A QUASI-INTELLIGENT GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM 
K. Becek (Research Associate) and J.C. Trinder (A/Professor) 
School of Surveying 
University of NSW 
Sydney, Australia 
ABSTRACT 
The improvement of any software 
package is mostly aimed at reducing the 
average time required to complete a typical task. 
There are two ways to achieve this: 
* by improving the algorithm used in the 
software package, 
* by transferring some functions which 
are performed by an operator to the software 
package. 
The topic of the paper is to present some 
suggested improvements in GIS software which 
have been achieved through an implementation 
of procedures which result in the system having 
a measure of quasi-intelligence. The procedures 
were implemented into an experimental GIS 
which has been developed for the purpose of 
testing procedures only. The concept of the 
procedures is based on some ideas originating 
from cybernetics, information and system 
theories. However, the software package is still 
in a development stage and requires further 
improvements but it shows that it is more 
effective and user-friendly than traditional 
solutions of GIS software. 
Key words: G.I.S. Software, Artificial 
Intelligence, Data base. 
1. GENERAL REMARKS 
The human environment is filled with 
various physical objects such as houses, people, 
animals, plants, clouds etc. The geographical 
environment can be considered as a certain 
subspace of this environment. The objects, which 
exist within this subspace create different 
structures, for instance geological, 
topographical, urban, legal and others. These 
structures (organisations) are the subject of 
research to identify rules which determine the 
principles of their creation. This procedure is 
necessary as we attempt to describe how human 
activity in the geographical environment could 
become more responsible and economically 
optimal. However, before we start to identify 
these rules, we have to prepare a comprehensive 
list of the objects which exist in the geographical 
environment. Geodesy and mapping are the 
sciences which provide methodology and 
technology for the preparation of the list. The 
map is a traditional product of this process of 
collection and storage of all information about 
the geographical environment. The latest 
developments in mapping have resulted in the 
GIS, which apart from providing storage of 
information, is equipped with tools to extract and 
present certain objects of the environment 
individually or in combination with others, 
which are of interest to particular users. 
The concept of an Information System 
has its " ideological " origins in the pioneering 
works of Norbert Wiener on cybernetics 
(Wiener 1948), of Claudie Shannon on 
information theory (Shannon 1948) and the 
subsequently developed system theory (Director 
1971). Information handling, feedback, 
adaptation of the system are the central terms 
used in these theories. These terms, however, 
with slightly different meanings, are being used 
in the field of Information Systems. These 
sciences, principally cybernetics, aim to replace 
human activities by machines, such as robots, 
and are even extended to the thinking process 
and intelligence itself. 
Taking into account the "ideological 
connection" between Information Systems and 
cybernetics, this paper will concentrate on the 
possibilities and consequences of creating such 
an Information System, which in its operation 
would perform intelligently, similarly to the 
cybernetic tortoise, which keeps following the 
source of light. The problem of the 
understanding of intelligence will be discussed 
first of all. 
A definition of intelligence which is 
acceptable to everyone, will probably never be 
formulated. A review of many attempts at a 
definition of intelligence is given by Simons 
(Simons 1984). The reason for this is simply that 
an observer who has never viewed the outside of 
a home, cannot describe the outside, if he/she is 
positioned inside. If somebody does go outside 
the house and returns to relate what he/she has 
seen, the person inside would not understand the 
story. The description of intelligence is a 
similar problem: it depends on the intelligence 
itself, and for this reason a perfect definition of