Representing and negotiating uncertain geospatial concepts - Where are the exurban areas?

In urban landscape studies, there are many different definitions of exurbanization and the spatial boundaries based on them are therefore uncertain. We identify and illustrate the uncertainty of the exurban concept using a fuzzy-set based conceptual space approach. Several definitions of exurbanization are investigated on how they conceptualize exurban areas and we develop formal representations for our analysis and demonstration. To support this we develop a software interface that would allow interactive exploration, analysis, negotiation, and visualization of uncertain geospatial concepts. With selected definitions applied to empirical spatial data we demonstrate some key features of the developed software, such as concept comparison and concept creation activities. The case study of five different definitions of exurbanization in north-central Ohio, US shows varying degrees of agreement and illustrates the impact of different approaches to negotiate the multiple different definitions. The paper also provides the results from user-evaluation of the developed software to better support the exchange of knowledge and communication between the users. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.