lesser
prominence).
Thus, any referent selected must provide the most relevant information in
the given context, in order to construct a referring expression. This context
is, however, altered by the utterance of the previous reference. The process of
selection of any consecutive reference is then equivalent to the process of selection
of the first reference included in the destination description. This suggests that
the process can be modelled as a recursive selection of the most relevant reference

86
M. TOMKO 5.4. RELEVANCE OF A REFERENCE

in the context specified by the previous reference. Note that it is assumed that
the start of the route is explicitly known by both the speaker and the hearer.

5.4 Relevance of a Reference

The application of the principle of relevance (Definition 3, page 23) to the se-
lection of references for destination descriptions requires a cognitively plausible
operationalization of cognitive effort and cognitive effect in a given context. This
will allow to reference the element of highest relevance in the candidate set. The
quantification can hardly be absolute. A relative comparison of the estimates of
the cognitive effort needed to interpret the potential referents is therefore chosen.
The first element that satisfies a set of rules assessing the relevance of a reference
will be selected. This approach is commonly called lazy evaluation.
In the model proposed, the relevance of a reference r to an element, in a given
context, is operationalized as a function of the prominence of r, and of the distance
of the element represented by r from the start s (Equation 5.1), in a model of
an environment. The routes,t , or more specifically, its start s and destination t
provide the parameters of context required by the principle of relevance. The
distance of the element, as well as the prominence of r are evaluated relative to
the distance from s and the prominence of t.

 (s,t)
rankr
relevancer(s,t) = (5.1)
distancer

The more prominent an element of the environment is, the less effort is
required from the hearer to relate the reference made by the speaker to her or
his mental representation of the element. Furthermore, no references of lower
prominence than that of t are relevant, as they would increase the cognitive effort
of processing them, and would not provide any cognitive effect to the hearer. On
the other hand, distance from the referent increases the hearer’s cognitive effort,
as the ambiguity of the reference increases. The greater the distance between the
current location of the hearer (s) and the element represented by the reference r,
the larger is the choice set of elements that has to be mentally searched through.
Distance is thus a measure enabling the cognitive effort required to process a
reference to an element to be estimated.
The reference selected for inclusion in destination descriptions must balance
the requirement to provide a reference to the most prominent reference possi-
ble, with the requirement of referring to a reference close to the current spatial
context s. Not only the balanced consideration of the two factors allows for the

87
CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

evaluation of the relative relevance of a reference, it also allows for the avoidance
of trivial references. Trivial references are references requiring low cognitive ef-
fort to process, but which provide low cognitive effect in the given context. The
inclusion of trivial references results in an excessive number of references in the
resulting destination description. Such a destination description does not satisfy
the requirement of a referring expression, due to redundant references.
To preserve cognitive plausibility, the model presented does not require the
use of Euclidean distance of the potential referents in a given context. Instead,
topological distance between elements in the hierarchical structure of the environ-
ment is considered.

5.5 Rules for Selecting District References

To select the most relevant reference r in a given spatial context, the topological
relation of the spatial context defined by the start of the route s, its destination
t, and the distance from the potential references is evaluated in the hierarchical
structure of the city.
Consider a dataset CD containing the set of districts covering the route
routes,t from start s to destination t. The dataset is organized as a hierarchical
partition of space. The identification of references to be included in destination
description in the context of s in this hierarchical dataset can be codified in a set
of rules.
First of all, two specific scenarios have to be distinguished in which destina-
tion descriptions can not be provided. First, the start s and the target t must be
part of the spatial knowledge of to the speaker, or in the case of a computational
system, included in the database CD . Second, the route described must have a
distinct start and destination. As a consequence, the start s and the destina-
tion t may not be specified as identical. The Rules 1 and 2 verify these basic
requirements for the provision of destination descriptions.

1. Start s and destination t are members of the set of elements CD (s, t ∈ CD ).

2. Start and destination must not be identical (s 6= t).

Consecutively, if s and t are neighbours, or their directly superordinate elements


are neighbours, the topological distance between the specification of the start
and the specification of the destination is insufficient to generate destination
description. At the granularity at which the destination description of t was

88
M. TOMKO 5.5. RULES FOR SELECTING DISTRICT REFERENCES

requested it is not possible to construct a referring expression specifying the


destination with more detail. Additional references, providing more detail than
the direct reference to t, are not available in the set CD . In the case of the
communication of two people, this situation occurs when the common spatial
knowledge is shared only at coarse granularity. While it is possible that this
is a sufficient specification of the destination for certain hearers, in a general
case turn-based directions from the last granular reference to the destination are
provided. This requirement can be formalized as the Rules 3 and 4:

3. The start and the destination should not be neighbors.

4. The start and the destination should not have neighboring direct superor-
dinate elements.

The higher the prominence of a referent, the higher is the cognitive effect
and lower the cognitive effort of processing the reference. As the reference r is
necessarily a superordinate (or ancestor) elements of t, the superordinate elements
of t are evaluated. Sets Supert of superordinate elements of t, and Supers of
superordinate elements of s can be extracted from the hierarchical dataset CD .
The set Supert is then the candidate set for the reference r:r ∈ Supert .
The inclusion of the reference r in the context of s must provide relevant in-
formation to the resulting destination description. Thus, the topological distance
of the start s to the reference r should be low, but not trivial. In the hierarchi-
cal partition of the environment CD , sets Supert and Supers have necessarily at
least one common element—the root of the hierarchy. If an element is common
to Supert and Supers , a reference to this element does not provide any informa-
tion value in to the hearer in the spatial context of s. Such a reference has no
pragmatic information content and is thus trivial. If the condition is not fulfilled,
an element of finer granularity should be evaluated.
Finally, the Rule 6 assures a minimal topological distance of 1 between the
referent r and the start s (dists,r = 1), in order to avoid references of low relevance.

5. Element r must not be shared by Supers and Supert , (r ∈


/ Supers ).

The cognitive effort to process such a reference is not balanced by the cognitive
effect (i.e., information value) it provides. If the condition is not fulfilled, an
element of finer granularity, satisfying all conditions above should be selected.
This rule is derived from a strict interpretation of the principle of relevance.

6. Element r should not be neighbor with an element in Supers .

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CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

The Rules 1-6 can be formalized as function ref and represented by the
Algorithm 2. Note that in Algorithm 2, Rules 5 and 6 are applied in one step
(line 11-13).

Algorithm 2: ref – selection of the reference r in the context of s, t.


Data:
CD : Dataset–hierarchical partition of districts;
s: current location (start district)
t: destination district.
Result: The reference r for destination description to t in the context of s
1 Construct candidate sets of superordinate elements of s and t, ordered by
decreasing granularity (Supert = [dn , . . . t]) and Supers = [dn , . . . s]);
2 Compare Supers , Supert ;
3 case (s, t ∈
/ CD )
4 Error: cannot generate destination description, stop
5 case (s = t)
6 Error: cannot generate destination description, stop
7 case (s, t = neighbors)
8 Route too short for destination descriptions, switch to turn-based
directions
9 case (Sups , Supt = neighbors)
10 Route too short for destination descriptions, return t and switch to
turn-based directions
11 foreach dx ∈ Supert ) do
12 if (dx ∈/ Supers ) ∨ (∀dy ∈ Supers , dx ∩ dy = 0) then
13 put dx in list;
14 order list in order of descending granularity;
15 return r = first d from list;

In order to demonstrate the rules specified, consider a hierarchical partition


of the environment into districts (Figures 5.1 and 5.2). Imagine a route routes,t
through this environment. This route is defined as a series of the finest-granularity
districts of the environment. Consider the start of the routes,t s represented by the
district d122 , and the destination t by the district d322 (routes,t = routed122 ,d322 ).
The application of the rules consists of the assessment of the information
value provided by the potential referents from the sequence of superordinate ele-
ments of the destination t = d322 (including the destination itself):

d0 , d3 , d32 , d322

Rules 1 to 4 are satisfied by the composition of the dataset and the structure
of the route itself, and a destination description can therefore be created. Rules 5
and 6 are then used to select the first reference of the destination description of

90
M. TOMKO 5.5. RULES FOR SELECTING DISTRICT REFERENCES

(a) Schematic representation of space partitioned


into districts CD .

(b) Schematic representation of the route


routes,t .

Figure 5.1: Schematic representation of (a) the hierarchical partition of space and
(b) the schema of a route through this partition.

Figure 5.2: The hierarchical representation of reference selection in CD .

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CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

t, in the context of the start of the route s.


The inclusion of the reference to the district d0 is excluded by Rule 5. It
does not provide any information value to the hearer in the spatial context of s,
as s is covered by d0 .
The next potential referent of finer granularity is d3 . It does provide infor-
mation value in the given spatial context, and therefore represents a non-trivial
specification of the space containing the destination. It satisfies all the rules for
the selection of a reference for the destination descriptions.
While the reference to d32 is of finer granularity, and therefore provides more
precise specification of the destination t, it does not adhere to the principle of
relevance by increasing the cognitive effort of the hearer. The prominence of
any finer reference is lower than that of d3 , and more topologically remote. A
reference to a finer reference does not provide the speaker with guarantees of
correct interpretation, as the finer the reference, the higher is the danger that it
will not be part of the spatial knowledge of the hearer. Thus, the reference to d3
should be selected to become reference r1 of the destination description, providing
relevant information to the hearer in the context of s and with consideration of
the structure of the environment.
In the hierarchical structure of districts in the set CD , the destination t of
the route routes,t is necessarily an ancestor of the reference r1 of the destination
description. This element specified by the initial reference covers the destination.
The destination is of finer granularity, deeper in the hierarchical structure of the
environment. Destination description must, therefore, include additional refer-
ences to specify the destination’s location in more detail. These references point
to districts that are subordinate elements of the reference r1 . The selection of all
the child elements of the reference r does not, however, provide any guarantee
about the relevance of these references. All references included should satisfy the
principle of relevance, i.e. satisfy Rules 1-6. As hinted in Section 5.3, the selec-
tion of consecutive references is possible by a recursive evaluation of the selection
rules, with the consideration of a changing context.
Consider the specifications of context made in the model proposed (Sec-
tion 5.1). The condition of co-presence of the speaker and the hearer is central
for the specification of the context in which the selection of the reference occurs.
This co-presence need not be strictly physical, but may be merely projected.
Following the utterance of the reference r1 , the spatial context considered by the
speaker changes. It is now defined by the reference r1 . More precisely, the speaker
assumes that the district specified by r1 is accessed by the route. This region is
accessed at its periphery. The consecutive reference r2 will be interpreted from

92
M. TOMKO 5.5. RULES FOR SELECTING DISTRICT REFERENCES

this new spatial context.


The speaker assumes that this is the spatial context in which the hearer will
interpret the consecutive reference r2 . Note that the speaker does not have means
to know exactly where the district r is accessed (as destination descriptions are
not prescriptive and the route is not communicated explicitly).
After reaching the first district of the route covered by r, the remaining part
of the route necessarily consists of districts fully covered by the district referred
to by r. Thus, the new spatial context s′ in which the consecutive reference of the
destination description (r2 ) is selected can be defined as a the first district along
the route routes,t covered by r. It is the first district of the remaining part of
the route. The notation subrouter will be used for the part of the route routes,t ,
contained within the region of a reference r (subrouter = routes′ ,t ). The new
context is not shared overtly between the speaker and the hearer, although they
both attempt to imagine a prototypical location, as a consequence of attempts
to be cooperative and relevant.
The identification of the consecutive reference of the destination description
then follows from the new spatial context s′ . The process of selection of the
reference r2 in the context s′ is then identical to the process of selection of the
reference r1 in the context s. Rules 1- 6 thus apply for any spatial context, as
shown in Algorithm 3.

Algorithm 3: recDirs – recursive selection of district references for desti-


nation descriptions
Data:
routes,t : route, list of districts of finest granularity between start s and
destination t, defined as s and a trailing list of elements sx, where the last
element is the destination t, (routes,t = s : sx);
CD : Dataset–hierarchical partition of districts.
Import: ref – function for the selection of the reference r.
Result: r: list of references for the destination description of the route
from s to t.
1 retrieve reference r1 (ref s t CD );
2 case r1 = t
3 return t;
4 otherwise
5 return r1 ;
6 recDirs sx CD ;

To demonstrate the selection of consecutive references of the destination de-


scription, consider once again the example of the route122,322 (Figures 5.1 and 5.2).
The selection process of references for the route122,322 is illustrated in Figure 5.3.

93
CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

Figure 5.3: Illustration of the process of selection of references for the destination
description of the destination d322 of the routed122 ,d322 . The gray triangles denote
the district considered in each step.

Once again, the selection of references consists of the evaluation of the or-
dered set of superordinate elements of the destination d322 : [d0 , d3 , d32 , d322 ].
After the retrieval of the first reference r1 = d3 , the spatial context changes
from s = d122 to s′ = d341 , as d341 is the first defining district of routed122 ,d322
within the spatial context of the reference r1 = d3 . The consecutive reference
searched for must be relevant in the context of the sub-route of routed122 ,d322 ,
namely subroute3 = routed341 ,d322 .
The next district considered for reference is d32 . In the current spatial context
s′ = d341 , the information value of the reference to d341 is low. d32 is neighbouring
the district d341 . The reference to d32 does, at best, provide the hearer with
information one step closer to the destination. Any route within the spatial
context of r1 = d3 , transiting through d34 must necessarily lead through d32 . As
the reference to any other element of the granularity of d32 (i.e., d31 and d33 )
is also missing, the consecutive reference must necessarily be within d32 . As
the model of destination descriptions proposed provides a strict interpretation
of the principle of relevance, the hearer’s own spatial knowledge may be used to
substitute this information. As shown in following sections, the reference to other
types of elements of the city than districts may help reduce potential ambiguity
in such situations.
As the reference to d32 does not satisfy the rules specified, it is retained by the
speaker and a finer reference is sought in the set of the remaining superordinate
elements of the destination. As there is no further reference of intermediate
granularity available to the hearer in the given context, the reference to the
destination is included. The granularity of the spatial hierarchical partition CD
does not allow more detailed route directions of the route described.
The resulting sequence of references in the destination description for the

94
M. TOMKO 5.6. RULES FOR SELECTING LANDMARKS REFERENCES

route122,322 is:
d3 d322

The reference to only one superordinate element of the destination is appro-


priate in the context of the given hierarchical structure of the environment in
combination with the start and the destination of the route described.
As shown, the retrieval of consecutive references for destination descriptions
is governed by the application of the same rules as is the selection of the first
reference. Note that this is different to the pure selection of the branch containing
the destination in the spatial hierarchy. The principle of relevance acts as a
requirement to keep the amount of references to a minimum. Every new reference
included adds non-trivial information that can not be substituted from a-priori
spatial knowledge of the hearer to the resulting referring expression.
In the previous two sections, only a hierarchical partition of the environ-
ment into districts was considered. The inclusion of other types of hierarchical
structures, as well as the relevance-based inclusion of references to other types
of elements of the city from integrated experiential hierarchical datasets will be
considered in the following sections.
In the following sections, the basic principles for the selection of references for
destination descriptions in a hierarchical partition of districts are generalized to
accommodate for different types of elements in the city organized in hierarchical
structures of elements of different properties. These elements may be organized
in hierarchies of partitions or hierarchical rankings. The validity of the rules for
the inclusion of references in destination descriptions must be tested to adapt to
the characteristics of such hierarchies, as well as the properties of the elements
organized within them.

5.6 Rules for Selecting Landmarks References

As shown, neighbourhood is the fundamental topological relation driving the se-


lection of references for destination descriptions in a hierarchical partition of the
city into districts. Due to their duality with districts, the selection of landmark
references for destination descriptions is likely to be governed by the same prin-
ciples as the selection of district-based references.
The hierarchy of landmark reference regions, however, is a hierarchical order-
ing of spatial partitions. The landmark hierarchy is not a tree. Some landmarks
are present at consecutive granularities, and thus present their own superordinate
elements. Hence, the selection rules need an adaptation to be able to navigate

95
CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

in a hierarchy with multiple inheritance and multiple appearances of the same


landmark.
Rules 1- 4 apply to both the hierarchy of districts (hierarchical partition) and
the hierarchy of landmarks (built as hierarchies of partitions of reference regions)
equally, as they verify that a destination description of a meaningful route is
requested. The application of Rules 5 and 6 to the hierarchy of landmarks has,
however, several shortcomings:

• The reference is always made to the landmark, and not to its reference
area. The identity of the landmark is unique even if its reference area
changes across granularities. Thus, it is possible that a reference is made
to a landmark that at is at the coarser granularity the ancestor of both
the current location and the destination. Rule 5 is therefore irrelevant for
landmarks.

• As a consequence of being organized in a hierarchy of partitions, it is im-


possible to test the neighbourhood relation between the reference regions of
landmarks of different granularities. There is no conceptual grounding of the
neighbourhood relation between point-like landmarks of different granular-
ities. Neighbourhood relations between the reference regions of landmarks
can therefore only be evaluated from the association information used dur-
ing the process of the formation of the hierarchy, contained in the Delaunay
triangulation.

The presence of a landmark across multiple granularities in the hierarchy may


lead to the selection of the same reference multiple times. The resulting destina-
tion description would then contain redundant references to the same landmark.
Furthermore, the rules proposed for the hierarchical partition of the environment
into districts are not ready to deal with multiple ancestors of an element. This
means that, at any granularity, the set of possible referents is not restricted to
one landmark. The implementation of Rules 5 and 6 must be modified to apply
across one step removed granularities. This results in a jointly applied Rule 7):

7. Element r of granularity g should not be neighbor with an element in Supers


of granularity g.

Furthermore, two new rules are proposed, enriched with mechanisms to deal
with redundant referents in the resulting destination description, as well as with
the selection among multiple possible referents:

96
M. TOMKO 5.6. RULES FOR SELECTING LANDMARKS REFERENCES

8. Among possible referents, priority is given to the referents along the route.
If multiple landmarks satisfy this condition, the landmark closest to the
destination is selected.

9. If a landmark is referred to multiple times, remove all but one reference.

The underlying assumption is that the relevance of a landmark to the hearer


is higher if the landmark is en-route. Thus, in the context of landmark-based
destination descriptions, topological distance is not the only rule that applies
in the speaker’s choice of references. The consideration of the route context
is a plausible mechanism to select among multiple referents, especially at finer
granularities. The modified set of rules, including the Rules 7 and 8, is presented
in Algorithm 4 as the function ref ′ .
The principles of selection of landmark references in destination descriptions
are formalized in the modification of the function recDirs from Algorithm 3 in a
process of filtering the resulting set of referents r. First of all, to accommodate
for the multiple possible ancestors in a hierarchy of partitions, the set Supert
becomes a list of lists of superordinate features of t. Each of these lists contains
the multiple possible ancestors of t at each granularity, instead of a single element.
The modified function recDirs′ is shown in Algorithm 5.
The application of the modified set of rules is demonstrated in the following
example of landmark-based destination description for the routed5 ,d1 (Figure 5.4).
The specification of the route from the start s = d5 to the destination t = d1 is
based on the finest granularity (g) districts is as follows:

dg5 , dg4 , dg3 , dg2 , dg1

Due to the duality of landmarks and their reference regions—districts, a


landmark x of granularity k (lxk ) is related to the district dx of granularity k (dkx ).
A candidate set of landmarks, superordinate to the destination t = d1 can then be
identified. They are presented in order of decreasing (coarse to fine) granularity:

l6g+4 , l7g+3 , l2g+3 , l2g+2 , l2g+1 , t


 

Note the multiple possible referents selected at the same granularity, as indi-
cated by the brackets. As the hierarchy of landmarks allow for multiple ancestors
of a landmark, multiple references are possible. The consideration of the con-
text provided by the route (routed5 ,d1 ) then applies. The references l2g+3 , l2g+2
and l2g+1 to the landmark l2 is possible at multiple granularities. Furthermore, at
the granularity g + 3, the reference to the landmark l7 is an alternative to l2g+3 .

97
CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

Algorithm 4: ref’ – selection of the landmark reference r in the context of


s, t and routes,t .
Data: routes,t : route, list of landmark reference regions of finest
granularity between start s and destination t, defined as s and a
trailing list of elements sx, where the last element is the destination
t, (routes,t = s : sx);
CL : Dataset–hierarchy of landmarks;
s: current location (start reference region)
t: destination
lxg : landmark lx of granularity g.
Result: The reference r for destination description to t in the context of s
1 Construct candidate sets of superordinate reference regions of s and t,
ordered by decreasing granularity (Supert = [ln , . . . t]) and
Supers = [ln , . . . s]);
2 Compare Supers , Supert ;
3 case (s, t ∈ / CD )
4 Error: cannot generate destination description, stop
5 case (s = t)
6 Error: cannot generate destination description, stop
7 case (s, t = neighbors)
8 Route too short for destination descriptions, switch to turn-based
directions
9 case (Sups , Supt = neighbors)
10 Route too short for destination descriptions, return t and switch to
turn-based directions
11 foreach lxg : (lxg ∈ Supert ) ∧ (∀lyg ∈ Supers , lxg ∩ lyg = 0) do
12 put lxg in list;
13 order list in order of descending granularity;
14 return list′ of landmarks lxg of coarsest granularity from list;
15 foreach (lxg ∈ list′ ) do
16 if (lx ∈ routes,t ) then
17 put lxg in list′′
18 if list′′ 6= ∅ then
19 order lxg in list′′ in order of appearance of reference regions of lx in
routes,t ;
20 return r = last lxg in list′′ ;
21 else
22 return r = first lxg in list′ ;

98
M. TOMKO 5.6. RULES FOR SELECTING LANDMARKS REFERENCES

Figure 5.4: Illustration of the process of selection of landmark-based references for


the destination description for the routed5 ,d1 . The route is modelled as a sequence
of districts of granularity g. The references available for selection at granularities
g + 4, g + 3 and g + 2 are displayed, including their respective reference regions.
The resulting set of references selected for the destination description is shown
(DD).

