RESEARCH FOCUS

We are a research and development group addressing space from the perspectives of:

  • visuo-spatial cognition and computation
  • artificial intelligence
  • commonsense reasoning
  • human-computer interaction

With real-world applications as a key driver, we address aspects pertaining to spatial abstraction, spatial representation, spatial reasoning from a computational perspective. Our key focus is on Declarative Spatial Reasoning, namely: "the ability to (declaratively) specify and solve real-world problems related to mixed geometric (i.e., quantitative) and qualitative visuo-spatial representation and reasoning".

APPLICATIONS ADDRESSED

In addition to a set of benchmark reasoning problems, the practical application problems that we address and demonstrate in the context of (declarative) spatial reasoning encompass both specialist and everyday commonsense reasoning instances in areas such as:

  • computational cognitive vision
  • architectural design computing
  • geographic information systems
  • commonsense cognitive robotics
  • visual perception research (e.g., based on eye-tracking)
  • computer-aided learning & education

Demonstrated applications represent a class of scnearios identifiable in a range of cognitive assistive technologies and spatio-temporal information systems where spatio-linguistic conceptualisation & background knowledge focussed visuo-spatial cognition and computation are central.

DISSEMINATION

This portal provide a brief summary of several of our initiatives pertaining to Spatial Reasoning from the viewpoint of research & development, education, and industry-driven applications of foundational methods for computational spatial representation and reasoning. Main highlights are:

TOOLS. We offer general and fully operational tools for declarative spatial representation and reasoning. Prototypical work reported in publications but not posted online is available by contacting us.

TUTORIALS. Tutorials and prepared exercises aimed at independent learning are available. We encourage the use of these tutorials together with the publicly available systems for educational activities (e.g., as part of University based courses AI, Spatial Informatics, GIScience, Design).

CONSULTING AND LEARNING. From time to time, we conduct tutorials on the theme of spatial reasoning and its applications as part of conferences etc. We also consult industry and special interest groups interested in utilising spatial representation and reasoning capabilities within large-scale systems as part of their domain of interest or application.

PUBLICATIONS. Our publications are the best source of the theoretical foundations underlying the available tools and demonstrated applications.

COLLABORATIONS AND CO-DEVELOPMENT. We envisage long-term development of our tools by active community engagement. We welcome suggestions for collaboration concerning any aspect, be it improving the expressibility of our methods, optimising performance, integration with large-scale systems, or applications in a new domain of interest.

If you have questions or additional ideas, please send an email to: info@hcc.uni-bremen.de