This leraning path will focus on two, perhaps unrelated topics:
- Topology and spatial relationships
- The temporal dimension
You learned that topology deals with spatial properties that do not change under specific transformations. The next topic deals with topology of two dimensions. It shows how topological properties of interiors and boundaries can be used to define relationships between spatial features.
Topology can be used to ensure the consistency of spatial data. In the next topic you will learn more about this.
Now that we know what topology is, we can go back to the vector data model and have a close look at the use of topology in the vector area computer representation.
Besides having geometric, thematic and topological properties, geographic phenomena also change over time and are thus dynamic. Spatio-temporal data models are ways of organizing representations of space and time in a GIS. You will learn more about this in the next two concepts.