99
CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

Algorithm 5: recDirs’ – recursive selection of landmark-based references


for destination descriptions
Data:
routes,t : route, list of districts (reference regions) of finest granularity
between start s and destination t, defined as s and a trailing list of
elements sx, where the last element is the destination t, (routes,t = s : sx);
CD : Dataset–hierarchical partition of districts.
Import: ref ′ – function for the selection of the landmark reference r.
Result: r: list of landmark references for the destination description of
the route from s to t.
1 retrieve list of references list (ref’ s t CD );
2 case r1 = t
3 return t;
4 otherwise
5 return rx ;
6 recDirs sx CD ;
7 keep a single entry of finest granularity for each rx ∈ list;

While landmark l2 is en-route, i.e. its finest granularity reference region (d2 )
is part of the route specification (d2 ∈ routed5 ,d1 ), landmark l7 is not en-route
(d7 ∈
/ routed5 ,d1 ). If no preference can be given through the consideration of the
route context, the selection of the reference is arbitrary. Landmark l2 is given
preference and is referred to in the destination description:

l6g+4 , l2g+3 , l2g+2 , l2g+1 , t

Landmark l2 is selected, through its reference regions, at consecutive gran-


ularities g + 3, g + 2 and g + 1. This process is described in Algorithm 4. The
application of the Rule 9 then follows, as described in Algorithm 5. It removes
duplicate references and returns the final, abbreviated sequence of references for
the destination description :

l6 , l2 , t

While the reference to a landmark is included by the speaker at the coarsest


granularity possible to minimize cognitive effort, it is interpreted by the hearer
at the finest granularity available in her or his a-priori spatial knowledge. The
destination is searched for in its vicinity, modeled here as reference region.
The resulting sequence of landmark-based references is shorter then the
equivalent sequence of references to districts in destination descriptions for the
same route. Before the application of the Rule 9, the sequence had five references,

100
M. TOMKO 5.7. RULES FOR SELECTING PATHS REFERENCES

as opposed to the final three references to landmarks (both numbers include the
destination). The different properties of landmarks allow for a brief set of refer-
ents in the destination descriptions, while preserving the relevance of the resulting
set of references. A reference to a landmark may be interpreted at multiple gran-
ularities. This property may be the reason why references to landmarks are so
frequently made by people, and why route directions and destination descriptions
with landmarks are considered useful.
The duality of landmarks with their reference regions allow for a flexible se-
lection and interpretation of an element as a landmark or district reference. Thus,
an explicit distinction is not necessary in the selection algorithm. Instead, the
semantic characteristics of the references may be considered. Thus, if a reference
region of a landmark is selected at a coarse level of granularity, and it covers an
area equivalent to an administrative district, the reference to the district’s name
is appropriate. District names represent a reliable common naming scheme in a
given city.

5.7 Rules for Selecting Paths References

Now, the hierarchical structure of paths is considered in an integrated manner


with districts and landmarks. Paths can be organized by prominence in a dis-
tinct hierarchy determined by the partial order of experiential prominence (Sec-
tion 4.4.3). Furthermore, they are integrated with and into the hierarchy of
districts through their structural properties, more specifically the relation of con-
tainment (Section 4.5).
The following notation is therefore introduced:

• A path pi is modeled as a sequence of connected finest granularity districts


pi = [dm , ..dn ];

• The experiential rank value of a path pi is denoted as Ei ;

• The set of all paths in the integrated hierarchy C is denoted as CP ;

• The mean value of the experiential rank of all paths in the hierarchy CP is
denoted as Ex̄ .

• A path pi is said to be prominent if Epi ≥ Ex̄ . Such path can be noted


pprom
i .

• The set of prominent paths together constitutes the experientially promi-


nent skeleton of the street network CPprom .

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CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

• The integration with the district hierarchy based on containment is based


on the structural relation of the path with the districts in the hierarchy
CD . The structural granularity of the path pi is defined as equal to the
granularity of the finest granularity district that fully covers the path pi . If
this granularity is g, the path pi can be noted as pgi .

The paths in CP represent the elements of the structure along which wayfind-
ers move. They can connect distant districts, and a reference to such paths can
therefore radically decrease the need for other references, especially if the path is
prominent. Only references to paths which connect the districts along the route
are referred to by the speaker. The set of such paths is noted Proute . Note the
difference from turn-based directions, where references to all paths constituting
the route need to be referred to, to unambiguously define the route to the hearer.
The application of the principle of relevance in the selection of path referents
requires the consideration of the experiential rank value Ei of the path, as well as
its structural granularity g. A reference to a path can be only made if the path
is prominent. The only exception is that of a direct connection of the current
spatial context and the destination of the route, when the speaker can refer to
the path directly (e.g.: “follow this path to destination.”).
Multiple paths can be available as possible referents along the route. The
preference order for the selection of referents, derived from the application of the
relevance principle, is summarized in the following rules:

10. Direct connectivity: the path providing direct connection between the cur-
rent spatial context and the destination should be selected, disregarding
whether it is prominent or not;

11. Prominence: the most prominent path from the set of alternatives should
be selected;

12. Structural granularity: structural prominence of paths allows to integrate


the references to paths with references to landmarks and districts in the
destination descriptions.

Note that the rules of the selection of path references for destination descrip-
tions also consider cognitive effect as the function of prominence (experiential
or structural) and cognitive effort as the function of topological distance (direct
connectivity). Due to the characteristics of paths, there is no need for measures
avoiding the selection of trivial references—a reference to a path directly connect-
ing the current spatial context with the destination is the most relevant reference

102
M. TOMKO 5.8. INTEGRATED DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

possible. Furthermore, this property provides an insight to the transition between


destination descriptions and turn-based directions (see Chapter 7).
The fundamental property of paths, namely the facilitation of connections
between two locations, requires the insertion of a district or landmark reference
after or before the insertion of the path referent. A reference to a path can never
stand alone, the wayfinder needs to receive information about either the direction,
or the extent to which to follow a path. The omission of such reference would
include inconsistency and ambiguity in the resulting directions. If the reference
to the district or landmark follows the reference to the landmark, it provides
both the information about extent and direction. If the reference to district or
landmark precedes the reference to the path, the direction is inferred (away from
the district or path). The extent has to be acquired from environmental clues by
the hearer. This usually occurs when the reference is made to a prominent path
directly leading to the destination.

5.8 Generation of Integrated Destination De-


scriptions

By the application of the principles above, path referents can be included into
district and landmark based destination descriptions in a recursive manner. The
set of paths Proutes,t is ordered in a sequence of their appearance along the route
routes,t . For every new spatial context s, s′ , ... the paths from Proutes,t are evalu-
ated for their relevance as potential referents, as shown in Algorithm 6.
The simple combination of the topological distance, the hierarchical rank of
a spatial element and the context of the route, combined in set of rules, provide
means for a computational interpretation of the principle of relevance enabling
to select references for destination descriptions.

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CHAPTER 5. A GENERIC MODEL OF DESTINATION DESCRIPTIONS

Algorithm 6: granularDirs – integration of district/landmark references


with path references pi in the context of the route routes,t .
Data: CP : Dataset–hierarchical ranking of paths; CD : Dataset–integrated
hierarchy of districts/landmarks; routes,t : definition of the route
from s to t
Import: recDirs′ —reference selection function, returning the set of
references l1..n .
Result: The set of references pgi to paths, integrated with references ri to
landmarks/districts for the destination description of the
destination t in the context of s
1 Construct the set of path Proutes,t ;

2 Set r as the first reference provided by recDirs ;

3 if |recDirs | = 6 ∅ then
g
4 forall (pi ∈ Proutes,t ), ordered by prominence in decreasing order; do
5 Take first pgi ;
6 case pgi ∩ t 6= 0 ∨ (pgi ∩ s 6= ∅
7 return pgi and t
8 case granularity g of pgi ≤ granularity li
9 Put ri = li ;
10 Set recDirs′ − li ;
11 Repeat granularDirs;
12 case (pgi ∈ CPprom ) ∨ (g ≥granularity of li )
13 Put pgi + li ;
14 Set recDirs′ − li ;
15 Set Proutes,t − pgi ;
16 Repeat granularDirs;
17 otherwise
18 recDirs′

19 else
20 Stop

104
Chapter 6

Computational Implementation
of the Model of Destination
Descriptions

Haskell (Peterson and Chitil, 2005), a purely functional programming language


that enables implementation of an executable version of a formal model, with a
focus on the what instead on the how, is the programming language of choice
for the implementation of the model of destination descriptions presented in this
thesis. Programs implemented in Haskell profit of its properties: abstraction of
functions and types, genericity, polymorphism and overloading. Efficiency of the
code presented is neglected, although efficiency is gained by the lazy execution
paradigm of Haskell. Also, the focus has been on the demonstration of the el-
ementary properties of the model, which means that some properties necessary
for a real-life implementation were neglected. For instance, the implementation
presented requires pre-processing of the input data of Hannover (Chapter 4) into
a specific text-based format (Appendix B). Standard GIS data formats cannot
be used as inputs at this time. The focus on the properties of the model imple-
mentation is deliberate, as the adaptation to standard input formats can be done
through existing standard libraries.

6.1 Data Types

A Haskell program consists of functions, taking as inputs variables of various


datatypes. The model of the urban space in which the speaker and the hearer
interact and provide destination descriptions is modeled as set of objects of dif-
ferent types. The following main types are used: Path, District, and Object.
Note that District is the alternative structure to the definition of a reference
regions and districts, as well as landmarks and therefore no type Landmark is

105
CHAPTER 6. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

needed.
Elements district and landmark are represented together in a unique struc-
ture of the abstract data type District. They are represented as a list of four
values: the identifier ObjectID, the granularity Level, name ObjectName and
the list of the subordinate elements Landmarks, which are the generators of the
reference regions (districts) of finer granularity, and the list of ObjectID of its
neighboring districts (Neighbors). Appendix B contains the data type definitions
along with the test dataset for central Hannover.
Elements of type path are modeled as abstract data types Path, represented
as a triplet (list of three values) of the path identifier (ObjectID), its constituent
districts (a list of ObjectID of the instances of districts), and the experiential
rank value of the path.
type Path = ( ObjectID , Districts , Expvalue )
type District = ( ObjectID , Level , ObjectName , Landmarks , N eighbors )

There is no explicit distinction between these types in the destination de-


scriptions, and thus both instances of types Path and District are treated as
instances of type Object in the integrated dataset. The constructors Area and
Street are used to construct such types. The distinct names are used for clarity
of the code.
data Object = Area ObjectID Level ObjectName Landmarks Neig hbors
| Street ObjectID Districts Expvalue

Instances of datatypes Object are constructed from instances of datatypes


Path and District through the function consObject a, taking as an argument
an instance of any type and returning an Object (Appendix C, line 10).
class Elements a where
consObject :: a -> Object
createWorld :: [ a ] -> [ Object ]

The function createWorld a takes as an argument a list a of instances of


types District or path and returns a list of instances of type Object. From
there on, all functions are defined in a polymorphic, overloaded manner on het-
erogeneous instances of type Object.

6.2 Input and Output Specification

The inputs for the identification of the references for destination descriptions are
represented by the integrated hierarchical dataset World, and a list of objects
route, specifying the sequence of finest level districts defining the route between
the start and the destination. The input of the World is in-built in the program

106
M. TOMKO 6.3. MAIN FUNCTIONS

and is therefore not explicitly passed to the main function granularDirs of the
program as a parameter. Thus, the only parameter of the main function is route.
Note that the start of the route s and the destination t can always be derived
from the definition of route as its first and last element, respectively.
The dataset World is constructed by applying the function createWorld
to the list of paths paths and the list of landmarks and/or districts areas as
arguments (Appendix C, line 28).
world :: [ Object ]
world = createWorld ( areas ) ++ createWorld ( paths )

The specification of the route provides the definition of the spatial con-
texts evaluated during the selection of the references by the speaker. The spatial
context is the only personalization parameter considered in this model. Finally,
one last parameter influences the selection of references: the specification of the
threshold experiential rank value, allowing the definition of prominent paths in
the given dataset. By changing this value, the size of the prominent paths dataset
can be increased or decreased. In the following, the mean value Ex̄ is used, defined
as the variable eimean (Appendix B), following the discussion in Section 4.4.3.
The output of the main function of the implemented model is a list of instances of
type Object, representing the referents selected for the destination descriptions.

6.3 Main Functions

The model for selection of references for destination descriptions is implemented


as a series of filtering and ordering functions, passing the results of one function
to the next. The main function of the program is destDesc, taking as an input
a list a of Object and returning a list of the same type. The input list is the
specification of the route, the output is the ordered list of referents. The func-
tion is defined as follows (note the filtering nubBy (equalByName) which parses
the resulting set of references to remove any duplicate references)(Appendix C,
line 93):
destDesc :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
destDesc a = nubBy ( equalByName ) ( destDescA ( grdDist a ) ( re verse ( routePaths a ) ) )

destDesc a is an embedding function for the main processing function


destDescA (d:dx)(p:px) (Appendix C, line 97), taking as inputs the set of
district and landmark references resulting from the execution of the function
grdDist a and the function routePaths a, selecting all the paths occurring
along the route (note the reverse operator, to order the list of paths in the
descending order of prominence).

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CHAPTER 6. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

The function destDescA (d:dx)(p:px) implements the specification from


Algorithm 6.
destDescA :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
destDescA ( d : dx ) ( p : px )
| length ( d : dx ) == 0 = error " no directions are possible for a route of
length =0 "
| length [ x |x < -( dirConectByProm ( subroute d ( route ) ) ) , elem x ( selectPaths
route ) ] /= 0 = d :[ head [ x |x < -( dirConectByProm ( subroute d ( route ) ) ) , elem x
( selectPaths route ) ]]
| ( fetchLevel ( head ( ordByLevelAsc ( p : px ) ) ) <= ( fetchLeve l ( head ( ordByLevelAsc
( d : dx ) ) ) ) ) = [ d ]++( destDescA ( dx ) ( p : px ) )
| ( fetchLevel ( head ( ordByLevelAsc ( p : px ) ) ) == ( fetchLeve l ( head ( ordByLevelAsc
( d : dx ) ) ) ) ) = (([ d ]++[ p ]) ++( destDescA ( dx ) ( px ) ) )
| otherwise = ( d : dx )

6.3.1 Selection of District and Landmark References

First, the construction of the set of district and landmark based references is
explained. The constituent function grdDist of destDesc wraps around recDirs
and ensures the correct hierarchical ordering of its output. The function recDirs
(Appendix C, line 117) executes the recursive retrieval of district and landmark
references for the destination description (Algorithm 3). The filtering of references
to a single instance of each landmark (Algorithm 5) is consequently achieved by
the application of nubBy (equalByName) in the function destDesc, as described
earlier.
recDirs :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
recDirs ( s : sx )
| getRef s t ( s : sx ) == t = [ t ]
| otherwise = ( getRef s t ( s : sx ) ) :( recDirs ( subroute ( getRe f s t ( s : sx ) )
( s : sx ) ) )
where t = last ( s : sx )

A test at the beginning of the function recDirs ends the recursion if the
destination district is returned as reference. In this case, t is added to the result
set and the function ends. If the test is negative, a reference is retrieved and
the function recDirs runs again to find consecutive elements. This time, the
parameter route is represented by the result of the function subroute (Appen-
dix C, line 257), that determines the districts constituting the route in the area
specified by the previous reference. The districts are in the same sequence as in
the complete route.
subroute :: Object -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
subroute i r obj = [ x | x <- r , testObject i ( findSupersOrd x obj ) ]

In the function recDirs, the component function getRef s t (s:sx) ex-


ecutes the conditions for the identification of the reference, as specified in Al-
gorithm 4. Note that as the input dataset is based on the hierarchy of land-

108
M. TOMKO 6.3. MAIN FUNCTIONS

marks, Rules 5 and 6 do not apply (Section 5.6) and are replaced by the Rules 7
and 8. The main constituent function of getRef s t (s:sx) is the function
compHier sbranch tbranch route, which applies the rules on the sets of super-
odinate elements of s and t (Appendix C, line 137):
compHier :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ] -> Object
compHier sbranch [] route = error " no input of destinatio n branch "
compHier [] tbranch route = error " no input of start bran ch "
compHier sbranch tbranch route = if length ( t : tx ) == 0
then error " change to turn based directions "
else
if length [ x |x < -t , y < -s , isNeighbor x y || x == y ] /= 0
then compHier ( concat ( sx ) ) ( concat ( tx ) ) route
else
if length [ x |x < -t , y < - route , fetchName x == fetchName y ] >=1
then last [ x |y < -t , x < - route , fetchName x == fetchName y ]
else ( last t )
where ( t : tx ) = groupBy ( equalLevel ) ( ordByLevelDesc ([ t | t < - tbranch ,
( testObject t sbranch ) == False ]) )
( s : sx ) = groupBy ( equalLevel ) ( ordByLevelDesc ([ s | s < - sbranch , ( testObject s
tbranch ) == False ]) )

This function also implements the consideration of the context of the route
in the selection of the appropriate reference among several possibilities. If a
reference to a landmark is possible, and the finest-granularity reference region of
this landmark is part of the definition of the route, the reference to the landmark
(or its reference region at the granularity considered) is given preference and
selected for the destination description.

6.3.2 Integration of Path References

The function destDescA integrates district and landmark references with refer-
ences to paths. When a reference to a path is included, not only the current
spatial context and the the previous district reference must be considered, but
also the hierarchical order of the possible paths referents.
Note the use of the function dirConectByProm in the function destDescA
(d:dx) (p:px), which is used in the last stages of the inclusion of path references
in the sequence of district and path references (Appendix C, line 170). It returns
a reference to the experientially most prominent path available when two districts
are directly connected. It takes as inputs an ordered set of paths occurring along
the route, provided as the result of the function routePaths.
This function orders paths along the route based on their relevance in a
given spatial context based on a combination of their order of appearance along
the route, their structural granularity (i.e., the structural prominence returned
by the function fetchMaxLevel) and experiential prominence. It compares paths

109
CHAPTER 6. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

along the route based on the ordering function compByRouteCTX. Paths are or-
dered based on their structural relation with the route: the closer to the desti-
nation does the path appear along the route, the more relevant is the reference
to such path in the given context. The inputs of the function are two triplets
of values, describing the paths compared following the template: (path ID, ID
of first district of appearance along the route, ID of last district of appearance
along the route). The function elemIndex returns the position index of a district
in the sequence of the route (Appendix C, line 158).
compByRouteCTX :: ( Object , Object , Object ) -> ( Object , Object , Object ) -> Ordering
compByRouteCTX (a ,b , c ) (d ,e , f )
|( elemIndex c route < elemIndex e route ) = LT
|( elemIndex b route > elemIndex e route ) && ( elemIndex c rout e == elemIndex f
route ) = LT
|( fetchMaxLevel a < fetchMaxLevel d ) = LT
|( fetchExp a < fetchExp d ) = LT
|(( notElem ( fetchName b ) ( grdDistShow route ) ) || ( notElem ( fetchName c )
( grdDistShow route ) ) ) && (( elem ( fetchName e ) ( grdDistSho w route ) ) || ( elem
( fetchName f ) ( grdDistShow route ) ) ) = LT
| otherwise = GT

6.4 Model Verification

To verify the model, routes of various lengths and complexities across a test area
of central Hannover were constructed. Consecutively, destination descriptions
for these routes were generated, and their adherence to the rules specified was
verified. The content of the destination descriptions was assessed by comparing
the resulting sets of references with the characteristics of destination descriptions
summarized in Section 3.6. Note that the example of Stephanie arriving at the
airport and traveling to the center of Hannover could not be tested due to the
limited dataset available. The following principal characteristics of destination
descriptions were sought:

• Consistency: the resulting combination of references must create an unam-


biguous specification of the destination, thus resulting in a referring expres-
sion.

• Well-formedness: the destination descriptions should not have redundant


references, and each consecutive reference should provide relevant informa-
tion in the context of the previous one.

• Brevity: the resulting destination descriptions should combine integrated


references to heterogeneous types of elements in order to achieve relevance
and brevity. Thus, the reduction of length in comparison to homogeneous

110
M. TOMKO 6.4. MODEL VERIFICATION

destination descriptions and turn-based directions generated by a Web ser-


vice was sought.

• Content: The selection of relevant references should be dependent on the


hierarchical structure of the environment in the proximity of the destination
and not on the route imagined by the speaker. The assessment of the
plausibility of the content of the destination descriptions is based on the
individual judgment and the consultation with a local expert. Plausibility
is desired, but remains subjective.

Note that the combinations of references retrieved were tested against general
characteristics of destination descriptions generated for a hearer with inferred
extent of a-priori spatial knowledge of the environment. The spatial knowledge
of the speaker was modeled in an experiential hierarchical dataset. The sets
of references retrieved are therefore influenced by the content and quality of the
dataset (limited extent, assessment of the properties of landmarks). For instance,
the complete path street network available was considered for the references, as it
would be if the hearer was a pedestrian. Central Hannover has, however, a large
pedestrian zone. As mentioned earlier, the shared functional perspective of the
speaker and the hearer on the structure of the environment is a requisite for an
appropriate selection of references for destination descriptions and the means of
transport used must be considered. It is therefore likely that the set of references
provided by a local to a taxi-driver would consider the accessibility of the different
parts of the city by considering the mode of transport.
This section is structured as follows: first, sets of district and landmark
based destination descriptions are retrieved and their content verified against the
specification of the rules for selection of district and landmark-based destination
descriptions (Section 6.4.1). Consecutively, the path references are considered
in the integrated model, and the results assessed for plausibility (Section 6.4.2).
The behaviour of the model is discussed on several model test cases. Additional
test cases can be found in Appendix D.

