ABSTRACT

The current GIS approaches of representing changes of geographical phenomena do not provide the ability to examine the complexities within the changes, in order to allow the integration of changes for different themes (e.g. transportation networks, infrastructure facilities, population etc.). This has become a major problem because a change in one theme may have adverse effect on the others, thereby risking the work of urban planners. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that no adequate data models are available which could efficiently represent detailed changes, showing the pattern of relationship among the themes, the cause of changes and result of the changes over time (Sui, 1998).