Structured methods for GIS design part 2: An object-oriented system for physical plan monitoring

Abstract

Part 1 of this two-paper series presented a case study illustrating how structured data analysis methods may be employed to order the data requirements of a spatial planning domain for efficient GIS design. This paper uses a second case study to extend the discussion in three ways. First, it demonstrates the application of a different set of data analysis tools to a similar system design problem. Second, it gives a more detailed treatment of the task of defining elementary information system functions. Third, the tools used are compatible with the design of a more sophisticated postrelational database system and the two case studies therefore illustrate a technical advancement in the application of structured methods for GIS design. The methodology presented reduces an entity-attribute model of the plan monitoring domain to a digraph via subtype matrix analysis. By labelling the arcs of the graph, a semantic network formalism is created which is capable of direct implementation as an object-oriented database. Detailed object descriptions (database schemata) are constructed and discussed in order to emphasise the important relationship between structured methods of data analysis and system functionality. © 1994.