Towards temporal dynamic segmentation

In recent years, there have been many research studies focusing on linear data modeling as well as on temporal GIS-T (GIS for transportation) implementations. However, what was fundamentally missing from the research circle was the study of a methodology for processing and representation of linearly referenced features in the temporal context, or temporal dynamic segmentation. This paper dissects the functional specifications of temporal dynamic segmentation. The authors start by exploring the definition and characteristics of dynamic segmentation. The scope of dynamic segmentation is extended to include two functional categories and three essential functions. The paper then defines spatiotemporal segment and a spatiotemporal join operation, which are the building blocks and the key mechanism behind temporal dynamic segmentation. A set of metric criteria for identifying spatiotemporal segment topologies are proposed as an effective alternative to the more general, but more costly, frameworks for the identification of topological relationships. The authors finally present functional specifications of the three essential functions of dynamic segmentation.