The 12th Japan-Korea International Symposium on GIS
GIS Day in Kansai 2010, 23rd October, 2010

New Trends ofGeographic Information Systems andGeographic Information Sciencein the World

Trends in the Ubiquitous
Spatio-temporal Society andGIScience&Technology
Atsuyuki Okabe
1	When mathematicians say
new theories,
they mean the theories
developed in 20th centuries
sometimes, including
th19 century
BC 5th C	

20th C	2	
http://www.newgenevacenter.org/09_Biography/pythagoras.jpg	

When geologists say
the new period (Cenozoic),
it dates back
65,500,000 yeas ago!
Precambrian
4500,000,000	Cenozoic	
3	
http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kur7bdr11s1qzevsbo1_250.jpg	

The concept of “new” is relative.	

New trends in my talk are
new trends in the timethat humans have existed
in the world.
BC-AD	
http://yamada.sailog.jp/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/01/29/homosapiens.jpg	

Contents
1 Trends in technologies for utilizing
temporal information
2 Trends in technologies for utilizing
spatial information
3 Two trends in GIS&T toward theubiquitous spatio-temporal society
4 A research challenge in spatial
analysis toward the ubiquitousspatio-temporal information society5	Since the time that humans
have existed in the world,
humans have cognized thereal world through thedimensions of time andspace.
time	time	time	6	
Clip Art	

Humans gather and record
spatio-temporal information
comprising What, What timeand Where, and, and havethus acquired the "skills inutilizing spatio-temporal
information" by using suchinformation to guide theiractions.

7	Where to locate
the boar	
8	
Clip Art	

The humans had beendeveloping the skills inutilizing spatio-temporal
information over 10,000 years
and built up spatio-temoraltechnologies.	  

9	Clip Art	Technologies for utilizing
spatio-temporal
information consists of:Technologies for utilizing
temporal information
Technologies for utilizing
spatial information
10	1
Trends in technologies
for utilizing
temporal information11	

To utilize
temporal information
The social reference axis oftime
Techniques to know atemporal point on the axis
12	To utilize
temporal information
The social reference axis oftime
Techniques to know atemporal point on the axis
13	Social reference axis oftime
Naturally, there are temporalelements that are mutuallyexperienced by everyone inthe world since humans haveexisted.
14	

Rising and settingof the sun

15	Four seasons

http://www1.plala.or.jp/chiaki/
newpage4.htm
16	

Social reference axis oftime
BC45 Julian era
1582 Gregorian Calendar
common to the entire world,
continuing even to present
day time.
http://www.scienceclarified.com/images/uesc_02_img0103.jpg	

It is almost a miracle that
almost all people in the world
share the same time reference
axis!

18	
Clip Art	

Utilizing temporal
information
The social reference axis oftime
Techniques to know thetemporal point on the axis
19	Techniques to know atemporal point
BC2000 solar clock
BC1500 water clock
BC700 sand clock
BC700 candle clock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sundial-from-Marcianopolis.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AGMA_Clepsydre.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wooden_hourglass_3.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kerzenuhr.jpg

20	Techniques to know atemporal point
13th mechanical clock

http://www.uh.edu/engines/fandvclo.jpg

Groundbreaking
technology
17thC
invention of
the balance
springhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Balance_Wheel_in_Early_Watch_Berthoud.png

Dawn of a new era ofmobile time technology
pocket watches

http://www.news-digest.co.uk/news/images/tokushu/1170/03.jpg	

23	

However,this did not spread amongst
the general public until thefirst half of the 20th century
It took more than 200 yeas!
24	

1923
A large majority of people hadcome to own wrist-watches,
thus facilitating theemergence of the technology
of ubiquitous temporal
information ….

