Probabilistic logic encoding of spatial domains

Abstract

This paper presents a formalisation of a spatial domain in terms of a qualitative spatial reasoning formalism, encoded in a probabilistic description logic. The QSR formalism chosen is a subset of a cardinal direction calculus and the probabilistic description logic used has the relational structures of the well-known ALC language, allied with the inference methods of Bayesian Networks. We consider a scenario consisting of a road navigated by an experimental vehicle equipped with three on-board sensors: A digital map, a GPS and a video camera. This paper presents experiments where the proposed formalism is used to answer queries about driving directions, lanes and vehicles.