From geographic information service to geographic knowledge service: research issues and development roadmap

Geographic knowledge service (GKS) is widely believed to be the intelligent successor to the current geographic information service (GIS). The need for GKS is becoming ever pressing due to the increasing severity of the information explosion problem. This paper clarifies the confusions in the connotation of GKS, its relationship with GIS, and its requirements for formal representation and intelligent processing of geographic knowledge. After an in-depth analysis of the latest breakthroughs made in artificial intelligence (AI), it is argued that the state-of-the-art AI provides a promising basis of cognitive intelligence for advancing GKS development. Emphasizing the spatio-temporal characteristic of geographic knowledge, this paper identifies three main categories of research issues in GKS development, i.e. those of the knowledge engineering approach to geographic modeling, the cognitively intelligent approach to geographic analysis and the context-aware computing approach to service provision. A graded strategy for advancing GKS is then suggested and a roadmap of GKS development is envisioned.