25	
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Milkyway-Kaigan/8686/wwatch_38.html

…. that supported the social
infrastructure for people toeasily know time whenever
and wherever they wanted.
This facilitated the efficientutilization of time, and wasthus …..
26	

…. instrumental in the rapid
development and progress ofheavy industries which
required large-scalepersonnel and laboradministration as well as
precise management ofprogress and schedules.
27	
http://www.miyajima-soy.co.jp/kyoka/shaze21/yahata43-l.png	

Ubiquitous temporal
information revolution
The ubiquitous temporal
information technology had
established the ubiquitous
temporal information society
in the 20th century.
28	2Trends in technologies
for utilizing
spatial information29	

To utilize
spatial information
The social reference axis ofspace
Techniques to know a pointon the spatial reference30	To utilize
spatial information
The social reference axis ofspace
Techniques to know a pointon the spatial reference31	Social reference axis ofspace
Unfortunately, commonly
experienced elements suchas the rising and setting of
the sun and the changing of
the four seasons wasundiscoverable.
32	Hipparchus
126BC
latitude andlongitude

http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/hipparchus.html
33	However, in our current 21stcentury era, instead ofutilizing the geographic
coordinates of latitude/longitude in their day to day
lives, ….
34	

…, people make more use of
the wide variety of otherelements such as address,
post codes and telephone
numbers.

35	
Clip Art	As yet, we do NOT have any
socio-spatial reference axis
that all people of the world
can commonly and easily use
in their daily lives.

36	To utilize
temporal information
The social reference axis ofspace
Techniques to know a pointon the spatial reference axis
37	Techniques to know alocation
The methods for knowing
latitude and longitude weredeveloped separately.

38	Techniques to know
latitude
Eratosthenes 276-195BC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Eratosthenes.png	

39	Techniques to know
latitude
1200AD Quadrant
1731
Octant1759
Sextant

http://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/tools/images-tools/
quadrant52002m.jpg	

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-7/767317/
TROUGHTONSIDVW001.JPG

40	
http://www.antiquesextant.com/images/sext8sm1.jpg

Techniques to know
longitude
NO techniques
over many centuries!

41	

Many merchant ships werestranded and washed ashorecausing the loss of a vast
amount of wealth.

http://www.brainsellers.com/cuttysark/2006/05/post_238.html

42	

Reward
In 1714
the British parliament
announced a reward toanyone who would discovertechniques for precisely
measuring longitude.
43	How much the reward?

44	
Clip Art	

The reward wasso large that it could possibly
be equivalent to king’sransom.

45	

John Harrison
1776

What timeat culmination?	
Start at culmination	

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/John_Harrison_Uhrmacher.jpg	

Now, GPSIn 1996,
general public use of the GPS
was established and it
became easily possible todetermine latitude andlongitude.
47	

However, the technology for
determining indoor locations
is still in the process of being
developed, and48	
http://www.tokyo-midtown.com/jp/facilities-service/info/service/ub-tour/index.html	

…, the smooth coordinationof indoor and outdoor
location points is still only in
its research phase.

49	The current reality therefore
is that we have NOT yet
established the technology
which would enable us todetermine spatial points withease whenever and wherever
we want.
50	

We had established theubiquitous tempral
information society
in the 20th century,
but we have NOT yet
established theubiquitous spatial
information society.
51	HopesThis is not something to bedisappointed about; rather, it
is time to have hopes for thefuture.

52	
Clip Art	RecallTechnologies for ubiquitous
temporal information broughta revolutionary change inthsociety in the 20 century.

53	

Ubiquitous spatial
information revolution
One can expect that similarly
ubiquitous spatial information
will facilitate a large social
development in the future.

54	

Great reward
Hopefully, Parliaments in theworld announce a great
reward to anyone who would
discover ubiquitous spatial
information technologies!

55	

3Two trends in GIS&T
toward the ubiquitous
spatio-temporalsociety
56	

GIScinece&Technology
The science and technologythat supports a "ubiquitous
spatio-temporal society" canbe considered as none otherthan GIScience&Technology

57	Trends of its expansion
Two-hold:
just as a tall mountain has abroad base;a mountain cannot be tallunless it has a broad base.
58	
Photo:K.Yamada	One trend
focuses on how broad themountain base is, i.e.
it promotes GIS&T that
average people can make useof with ease.
59	It has become possible forpeople to enjoy spatiotemporal information withmuch ease using instruments
such as the iPhone andGoogleMap.

