Region connection calculus; RCC; 9‐Intersection calculus; 4‐Intersection calculus; Pointless topology

Topology, which is founded on the notion of connectedness, is at the heart of many systems of qualitative spatial relations; since it is possible to define a notion of parthood from connection, and theories of parthood are called mereologies, such combined theories are generally called mereotopologies. The best known set of relations based on a primitive notion of connectedness is the Region Connection Calculus (RCC), which defines several sets ofjointly exhaustive and pairwise disjoint, (JEPD) relations, RCC‑5, a purely mereological set, and the more widely used RCC-8 set of eight relations illustrated in Fig. 1. The primitive relation used in RCC (and several related theories) isC(x,y) – true when region x is connected to region y. A largely equivalent set of relations can be defined in the 4‐intersection model in which relations between regions are defined in...

Authors and Affiliations

1. School of Computing, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

   Anthony G. Cohn

Editors and Affiliations

1. Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

   Shashi Shekhar (McKnight Distinguished University Professor) (McKnight Distinguished University Professor)

2. Management Science and Information Systems Department, Rutgers Business School Newark and New Brunswick Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA

   Hui Xiong (Assistant Professor) (Assistant Professor)

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