SPATIAL OBJECTS AND SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Spatial object and spatial relationship are two basic concepts of GIS. Spatial object is the digital representation of geographical entity or phenomenon, which forms the basis for data management and analysis; spatial relationship is the connexion between spatial objects when geometric properties are considered. The commonly used classification of spatial objects as points, lines and areas is mathematically strict, and suitable for data management, but a bit too generalized for representing real entities and extracting spatial relationships. A good classification model should not only be good for representing real entities, but also good for revealing spatial relationships, therefore good for formalizing spatial analyses.