6.4.1 Test of District and Landmark-Based Destination


Descriptions

In the following example, the process of identification of district and landmark-


based referents for a route from the Universität Hannover to the Staatstheater-
Oper (Figure 6.1) is demonstrated. A direct route from the Universität Han-
nover to the Staatstheater-Oper has been defined by a sequence of districts (the

111
CHAPTER 6. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

sequence contains districts of Level 2, hence the prefix h2 of the respective


ObjectID):
route = [ h2_H097TLK , h2_H063YJC , h2_H074YH2 , h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H04SBR1 , h2_H01BHXG ,
h2_H01P2HN , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01FM8E ]

Universität Hannover

Katasteramt
Staatstheater-Oper

Rathaus

Figure 6.1: The route (highlighted in gray) between the Universität Hannover
(H097TLK) and the Staatstheater-Oper (H01FM8E), composed of level 2 refer-
ence regions. Referents identified for destination descriptions are labelled.

The route generated cuts across the city and intersects the reference regions of
several global landmarks. These are landmarks that are not directly en-route,
their reference regions cover parts of the route. Applying the rules for selection of
district and landmark-based references in destination descriptions, the following
references are retrieved for the first definition of the route:
directions = [ H06Y0NB , H04PTS0 ]

In common names, the references to the following landmarks were made:


directions = [ Rathaus , Katasteramt ]

These results can be interpreted as the following destination descriptions


generated by a local: A:“Where is the Staatstheater-Oper?”
B:“. . . in the direction of the Rathaus, next to the Katasteramt.”

112
M. TOMKO 6.4. MODEL VERIFICATION

The destination is found in the proximity of the first landmark specified, the
global landmark Rathaus (H06Y0NB). The context of the route is restricted to the
general area specified by the reference region of the landmark, and consecutive
references of finer granularity are provided (the Katasteramt (H04PTS0)). In
this manner, the destination descriptions proceed from a general reference to a
landmark with a reference regions covering major parts of the city to a more local
landmark. Global landmarks may have no spatial overlap with the route or the
destination as such, but they provide a description of the destination from the
approaching direction of the wayfinder. The route description could be completed
with the reference to the destination itself, Staatstheater-Oper (H01FM8E).
Due to the duality of landmarks with districts, the following expression to
districts can be considered equivalent (see Appendix A):
directions = [ Hannover Mitte , Kroepcke ]

which translates in the following destination descriptions: B:“. . . in the Mitte,


close to the Kröpcke.” Note that Mitte is literally Centre in German. The
Rathaus is used in its function of a global landmark, and as the reference regions
of the Rathaus over coarser granularities cover Hannover Mitte, the reference to
the district or to the landmark can be used interchangeably in the verbalization
of the destination descriptions. Also note the verbalization of the references in
natural language need not follow the ordering retrieved by the model. Indeed, in
this example, the ordering is reverse. The resulting set of references represent a
plausible content of a destination description for a route from the University to
the Opera.
The route was generated for a pedestrian trying to reach the Staatstheater-
Oper as directly as possible. A different mode of transport preferred by the hearer
can change the inference of relevance of the references by the speaker. While a
different functional perspective on the path network is not considered, the route
considered by the speaker may influence the selection of references, due to the
preference of en-route landmarks.
For example, the suggested route from the Universität Hannover to the
Staatstheater-Oper provided by Google Maps directions service is complex, as
the Staatstheater-Oper is in the pedestrian zone that has to be avoided (Fig-
ure 6.2 and 6.3). The resulting turn-based directions contain eleven references.
The wayfinder will approach the Staatstheater-Oper from a different direction.
The route generated by Google Maps has been translated into a district-based
definition of the route, and used as input to generate destination descriptions.
route ( google ) = [ h2_H097TLK , h2_H063YJC , h2_H074YH2 , h2_ H05V43Q , h2_H03PO3Z ,
h2_H03PO1O , h2_H03Q6S0 , h2_H01O23Z , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01F M8E ]

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CHAPTER 6. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

Figure 6.2: Turn-based route directions for the route between the Universität
Hannover and the Staatstheater-Oper as provided by ©2007, Google Maps. Note
that the directions generated are for the Mövenpick Restaurant in front of the
Staatstheater-Oper main entrance, a point-of-interest contained in the Google
Maps database.

Figure 6.3: Map of the route between the Universität Hannover and the
Staatstheater-Oper (©2007, Google Maps).

114
M. TOMKO 6.4. MODEL VERIFICATION

The references retrieved for the route suggested by Google Maps are identical to
those retrieved for the direct, pedestrian route from the Universität Hannover to
the Staatstheater-Oper:

directions ( google ) = [ H06Y0NB , H04PTS0 ]

This shows how the content of purely landmark and district-based destination
descriptions is primarily influenced by the granular structure of the city in the
proximity of the destination, instead of the route considered by the speaker. Of
course, the preference given to local en-route landmarks influences the content
of the resulting destination descriptions, but the primary influence is that of the
overall structure of space. The resulting set of references was assessed as plausible
by a local expert.
Consider a different route, in the reverse direction from the centre of the city
to the outskirts of the area covered by the dataset. A destination description of a
route from the Staatstheater-Oper to the Universität Hannover consist of a single
reference, identical with the destination: Universität Hannover (Appendix D,
example 4). It is not possible to find a more prominent landmark than Universität
Hannover itself in this part of the city. If the wayfinder is not satisfied with the
direct reference to the University main building, only turn-based direction will
satisfy their information needs. Such a wayfinder has no sufficient a-priori spatial
knowledge of Hannover to be able to process inferential destination descriptions.
Again, a route from Staatstheater-Oper to the Universität Hannover, gener-
ated by Google Maps was used as input for the model of destination descriptions.
This route avoids the centre of the city once again, and is therefore complex and
its turn-based directions consist of eight references. The resulting set of refer-
ences provided by the model of destination descriptions implements is, however,
unchanged: Universität Hannover (Appendix D, Example 5). This shows how
the size of destination descriptions is dependent exclusively on the hierarchical
structure of the environment in the proximity of the destination. The content
may change if a different route is selected, due to the consideration of en-route
landmarks, but the overall destination description remains constant.
Consider an extension of the route to the Institute for Chemistry at the
University (H05MF0G). It is one of the buildings adjacent to the very promi-
nent main building of Universität Hannover (H097TLK). The route taken covers
the same suburbs as the route from the Universität Hannover building, with an
extension to the Institute (Appendix D, Example 6):

route = [ h2_H01FM8E , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01P2HN , h2_H01BHXG , h2_H04SBR1 , h2_H03PO3Z ,


h2_H074YH2 , h2_H063YJC , h2_H097TLK , h2_H05MF0G ]

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CHAPTER 6. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

The resulting references retrieved by the model of destination descriptions


presented consist of only two referents: the Universität Hannover (H097TLK)
and the building of the Institute for Chemistry (H05MF0G):
directions = [ H097TLK , H05MF0G ]

This destination description contains the reference to the prominent land-


mark, Universität Hannover, followed by the reference to the Institute itself,
which is considered optional. Note that the reference region of level 2 of Uni-
versität Hannover (h2 H097TLK) is part of the route definition and Universität
Hannover is thus a local landmark.
While the resulting sets of district and landmark-based references was as-
sessed by a local expert as plausible, specific routes such as the one from the
Staatstheater-Oper to the Institute for Chemistry do not provide guarantees
of low cognitive effort. Such routes are influenced by the proximity of a low-
prominence destination close to a prominent landmark. If environmental clues
are not present, it may be difficult for the hearer to identify the destination. This
drawback will be addressed by the integration of paths in the model, as shown in
the following section.
The resulting sets of references found for all combinations of routes are brief,
and provide relevant information based on the assessment of the urban structure
and the context of the route. Due to the hierarchical structure of Hannover, in
general all routes from the centre to the periphery (i.e., from reference regions
hierarchically subordinate to the Rathaus to reference regions subordinate to the
Universität Hannover) have shorter destination descriptions than routes in the op-
posite direction. The hierarchical structure of the landmarks within the reference
regions of the Rathaus is more complex, and thus the destination descriptions
require more referents for a unique identification of the destination.

6.4.2 Test of Destination Descriptions with Paths

The integration of references to paths may further improve the consistency of


the content of the references retrieved by matching references to local landmarks
with references to paths. The integration of references to paths is now studied on
the example routes already presented, as well as on some additional examples.
Consider again the example of the routes from Universität Hannover to the
Staatstheater-Oper. Based on the route specifications, new sets of references are
retrieved, this time based on the integrated hierarchies of districts, landmarks
and paths. The first example applies for the specification of the direct route from
the Universität Hannover to the Staatstheater-Oper (Figure 6.4) (Appendix D,

116
M. TOMKO 6.4. MODEL VERIFICATION

Example 7).
route = [ h2_H097TLK , h2_H063YJC , h2_H074YH2 , h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H04SBR1 , h2_H01BHXG ,
h2_H01P2HN , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01FM8E ]

The resulting set of references identified by the implemented model of destination


descriptions is as follows:
directions = [ H06Y0NB , H04PTS0 , N01FUH0 ]

or, in common names:


directions = [ Rathaus , Katasteramt , Standehausstrasse ]

which translates in the following destination descriptions (The reference to Rathaus


is replaced by the reference to its dual reference region, Hannover Mitte): B:“. . . in
Hannover Mitte, take the Ständehausstraße from the Katasteramt.”
Note that the street Ständehausstraße (N01FUH0) is not a prominent street
by experiential rank value. It is, however, the most prominent street directly
connecting the Katasteramt with the destination of the route, the Staatstheater-
Oper (Figure 6.4). As it is the last reference of the destination description, the
speaker relies on environmental clues that this street will be identified. Further-
more, a prominent local landmark, the Katasteramt, is at one of its extremities.
The resulting destination description leads the wayfinder closer to the destination
than the pure district and landmark based set of references. The integration of
multiple types of elements of the city allows generating destination descriptions
of finer spatial resolution. Thus, the integration of multiple types of references
allows retrieving a set of references providing less ambiguity to the hearer, by
better adapting to the structure of the environment. By integrating references to
paths, the speaker may provide destination descriptions that are not patronizing,
but at the same time provide the hearer with a general guidance on the approach
to the destination.
The inclusion of references to paths considers en-route paths. Therefore,
the content of the resulting destination descriptions may be prone to change
depending on the route considered by tyhe speaker. The set of references retrieved
for the route generated by Google Maps and shown in Figure 6.3 is once again
used for comparison. In this case, the resulting set of retrieved references is
identical (Appendix D, Example 8):
directions = [ H06Y0NB , H04PTS0 , N01FUH0 ]

or, in common names:


directions = [ Rathaus , Katasteramt , Standehausstrasse ]

The identical content of the two destination descriptions generated by the


consideration of two different route specifications shows that the structure of

117
CHAPTER 6. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

Universität Hannover

se
r as
au sst
eh Staatstheater-Oper
end
Sta

Rathaus

Figure 6.4: References selected for the destination description for the route from
Universität Hannover to the Staatstheater-Oper. The route is shown in gray shad-
ing. The references retrieved: Rathaus, Katasteramt and the Ständehausstraße
are labeled.

118
M. TOMKO 6.4. MODEL VERIFICATION

the environment in the proximity of the destination largely determines even the
content of destination descriptions containing references to paths. In general,
only the structure of the final parts of the route impacts on the selection of path
references. This will be demonstrated on the following examples.
Consider once more the direct route from the Staatstheater-Oper to the
Institute for Chemistry. The references retrieved are as follows:
directions = [ H097TLK , N01FUPO ]

which can be translated into common names as follows:


directions = [ Universitaet Hannover , Im Moore ]

which translates in the following destination descriptions : B:“. . . from Universität


Hannover, follow Im Moore.”
Note the different content of the destination descriptions considering refer-
ences to paths, districts and landmarks, as opposed to the set previously gen-
erated without the consideration of paths (Appendix D, example 6). While the
previous example contained only the reference to the Universität Hannover, with
the optional reference to the destination itself, the newly generated destination
descriptions omit the reference to the destination, but include a reference to the
street Im Moore. This street directly connects the prominent en-route landmark
Universität Hannover with the destination.
The destination description was judged by the local expert as satisfying the
information needs of a wayfinder with a-priori spatial knowledge of Hannover.
Note that once again, the preference is given to a directly connecting street,
instead of a prominent one (and indeed, there is no prominent street connecting
Universität Hannover with the Institute for Chemistry). The integrated set of
references provides a destination description requiring less cognitive effort from
the hearer, and is thus more relevant than the purely district and landmark
based destination description. This is easily verifiable, as the two sets are of
equal length, but the integrated set is more information rich.
Finally, consider one last example, a route leading from the Allianz-Hochhaus
to the Katasteramt (Figure 6.5):
route = [ h2_H05V43Q , h2_H03WTT1 , h2_H01F6M0 , h2_H04PTS0 ]

The references retrieved for the destination description are:


directions = [ H04PTS0 , N01FUJS ]

or, in common names:


directions = [ Katasteramt , Karmarschstrasse ]

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CHAPTER 6. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

Allianz-Hochhaus
rasse

Katasteramt
t
rschs
a
Karm

Figure 6.5: References selected for the destination description for the route from
Allianz-Hochhaus to the Katasteramt. The route is shown in gray shading. The
references: Katasteramt and the Karmarschstraße are labeled.

120
M. TOMKO 6.5. OBSERVATIONS OF THE MODEL OUTPUTS

which translates in the following destination descriptions : B:“. . . take Karmarschstraße


to the Katasteramt.”
Note that a local of Hannover is more likely to substitute the reference to the
landmark Katasteramt by its reference region, the Kröpcke, with the resulting
destination description: B:“. . . take Karmarschstraße to the Kröpcke.”
The reference to the Karmarschstraße is appropriate, as it is a prominent
street, directly connecting the districts along the route specified to the Kataster-
amt, the seed landmark of the reference region known as Kröpcke. This is a
combination of references likely to be used by any local in Hannover for the route
specified.
The examples discussed show how the inclusion of heterogeneous references
allows more relevant destination descriptions to be constructed. The integration
of references to paths may also result in destination descriptions of smaller size
of the resulting set of referents, compared to the set of districts and landmark-
based references. The model presented demonstrates that it is possible to select
references for the construction of plausible and relevant destination descriptions
based purely on the analysis of the integrated hierarchical urban structure and
the recursive evaluation of the spatial context of the hearer.

6.5 Observations of the Model Outputs

The references selected by the implemented model provide a plausible content of


destination descriptions for people with a-priori spatial knowledge. A-priori spa-
tial knowledge is necessary for the understanding of the meaning of the references
provided. The inclusion of different types of referents allows the model to adapt
to the spatial structure in the vicinity of the destination, and allows it to select
references relevant to the hearer.
The results of the model show the following characteristics:

• The number of references is not dependent on the complexity of the route


retrieved, but on the complexity of the hierarchical organization of the
environment in the proximity of the destination;

• The number of references retrieved is small and shows similar patterns (dis-
cussed below);

• The alteration of the threshold defining the set of prominent paths in the
destination descriptions does not influence the overall length of the results
significantly, but changes the contents pattern of the results.

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CHAPTER 6. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

In the examples studied, the length of generated sets of references in the


integrated hierarchical spatial data structure of Hannover ranged between 2 and
3, or 4 if the reference to the destination itself is included. Note that this inclusion
is not necessary, as it is used in the hearer’s request as such. Its inclusion may
therefore be a pattern of language features or cultural habits. The length of the
routes varied in length from two to more than nine level 2 districts. The depth
of the granular structure of space consisted of six hierarchical levels used in this
experiment. Thus, the resulting sets of references represent a small proportion
of the superordinate elements of the destination in every test case. Note that
a deeper hierarchical structure need not necessarily lead to longer destination
descriptions . The pattern of the parent-child relationships in the structure must
be analysed to infer the average length of the resulting destination descriptions.
The patterns identified in the integrated sets of references for destination
descriptions tested are shown in Table 6.1.

Table 6.1: Patterns in sets of references in destination descriptions (D–district,


LG –global landmark, LL –local landmark, P –path, P P rom –prominent path).

Pattern 1 2 3 4 5
1st reference D/LG D/LG L = LL
G
L = LL
G
P P rom

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
nd
2 reference D/LL P P rom
P P rom
P t
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
3rd reference P D/LL
Optional reference t t t t

In Pattern 1, the reference to a global landmark or significant part of the


city narrows down the search space for the next reference. It assists the hearer
to interpret the following reference correctly. In the reference region of the global
landmark, the next reference is located. This reference is made to a local land-
mark (or its reference region). This landmark is thus en-route. The selection of a
reference to a local path between the local landmark and the destination signifies
that no prominent path connects the destination with the reference region of the
local landmark selected previously.
If a prominent path is found in the area specified by the global landmark
(Pattern 2), it is used to guide the hearer to the local landmark, in which vicinity
the destination is found. The reference to the destination found in the vicinity of
the local landmark is optional.
Patterns 3 and 4 occur when the destination is in the direct vicinity of the
global landmark. Then, the global landmark is en-route and serves as a local

122
M. TOMKO 6.5. OBSERVATIONS OF THE MODEL OUTPUTS

landmark as well. A reference to a path (prominent or not) is then inserted to


guide the wayfinder toward the destination.
Pattern 5 occurs in cases when the destination is located in proximity (en-
route) of a prominent path. The reference to the destination is than necessary, to
provide the wayfinder with a stop criterion. It is assumed that the hearer will be
able to identify the destination visually. Note that this model does not provide
means to insert other types of metric information than a reference to a spatial
feature.
The only means to alternate the selection of the references in the model is the
consideration of a different threshold of experiential rank value, thus enlarging
or reducing the set of prominent paths in the city. This does not dramatically
change the length of the resulting sets of references, but merely changes the
balance between the district/landmark references and references to paths. If the
threshold is lower, the balance shifts from district and landmark references to
references to paths, and leads to brief destination descriptions. Patterns 3, 4 and
5 become more frequent. If the number of prominent paths in the city is low, the
resulting sets of referents exhibit Patterns 1 and 2.

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CHAPTER 6. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

124
Chapter 7

Conclusions

7.1 Summary

The communication of spatial information has been the object of intensive study
of cognitive scientists, linguists, spatial information scientists and geographers,
computer scientists and researchers in the field of human-computer interaction.
Most of this research was based on the classical model of communication pre-
sented by Shannon and Weaver (1949). A common example is turn-based route
directions, encoding every action the recipient of the information needs to unam-
biguously follow the route and reach the destination. Classical communication
theory fails, however, to explain the communication of spatial and non-spatial in-
formation among people. While messages exchanged in everyday communication
and dialogs contain only a small part of the information necessary to perform a
task required, people receiving this information are able to interpret the meaning
conveyed.
Pragmatic information theories have been devised by linguists to explain
this observed discrepancy, but remained largely neglected by researchers in the
field of spatial information communication. Among notable exceptions are the
works of Frank (2003) and Worboys (2003). These works point to the importance
of a-priori information as an important part of the context in which the hearer
interprets the message received. Furthermore, Dale et al. (2005) introduced the
concept of referring expression generation to the generation of route directions.
These works were based on the interpretation of Gricean conversational maxims
(Grice, 1989). Among pragmatic information theories, the relevance theory of
communication has recently gained prominence by its ability to explain in a
plausible manner the inferential interpretation of the meaning of messages in
relation to the context of their communication.
Spatial information is often an essential part of information communicated in

125
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS

situations where correct interpretation of the meaning of the message is required


to assure the safety or integrity of people. Furthermore, irrelevant information
negatively influences the processing time required by the hearer to understand
the meaning of the information provided. The importance of communicating
only relevant information is thus obvious. Until now, however, application of the
relevance theory to the problem of communication of spatial information has not
been attempted.
This thesis applies the principles of relevance communication theory to the
problem of generation of destination descriptions. It introduces an inferential
model of destination descriptions for people with a-priori spatial knowledge of the
environment. This wide group of users consists of people frequently experiencing
a limited urban environment, e.g. a city. The formal model is demonstrated in a
computationally executable implementation, selecting references for destination
descriptions from a hierarchical dataset. Based on the structure of the dataset
and the definition of the route from start to the destination, the model selects
references for inclusion in the destination descriptions. The references provide
overview information about the destination of the route. Hearers interpret the
meaning of the references provided by relating the information received to their
a-priori spatial knowledge. The understanding of the meaning of the references
is performed by relating to the spatial context in which the references are pro-
vided. The outputs of the model satisfy the characteristics of human-generated
destination descriptions.
Together with the relevance-based model of destination descriptions, a cogni-
tively motivated approach to the construction of integrated hierarchical datasets
of landmarks, districts and paths is presented, allowing the speaker to assess the
relevance of a reference to individual spatial elements of the environment for the
hearer. Such hierarchical datasets integrate in a tight structure the experiential
hierarchies of heterogeneous spatial elements. The structure of the environment
is a significant determinant of the content of destination descriptions, and as such
may compensate for the lack of mutual background knowledge of the profiles of
the communicators.

7.2 Main Contributions

This thesis presents an analysis of the principles by which the structure of the
environment determines the content of destination descriptions exchanged in in-
ferential communication. It shows that the hierarchical structure of the environ-
ment, and the spatial context in which the destination descriptions are commu-

126
M. TOMKO 7.2. MAIN CONTRIBUTIONS

nicated, are strong determinants of the content of such destination descriptions.


Individual spatial knowledge is not considered in the model proposed. The main
contributions of the research presented in this thesis can be classified in the fol-
lowing broad categories:

• An operationalization of the relevance theory, or more precisely of the prin-


ciple of relevance in the spatial domain. This interpretation is based on
the interpretation of the concepts of cognitive effort and cognitive effect in
the spatial communication domain. The relevance of a spatial element in a
given context is defined in terms of its relative prominence, distance, and
the spatial context of communication.

• A cognitively motivated model of inferential destination descriptions, pre-


senting a formal approach to the selection of references for destination de-
scriptions for hearers with a-priori spatial knowledge. Destination descrip-
tions are presented as a special case of spatial referring expressions. The
correct interpretation of the references requires the consideration of the
spatial context in which they are uttered.

