Managing Uncertainty in Moving Objects Databases (R-11523)

The PhD project being undertaken is situated in the field of study pertaining to Moving Object Databases (MODs) and deals with trajectory data that is collected by location-aware devices (like GPS). Spatio-temporal data offer many opportunities and applications abound. A problem with data collected by location-aware devices is the uncertainty of the spatio-temporal location of moving objects in between measured observations. A popular framework to model uncertainty of moving objects is given by the space-time prism model, which describes an envelope of possible space-time locations in between measured points, based on velocity and acceleration constraints. This model has emerged in the field of Time geography but it has gained acclaim in the areas of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and MODs. The general aim of this PhD project is to advance and refine the research of the space-time prism model and to build efficient, queryable and accurate data structures and database systems that support uncertainty in MODs. More specifically, the work will focus on providing an internal structure to the existing space-time prism model.

Keywords:geographic information science, probability, space–time prisms, time geography, uncertainty, moving object databases, spatial databases, visit probability

Disciplines:Computer science, Probability theory, Database systems and architectures, Database theory