60	
http://www.kotaro269.com/archives/50707959.html	

The other trend
focuses on the height of themountain, i.e.,
it is the cutting edge
GIScience&Technology
promoted by experts in thefield.
Clip Art	

61	

GIScience&Technology
Acquisition
Management
Analysis
Synthesis andCommunicationof spatio-temporal information.
62	

Almost a dailyadvancement inAcquisition
Management
Analysis
Synthesis andCommunication
by Information technologies

63	
Clip Art	Much delayed inAcquisition
Management
Analysis
Synthesis andCommunication
64	Clip Art	

Unless the progress in thisarea deepens further, there
can virtually be no possibilityof utilizing advanced spatiotemporal information.

65	
Clip Art	

One of the research themes inthis area is that of real-time
spatio-temporal analysis andsynthesis

66	
Clip Art	

Real-time spatio-temporal
analysis and synthesis
immediate and on the spot
analysis & synthesis of
information as it occurs at
any given time and place, andsetting guidelines for actions
through this process.
67	The successful realization ofa ubiquitous spatio-temporalsociety is highly dependent
on such science andtechnology.

Real-time spatio-temporal
analysis and synthesis	

68	

4
A research challenge inspatial analysis
toward the ubiquitous
spatio-temporal
information society
69	Experiments toward theubiquitous spatio-temporal society
Ubiquitous art tour in
Mid Town 	

70	
http://www.tokyo-midtown.com/jp/facilities-service/info/service/ub-tour/index.html	

Experiments toward the ubiquitous
spatio-temporal society	Tokyo ubiquitous plan
GINZA

71	
http://www.assoc.tron.org/jpn/tronproject/images/10-01.jpg	

Experiments toward the ubiquitous
spatio-temporal society	

Akabane Shopping
Street with LED system

72	

The systems have not yet
provided comfortableubiquitous spatio-temporal
information.
A reason for it is: the systems
are designed assuming thephysical (Euclidean) space.
73	People behave in the subjective
space by conceptualizing thephysical space in their mind.
Users feel the gaps between
the physical space and theirconceptualized space.

http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/200907/09/00/a0135700_3281831.jpg	

74	
Clip Art	A research challenge
How to model subjective,abstract, and conceptualized
spaces mathematically?

75	
Clip Art	

Real space76	

Geometrical objects
in the Euclidean space77	

Network-topologicalspace

Source: Kwan, M-P. and Lee, J. (2005)78	

Graph-topological space79	Abstractions of space
Euclidean space
Non-Euclidean space
Network-topological space
Graph-topological space
Researches
at here!
80	
Clip Art	

Lower ‘stream of space’

Graph topological space	
Network topological space
Non-Euclidean space
Euclidean space81	
Clip Art	Upper stream or‘origin’ of space?

?	
Graph topological space	
Network topological space
Non-Euclidean space
Euclidean space82	Euclide	
Non-Euclide	

Network Topology	
Graph Topology	

What are the minimum
axioms of space?
83	

The ‘origin’ of space
A topological space (X,F) is a set Xof points and a family F of subsets
of which satisfies the following
axioms:A1: The union of any number ofmembers of F is a member of F.
A2: The intersection of any finite
number of F is a member of F.
84	

The simplest
topological space
Indiscrete space
F ={Ø, X}
Chaotic space85	Spaces represented bygeneral topology
Indiscrete space,T0, T1, T2, T3 … … … …
graph, network, non-Euclidean
and Euclidean spaces
86	Upper stream of space
Chaotic space
T0 space
T1 space
T2 space (Hausdorff space)T3 space (regular space)
T4 space (normal space)
……..

87	

Application of general topology
to the conceptualization ofsubjective spaces
An initial attempt
by Ai Maeda
1931-­‐1987	

88	
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/images/keyword/9973.jpg	

An example ofindiscrete space89	
三千院絵ハガキより	In contrast

The opposite space
六道の辻、西福寺のお堂の横に飾られた地獄図	
http://blog.so-net.ne.jp/_images/blog/_41d/staff_for_one/8818930.jpg

Many attractive
research challenges torealize the ubiquitous
spatio-temporalsociety!
91	
Clip Art	Thank you for yourkind attention

92