• The introduction of the concept of integrated, experiential hierarchies of


urban environment. Hierarchical datasets organized as experiential hierar-
chies provide a cognitively inspired means of ranking spatial elements by
the inferred perception of their prominence.

The operationalization of the principle of relevance is based on the analysis of


the principles of human spatial cognition. The principles governing the acquisition
of human spatial knowledge and the subsequent organization of the elements
of this knowledge were analysed. These principles were consequently applied
to infer the cognitive effort and cognitive effect of retrieving elements of this
spatial knowledge during communication. Furthermore, the relative distance from
the potential referent was linked to the cognitive effort required to process the
reference.
Based on the operationalization of the principle of relevance, a formal model
of selection of references for destination descriptions was proposed. The model
satisfies requirements for cognitively ergonomic communication of spatial knowl-
edge:

1. The resulting set of references is short, and does not increase linearly with
the length and complexity of the route. The inclusion of several types
of referents further decreases the cognitive workload they impose on the

127
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS

wayfinder. Thus, destination descriptions satisfy the requirements of low


cognitive load.

2. Destination descriptions satisfy the requirements of good route directions


(Allen, 2000) by being orderly and by increasing the amount of referents in
the proximity of the destination (Allen, 1997). The content of destination
descriptions is restricted to the minimal relevant set of references uniquely
describing the destination. Destination descriptions are thus not patroniz-
ing, as they do not force the wayfinder to follow a prescribed route. This
is in contrast to turn-based route directions, which require the wayfinder
to follow the route planned by the provider of the directions. Destination
descriptions are thus suited for wayfinders with a-priori spatial knowledge.
As a consequence, Allen’s requirement for the inclusion of delimiters, such
as landmarks on decision points is not satisfied. This knowledge is supplied
by the wayfinder as such.

3. The model generates longer descriptions (consisting of more referents) for


less prominent destinations. It has been shown that landmarks judged less
well known by locals have been shown to be described by more detailed refer-
ring expressions (Lau and Chiu, 2001). Furthermore, individual familiarity
with spatial objects is highly correlated with the judgment of familiarity
of others (Fussell and Krauss, 1991; Lau and Chiu, 2001). The power-law
distribution of the experiential rank values in experiential hierarchies hints
at why the estimates of familiarity of others is so highly correlated, and
allows for a qualified estimate of general familiarity with an element of the
city.

4. The application of the simple rules implemented adheres to the heuristics


of relevance as stated in the relevance theory of communication. The inter-
pretation following the path of least effort is preferred, as is the case in our
model. A plausible behavior of the model is the result.

The model proposed focuses on the information needs of locals—people with


a-priori spatial knowledge of an environment. This does not mean, however, that
the generated destination descriptions match exactly the spatial knowledge of an
individual, or that a specific local would provide the same destination descriptions
for any route in the same context. The references selected using the model of
destination descriptions resemble to the set of references likely to be provided by
locals, and should be unambiguously interpreted by locals.
An analysis of the emergence of experiential hierarchies in the mental rep-
resentations of humans results in a model of integrated experiential hierarchies

128
M. TOMKO 7.3. DISCUSSION

applied to construct hierarchical datasets of urban environment. It is argued that


structural properties of the environment are paramount in the hierarchization of
the individual types of the elements of the city, and that these hierarchies are
interrelated.
The main properties of integrated experiential hierarchies are:

1. Construction of a cognitively motivated partial-order rankings for different


elements of the city with element-dependent properties of the partial-order
establishing the hierarchy. The result is a set of individual hierarchies with
tree-like, lattice and frequency ordering structures. The ranking of the
elements in a hierarchy is based on the estimate of prominence.

2. A novel, cognitively motivated measure to compare the relative prominence


of streets in street networks, called Experiential rank.

3. A method to integrate heterogeneous hierarchies in a unified structure, al-


lowing an interchangeable selection of different types of elements of similar
prominence.

An integrated experiential hierarchy of the environment is constructed for a


sample study area. The resulting dataset is used for the selection of references
for destination descriptions and tested for the city of Hannover.

7.3 Discussion

7.3.1 Cognitive Workload and Destination Descriptions

Destination descriptions are a specific form of spatial communication, combining


the properties of route directions and place descriptions. Destination descriptions
are provided to hearers that have a-priori spatial knowledge of the environment.
Destination descriptions are meant to be retained in the memory of such hearers.
Despite differences between various cognitive tasks, the span of short-term
memory was reported to equal approximately seven information items, with a
spread of two (Miller, 1956). Consecutive studies indicate even slightly lower
numbers (Cowan, 2001). Miller furthermore suggests that this capacity can be
increased if the items to be remembered are of different types. Thus, diversity
helps to increase the short-term memory span, with a lower increase with every
added type of item.
It appears that the length of destination descriptions is related to the depth of
the experiential hierarchies, not to the length of the routes. From administrative

129
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS

classifications of districts to road classifications, the number of granularities in


which the respective domains of man-made phenomena are classified is relatively
small. For example, the hierarchy of elements of type district has a greatest ele-
ment, the city itself, and a theoretical least element—a parcel at a street address
level. Between these extremes, the hierarchy is organized in a small number of
levels, be it landmark reference regions (in the case presented with a depth of six
levels) or administrative partitions such as building block, quarter, and suburb.
A large number of elements can be contained in a granular system that can be
represented as a balanced tree of seven granular levels. A binary classification
of seven levels can contain a hierarchically ordered set with 64 elements at its
finest level. This is a large number of elements contained in a narrowest possible
hierarchy.
Thus, a theoretical destination description with references of each granularity
would contain seven references. While highly redundant, this extent still fits
in the short-term memory span of the hearer. While the number of references
in turn-based directions grows linearly with the complexity of the route, the
number of references in destination descriptions grows only logarithmically, being
proportional to the depth of the hierarchical structure of space considered.
In the model proposed the references selected do not represent the selection
of a complete branch of superordinate elements of the destination. Instead, the
recursive selection of references re-evaluates the changing spatial context in which
every consecutive reference is selected. The relation within integrated hierarchies
of the different elements of the city allows for even more efficient transition be-
tween the individual hierarchies of the different types of references, leading to an
efficient selection of references based on the structural properties of the spatial
features of different types.
When analysing the structure of destination descriptions provided by humans
in everyday conversations, several common characteristics are revealed (Tomko
and Winter, 2006a). The apparent reduction in information conveyed is mani-
fested by the lesser length of the destination descriptions, measured by the num-
ber of references to spatial elements. The length of the provided destination
descriptions correlates with the number of types of elements of the city referred
to.
The reduction of the number of references in destination descriptions is not
the only reason for their lower cognitive complexity when compared to turn-
based directions. The inclusion of multiple types of references extends the span
of short-term memory Miller (1956). The occurrence of three types of references
in the route directions in average points to the possibility to encode a complex

130
M. TOMKO 7.3. DISCUSSION

and lengthy route in an utterance that fits the short-term memory span of the
hearer. The diversity of references enables to increase this span sufficiently to
accommodate the increased information content. The three types of elements of
the city tested offer a diversity of referents enabling to construct efficient route
directions of considerable length, even in complex urban environments. Rele-
vance based selection grounded in hierarchical granulation of spatial features into
chunks, together with the alteration of the type of references, provides efficient
means to increase the amount of information to be communicated.

7.3.2 Reliability of Inference of Common Spatial Knowl-


edge

As shown, the shared context between the hearer and the speaker in inferential
communication is a major influence on the choice of referents. But how does
the selection of referents from experiential hierarchies influence the success of
communication? In Chapter 4, the distribution of the experiential rank values in
the urban network, following a power law, was shown. Similarly, the total number
of landmarks and districts is exponentially higher than the number of prominent
landmarks and districts. This is understandable, as prominence is a function of
salience and uniqueness, i.e. the function of rarity of a phenomenon.
If the hierarchies of the spatial knowledge of two communicators have a
similar structure, and the speaker have means to infer this, the speaker will refer
to only a small subset of his or her spatial knowledge of high prominence. Consider
the hierarchically organized spatial knowledge of the speaker as S and the spatial
knowledge of the hearer as H. This prominent knowledge of the speaker and
the hearer are denoted as S prom and H prom , respectively. The speaker selects a
referent r, such that r ∈ S prom , and composes the utterance. The hearer relates
r to her prominent knowledge H prom , and interprets r, i.e. retrieves the meaning
of r in the given context.
Imagine that r ∈ / H prom . If there is common knowledge of r, but it is not
considered a prominent reference by the hearer (r ∈ H), a reference to such
knowledge requires high cognitive effort of the hearer during interpretation. In
real communication situations, if the interpretation requires excessive cognitive
effort, the hearer seeks confirmation of the interpretation of r or additional sup-
porting information.
Due to the distribution of prominence in experiential hierarchies following
power laws, a relatively low number of trips through the street network should
provide a relatively good coverage of the knowledge for successful communication

131
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS

at least at a coarse level of granularity. Due to distribution of prominence values


in the experiential hierarchies, highly prominent streets have values higher by
magnitudes than those of low prominence. From everyday experience, this is the
case in the majority of occasions. Also note that a certain degree of difference in
individual hierarchies is not a barrier to reaching understanding. The match be-
tween S prom and H prom is high when most r ∈ S prom are also part of H prom . This
match does not require the same ranking of r in the two respective experiential
hierarchies.
This allows an experiential hierarchical dataset to be constructed, usable by
a navigation service without rich background knowledge of the spatial knowledge
of the user. Individual experiential hierarchies are continuous rankings, and it
is difficult to draw a line separating prominent and non-prominent streets. It
is, however, possible to approximate this limit by the mean value in the distri-
bution. The bulk of the streets in the hierarchy are below the mean value of
prominence. As shown earlier, the model of destination descriptions presented
allows for alteration of this threshold as the only customization option. Further-
more, the integration of hierarchies of different types of elements of the city allows
for substitution of a different referent when, e.g., no prominent path is available
as reference. Should automated systems with inferential interfaces be built, the
interface should provide the user with means to provide feedback.

7.3.3 Experiential Urban Data Structures for Destination


Descriptions

The concept of construction of integrated datasets presented, revealing the expe-


riential hierarchy of the urban structure, is based on a predominantly structuralist
approach to the quantification of the perception of prominence of the elements
organized in the hierarchy. Structural properties of the elements of the city,
along with their visual properties were assessed to produce estimates of promi-
nence. The resulting hierarchical structures allow the common knowledge of the
individual spatial features of the environment studied to be inferred.
The quality of the dataset influences the estimate of relevance of the retrieved
referents. While cognitively plausible, the construction of landmark hierarchies
based exclusively on visibility produced distortions in the dataset, compared to
the perception of the centre of Hannover by locals. Although more appropri-
ate referents could be selected by a local expert, the references selected by the
computational model were judged usable and satisfactory.
The argumentation presented in this thesis starts from the position that

132
M. TOMKO 7.4. OUTLOOK

structural and visual properties of the elements of the city are paramount in their
assessment of prominence. The experience of visual and structural prominence
is common among the population with similar spatial behaviour. The shared
experience is further strengthened by secondary experience of these prominent
features, through indirect sources such as maps, news articles and Web resources.
The inference of semantic prominence of an element, on the other hand,
is problematic and highly subjective (i.e., individual to a person). Semantic
properties of spatial elements can, however, be used in destination descriptions in
an indirect manner. A hearer can be sensitized, or primed, to a specific semantic
characteristic of a landmark by the speaker or the navigation system. Once seen,
the landmark will be perceived as salient. This mechanism allows hearers to
successfully use destination descriptions containing references which may not be
usually perceived as prominent by the hearers.

7.4 Outlook

This thesis introduces a first approach to the concept of destination descriptions,


along with a model enabling their construction. This section collects research
topics related to the modelling of destination descriptions that should be explored
in the future.

7.4.1 Integrating Destination Descriptions with Turn-Based


Directions

A combination of destination descriptions and turn-based route directions is a


common feature of human-generated navigation instructions for people assumed
to have a-priori spatial knowledge of the environment. Destination descriptions
provided at coarser granularities are coupled with added detail in form of turn-
based route directions in the proximity of the destination. The change of the mode
of communication of the spatial knowledge is based on the speaker’s assumption
that the hearer’s spatial knowledge is not complete enough to be able to identify
and reach the destination without the added detail.
The transition to turn-based directions may occur at different distance from
the destination, and need not be direct. Chunking approaches considering the
structural properties of the route can be combined at the finer levels of detail to
further improve the cognitive ergonomics of the resulting directions. Namely, the
Higher-Order Direction Elements (HORDE) of Klippel and co-workers (Klippel,
2003b; Klippel et al., 2003; Richter, 2007a) are of relevance. Based on the purely

133
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS

structural properties of the route, such HORDE complement well the more general
referents provided by the model presented. Furthermore, Richter (2007b) explores
the construction of so-called overview route directions by taking the bottom-up
perspective and starting with the structure of the route itself, extending the work
of Richter (2007a); Richter and Klippel (2005). The combination of destination
descriptions with HORDE-based or overview route directions presents a transition
from a purely hierarchical approach to a turn-based perspective on direction,
restricting the wayfinder to a specific route (Figure 7.1). Recent work of Srinivas
and Hirtle (to appear, 2007) attempts to provide a conceptual analysis of the
content of such route directions from the point of view of occurrence of familiar
and novel knowledge.

Figure 7.1: Destination descriptions transiting into turn-based route directions


in the proximity of the destination.

The transition from destination descriptions to turn-based directions is of


importance especially in less structured parts of the city with low density of
landmarks and large districts. There, more references to paths connecting the
skeleton of prominent paths to the destination are needed. The output of a route-
planning service supporting the recently proposed Cognitive OpenLS standard
integrating the concept of HORDE (Hansen et al., 2006) could conveniently be
coupled with the model of destination descriptions presented to provide a smooth
transition between destination descriptions and turn-based directions.

134
M. TOMKO 7.4. OUTLOOK

7.4.2 The Where? Question

The model of destination descriptions proposed partially builds on previous re-


search on hierarchical place descriptions in large-scale environments. Table-top
scene settings, place descriptions in buildings, or descriptions of text locations in
books (Plumert et al., 1995a, 2001; Shanon, 1979) have previously been described
and analysed. The model proposed provides destination descriptions in space of
environmental scale (Montello, 1993), thus not perceivable from a single point.
The verification of the possibility of the application of the principles of selection
of references for destination descriptions in a large-scale setting is a question for
further research.
If the model could be generalized across a multitude of spatial scales, the
characteristics of the results could be generalized as the properties of answers to
generic Where? questions. Automated scene description systems could then be
developed, enabling, e.g., to communicate spatial descriptions to people through
voice-based interfaces.

7.4.3 Externalization of Destination Descriptions

The model proposed focuses on the selection of relevant references for inclusion in
destination descriptions. A navigation service providing destination descriptions
following the model proposed will need to externalize the information in a form
adapted to the users of the system. Externalization methods, such as natural
language generation or schematic visualization interfaces need to be devised to
communicate the references selected in an appropriate manner.
Furthermore, the user may not be, for various reasons, satisfied by the
model’s selection of references. The information provided may be judged excessive
or insufficient. While people are good at handling omissions and imperfections in
route directions (MacMahon, 2005), well designed user interfaces should cater for
such situations. The visualization of the references provided in destination de-
scriptions is possible through hierarchical collapsing structures, enabling the dis-
closure of more or less information for a specific part of the route. Such interfaces
provide a user with means to transit between destination descriptions and turn-
based direction at will. Dialog based systems (see, e.g. www.talk-project.org)
may provide such possibilities in speech-based interfaces.

135
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS

7.4.4 Coupling of Inferential and Agent-Based Systems

Customization of route directions for users familiar with the environment was,
until now, a largely neglected area of research. The inferential model of selection
of references for destination descriptions provides an alternative solution to per-
sonalization of route directions through agent-based systems. Such systems relied
on storing personal profiles of users to adapt the content of future route direction
requests to the preferences of the users, such as speed vs. length of the route
(Rogers et al., 1999; Wagner et al., 2002). Agent based systems rely on a learn-
ing software embedded in personal mobile devices, such as mobile phones. These
agents sense the actions of the users as they navigate in a given environment,
store, and use this historic information for optimized, personalized information
provision in the future (Patel et al., 2006).
When first initialized, the agent has no previous knowledge of the user’s
knowledge (unless the user explicitly declares some knowledge in their profile),
and thus the information retrieved is not personalized. As the user continues
to use the device with the software agent tracking their (spatial) behaviour, the
agent learns more about the user and is able to use this information to provide
more and more customized information, such as route directions with familiar
landmarks. Ultimately, the information provided is fully customized. At this
stage, if a different user would use the device with the mobile agent, the infor-
mation provided may not be customized to his or her needs at all, to the extent
of possibly being insufficient or even misleading.
On the other hand, the model presented infers the relevance of references
to spatial features without prior explicit personalization. The inferential model
proposed provides information customized to a wider audience from the very
first use. Thus, if compared with agent-based systems, the results provided by
the model of destination descriptions presented will be better adapted for the
information needs of the local from the very beginning of its usage. The relative
difference between the two approaches will decrease with usage and ultimately
the agent-based system will be able to provide more relevant, better adapted
information to its user than the model of destination descriptions presented in
this thesis. Ultimately, the combination with the mentioned mobile agent-based
systems would provide a fully adaptive system.

7.4.5 Complex Integrated Experiential Hierarchies

Further work is necessary to extend the concept of integrated experiential hierar-


chies to cater for references to nodes and barriers, including prominent complex

136
M. TOMKO 7.5. CONCLUDING SCENARIO

configurations of multiple spatial elements of different types. It is hypothesized


that experiential hierarchies of nodes may be constructed using network analysis
approaches similarly to path experiential hierarchies.
Prior to constructing experiential hierarchies of barriers, a thorough defini-
tion of barriers will have to be attempted. Barriers structurally divide the urban
environment, and their prominence is therefore relative to the prominence of the
elements on both sides of the barrier. An automated identification of barriers in
the urban environment may be attempted by first exploring the structural rela-
tion between paths and districts. Districts could be redefined as cohesive parts of
the path network. The identification of barriers as breaks between cohesive parts
of the network is then plausible. Another possibility is to model the prominence
of barriers as the function of the prominence of the segregated districts. Research
in this direction is currently ongoing.

7.5 Concluding Scenario

The morning after her business trip, Stephanie wakes up and, while eating break-
fast, reads her emails. A friend is curious about how her overseas business trip
went and invites Stephanie for lunch to a new café in the city. The email in-
cludes the address of the café. As Stephanie does not know the place, she selects
the address with the cursor and press a hot-key combination querying her on-line
navigation service of choice. As it happens, her preferred system is just testing
a novel algorithm generating destination descriptions. The system returns a de-
scription of the location of the café satisfying Stephanie’s information needs, as
she has been living in the city for the past few years and is familiar with its lay-
out. The destination description is brief and easy to remember, eliminating the
necessity to write down the navigation information on a piece of paper. Stephanie
also appreciates how the system protects her privacy, by not requiring her to enter
her full address to generate route directions. The system only detects the suburb
from which Stephanie connects to the Internet service provider.
Stephanie sets on her way to the café. An accident changes the traffic con-
ditions and requires Stephanie to take a detour. Stephanie is confident of finding
an alternative route on her own, even managing to avoid the most congested
streets. The destination descriptions provided by her navigation system remain
usable even though the traffic conditions changed. She reaches the café just in
time. And to top it off, the food is excellent!

