Most widely available approaches to semantic integration provide ad-hoc, non-systematic, subjective manual mappings that lead to procrustean amalgamations to fit the target standard, an outcome that pleases no one. Written by experts in the field, Theories of Geographic Concepts: Ontological Approaches to Semantic Integration emphasizes the real issues involved in integrating existing geo-ontologies.

The book addresses theoretical, formal, and pragmatic issues of geographic knowledge representation and integration based on an ontological approach. The authors highlight the importance of philosophical, cognitive, and formal theories in preserving the semantics of geographic concepts during ontology development and integration. They elucidate major theoretical issues, then introduce a number of formal tools. The book delineates a general framework with the necessary processes and guidelines to ontology integration and applies it to a selection of ontology integration cases. It concludes with a retrospection of key issues and identifies open research questions.

Copiously illustrated, the book contains more than 80 illustrations and several examples to various approaches that provide a better understanding of the complexity of ontology integration tasks. The authors provide guidance on selecting the most appropriate approach and details on its application to indicative integration problems.