137
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS

138
Appendix A

Landmark Names

Table A.1: Common names of the landmarks of central Hannover. The names of
their most prominent reference regions are in parenthesis, where applicable.
Landmark ID Landmark Name
H05V49E Bar at the Maschteich
H06Y0NB Rathaus (Hannover Mitte, Südstadt)
H09DX6M Kindertagesstätte
H097TLK Universität Hannover – Welfenschloss (Hannover Nordstadt)
H06KOBS Geodtisches Institut, Universitt Hannover
H05T3WR Wilhelm-Busch-Museum Georgenpalais
H063YJC Universitätsbibliothek
H05RN6G WC and Kiosk at the Herrenhäuser Allee
H05TWH4 Parkhaus
H05JJHO Univ. Hannover Institut
H05IWO5 Mensa
H05V43Q Allianz-Hochhaus
H03WTT1 N/A
H03PNBO Polizeidirektion 11
H01F6M0 Marktkirche
H03NG5F Maritim-Hotel (Hannover Mitte)
H04SBR1 Sparkasse Bank
H03PO1O Anzeiger - Hochhaus
H03WUC7 Kreuzkirche
H03PO3Z Univ. Hannover Institut, Chimu Restaurant
H074YH2 Nds. Landesbibliothek
H03P85A Christuskirche
H05MF0G Institute of Chemistry
H03Q6S0 Postverwaltung
H01BHXG ALLBANK
H05V4AW Postamt
H03NGBE Volkshochschule
H04PTS0 Katasteramt (Kröpcke)
H06E9I7 Hauptbahnhof
H01P2HN Bratwurst Glöckle
H01FM8E Nds. Staatstheater–Oper
H01O23Z Parking garage

139
APPENDIX A. LANDMARK NAMES

140
Appendix B

Input Dataset of Hannover

Module Data of the Haskell implementation of the model of destination descrip-


tions where data types are declared and the data input is made.

module Data where

type ObjectName = String -- name of all objects - paths , landmarks , d i s t r i c t s


type Level = Double -- Int -- for paths , this value has to be c o m p u t e d
type Expvalue = Double -- value of e x p e r i e n t i a l rank Ei of paths
type ObjectID = String -- ID of an Object
type Landmarks = [ ObjectID ]
type Neighbors = [ ObjectID ]
type Districts = [ ObjectID ]

type Path = ( ObjectID , Districts , Expvalue )


type District = ( ObjectID , Level , ObjectName , Landmarks , N eighbors )

data Object = Area ObjectID Level ObjectName Landmarks Neig hbors


| Street ObjectID Districts Expvalue deriving ( Show , Eq )

eimean :: Expvalue -- Mean value of e x p e r i e n t i a l street ranking Ei for H a n n o v e r


eimean = 0.001915632

-- TEST DATA level 7 to 2 , 53 elements , based on 32 i n d i v i d u a l districts , 394


paths

-- D e f i n i t i o n of v a r i a b l e names of type D i s t r i c t
h7_H06Y0NB , h6_H06Y0NB , h5_H06Y0NB , h4_H06Y0NB , h3_H06Y 0NB , h2_H06Y0NB , h6_H03NG5F ,
h5_H03NG5F , h4_H03NG5F , h3_H03NG5F , h2_H03NG5F , h5_H097 TLK , h4_H097TLK , h3_H097TLK ,
h2_H097TLK , h4_H01F6M0 , h3_H01F6M0 , h2_H01F6M0 , h3_H05T 3WR , h2_H05T3WR , h3_H06KOBS ,
h2_H06KOBS , h3_H09DX6M , h2_H09DX6M , h3_H05V43Q , h2_H05V 43Q , h3_H03PO1O , h2_H03PO1O ,
h3_H063YJC , h2_H063YJC , h3_H04PTS0 , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H05V 49E , h2_H05RN6G , h2_H05TWH4 ,
h2_H05JJHO , h2_H05IWO5 , h2_H03WTT1 , h2_H03PNBO , h2_H04S BR1 , h2_H03WUC7 , h2_H03PO3Z ,
h2_H074YH2 , h2_H03P85A , h2_H05MF0G , h2_H03Q6S0 , h2_H01B HXG , h2_H05V4AW , h2_H03NGBE ,
h2_H06E9I7 , h2_H01P2HN , h2_H01FM8E , h2_H01O23Z :: Distri ct

-- D e f i n i t i o n of v a r i a b l e names of type Path


n20248P , n01FVOB , n01FVU1 , n01FUI0 , n01FUHY , n01FUSH , n20255V , n01FUP2 , n202575 , n01FUPR ,
n01FVOV , n01FUKW , n01FUPN , n01HX6C , n01H2AO , n01FUUN , n01H2IZ , n202564 , n01FUFF , n01FUOQ ,
n01FVP7 , n01FUFM , n20255W , n01FVTJ , n01H2IU , n01FUPK , n20DDG6 , n01FVU7 , n01FVVR , n01FUBD ,
n01H2CR , n01FVTV , n01FUJN , n01H2IY , n202577 , n01H2AW , n01H2RI , n01FUI5 , n01H2CI , n01FUKX ,
n01H2CT , n01FW21 , n01FUOH , n01FVVY , n01FUTN , n202569 , n01FUI3 , n20B4C7 , n202561 , n01FVOP ,
n20GR7U , n01FUT7 , n20248Q , n01FUOX , n20DDHG , n01FUT2 , n202579 , n01FUSV , n20256X , n01FUO7 ,
n01FVYK , n01FUL6 , n01FVPP , n01FUUG , n01FULD , n207SYO , n01FUUA , n20256O , n01H2TY , n01H2G7 ,
n01FVP5 , n01FUVG , n20248N , n01FUJV , n01FVUC , n2025UZ , n01FVOX , n01H2TL , n01FUP4 , n01FUQM ,
n01H2TX , n01H2Q2 , n01FUKU , n20C8MD , n01FUFK , n20C8Q0 , n01FVPX , n01FVUB , n01FUUD , n01FUPO ,
n01FUT5 , n20C8N3 , n01FUQO , n20C8KV , n01FVUA , n01FUOE , n01FUSC , n01FUJS , n01FUB0 , n20DDHX ,
n01FUEC , n01FVYL , n20255Y , n20DDB4 , n01H2U5 , n01FVP3 , n01FVVP , n01FUKI , n01FVTY , n01FVR4 ,
n01H2R6 , n20DDIT , n01FUV6 , n01H2PP , n01FVYX , n01FU95 , n01FUVF , n01FUSM , n01FVQS , n20255X ,
n01FUU3 , n01H2GJ , n01H2Q3 , n01FUOK , n20C8N2 , n01FW2N , n01H2RE , n01FVRO , n01FUGX , n01FVO5 ,
n01FUVH , n01FUKF , n01FUHZ , n01FUOW , n01FUPQ , n01FVO3 , n01FUTE , n01FUTF , n20C8LF , n01FUV8 ,
n01FVOQ , n01FVPV , n01FUOR , n01FVPM , n01FVOF , n01FUUL , n01FVTS , n01FUQ6 , n01FUGV , n202578 ,
n20256N , n01FVOH , n01FUBN , n01FVRV , n01FVVX , n01FVVL , n01FVUW , n01FVPN , n01FUTO , n20249J ,

141
APPENDIX B. INPUT DATASET OF HANNOVER

n01FVLJ , n01FVM0 , n01FVV2 , n01FUT6 , n01H2IX , n01FVQH , n207T0T , n20257C , n2025VG , n20C8RN ,
n20256R , n01FULB , n01FVOR , n01FULQ , n01FVP1 , n01FVO6 , n01H2PL , n01FVTK , n01FVPQ , n01FUH0 ,
n01FUJX , n20256M , n01FUJR , n01FVPR , n01FUOF , n01FVO8 , n01FVYZ , n01H2X0 , n01FUME , n01FVQC ,
n20GR5B , n01FVYM , n01FVU2 , n01FVTQ , n01FUPS , n01H2FY , n01FUEE , n20DDIQ , n01H2RB , n20GR5C ,
n01FUOC , n00E2TA , n00E643 , n00E64D , n00E64G , n00E66G , n00E66J , n00E66L , n01788P , n01789A ,
n01789B , n01789D , n01789E , n01789F , n01789L , n01789R , n01789S , n01789T , n01789U , n01789V ,
n01789W , n01789Y , n01789Z , n0178A0 , n0178A1 , n0178A2 , n0178A3 , n0178A4 , n0178A5 , n0178A7 ,
0178 A8 , n0178AA , n01AB6A , n01AB6B , n01AB6C , n01AB6D , n01AB6E , n01AB6G , n01AB6M , n01AB6N ,
n01AB6O , n01AB6R , n01AB6S , n01ABD8 , n01ABDD , n01ABDF , n01ABDG , n01ABDH , n01ABDI , n01ABDJ ,
n01ABDK , n01ABDL , n01ABDM , n01ABDN , n01ABDO , n01ABDP , n01ABDQ , n01ABDS , n01ABDT , n01ABDW ,
n01ABDZ , n01ABE0 , n01ABE1 , n01ABE4 , n01ABE5 , n01ABE7 , n01ABE9 , n01ABED , n01ABEO , n01ABES ,
n01ABET , n01ABEV , n01ABEW , n01ABEX , n01ABEY , n01ABF0 , n01ABF1 , n01ABF3 , n01ABF4 , n01ABJ8 ,
n01ABJJ , n01ABJK , n01ABJX , n01ABJY , n01ABJZ , n01ABK2 , n01ABK3 , n01ABK4 , n01ABKC , n01ABKF ,
n01ABKG , n01ABKI , n01ABKN , n01ABKO , n01ABL3 , n01ABL4 , n01ABL5 , n01ABL6 , n01ABL7 , n01ABLE ,
n01ABLF , n01ABOX , n01ABP6 , n01ABPC , n01ABPD , n01ABPM , n01ABPP , n01ABPR , n01ABPU , n01ABPW ,
n01ABPZ , n01ABQ0 , n01ABQ2 , n01ABQ3 , n01ABQ6 , n01ABQ8 , n01ABQ9 , n01ABQB , n01ABQE , n01ABQF ,
n01ABQG , n01ABQI , n01ABQJ , n01ABQL , n01ABQP , n01ABQQ , n01ABQS , n01ABQY , n01ABQZ , n01ABR0 ,
n01ABR1 , n01ABV1 , n01ABV2 , n01ABV3 , n01ABV4 , n01ABV5 , n01ABVA , n01ABVU , n01ABVV , n01AC10 ,
n01ADGP , n01ADH6 , n01ADHA , n01ADHB , n01ADHC , n01ADHD , n01ADHE , n01ADHH , n01FUL8 , n01FUSL ,
n01FUTR , n01FUV1 , n01FUVA , n202566 , n202568 , n20256D , n20256P , n20256S , n20256U , n207SXP ,
n207SXQ , n207SXS , n207T02 , n207T5T , n207T5V , n207T5W , n207T5X , n20B4C4 , n20C9F0 , n20DDFW ,
n20DDIH , n20GR4W , n01FU8L , n01FUCA , n202562 , n01HX6G , n01FULP , n01FUT8 , n01FVRI , n20GR51 ,
n01FVZA , n01FUE6 , n01FUFE , n01FVQI , n01FVR6 , n01FVZ8 , n01FUGU , n01FVQ5 , n01FUAZ , n01FVZ6 ,
n01FUP9 , n01FVPZ , n01FULE , n01H2PS :: Path

-- D e f i n i t i o n of the list of D i s t r i c t s
areas :: [ District ]
areas = [ h7_H06Y0NB , h6_H06Y0NB , h5_H06Y0NB , h4_H06Y0NB , h3_H06Y0NB , h2_H06Y0NB ,
h6_H03NG5F , h5_H03NG5F , h4_H03NG5F , h3_H03NG5F , h2_H03N G5F , h5_H097TLK , h4_H097TLK ,
h3_H097TLK , h2_H097TLK , h4_H01F6M0 , h3_H01F6M0 , h2_H01F 6M0 , h3_H05T3WR , h2_H05T3WR ,
h3_H06KOBS , h2_H06KOBS , h3_H09DX6M , h2_H09DX6M , h3_H05V 43Q , h2_H05V43Q , h3_H03PO1O ,
h2_H03PO1O , h3_H063YJC , h2_H063YJC , h3_H04PTS0 , h2_H04P TS0 , h2_H05V49E , h2_H05RN6G ,
h2_H05TWH4 , h2_H05JJHO , h2_H05IWO5 , h2_H03WTT1 , h2_H03P NBO , h2_H04SBR1 , h2_H03WUC7 ,
h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H074YH2 , h2_H03P85A , h2_H05MF0G , h2_H03Q 6S0 , h2_H01BHXG , h2_H05V4AW ,
h2_H03NGBE , h2_H06E9I7 , h2_H01P2HN , h2_H01FM8E , h2_H01O 23Z ]

-- D e f i n i t i o n of the list of Paths


paths :: [ Path ]
paths =
[ n20248P , n01FVOB , n01FVU1 , n01FUI0 , n01FUHY , n01FUSH , n20255V , n01FUP2 , n202575 ,
n01FUPR , n01FVOV , n01FUKW , n01FUPN , n01HX6C , n01H2AO , n01FUUN , n01H2IZ , n202564 , n01FUFF ,
n01FUOQ , n01FVP7 , n01FUFM , n20255W , n01FVTJ , n01H2IU , n01FUPK , n20DDG6 , n01FVU7 , n01FVVR ,
n01FUBD , n01H2CR , n01FVTV , n01FUJN , n01H2IY , n202577 , n01H2AW , n01H2RI , n01FUI5 , n01H2CI ,
n01FUKX , n01H2CT , n01FW21 , n01FUOH , n01FVVY , n01FUTN , n202569 , n01FUI3 , n20B4C7 , n202561 ,
n01FVOP , n20GR7U , n01FUT7 , n20248Q , n01FUOX , n20DDHG , n01FUT2 , n202579 , n01FUSV , n20256X ,
n01FUO7 , n01FVYK , n01FUL6 , n01FVPP , n01FUUG , n01FULD , n207SYO , n01FUUA , n20256O , n01H2TY ,
n01H2G7 , n01FVP5 , n01FUVG , n20248N , n01FUJV , n01FVUC , n2025UZ , n01FVOX , n01H2TL , n01FUP4 ,
n01FUQM , n01H2TX , n01H2Q2 , n01FUKU , n20C8MD , n01FUFK , n20C8Q0 , n01FVPX , n01FVUB , n01FUUD ,
n01FUPO , n01FUT5 , n20C8N3 , n01FUQO , n20C8KV , n01FVUA , n01FUOE , n01FUSC , n01FUJS , n01FUB0 ,
n20DDHX , n01FUEC , n01FVYL , n20255Y , n20DDB4 , n01H2U5 , n01FVP3 , n01FVVP , n01FUKI , n01FVTY ,
n01FVR4 , n01H2R6 , n20DDIT , n01FUV6 , n01H2PP , n01FVYX , n01FU95 , n01FUVF , n01FUSM , n01FVQS ,
n20255X , n01FUU3 , n01H2GJ , n01H2Q3 , n01FUOK , n20C8N2 , n01FW2N , n01H2RE , n01FVRO , n01FUGX ,
n01FVO5 , n01FUVH , n01FUKF , n01FUHZ , n01FUOW , n01FUPQ , n01FVO3 , n01FUTE , n01FUTF , n20C8LF ,
n01FUV8 , n01FVOQ , n01FVPV , n01FUOR , n01FVPM , n01FVOF , n01FUUL , n01FVTS , n01FUQ6 , n01FUGV ,
n202578 , n20256N , n01FVOH , n01FUBN , n01FVRV , n01FVVX , n01FVVL , n01FVUW , n01FVPN , n01FUTO ,
n20249J , n01FVLJ , n01FVM0 , n01FVV2 , n01FUT6 , n01H2IX , n01FVQH , n207T0T , n20257C , n2025VG ,
n20C8RN , n20256R , n01FULB , n01FVOR , n01FULQ , n01FVP1 , n01FVO6 , n01H2PL , n01FVTK , n01FVPQ ,
n01FUH0 , n01FUJX , n20256M , n01FUJR , n01FVPR , n01FUOF , n01FVO8 , n01FVYZ , n01H2X0 , n01FUME ,
n01FVQC , n20GR5B , n01FVYM , n01FVU2 , n01FVTQ , n01FUPS , n01H2FY , n01FUEE , n20DDIQ , n01H2RB ,
n20GR5C , n01FUOC , n00E2TA , n00E643 , n00E64D , n00E64G , n00E66G , n00E66J , n00E66L , n01788P ,
n01789A , n01789B , n01789D , n01789E , n01789F , n01789L , n01789R , n01789S , n01789T , n01789U ,
n01789V , n01789W , n01789Y , n01789Z , n0178A0 , n0178A1 , n0178A2 , n0178A3 , n0178A4 , n0178A5 ,
n0178A7 , n0178A8 , n0178AA , n01AB6A , n01AB6B , n01AB6C , n01AB6D , n01AB6E , n01AB6G , n01AB6M ,
n01AB6N , n01AB6O , n01AB6R , n01AB6S , n01ABD8 , n01ABDD , n01ABDF , n01ABDG , n01ABDH , n01ABDI ,
n01ABDJ , n01ABDK , n01ABDL , n01ABDM , n01ABDN , n01ABDO , n01ABDP , n01ABDQ , n01ABDS , n01ABDT ,
n01ABDW , n01ABDZ , n01ABE0 , n01ABE1 , n01ABE4 , n01ABE5 , n01ABE7 , n01ABE9 , n01ABED , n01ABEO ,
n01ABES , n01ABET , n01ABEV , n01ABEW , n01ABEX , n01ABEY , n01ABF0 , n01ABF1 , n01ABF3 , n01ABF4 ,
n01ABJ8 , n01ABJJ , n01ABJK , n01ABJX , n01ABJY , n01ABJZ , n01ABK2 , n01ABK3 , n01ABK4 , n01ABKC ,
n01ABKF , n01ABKG , n01ABKI , n01ABKN , n01ABKO , n01ABL3 , n01ABL4 , n01ABL5 , n01ABL6 , n01ABL7 ,
n01ABLE , n01ABLF , n01ABOX , n01ABP6 , n01ABPC , n01ABPD , n01ABPM , n01ABPP , n01ABPR , n01ABPU ,
n01ABPW , n01ABPZ , n01ABQ0 , n01ABQ2 , n01ABQ3 , n01ABQ6 , n01ABQ8 , n01ABQ9 , n01ABQB , n01ABQE ,
n01ABQF , n01ABQG , n01ABQI , n01ABQJ , n01ABQL , n01ABQP , n01ABQQ , n01ABQS , n01ABQY , n01ABQZ ,
n01ABR0 , n01ABR1 , n01ABV1 , n01ABV2 , n01ABV3 , n01ABV4 , n01ABV5 , n01ABVA , n01ABVU , n01ABVV ,
n01AC10 , n01ADGP , n01ADH6 , n01ADHA , n01ADHB , n01ADHC , n01ADHD , n01ADHE , n01ADHH , n01FUL8 ,

142
M. TOMKO

n01FUSL , n01FUTR , n01FUV1 , n01FUVA , n202566 , n202568 , n20256D , n20256P , n20256S , n20256U ,
n207SXP , n207SXQ , n207SXS , n207T02 , n207T5T , n207T5V , n207T5W , n207T5X , n20B4C4 , n20C9F0 ,
n20DDFW , n20DDIH , n20GR4W , n01FU8L , n01FUCA , n202562 , n01HX6G , n01FULP , n01FUT8 , n01FVRI ,
n20GR51 , n01FVZA , n01FUE6 , n01FUFE , n01FVQI , n01FVR6 , n01FVZ8 , n01FUGU , n01FVQ5 , n01FUAZ ,
n01FVZ6 , n01FUP9 , n01FVPZ , n01FULE , n01H2PS ]

-- Data entries for the i n s t a n c e s of D i s t r i c t s at c o n s e c u t i v e g r a n u l a r i t i e s

h7_H06Y0NB = ( " h7_H06Y0NB " , 7 , " H06Y0NB " , [ " h6_H06Y0NB " , " h6_H03NG5F " ] , [])
h6_H06Y0NB = ( " h6_H06Y0NB " , 6 , " H06Y0NB " , [ " h5_H06Y0NB " , " h5_H03NG5F " ,
" h5_H097TLK " ] , [ " h6_H03NG5F " ])
h5_H06Y0NB = ( " h5_H06Y0NB " , 5 , " H06Y0NB " , [ " h4_H06Y0NB " , " h4_H03NG5F " ,
" h4_H01F6M0 " ] , [ " h5_H03NG5F " ])
h4_H06Y0NB = ( " h4_H06Y0NB " , 4 , " H06Y0NB " , [ " h3_H06Y0NB " , " h3_H03NG5F " ,
" h3_H01F6M0 " , " h3_H04PTS0 " ] , [ " h4_H03NG5F " ])
h3_H06Y0NB = ( " h3_H06Y0NB " , 3 , " H06Y0NB " , [ " h2_H05V49E " , " h2_H06Y0NB " ,
" h2_H03PNBO " , " h2_H03NG5F " , " h2_H03NGBE " , " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H01F6M0 " ,
" h2_H05V4AW " ] , [ " h3_H03NG5F " ])
h2_H06Y0NB = ( " h2_H06Y0NB " , 2 , " H06Y0NB " , [] , [ " h2_H05V49 E " , " h2_H03PNBO " ,
" h2_H03NG5F " , " h2_H03NGBE " ])

h6_H03NG5F = ( " h6_H03NG5F " , 6 , " H03NG5F " , [ " h5_H097TLK " , " h5_H03NG5F " ] ,
[ " h6_H06Y0NB " ])
h5_H03NG5F = ( " h5_H03NG5F " , 5 , " H03NG5F " , [ " h4_H097TLK " , " h4_H01F6M0 " ,
" h4_H03NG5F " ] , [ " h5_H06Y0NB " , " h5_H097TLK " ])
h4_H03NG5F = ( " h4_H03NG5F " , 4 , " H03NG5F " , [ " h3_H05V43Q " , " h3_H01F6M0 " ,
" h3_H03NG5F " , " h3_H03PO1O " , " h3_H04PTS0 " ] , [ " h4_H06Y0N B " , " h4_H01F6M0 " ])
h3_H03NG5F = ( " h3_H03NG5F " , 3 , " H03NG5F " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H03PNBO " ,
" h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H03NG5F " , " h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H04PTS0 " ,
" h2_H01P2HN " , " h2_H03NGBE " , " h2_H01FM8E " ] , [ " h3_H06Y0N B " , " h3_H01F6M0 " ,
" h3_H04PTS0 " ])
h2_H03NG5F = ( " h2_H03NG5F " , 2 , " H03NG5F " , [] , [ " h2_H06Y0N B " , " h2_H03PNBO " ,
" h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H03NGBE " ])

h5_H097TLK = ( " h5_H097TLK " , 5 , " H097TLK " , [ " h4_H097TLK " , " h4_H01F6M0 " ] ,
[ " h5_H097TLK " ])
h4_H097TLK = ( " h4_H097TLK " , 4 , " H097TLK " , [ " h3_H097TLK " , " h3_H05T3WR " ,
" h3_H06KOBS " , " h3_H09DX6M " , " h3_H063YJC " , " h3_H05V43Q " ] , [ " h4_H01F6M0 " ])
h3_H097TLK = ( " h3_H097TLK " , 3 , " H097TLK " , [ " h2_H09DX6M " , " h2_H097TLK " ,
" h2_H06KOBS " , " h2_H05IWO5 " , " h2_H05MF0G " , " h2_H05T3WR " , " h2_H063YJC " ,
" h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H05RN6G " , " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05V43Q " , " h2_H074YH2 " ,
" h2_H03P85A " ] , [ " h3_H05T3WR " , " h3_H06KOBS " , " h3_H09DX6 M " , " h3_H063YJC " ])
h2_H097TLK = ( " h2_H097TLK " , 2 , " H097TLK " , [] , [ " h2_H09DX6 M " , " h2_H06KOBS " ,
" h2_H05T3WR " , " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H05MF0G " ])

h4_H01F6M0 = ( " h4_H01F6M0 " , 4 , " H01F6M0 " , [ " h3_H05V43Q " , " h3_H01F6M0 " ,
" h3_H03PO1O " , " h3_H04PTS0 " , " h3_H063YJC " ] , [ " h4_H097TL K " , " h4_H03NG5F " ])
h3_H01F6M0 = ( " h3_H01F6M0 " , 3 , " H01F6M0 " , [ " h2_H05V43Q " , " h2_H03WTT1 " ,
" h2_H03PNBO " , " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H01BHXG " ,
" h2_H01P2HN " , " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H04PTS0 " , " h2_H06E9I7 " , " h2_H01FM8E " ,
" h2_H01O23Z " ] , [ " h3_H05V43Q " , " h3_H03NG5F " , " h3_H03PO1 O " , " h3_H04PTS0 " ])
h2_H01F6M0 = ( " h2_H01F6M0 " , 2 , " H01F6M0 " , [] , [ " h2_H03WTT 1 " , " h2_H03PNBO " ,
" h2_H03NG5F " , " h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H04PTS0 " , " h2_H01P2HN " ])

h3_H05T3WR = ( " h3_H05T3WR " , 3 , " H05T3WR " , [ " h2_H05T3WR " , " h2_H05RN6G " ,
" h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05JJHO " ] , [ " h3_H097TLK " , " h3_H06KOB S " ])
h2_H05T3WR = ( " h2_H05T3WR " , 2 , " H05T3WR " , [] , [ " h2_H097TL K " , " h2_H06KOBS " ,
" h2_H05RN6G " , " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05JJHO " ])

h3_H06KOBS = ( " h3_H06KOBS " , 3 , " H06KOBS " , [ " h2_H06KOBS " , " h2_H05T3WR " ,
" h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H05IWO5 " ] , [ " h3_H097TL K " , " h3_H05T3WR " ,
" h3_H09DX6M " ])
h2_H06KOBS = ( " h2_H06KOBS " , 2 , " H06KOBS " , [] , [ " h2_H09DX6 M " , " h2_H097TLK " ,
" h2_H05T3WR " , " h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H05IWO5 " ])

h3_H09DX6M = ( " h3_H09DX6M " , 3 , " H09DX6M " , [ " h2_H09DX6M " , " h2_H06KOBS " ,
" h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H05IWO5 " , " h2_H05MF0G " ] , [ " h3_H097TL K " , " h3_H06KOBS " ])
h2_H09DX6M = ( " h2_H09DX6M " , 2 , " H09DX6M " , [] , [ " h2_H097TL K " , " h2_H06KOBS " ,
" h2_H05IWO5 " , " h2_H05MF0G " ])

h3_H05V43Q = ( " h3_H05V43Q " , 3 , " H05V43Q " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H05V43Q " ,
" h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H074YH2 " , " h2_H03PO1O " ,
" h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H01BHXG " , " h2_H03P85A " ] , [ " h3_H01F6M 0 " , " h3_H03PO1O " ,
" h3_H063YJC " ])

143
APPENDIX B. INPUT DATASET OF HANNOVER

h2_H05V43Q = ( " h2_H05V43Q " , 2 , " H05V43Q " , [] , [ " h2_H03WTT 1 " , " h2_H04SBR1 " ,
" h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H074YH2 " ])

h3_H03PO1O = ( " h3_H03PO1O " , 3 , " H03PO1O " , [ " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H03PO1O " ,
" h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H03P85A " , " h2_H03Q6S0 " , " h2_H01BHXG " , " h2_H06E9I7 " ,
" h2_H01O23Z " , " h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H01P2HN " ] , [ " h3_H05V4 3Q " , " h3_H01F6M0 " ,
" h3_H063YJC " , " h3_H04PTS0 " ])
h2_H03PO1O = ( " h2_H03PO1O " , 2 , " H03PO1O " , [] , [ " h2_H04SBR 1 " , " h2_H03PO3Z " ,
" h2_H03P85A " , " h2_H03Q6S0 " , " h2_H01BHXG " ])

h3_H063YJC = ( " h3_H063YJC " , 3 , " H063YJC " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H03PO1O " ,
" h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H074YH2 " , " h2_H03P85A " , " h2_H05MF0G " , " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] ,
[ " h3_H097TLK " , " h3_H05V43Q " , " h3_H03PO1O " ])
h2_H063YJC = ( " h2_H063YJC " , 2 , " H063YJC " , [] , [ " h2_H097TL K " , " h2_H074YH2 " ,
" h2_H03P85A " , " h2_H05MF0G " ])

h3_H04PTS0 = ( " h3_H04PTS0 " , 3 , " H04PTS0 " , [ " h2_H03Q6S0 " , " h2_H04PTS0 " ,
" h2_H06E9I7 " , " h2_H01FM8E " , " h2_H01O23Z " , " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H01BHXG " ,
" h2_H01P2HN " ] , [ " h3_H01F6M0 " , " h3_H03NG5F " , " h3_H03PO1 O " ])
h2_H04PTS0 = ( " h2_H04PTS0 " , 2 , " H04PTS0 " , [] , [ " h2_H01F6M 0 " , " h2_H05V4AW " ,
" h2_H06E9I7 " , " h2_H01P2HN " , " h2_H01FM8E " , " h2_H01O23Z " ])

h2_H05V49E = ( " h2_H05V49E " , 2 , " H05V49E " , [] , [ " h2_H06Y0N B " , " h2_H03PNBO " ])
h2_H05RN6G = ( " h2_H05RN6G " , 2 , " H05RN6G " , [] , [ " h2_H05T3W R " , " h2_H05TWH4 " ])
h2_H05TWH4 = ( " h2_H05TWH4 " , 2 , " H05TWH4 " , [] , [ " h2_H05T3W R " , " h2_H05RN6G " ,
" h2_H05JJHO " ])
h2_H05JJHO = ( " h2_H05JJHO " , 2 , " H05JJHO " , [] , [ " h2_H06KOB S " , " h2_H05T3WR " ,
" h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05IWO5 " ])
h2_H05IWO5 = ( " h2_H05IWO5 " , 2 , " H05IWO5 " , [] , [ " h2_H09DX6 M " , " h2_H06KOBS " ,
" h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H05MF0G " ])
h2_H03WTT1 = ( " h2_H03WTT1 " , 2 , " H03WTT1 " , [] , [ " h2_H05V43 Q " , " h2_H03PNBO " ,
" h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " ])
h2_H03PNBO = ( " h2_H03PNBO " , 2 , " H03PNBO " , [] , [ " h2_H05V49 E " , " h2_H06Y0NB " ,
" h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H03NG5F " ])
h2_H04SBR1 = ( " h2_H04SBR1 " , 2 , " H04SBR1 " , [] , [ " h2_H05V43 Q " , " h2_H03WTT1 " ,
" h2_H03PO1O " , " h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H01BHXG " ])
h2_H03WUC7 = ( " h2_H03WUC7 " , 2 , " H03WUC7 " , [] , [ " h2_H03WTT 1 " , " h2_H01F6M0 " ,
" h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H01BHXG " , " h2_H01P2HN " ])
h2_H03PO3Z = ( " h2_H03PO3Z " , 2 , " H03PO3Z " , [] , [ " h2_H05V43 Q " , " h2_H04SBR1 " ,
" h2_H03PO1O " , " h2_H074YH2 " , " h2_H03P85A " ])
h2_H074YH2 = ( " h2_H074YH2 " , 2 , " H074YH2 " , [] , [ " h2_H063YJ C " , " h2_H05V43Q " ,
" h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H03P85A " ])
h2_H03P85A = ( " h2_H03P85A " , 2 , " H03P85A " , [] , [ " h2_H063YJ C " , " h2_H03PO1O " ,
" h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H074YH2 " ])
h2_H05MF0G = ( " h2_H05MF0G " , 2 , " H05MF0G " , [] , [ " h2_H09DX6 M " , " h2_H097TLK " ,
" h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H05IWO5 " ])
h2_H03Q6S0 = ( " h2_H03Q6S0 " , 2 , " H03Q6S0 " , [] , [ " h2_H03PO1 O " , " h2_H01BHXG " ,
" h2_H06E9I7 " , " h2_H01O23Z " ])
h2_H01BHXG = ( " h2_H01BHXG " , 2 , " H01BHXG " , [] , [ " h2_H04SBR 1 " , " h2_H03PO1O " ,
" h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H03Q6S0 " , " h2_H01P2HN " , " h2_H01O23Z " ])
h2_H05V4AW = ( " h2_H05V4AW " , 2 , " H05V4AW " , [] , [ " h2_H01F6M 0 " , " h2_H03NG5F " ,
" h2_H03NGBE " , " h2_H04PTS0 " , " h2_H01FM8E " ])
h2_H03NGBE = ( " h2_H03NGBE " , 2 , " H03NGBE " , [] , [ " h2_H06Y0N B " , " h2_H03NG5F " ,
" h2_H05V4AW " ])
h2_H06E9I7 = ( " h2_H06E9I7 " , 2 , " H06E9I7 " , [] , [ " h2_H03Q6S 0 " , " h2_H04PTS0 " ,
" h2_H01FM8E " , " h2_H01O23Z " ])
h2_H01P2HN = ( " h2_H01P2HN " , 2 , " H01P2HN " , [] , [ " h2_H01F6M 0 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " ,
" h2_H01BHXG " , " h2_H04PTS0 " , " h2_H01O23Z " ])
h2_H01FM8E = ( " h2_H01FM8E " , 2 , " H01FM8E " , [] , [ " h2_H05V4A W " , " h2_H04PTS0 " ,
" h2_H06E9I7 " ])
h2_H01O23Z = ( " h2_H01O23Z " , 2 , " H01O23Z " , [] , [ " h2_H03Q6S 0 " , " h2_H01BHXG " ,
" h2_H04PTS0 " , " h2_H06E9I7 " , " h2_H01P2HN " ])

-- Data entries for the i n s t a n c e s of Paths

n20248P = ( " N20248P " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H 03NGBE " ] , 0.00012742)
n01FVOB = ( " N01FVOB " , [ " h2_H03NGBE " ] , 0.00005190)
n01FVU1 = ( " N01FVU1 " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00000176)
n01FUI0 = ( " N01FUI0 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00003570)
n01FUHY = ( " N01FUHY " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00007140)
n01FUSH = ( " N01FUSH " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H03PNBO " ] , 0.00 064386)
n20255V = ( " N20255V " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00049183)
n01FUP2 = ( " N01FUP2 " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H03P85A " ] , 0.00 020312)
n202575 = ( " N202575 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00085250)

144
M. TOMKO

n01FUPR = ( " N01FUPR " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H05MF0G " ] , 0.00 039174)
n01FVOV = ( " N01FVOV " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00007486)
n01FUKW = ( " N01FUKW " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00013896)
n01FUPN = ( " N01FUPN " , [ " h2_H063YJC " ] , 0.00010767)
n01HX6C = ( " N01HX6C " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " ] , 0.00072974)
n01H2AO = ( " N01H2AO " , [ " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H01BHXG " ] , 0.00 138521)
n01FUUN = ( " N01FUUN " , [ " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H074YH2 " ] , 0.00 053495)
n01H2IZ = ( " N01H2IZ " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " ] , 0.00126691)
n202564 = ( " N202564 " , [ " h2_H03P85A " ] , 0.00014345)
n01FUFF = ( " N01FUFF " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUOQ = ( " N01FUOQ " , [ " h2_H05V43Q " ] , 0.00009544)
n01FVP7 = ( " N01FVP7 " , [ " h2_H04PTS0 " , " h2_H01O23Z " ] , 0.00 207503)
n01FUFM = ( " N01FUFM " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05MF0G " , " h2_H 05JJHO " , " h2_H05IWO5 " ] ,
0.00032825)
n20255W = ( " N20255W " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H03PNBO " ] , 0.00 128772)
n01FVTJ = ( " N01FVTJ " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " ] , 0.00009124)
n01H2IU = ( " N01H2IU " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUPK = ( " N01FUPK " , [ " h2_H05MF0G " ] , 0.00000960)
n20DDG6 = ( " N20DDG6 " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FVU7 = ( " N01FVU7 " , [ " h2_H06E9I7 " ] , 0.00001490)
n01FVVR = ( " N01FVVR " , [ " h2_H04PTS0 " , " h2_H06E9I7 " ] , 0.00 005116)
n01FUBD = ( " N01FUBD " , [ " h2_H03WUC7 " ] , 0.00012582)
n01H2CR = ( " N01H2CR " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " ] , 0.00118043)
n01FVTV = ( " N01FVTV " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " , " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00 015203)
n01FUJN = ( " N01FUJN " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01H2IY = ( " N01H2IY " , [ " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H05V43Q " ] , 0.00 012986)
n202577 = ( " N202577 " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00000176)
n01H2AW = ( " N01H2AW " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000513)
n01H2RI = ( " N01H2RI " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00 007140)
n01FUI5 = ( " N01FUI5 " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00013211)
n01H2CI = ( " N01H2CI " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " ] , 0.00015203)
n01FUKX = ( " N01FUKX " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H03NGBE " ] , 0.00 045636)
n01H2CT = ( " N01H2CT " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " , " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00 075001)
n01FW21 = ( " N01FW21 " , [ " h2_H03PO1O " , " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00 034766)
n01FUOH = ( " N01FUOH " , [ " h2_H03P85A " , " h2_H074YH2 " ] , 0.00 147766)
n01FVVY = ( " N01FVVY " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H 03WUC7 " ] , 0.00295238)
n01FUTN = ( " N01FUTN " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n202569 = ( " N202569 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00859061)
n01FUI3 = ( " N01FUI3 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05MF0G " , " h2_H 05JJHO " , " h2_H05IWO5 " ] ,
0.00018402)
n20B4C7 = ( " N20B4C7 " , [ " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00577930)
n202561 = ( " N202561 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00095087)
n01FVOP = ( " N01FVOP " , [ " h2_H03WUC7 " ] , 0.00018301)
n20GR7U = ( " N20GR7U " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H03PNBO " , " h2_H 05V49E " , " h2_H03NG5F " ] ,
0.01016487)
n01FUT7 = ( " N01FUT7 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00049183)
n20248Q = ( " N20248Q " , [ " h2_H03NGBE " ] , 0.00003892)
n01FUOX = ( " N01FUOX " , [ " h2_H063YJC " ] , 0.00010767)
n20DDHG = ( " N20DDHG " , [ " h2_H06E9I7 " ] , 0.00014789)
n01FUT2 = ( " N01FUT2 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00085250)
n202579 = ( " N202579 " , [ " h2_H06E9I7 " ] , 0.00000798)
n01FUSV = ( " N01FUSV " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H074YH2 " ] , 0.00 060820)
n20256X = ( " N20256X " , [ " h2_H05MF0G " ] , 0.00000320)
n01FUO7 = ( " N01FUO7 " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n01FVYK = ( " N01FVYK " , [ " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00001711)
n01FUL6 = ( " N01FUL6 " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " ] , 0.00120324)
n01FVPP = ( " N01FVPP " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H03NGBE " ] , 0.00 024892)
n01FUUG = ( " N01FUUG " , [ " h2_H05V43Q " ] , 0.00026088)
n01FULD = ( " N01FULD " , [ " h2_H05MF0G " , " h2_H05IWO5 " ] , 0.00 000320)
n207SYO = ( " N207SYO " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUUA = ( " N01FUUA " , [ " h2_H03WUC7 " ] , 0.00012963)
n20256O = ( " N20256O " , [ " h2_H03PO1O " ] , 0.00003772)
n01H2TY = ( " N01H2TY " , [ " h2_H04PTS0 " , " h2_H01O23Z " ] , 0.00 192356)
n01H2G7 = ( " N01H2G7 " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " ] , 0.00 012325)
n01FVP5 = ( " N01FVP5 " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H04PTS0 " ] , 0.00 009005)
n01FUVG = ( " N01FUVG " , [ " h2_H03P85A " ] , 0.00034758)
n20248N = ( " N20248N " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUJV = ( " N01FUJV " , [ " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00007817)
n01FVUC = ( " N01FVUC " , [ " h2_H05MF0G " ] , 0.00000363)
n2025UZ = ( " N2025UZ " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00007046)
n01FVOX = ( " N01FVOX " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " ] , 0.00030406)
n01H2TL = ( " N01H2TL " , [ " h2_H05V43Q " ] , 0.00009544)
n01FUP4 = ( " N01FUP4 " , [ " h2_H03PO3Z " ] , 0.00003442)
n01FUQM = ( " N01FUQM " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00000340)

145
APPENDIX B. INPUT DATASET OF HANNOVER

n01H2TX = ( " N01H2TX " , [ " h2_H04PTS0 " , " h2_H01P2HN " ] , 0.00 090820)
n01H2Q2 = ( " N01H2Q2 " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n01FUKU = ( " N01FUKU " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H 097TLK " , " h2_H05RN6G " ,
" h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.00428415)
n20C8MD = ( " N20C8MD " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00051885)
n01FUFK = ( " N01FUFK " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00 504333)
n20C8Q0 = ( " N20C8Q0 " , [ " h2_H01O23Z " , " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00 012990)
n01FVPX = ( " N01FVPX " , [ " h2_H01O23Z " , " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.01 091186)
n01FVUB = ( " N01FVUB " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00006606)
n01FUUD = ( " N01FUUD " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00061213)
n01FUPO = ( " N01FUPO " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H05MF0G " , " h2_H 097TLK " ] , 0.00027940)
n01FUT5 = ( " N01FUT5 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00049183)
n20C8N3 = ( " N20C8N3 " , [ " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00015611)
n01FUQO = ( " N01FUQO " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H097TLK " , " h2_H 074YH2 " , " h2_H05T3WR " ,
" h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.02648398)
n20C8KV = ( " N20C8KV " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " , " h2_H06E9I7 " ] , 0.00 004934)
n01FVUA = ( " N01FVUA " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00000176)
n01FUOE = ( " N01FUOE " , [ " h2_H01O23Z " , " h2_H01P2HN " ] , 0.00 018751)
n01FUSC = ( " N01FUSC " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUJS = ( " N01FUJS " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H04PTS0 " ] , 0.00 225736)
n01FUB0 = ( " N01FUB0 " , [ " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00007817)
n20DDHX = ( " N20DDHX " , [ " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H03PO1O " ] , 0.00 008176)
n01FUEC = ( " N01FUEC " , [ " h2_H01P2HN " ] , 0.00010452)
n01FVYL = ( " N01FVYL " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00049183)
n20255Y = ( " N20255Y " , [ " h2_H05MF0G " ] , 0.00000320)
n20DDB4 = ( " N20DDB4 " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00003570)
n01H2U5 = ( " N01H2U5 " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H 01P2HN " ] , 0.00057702)
n01FVP3 = ( " N01FVP3 " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H03NG5F " ] , 0.00 009038)
n01FVVP = ( " N01FVVP " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00012331)
n01FUKI = ( " N01FUKI " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " , " h2_H06E9I7 " ] , 0.00 019994)
n01FVTY = ( " N01FVTY " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00007046)
n01FVR4 = ( " N01FVR4 " , [ " h2_H03WUC7 " ] , 0.00006100)
n01H2R6 = ( " N01H2R6 " , [ " h2_H03WUC7 " ] , 0.00005719)
n20DDIT = ( " N20DDIT " , [ " h2_H04PTS0 " ] , 0.00003680)
n01FUV6 = ( " N01FUV6 " , [ " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H01BHXG " , " h2_H 01O23Z " , " h2_H06E9I7 " ] ,
0.00551266)
n01H2PP = ( " N01H2PP " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FVYX = ( " N01FVYX " , [ " h2_H03P85A " ] , 0.00779571)
n01FU95 = ( " N01FU95 " , [ " h2_H03P85A " , " h2_H074YH2 " ] , 0.14 710451)
n01FUVF = ( " N01FUVF " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00 008730)
n01FUSM = ( " N01FUSM " , [ " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H03PO3Z " ] , 0.00 126402)
n01FVQS = ( " N01FVQS " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00001851)
n20255X = ( " N20255X " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUU3 = ( " N01FUU3 " , [ " h2_H03NGBE " , " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H 03NG5F " ] , 0.00196941)
n01H2GJ = ( " N01H2GJ " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n01H2Q3 = ( " N01H2Q3 " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H03P85A " , " h2_H 097TLK " ] , 0.00023478)
n01FUOK = ( " N01FUOK " , [ " h2_H01P2HN " ] , 0.00011846)
n20C8N2 = ( " N20C8N2 " , [ " h2_H063YJC " ] , 0.00320856)
n01FW2N = ( " N01FW2N " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " , " h2_H06E9I7 " ] , 0.00 001947)
n01H2RE = ( " N01H2RE " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H04SBR1 " ] , 0.00 063798)
n01FVRO = ( " N01FVRO " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " ] , 0.00413435)
n01FUGX = ( " N01FUGX " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H03NGBE " , " h2_H 01F6M0 " , " h2_H03NG5F " ] ,
0.00026048)
n01FVO5 = ( " N01FVO5 " , [ " h2_H03P85A " ] , 0.00012138)
n01FUVH = ( " N01FUVH " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H 03NGBE " ] , 0.00359318)
n01FUKF = ( " N01FUKF " , [ " h2_H01O23Z " ] , 0.00005173)
n01FUHZ = ( " N01FUHZ " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00003570)
n01FUOW = ( " N01FUOW " , [ " h2_H063YJC " ] , 0.00021534)
n01FUPQ = ( " N01FUPQ " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H03P85A " ] , 0.00 048241)
n01FVO3 = ( " N01FVO3 " , [ " h2_H03NG5F " ] , 0.00000484)
n01FUTE = ( " N01FUTE " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00049183)
n01FUTF = ( " N01FUTF " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00049183)
n20C8LF = ( " N20C8LF " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H 097TLK " , " h2_H074YH2 " ,
" h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H06KOBS " , " h2_H09DX6M " ] , 0.08775562)
n01FUV8 = ( " N01FUV8 " , [ " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00017718)
n01FVOQ = ( " N01FVOQ " , [ " h2_H01BHXG " , " h2_H01P2HN " ] , 0.00 030210)
n01FVPV = ( " N01FVPV " , [ " h2_H01BHXG " , " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00 015588)
n01FUOR = ( " N01FUOR " , [ " h2_H05V43Q " ] , 0.00009544)
n01FVPM = ( " N01FVPM " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00000270)
n01FVOF = ( " N01FVOF " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H03NGBE " , " h2_H 01F6M0 " , " h2_H04PTS0 " ,
" h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H01P2HN " ] , 0.01504917)
n01FUUL = ( " N01FUUL " , [ " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H05V43Q " , " h2_H 03PO1O " ] , 0.00168698)
n01FVTS = ( " N01FVTS " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUQ6 = ( " N01FUQ6 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H 03WUC7 " ] , 0.00176322)

146
M. TOMKO

n01FUGV = ( " N01FUGV " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00 000867)
n202578 = ( " N202578 " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H03NG5F " ] , 0.00 235847)
n20256N = ( " N20256N " , [ " h2_H03P85A " , " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00 036477)
n01FVOH = ( " N01FVOH " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " ] , 0.00008554)
n01FUBN = ( " N01FUBN " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00 031427)
n01FVRV = ( " N01FVRV " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00049183)
n01FVVX = ( " N01FVVX " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00001734)
n01FVVL = ( " N01FVVL " , [ " h2_H05MF0G " ] , 0.00000320)
n01FVUW = ( " N01FVUW " , [ " h2_H01BHXG " , " h2_H01P2HN " ] , 0.00 065628)
n01FVPN = ( " N01FVPN " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " ] , 0.00 054902)
n01FUTO = ( " N01FUTO " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00 015160)
n20249J = ( " N20249J " , [ " h2_H01O23Z " ] , 0.00005173)
n01FVLJ = ( " N01FVLJ " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00049183)
n01FVM0 = ( " N01FVM0 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " ] , 0.00 054902)
n01FVV2 = ( " N01FVV2 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00170501)
n01FUT6 = ( " N01FUT6 " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01H2IX = ( " N01H2IX " , [ " h2_H05MF0G " ] , 0.00000619)
n01FVQH = ( " N01FVQH " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n207T0T = ( " N207T0T " , [ " h2_H01O23Z " , " h2_H06E9I7 " , " h2_H 01P2HN " ] , 0.00147813)
n20257C = ( " N20257C " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00 111577)
n2025VG = ( " N2025VG " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H 01P2HN " ] , 0.00286993)
n20C8RN = ( " N20C8RN " , [ " h2_H05MF0G " , " h2_H05IWO5 " , " h2_H 06KOBS " , " h2_H09DX6M " ] ,
0.00024213)
n20256R = ( " N20256R " , [ " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " ] , 0.00 020334)
n01FULB = ( " N01FULB " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00011450)
n01FVOR = ( " N01FVOR " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FULQ = ( " N01FULQ " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FVP1 = ( " N01FVP1 " , [ " h2_H01F6M0 " , " h2_H04PTS0 " ] , 0.00 009005)
n01FVO6 = ( " N01FVO6 " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H03NGBE " ] , 0.00 012446)
n01H2PL = ( " N01H2PL " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FVTK = ( " N01FVTK " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " ] , 0.00008554)
n01FVPQ = ( " N01FVPQ " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00001488)
n01FUH0 = ( " N01FUH0 " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " , " h2_H04PTS0 " ] , 0.00 026441)
n01FUJX = ( " N01FUJX " , [ " h2_H01BHXG " , " h2_H01P2HN " ] , 0.00 015626)
n20256M = ( " N20256M " , [ " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00007817)
n01FUJR = ( " N01FUJR " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00000469)
n01FVPR = ( " N01FVPR " , [ " h2_H03NGBE " ] , 0.00008822)
n01FUOF = ( " N01FUOF " , [ " h2_H03PO3Z " ] , 0.00006884)
n01FVO8 = ( " N01FVO8 " , [ " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00000598)
n01FVYZ = ( " N01FVYZ " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " ] , 0.00 054902)
n01H2X0 = ( " N01H2X0 " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H03NG5F " ] , 0.00 001507)
n01FUME = ( " N01FUME " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H03P85A " ] , 0.00 019043)
n01FVQC = ( " N01FVQC " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00049183)
n20GR5B = ( " N20GR5B " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H 097TLK " , " h2_H05RN6G " ,
" h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.00920748)
n01FVYM = ( " N01FVYM " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " ] , 0.00008554)
n01FVU2 = ( " N01FVU2 " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H03P85A " ] , 0.00 054589)
n01FVTQ = ( " N01FVTQ " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " ] , 0.00015203)
n01FUPS = ( " N01FUPS " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " ] , 0.00059798)
n01H2FY = ( " N01H2FY " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H074YH2 " , " h2_H 05V43Q " ] , 0.00323675)
n01FUEE = ( " N01FUEE " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00 015202)
n20DDIQ = ( " N20DDIQ " , [ " h2_H097TLK " , " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00 071868)
n01H2RB = ( " N01H2RB " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H074YH2 " ] , 0.00 190569)
n20GR5C = ( " N20GR5C " , [ " h2_H063YJC " ] , 0.00071062)
n01FUOC = ( " N01FUOC " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H03NGBE " , " h2_H 05V49E " ] , 0.00029316)
n00E2TA = ( " N00E2TA " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H097TLK " , " h2_H 074YH2 " ] , 0.09227029)
n00E643 = ( " N00E643 " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " , " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00 018244)
n00E64D = ( " N00E64D " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n00E64G = ( " N00E64G " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n00E66G = ( " N00E66G " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000867)
n00E66J = ( " N00E66J " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n00E66L = ( " N00E66L " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n01788P = ( " N01788P " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01789A = ( " N01789A " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01789B = ( " N01789B " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01789D = ( " N01789D " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01789E = ( " N01789E " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01789F = ( " N01789F " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01789L = ( " N01789L " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01789R = ( " N01789R " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00004711)
n01789S = ( " N01789S " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000729)
n01789T = ( " N01789T " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00 000296)
n01789U = ( " N01789U " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n01789V = ( " N01789V " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)

147
APPENDIX B. INPUT DATASET OF HANNOVER

n01789W = ( " N01789W " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)


n01789Y = ( " N01789Y " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00003430)
n01789Z = ( " N01789Z " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00001577)
n0178A0 = ( " N0178A0 " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00 000591)
n0178A1 = ( " N0178A1 " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000315)
n0178A2 = ( " N0178A2 " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00001005)
n0178A3 = ( " N0178A3 " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n0178A4 = ( " N0178A4 " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n0178A5 = ( " N0178A5 " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n0178A7 = ( " N0178A7 " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00 000296)
n0178A8 = ( " N0178A8 " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n0178AA = ( " N0178AA " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00 000591)
n01AB6A = ( " N01AB6A " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01AB6B = ( " N01AB6B " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01AB6C = ( " N01AB6C " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01AB6D = ( " N01AB6D " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01AB6E = ( " N01AB6E " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01AB6G = ( " N01AB6G " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01AB6M = ( " N01AB6M " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01AB6N = ( " N01AB6N " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01AB6O = ( " N01AB6O " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01AB6R = ( " N01AB6R " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01AB6S = ( " N01AB6S " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABD8 = ( " N01ABD8 " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDD = ( " N01ABDD " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDF = ( " N01ABDF " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDG = ( " N01ABDG " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDH = ( " N01ABDH " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDI = ( " N01ABDI " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDJ = ( " N01ABDJ " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDK = ( " N01ABDK " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDL = ( " N01ABDL " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDM = ( " N01ABDM " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDN = ( " N01ABDN " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDO = ( " N01ABDO " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDP = ( " N01ABDP " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDQ = ( " N01ABDQ " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDS = ( " N01ABDS " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDT = ( " N01ABDT " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDW = ( " N01ABDW " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABDZ = ( " N01ABDZ " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABE0 = ( " N01ABE0 " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABE1 = ( " N01ABE1 " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABE4 = ( " N01ABE4 " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABE5 = ( " N01ABE5 " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABE7 = ( " N01ABE7 " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABE9 = ( " N01ABE9 " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABED = ( " N01ABED " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABEO = ( " N01ABEO " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABES = ( " N01ABES " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABET = ( " N01ABET " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00 003570)
n01ABEV = ( " N01ABEV " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00 007854)
n01ABEW = ( " N01ABEW " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00 010472)
n01ABEX = ( " N01ABEX " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00004046)
n01ABEY = ( " N01ABEY " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABF0 = ( " N01ABF0 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABF1 = ( " N01ABF1 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABF3 = ( " N01ABF3 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00010948)
n01ABF4 = ( " N01ABF4 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H 05T3WR " ] , 0.00007766)
n01ABJ8 = ( " N01ABJ8 " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABJJ = ( " N01ABJJ " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABJK = ( " N01ABJK " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABJX = ( " N01ABJX " , [ " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00002713)
n01ABJY = ( " N01ABJY " , [ " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00001252)
n01ABJZ = ( " N01ABJZ " , [ " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00000877)
n01ABK2 = ( " N01ABK2 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00 004476)
n01ABK3 = ( " N01ABK3 " , [ " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00000626)
n01ABK4 = ( " N01ABK4 " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00 004196)
n01ABKC = ( " N01ABKC " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00006902)
n01ABKF = ( " N01ABKF " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00003808)
n01ABKG = ( " N01ABKG " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABKI = ( " N01ABKI " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00010472)
n01ABKN = ( " N01ABKN " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00 007140)
n01ABKO = ( " N01ABKO " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00 007140)

148
M. TOMKO

n01ABL3 = ( " N01ABL3 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00 014280)
n01ABL4 = ( " N01ABL4 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABL5 = ( " N01ABL5 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00014042)
n01ABL6 = ( " N01ABL6 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " , " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00 007140)
n01ABL7 = ( " N01ABL7 " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H05IWO5 " ] , 0.00 003570)
n01ABLE = ( " N01ABLE " , [ " h2_H05IWO5 " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABLF = ( " N01ABLF " , [ " h2_H05IWO5 " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ABOX = ( " N01ABOX " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00 015202)
n01ABP6 = ( " N01ABP6 " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00009757)
n01ABPC = ( " N01ABPC " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00004731)
n01ABPD = ( " N01ABPD " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00004731)
n01ABPM = ( " N01ABPM " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00005712)
n01ABPP = ( " N01ABPP " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00 006434)
n01ABPR = ( " N01ABPR " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00011186)
n01ABPU = ( " N01ABPU " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00003808)
n01ABPW = ( " N01ABPW " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00007140)
n01ABPZ = ( " N01ABPZ " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00006902)
n01ABQ0 = ( " N01ABQ0 " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H05T3WR " , " h2_H 06KOBS " ] , 0.00007766)
n01ABQ2 = ( " N01ABQ2 " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABQ3 = ( " N01ABQ3 " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABQ6 = ( " N01ABQ6 " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00010472)
n01ABQ8 = ( " N01ABQ8 " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABQ9 = ( " N01ABQ9 " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.00 007140)
n01ABQB = ( " N01ABQB " , [ " h2_H05T3WR " , " h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.00 008672)
n01ABQE = ( " N01ABQE " , [ " h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABQF = ( " N01ABQF " , [ " h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.00004522)
n01ABQG = ( " N01ABQG " , [ " h2_H097TLK " , " h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.00 011207)
n01ABQI = ( " N01ABQI " , [ " h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABQJ = ( " N01ABQJ " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00012714)
n01ABQL = ( " N01ABQL " , [ " h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.00003570)
n01ABQP = ( " N01ABQP " , [ " h2_H06KOBS " , " h2_H09DX6M " ] , 0.00 011700)
n01ABQQ = ( " N01ABQQ " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00004731)
n01ABQS = ( " N01ABQS " , [ " h2_H05IWO5 " , " h2_H09DX6M " ] , 0.00 002647)
n01ABQY = ( " N01ABQY " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00005913)
n01ABQZ = ( " N01ABQZ " , [ " h2_H09DX6M " ] , 0.00002482)
n01ABR0 = ( " N01ABR0 " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00008870)
n01ABR1 = ( " N01ABR1 " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00004435)
n01ABV1 = ( " N01ABV1 " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00006505)
n01ABV2 = ( " N01ABV2 " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00004435)
n01ABV3 = ( " N01ABV3 " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00004435)
n01ABV4 = ( " N01ABV4 " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00 034458)
n01ABV5 = ( " N01ABV5 " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00007392)
n01ABVA = ( " N01ABVA " , [ " h2_H097TLK " ] , 0.00005026)
n01ABVU = ( " N01ABVU " , [ " h2_H097TLK " , " h2_H09DX6M " ] , 0.00 011989)
n01ABVV = ( " N01ABVV " , [ " h2_H05MF0G " , " h2_H097TLK " , " h2_H 09DX6M " ] , 0.00007237)
n01AC10 = ( " N01AC10 " , [ " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H074YH2 " ] , 0.00 053495)
n01ADGP = ( " N01ADGP " , [ " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00000000)
n01ADH6 = ( " N01ADH6 " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000729)
n01ADHA = ( " N01ADHA " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H03NGBE " ] , 0.00 004188)
n01ADHB = ( " N01ADHB " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n01ADHC = ( " N01ADHC " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n01ADHD = ( " N01ADHD " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n01ADHE = ( " N01ADHE " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n01ADHH = ( " N01ADHH " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00000296)
n01FUL8 = ( " N01FUL8 " , [ " h2_H06KOBS " ] , 0.00007140)
n01FUSL = ( " N01FUSL " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " , " h2_H03NG5F " ] , 0.01 778883)
n01FUTR = ( " N01FUTR " , [ " h2_H04SBR1 " ] , 0.00226050)
n01FUV1 = ( " N01FUV1 " , [ " h2_H03PO1O " , " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00 034766)
n01FUVA = ( " N01FUVA " , [ " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00027099)
n202566 = ( " N202566 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H 05V43Q " ] , 0.01227266)
n202568 = ( " N202568 " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H 074YH2 " , " h2_H05V43Q " ] ,
0.08341847)
n20256D = ( " N20256D " , [ " h2_H074YH2 " ] , 0.04317889)
n20256P = ( " N20256P " , [ " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H03PO1O " ] , 0.00 122580)
n20256S = ( " N20256S " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H03PNBO " , " h2_H 01F6M0 " ] , 0.05220246)
n20256U = ( " N20256U " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " ] , 0.00900013)
n207SXP = ( " N207SXP " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H03NGBE " ] , 0.00 008097)
n207SXQ = ( " N207SXQ " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " ] , 0.00001597)
n207SXS = ( " N207SXS " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H03PNBO " ] , 0.00 015499)
n207T02 = ( " N207T02 " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n207T5T = ( " N207T5T " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00003570)
n207T5V = ( " N207T5V " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " , " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00 005844)
n207T5W = ( " N207T5W " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " , " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00 005875)
n207T5X = ( " N207T5X " , [ " h2_H05JJHO " ] , 0.00003570)

149
APPENDIX B. INPUT DATASET OF HANNOVER

n20B4C4 = ( " N20B4C4 " , [ " h2_H06E9I7 " ] , 0.00001702)


n20C9F0 = ( " N20C9F0 " , [ " h2_H04SBR1 " ] , 0.00180255)
n20DDFW = ( " N20DDFW " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " ] , 0.00009694)
n20DDIH = ( " N20DDIH " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H03NGBE " , " h2_H 03NG5F " ] , 0.00768900)
n20GR4W = ( " N20GR4W " , [ " h2_H06E9I7 " ] , 0.00000798)
n01FU8L = ( " N01FU8L " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUCA = ( " N01FUCA " , [ " h2_H05RN6G " ] , 0.00000000)
n202562 = ( " N202562 " , [ " h2_H03P85A " , " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H 074YH2 " , " h2_H03PO1O " ] ,
0.00000000)
n01HX6G = ( " N01HX6G " , [ " h2_H03WTT1 " , " h2_H03WUC7 " , " h2_H 01P2HN " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FULP = ( " N01FULP " , [ " h2_H05MF0G " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUT8 = ( " N01FUT8 " , [ " h2_H04SBR1 " , " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H 05V43Q " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FVRI = ( " N01FVRI " , [ " h2_H05V43Q " ] , 0.00000000)
n20GR51 = ( " N20GR51 " , [ " h2_H05TWH4 " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FVZA = ( " N01FVZA " , [ " h2_H03PNBO " , " h2_H01F6M0 " ] , 0.00 000000)
n01FUE6 = ( " N01FUE6 " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H01FM8E " , " h2_H 01BHXG " , " h2_H04PTS0 " ,
" h2_H01O23Z " , " h2_H01P2HN " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUFE = ( " N01FUFE " , [ " h2_H05T3WR " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FVQI = ( " N01FVQI " , [ " h2_H074YH2 " , " h2_H05V43Q " ] , 0.00 000000)
n01FVR6 = ( " N01FVR6 " , [ " h2_H03PO3Z " , " h2_H074YH2 " ] , 0.00 000000)
n01FVZ8 = ( " N01FVZ8 " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H03NGBE " , " h2_H 03PNBO " , " h2_H01F6M0 " ] ,
0.00000000)
n01FUGU = ( " N01FUGU " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H05V49E " ] , 0.00 000000)
n01FVQ5 = ( " N01FVQ5 " ,[ " h2_H03WTT1 " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUAZ = ( " N01FUAZ " , [ " h2_H06E9I7 " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FVZ6 = ( " N01FVZ6 " , [ " h2_H03Q6S0 " ] , 0.00000000)
n01FUP9 = ( " N01FUP9 " , [ " h2_H063YJC " , " h2_H03P85A " ] , 0.00 000000)
n01FVPZ = ( " N01FVPZ " , [ " h2_H06Y0NB " , " h2_H03NG5F " ] , 0.00 000000)
n01FULE = ( " N01FULE " , [ " h2_H05V4AW " , " h2_H01FM8E " ] , 0.00 000000)
n01H2PS = ( " N01H2PS " , [ " h2_H09DX6M " , " h2_H09DX6M " ] , 0.00 000000)

150
Appendix C

Program Code

Haskell module Ddesc implementing the model of selection of references for des-
tination descriptions.
1 -- created 22/11/2006 , by Martin Tomko
2 -- Test data inputs are s e p a r a t e d in data . hs
3
4 module Destdesc where
5 import Data -- data d e f i n i t i o n s and input dataset
6 import List -- Haskell system library for list m a n i p u l a t i o n
7
8 -- d e f i n i t i o n of Object classes and a s s o c i a t e d methods
9 class Elements a where
10 consObject :: a -> Object
11 createWorld :: [ a ] -> [ Object ]
12
13 instance Elements District where
14 consObject (a ,b ,c ,d , e ) = Area a b c d e
15 createWorld [] = []
16 createWorld ( s : sx ) = if length ( s : sx ) == 1
17 then [ consObject ( s ) ]
18 else [ consObject ( s ) ] ++ createWorld ( sx )
19
20 instance Elements Path where
21 consObject (a ,b , c ) = Street a b c
22 createWorld [] = []
23 createWorld ( s : sx ) = if length ( s : sx ) == 1
24 then [ consObject ( s ) ]
25 else [ consObject ( s ) ] ++ createWorld ( sx )
26
27 -- creates World as input data structure , where World = d i s t r i c t s / l a n d m a r k s +
paths ( in lists )
28 world :: [ Object ]
29 world = createWorld ( areas ) ++ createWorld ( paths )
30
31 -- t r a n s f o r m s route input from d i s t r i c t IDs to Objects .
32 route :: [ Object ]
33 route = createWorld ( routeI )
34
35 -- common actions for Objects
36 class Objects a where
37 getType :: a -> String
38 fetchLevel :: a -> Level
39 equalLevel :: a -> a -> Bool
40 fetchID :: a -> String
41 fetchName :: a -> String
42 fetchLandmarks :: a -> [ ObjectID ]
43 fetchSupers :: a -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
44 fetchExp :: a -> Double
45 fetchMaxLevel :: a -> Level
46 fetchMySuper :: a -> [ Object ] -> Object
47 fetchNeighbors :: a -> [ ObjectID ]
48
49 instance Objects Object where

151
APPENDIX C. PROGRAM CODE

50 getType ( Area _ _ _ _ _ ) = " Area "


51 getType ( Street _ _ _ ) = " Street "
52 fetchLevel ( Area objectID level objectName landmarks neig hbors )
53 = level
54 fetchLevel ( Street objectID districts expvalue )
55 = error " level cannot be returned for a path "
56 fetchID ( Area objectID level objectName landmarks neighbo rs )
57 = objectID
58 fetchID ( Street objectID districts expvalue )
59 = objectID
60 fetchName ( Area objectID level objectName landmarks neigh bors )
61 = objectName
62 fetchName ( Street objectID districts expvalue )
63 = objectID
64 fetchLandmarks ( Area objectID level objectName landmarks neighbors )
65 = landmarks
66 fetchLandmarks ( Street objectID districts expvalue )
67 = districts
68 fetchExp ( Street objectID districts expvalue )
69 = expvalue
70 fetchExp ( Area objectID level objectName landmarks neighb ors )
71 = error " expvalue cannot be returned for a
district / landmark "
72 fetchNeighbors ( Area objectID level objectName landmarks neighbors )
73 = neighbors
74 equalLevel a b = fetchLevel a == fetchLevel b
75 fetchMaxLevel ( Area objectID level objectName landmarks n eighbors )
76 = fetchLevel ( head ( ordByLevelDesc [ y |y < - world ,( fetchNa me ( Area objectID
level objectName landmarks neighbors ) ) == ( fetchName y ) ]) )
77 fetchMaxLevel ( Street objectID districts expvalue )
78 = fetchLevel ( f e t c h C o a r s e s t O b j L i s t
79 [ y |y < - world , x < -( fetchLandmarks ( Street objectID distri cts expvalue ) ) ,
x == fetchID y ])
80 fetchSupers ( Area objectID level objectName landmarks nei ghbors ) list
81 = [ x | x < - list , elem ( fetchID ( Area objectID level objectNam e landmarks
neighbors ) ) ( fetchLandmarks x ) &&
82 fetchLevel x == (( fetchLevel ( Area objectID level objectNa me landmarks
neighbors ) ) +1) ]
83 fetchMySuper ( Area objectID level objectName landmarks ne ighbors ) list
84 = if length [ x | x < - list , elem ( fetchID ( Area objectID level o bjectName
landmarks neighbors ) ) ( fetchLandmarks x ) &&
85 ( fetchLevel x ) ==(( fetchLevel ( Area objectID level object Name landmarks
neighbors ) ) +1) &&
86 ( fetchName x ) ==( fetchName ( Area objectID level objectNam e landmarks
neighbors ) ) ]==0
87 then error " no superior with same name "
88 else head [ x | x < - list , elem ( fetchID ( Area objectID level ob jectName
landmarks neighbors ) ) ( fetchLandmarks x ) &&
89 ( fetchLevel x ) ==(( fetchLevel ( Area objectID level object Name landmarks
neighbors ) ) +1) &&
90 ( fetchName x ) ==( fetchName ( Area objectID level objectNam e landmarks
neighbors ) ) ]
91
92 -- main f u n c t i o n of the D e s t i n a t i o n D e s c r i p t i o n s model ( Tomko , 2007) ( wrapper )
93 destDesc :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
94 destDesc list = nubBy ( equalByName ) ( destDescA ( grdDist list ) ( reverse
( routePaths list ) ) )
95
96 -- f u n c t i o n c o m b i n i n g path r e f e r e n c e s with d i s t r i c t / l a n d a m r k r e f e r e n c e s by
proper p r o m i n e n c e .
97 destDescA :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
98 destDescA ( d : dx ) ( p : px )
99 | length ( d : dx ) == 0 = error " no directions "
100 | length ( p : px ) == 0 = ( d : dx )
101 | length [ x |x < -( dirConectByProm ( subroute d ( route ) ) ) , elem x ( selectPaths
route ) ] /= 0
102 = d :[ head [ x |x < -( dirConectByProm ( subroute d ( route ) ) ) , elem x ( selectPaths
route ) ]]
103 | ( fetchLevel ( head ( ordByLevelAsc ( p : px ) ) ) <= ( fetchLeve l ( head ( ordByLevelAsc
( d : dx ) ) ) ) )
104 = [ d ]++( destDescA ( dx ) ( p : px ) )
105 | ( equalLevel ( head ( ordByLevelAsc ( p : px ) ) ) ( head ( ordByL evelAsc ( d : dx ) ) ) ==
True )
106 = (([ d ]++[ p ]) ++( destDescA ( dx ) ( px ) ) )

152
M. TOMKO

107 | otherwise = ( d : dx )
108
109 -- f u n c t i o n for s e l e c t i o n of d i s t r i c t / l a n d m a r k r e f e r e n c e s for d e s t i n a t i o n
descriptions
110 -- returns names of d i s t r i c t s / l a n d m a r k s
111 grdDist :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
112 grdDist route = reverse ( makeDistinct xxx )
113 where xxx = ( ordByLevelAsc ( recDirs route ) )
114
115 -- r e c u r s i v e s e l e c t i o n of d i s t r i c t / l a n d m a r k r e f e r e n c e s
116 -- the input is the route
117 recDirs :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
118 recDirs ( s : sx )
119 | getRef s t ( s : sx ) == t = [ t ]
120 | otherwise = ( getRef s t ( s : sx ) ) :( recDirs ( subroute ( getRe f s t ( s : sx ) )
( s : sx ) ) )
121 where t = last ( s : sx )
122
123 -- f u n c t i o n for i d e n t i f i c a t i o n of d i s t r i c t / l a n d m a r k r e f e r e n t s
124 -- inputs are start and d e s t i n a t i o n and route
125 -- p e r f o r m s rules 1 and 2
126 getRef :: Object -> Object -> [ Object ] -> Object
127 getRef s t route
128 | ( elem s world && elem t world ) == False = error " At least one of the input
objects doesn ’ t exist "
129 | ( s == t ) = t -- error " Start and D e s t i n a t i o n are the same !!"
130 | otherwise = describe s t route
131
132 -- a u x i l i a r y f u n c t i o n w r a p p i n g c o m p a r e H i e r a r c h i e s
133 describe :: Object -> Object -> [ Object ] -> Object
134 describe a b route = compareHierarchies ( fetchSupersUniqu e a world )
( fetchSupersUnique b world ) route
135
136 -- i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of the t o p o l o g i c a l rules for d i s t r i c t s / l a n d m a r k s
137 compHier :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ] -> Object
138 compHier sbranch [] route = error " too coarse input of de stination element ,
input finer element "
139 compHier [] tbranch route = error " too coarse input of st art element , input
finer element "
140 compHier sbranch tbranch route
141 = if length ( t : tx ) ==0
142 then error " change to TBT "
143 else
144 if length [ x |x < -t , y < -s , isNeighbor x y || x == y ] /= 0
145 then compHier ( concat ( sx ) ) ( concat ( tx ) ) route
146 else ( last t )
147 where ( t : tx ) = groupBy ( equalLevel ) ( ordByLevelDesc ([ t | t < - tbranch , ( elem t
sbranch ) == False ]) )
148 ( s : sx ) = groupBy ( equalLevel ) ( ordByLevelDesc ([ s | s < - sbranch , ( elem s
tbranch ) == False ]) )
149
150 -- f u n c t i o n r e t r i e v i n g path r e f e r e n c e s
151 -- the output is the list of p r o m i n e n t paths f i l t e r e d by route context
( c o m p B y R o u t e C T X ) , ordered
152 routePaths :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
153 routePaths a = [ fst3 x |x < -( routePathsOrdASC a ) ]
154
155 -- c o m p a r e s paths ( in t r i p p l e s ) by their order of o c c u r e n c e along route !! CTX =
context
156 compByRouteCTX :: ( Object , Object , Object ) -> ( Object , Object , Object ) -> Ordering
157 compByRouteCTX (a ,b , c ) (d ,e , f )
158 |( elemIndex c route < elemIndex e route ) = LT
159 |( elemIndex b route > elemIndex e route ) &&
160 ( elemIndex c route == elemIndex f route ) = LT
161 |( fetchMaxLevel a < fetchMaxLevel d ) = LT
162 |( fetchExp a < fetchExp d ) = LT
163 |(( notElem ( fetchName b ) ( grdDistShow route ) ) ||
164 ( notElem ( fetchName c ) ( grdDistShow route ) ) ) &&
165 (( elem ( fetchName e ) ( grdDistShow route ) ) ||
166 ( elem ( fetchName f ) ( grdDistShow route ) ) ) = LT
167 | otherwise = GT
168
169 -- r e t r i e v e s the list of paths c o n n e c t i n g start and d e s t i n a t i o n of a route ,
ordered by p r o m i n e n c e

153
APPENDIX C. PROGRAM CODE

170 dirConectByProm :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]


171 dirConectByProm ( s : sx )
172 | length ( connectedBy s t ) >= 1 &&
173 length [ x |x < -( connectedBy s t ) , isEprom x ] >= 1 =
174 ( ordByPromDesc [ x |x < -( connectedBy s t ) , isEprom x ])
175 | length ( connectedBy s t ) >= 1 &&
176 length [ x |x < -( connectedBy s t ) , isEprom x ] == 0 =
177 ([ head ( ordByPromDesc [ x |x < -( connectedBy s t ) ]) ])
178 | otherwise = []
179 where t = ( last ( s : sx ) )
180
181 -- A U X I L I A R Y F U N C T I O N S
182 -- o r d e r i n g of path s e g m e n t s by their i m p o r t a n c e and route context as o c c u r i n g
along route
183 -- The last in the list is the most p r o m i n e n t
184 routePathsOrdASC :: [ Object ] -> [( Object , Object , Object ) ]
185 routePathsOrdASC list = ordRTSegments ( routePathsT list )
186
187 -- o r d e r i n g of paths s e g m e n t s i m p l e m e n t i n g c o m p B y R o u t e C T X
188 ordRTSegments :: [( Object , Object , Object ) ] -> [( Object , Object , Object ) ]
189 ordRTSegments list = sortBy compByRouteCTX list
190
191 -- f u n c t i o n f i l t e r i n g paths in context of the route .
192 -- input is route
193 -- output is the list of unique path names and the limit s e g m e n t s of the route
( path , start , d e s t i n a t i o n )
194 routePathsT :: [ Object ] -> [( Object , Object , Object ) ]
195 routePathsT list = nubBy ( equalTrippleBySeg ) ( nubBy ( equa lTrippleByPath )
( filterList ( selectPPaths list ) ) )
196
197 -- selects p r o m i n e n t paths c o n n e c t i n g pairs of e l e m e n t s of the route
198 -- returns the path and the pair
199 selectPPaths :: [ Object ] -> [( Object , Object , Object ) ]
200 selectPPaths ( s : sx )
201 | ( length ( s : sx ) ) == 1 = []
202 | otherwise = [( x ,s ,( head sx ) ) |x < -( connectedBy s ( head sx ) ) , isEprom x ]
++ selectPPaths sx
203
204 -- f u n c t i o n f i l t e r i n g path s e g m e n t s so that those closer to d e s t i n a t i o n are
given p r e f e r e n c e
205 -- ( based on f i l t e r P a t h s )
206 filterList :: [( Object , Object , Object ) ] -> [( Object , Object , Object ) ]
207 filterList ( s : sx )
208 | length ( s : sx ) == 1 = [ s ]
209 | otherwise = ( foldl1 ( filterPaths ) ( s : sx ) ) : filterList sx
210
211 -- i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of p r e f e r e n c e among two triples ) .
212 filterPaths :: ( Object , Object , Object ) -> ( Object , Object , Object ) ->
( Object , Object , Object )
213 filterPaths (x ,a , b ) (y ,c , d )
214 | b == c && x == y = (y ,c , d )
215 | otherwise = (x ,a , b )
216
217 -- final f i l t e r i n g of path triples
218 equalTrippleByPath :: ( Object , Object , Object ) -> ( Object , Object , Object ) -> Bool
219 equalTrippleByPath (a ,b , c ) (d ,e , f )
220 | a == d = True
221 | otherwise = False
222
223 -- helping f u n c t i o n for f i l t e r i n g of paths ( for the nubBy f u n c t i o n in
routePaths )
224 equalTrippleBySeg :: ( Object , Object , Object ) -> ( Object , Object , Object ) -> Bool
225 equalTrippleBySeg (a ,b , c ) (d ,e , f )
226 | ( b == e && c == f ) = True
227 | otherwise = False
228
229 -- equals object by their name
230 equalByName :: Object -> Object -> Bool
231 equalByName a b
232 | fetchName a == fetchName b = True
233 | otherwise = False
234
235 -- check all the paths c o n n e c t i n g a pair of the e l e m e n t s of the route
236 -- inputs : route , output : list of paths

154
M. TOMKO

237 selectPaths :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]


238 selectPaths ( s : sx )
239 | ( length ( s : sx ) ) == 1 = []
240 | otherwise = ( connectedBy s ( head sx ) ) ++ selectPaths sx
241
242 -- f u n c t i o n to check if start and d e s t i n a t i o n of a route are d i r e c t l y c o n n e c t e d
by a path
243 dirConect :: [ Object ] -> Bool
244 dirConect ( s : sx )
245 | length ( connectedBy objs objt ) >= 1 = True
246 | otherwise = False
247 where t = ( last ( s : sx ) )
248
249 -- f u n c t i o n to r e t r i e v e the list of paths c o n n e c t i n g two Objects
( Districts / Landmarks )
250 connectedBy :: Object -> Object -> [ Object ]
251 connectedBy a b =
252 [ x |x < - world , elem ( fetchID a ) ( fetchLandmarks x ) &&
253 elem ( fetchID b ) ( fetchLandmarks x ) &&
254 isPath x ]
255
256 -- f u n c t i o n to r e t r i e v e the s u b r o u t e of a ( i n c l u d i n g d e s t i n a t i o n )
257 subroute :: Object - >[ Object ] -> [ Object ]
258 subroute a list = ( subroutex a list ) ++[( last list ) ]
259
260 subroutex :: Object -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
261 subroutex a route = [ x | x <- route ,( elem a ( f e t c h S u p e r s U n i q u e D e s c x world ) ) ]
262
263 -- b u i l d i n g b r a n c h e s of s u p e r o r d i n a t e objects
264 -- ( district , l a n d m a r k ) , ordered by level , c o a r s e s t first . May have m u l t i p l e
objects of the same .
265 f e t c h S u p e r s U n i q u e D e s c :: Object -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
266 f e t c h S u p e r s U n i q u e D e s c a list = ordByLevelDesc ( fetchSupe rsUnique a list )
267
268 -- finds parents of a , i n c l u d i n g a
269 fetchSupersUnique :: Object -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
270 fetchSupersUnique a list = makeDistinct ( findObjectsX a list )
271
272 -- finds all s u p e r o d i n a t e e l e m e n t s of a , i n c l u d i n g a
273 findObjectsX :: Object -> [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
274 findObjectsX a list =
275 if length ( fetchSupers a list ) == 0
276 then [ a ]
277 else [ a ]++ ( concat [ findObjectsX x list |x < -( fetchSupers a list ) ])
278
279 -- test n e i g h b o r h o o d of two inputs
280 isNeighbor :: Object -> Object -> Bool
281 isNeighbor a b = elem ( fetchID a ) ( fetchNeighbors b )
282
283 -- f u n c t i o n returns single object by level from a from list
284 makeDistinctLevel :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
285 makeDistinctLevel ls = foldl addDistinctLevel [] ls
286
287 addDistinctLevel :: [ Object ] -> Object -> [ Object ]
288 addDistinctLevel ls x
289 | ( fetchLevel x ) ‘ elem ‘ [ fetchLevel y |y < - ls ] = ls
290 | otherwise = ls ++ [ x ]
291
292 -- f u n c t i o n returns unique values from a list .
293 makeDistinct :: Eq a = > [ a ] -> [ a ]
294 makeDistinct ls = foldl addDistinct [] ls
295
296 addDistinct :: Eq a = > [ a ] -> a -> [ a ]
297 addDistinct ls x
298 | x ‘ elem ‘ ls = ls
299 | otherwise = ls ++ [ x ]
300
301 -- f u n c t i o n that orders a list of objects by level . Orders smaller first .
302 ordByLevelAsc :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
303 ordByLevelAsc areas = sortBy compByLevelAsc areas
304
305 -- f u n c t i o n that orders a list of objects by level . Orders greater first .
306 ordByLevelDesc :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
307 ordByLevelDesc areas = sortBy compByLevelDesc areas

155
APPENDIX C. PROGRAM CODE

308
309 -- f u n c t i o n that c o m p a r e s two objects by level . Orders smaller first .
310 compByLevelAsc :: Object -> Object -> Ordering
311 compByLevelAsc a b
312 | fetchLevel a <= fetchLevel b = LT
313 | otherwise = GT
314
315 -- f u n c t i o n that c o m p a r e s two objects by level . Orders greater first .
316 compByLevelDesc :: Object -> Object -> Ordering
317 compByLevelDesc a b
318 | fetchLevel a >= fetchLevel b = LT
319 | otherwise = GT
320
321 -- f u n c t i o n that orders paths by d e s c e n d i n g e x p e r i e n t i a l p r o m i n e n c e
322 ordByPromDesc :: [ Object ] -> [ Object ]
323 ordByPromDesc pathlist = sortBy compByPromDesc pathlist
324
325 -- f u n c t i o n that c o m p a r e s paths by e x p e r i e n t i a l p r o m i n e n c e . Orders more
p r o m i n e n t first .
326 compByPromDesc :: Object -> Object -> Ordering
327 compByPromDesc a b
328 | fetchExp a >= fetchExp b = LT
329 | otherwise = GT
330
331 -- r e t r i e v e s first element of a tripple
332 fst3 :: (a ,a , a ) -> a
333 fst3 (a ,b , c ) = a
334
335 -- fetch most g r a n u l a r object in a set
336 f e t c h C o a r s e s t O b j L i s t :: [ Object ] -> Object
337 f e t c h C o a r s e s t O b j L i s t [] = error " empty list returned by function
fetchCoarsestObjList "
338 f e t c h C o a r s e s t O b j L i s t a = head ( ordByLevelDesc a )
339
340 -- check of e x p e r i e n t i a l p r o m i n e n c e for paths ,
341 defined in module Data
342 isEprom :: Object -> Bool
343 isEprom a = ( fetchExp a ) >= eimean
344
345 -- check of Object type
346 isPath :: Object -> Bool
347 isPath a
348 | getType a == " Area " = False
349 | getType a == " Street " = True

156
Appendix D

Example Test Cases

A suite of example specifications of routes used for testing the model, along with
generated results.

District and landmark-based test cases:


1. Route from Universität Hannover to Staatstheater-Oper:
references: [Rathaus, Katasteramt]
route definition : [ h2_H097TLK , h2_H063YJC , h2_H074YH2 , h 2_H03PO3Z ,
h2_H04SBR1 , h2_H01BHXG , h2_H01P2HN , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01F M8E ]

referenceIDs : [ h5_H06Y0NB , h2_H04PTS0 ]

2. Route from Universität Hannover to Staatstheater-Oper:


references: [Rathaus, Katasteramt]
route definition : [ h2_H097TLK , h2_H063YJC , h2_H074YH2 , h 2_H05V43Q ,
h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H03PO1O , h2_H03Q6S0 , h2_H01O23Z , h2_H04P TS0 ,
h2_H01FM8E ]

referenceIDs : [ h5_H06Y0NB , h2_H04PTS0 ]

3. Route from Universität Hannover to Staatstheater-Oper:


references: [Rathaus, Katasteramt]
route definition : [ h2_H097TLK , h2_H063YJC , h2_H074YH2 , h 2_H03PO3Z ,
h2_H05V43Q , h2_H03WTT1 , h2_H03PNBO , h2_H03NG5F , h2_H01F 6M0 ,
h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01FM8E ]

referenceIDs : [ h5_H06Y0NB , h2_H04PTS0 ]

4. Route from Staatstheater-Oper to the Universität Hannover:


references: [Universität Hannover]
route definition : [ h2_H01FM8E , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01F6M0 , h 2_H03NG5F ,
h2_H03PNBO , h2_H03WTT1 , h2_H05V43Q , h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H074 YH2 ,
h2_H063YJC , h2_H097TLK ]

referenceIDs : [ h2_H097TLK ]

157
APPENDIX D. EXAMPLE TEST CASES

5. Route from Staatstheater-Oper to the Universität Hannover:


references: [Universität Hannover]
route definition : [ h2_H01FM8E , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01F6M0 , h 2_H03NG5F ,
h2_H03PNBO , h2_H03WTT1 , h2_H05V43Q , h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H074 YH2 ,
h2_H063YJC , h2_H097TLK ]

referenceIDs : [ h2_H097TLK ]

6. Route from Staatstheater-Oper to the Institute of Chemistry:


references: [Universität Hannover, Institute of Chemistry]
route definition : [ h2_H01FM8E , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01P2HN , h 2_H01BHXG ,
h2_H04SBR1 , h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H074YH2 , h2_H063YJC , h2_H097 TLK ,
h2_H05MF0G ]

referenceIDs : [ h2_H097TLK , h2_H05MF0G ]

Test cases with integrated references to districts, land-


marks and paths:
7. Route from Universität Hannover to Staatstheater-Oper:
references: [Rathaus, Katasteramt, Ständehausstrasse]
route definition : [ h2_H097TLK , h2_H063YJC , h2_H074YH2 ,
h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H04SBR1 , h2_H01BHXG , h2_H01P2HN , h2_H04P TS0 ,
h2_H01FM8E ]

referenceIDs : [ h5_H06Y0NB , h2_H04PTS0 , N01FUH0 ]

8. Route from Universität Hannover to Staatstheater-Oper:


references: [Rathaus, Katasteramt, Ständehausstrasse]
route definition : [ h2_H097TLK , h2_H063YJC , h2_H074YH2 , h 2_H05V43Q ,
h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H03PO1O , h2_H03Q6S0 , h2_H01O23Z , h2_H04P TS0 ,
h2_H01FM8E ]

referenceIDs : [ h5_H06Y0NB , h2_H04PTS0 , N01FUH0 ]

9. Route from Universität Hannover to Katasteramt:


references: [Rathaus, Katasteramt, Andreasstrasse]
route definition : [ h2_H097TLK , h2_H063YJC , h2_H074YH2 , h 2_H05V43Q ,
h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H03PO1O , h2_H03Q6S0 , h2_H01O23Z , h2_H04P TS0 ]

referenceIDs : [ h5_H06Y0NB , h2_H04PTS0 , N01FVP7 ]

10. Route from Allianz-Hochhaus to Staatstheater-Oper:


references: [Katasteramt, Karmarschstraße]
route definition : [ h2_H05V43Q , h2_H03WTT1 , h2_H01F6M0 ,
h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01FM8E ]

referenceIDs : [ h2_H04PTS0 , N01FUJS ]

11. Route from Staatstheater-Oper to Institute for Chemistry:


references: [Universität Hannover, Im Moore]

158
M. TOMKO

route definition : [ h2_H01FM8E , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01P2HN , h 2_H01BHXG ,


h2_H04SBR1 , h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H074YH2 , h2_H063YJC , h2_H097 TLK ,
h2_H05MF0G ]

referenceIDs : [ h2_H097TLK , N01FUPO ]

12. Route from Staatstheater-Oper to Universität Hannover:


references: [Universität Hannover, Bremer Damm]
route definition : [ h2_H01FM8E , h2_H04PTS0 , h2_H01P2HN , h 2_H01BHXG ,
h2_H04SBR1 , h2_H03PO3Z , h2_H074YH2 , h2_H063YJC , h2_H097 TLK ]

referenceIDs : [ h2_H097TLK , N00E2TA ]

159
APPENDIX D. EXAMPLE TEST CASES

160
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