Spatial Knowledge Discovery: The SPIN! System
GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology
Institute for Autonomous intelligent Systems
Knowledge Discovery Team
The overall objective of the European IST SPIN! project is to develop a web-based spatial
data mining system by integrating state of the art Geographic Information System (GIS) and
data mining functionality in a closely coupled open and extensible system architecture. The
state of the art in data mining will be advanced by adapting methods from machine learning,
esp. inductive logic programming, and Bayesian statistics, esp. Markov Chain Monte Carlo, to
spatial data analysis. The state of the art in GIS will be advanced by developing new methods
for the visualization of spatial and temporal information.
Spatial Knowledge Discovery
The GIS revolution in the early 1980s has brought about an explosion of geographically
referenced information, wherein much of the data is also temporally referenced. This poses
great challenges to commercial enterprises and government organizations that have been left
with few tools to extract and to disseminate useful information from these huge amounts of
Internet enabled GIS
In the last few years a new generation of Geographic Information Systems has been emerging
that enable interactive, dynamic maps to be disseminated via the Internet (Andrienko and
Andrienko 1999b, Dykes 1997, Gitis et al. 1998, Openshaw et al. 1998). While being an
exciting development for automating cartography, most of these systems are confined to
projecting descriptive statistical displays, such as histograms or pie charts, onto geographical
space (maps). Using these projected map displays, more advanced decision-making and
inference is not always straightforward. Although the human visual system is highly effective
in identifying patterns, this process is subjective and can be influenced by systematic errors
(cf. e.g. Diaconis 1985). Secondly, it is very hard to visualize attribute interaction on a map
having more than a few dimensions. Hence, complex multi-variate dependencies are easily
Searching for multi-variate dependencies is where data mining promises great benefits. Data
mining is the partially automated search for hidden patterns in typically large and multi-
dimensional databases. Data mining techniques have been developed in areas such as machine
learning, statistics and database theory (Fayyad et al. 1996; Klösgen & Zytkow 2000). Some
of these techniques, such as k-nearest neighbour, are extensions of statistical techniques
known for a long time. Others, especially from the area of machine learning and inductive
logic programming (ILP), are essentially new (cf. Mitchell 1997 for a good introduction).
These techniques have been packaged in so-called data mining platforms. A data-mining
platform is a software environment providing support for the application of one or more data-
mining algorithms. Some platforms provide user-friendly interfaces and visual programming
environments that a non-expert can also use. Interest in data mining has boomed in recent
years, fuelled by advances in data warehousing.
The process of finding patterns and extracting useful knowledge from data is known as the
knowledge discovery cycle. Data mining is a part of this larger cycle. 1 The cycle comprises the
steps of data access and selection; data cleaning and transformation; data mining (the analysis
step); and visualization and interpretation (fig. 1).
Comprehensive data mining systems aim to support all stages of this cycle. Knowledge
discovery has been applied to many kinds of problems, including stock market prediction,
credit scoring, astronomical classification, and molecular biology (for a comprehensive
overview, see Klösgen and Zytkow, 2000).
Figure 1: Knowledge discovery cycle, comprising the steps of data access and selection,
transformation, data mining (analysis), interpretation and visualization.
Combining data mining and GIS
What benefits does data mining offer for the GIS user? Data mining and geographical
information systems are best seen as complementary tools for describing and analysing data.
Whereas in GIS the user guides the search and generates hypotheses, data mining partially
delegates this task to the computer, preselecting and presenting to the analyst only those
patterns deemed most interesting (according to some measure of quality). Whereas GIS relies
on visualization in geographical space, data-mining is hunting for patterns in multi-
dimensional abstract space. Whereas a GIS query lets the user view what is inside the
database, data mining typically performs inductive generalizations, generating patterns whose
Note that terminology is not consistent here; the terms data mining and knowledge discovery are
sometimes used synonymously.
logical content exceeds the content of the database, producing new and sometimes surprising
Both techniques are essentially exploratory, leaving the final decision of whether a hypothesis
is an important new finding (a “nugget” in data mining language) or just an artefact to the
How are spatial data handled within the knowledge discovery cycle? Although many data-
mining applications deal at least implicitly with spatial data they essentially ignore the spatial
dimension of the data, treating them as non-spatial (exceptions in the data mining community
are Koperski & Han 1997, Ester et al. 1999, Klösgen 1998).
This has ramifications both for the analysis of data and for their visualization. First, one of the
basic tasks of exploratory data analysis is to present the salient features of a data set in a
format understandable to humans, and visualization in geographical space is known to be
much easier to understand than visualization in abstract space. Secondly, results of a data
mining analysis may be sub-optimal or even be distorted if unique features of spatial data,
such as spatial autocorrelation (cf. Haining 1991), are ignored.
In sum, convergence of GIS and data mining in an Internet-enabled spatial data mining
system is a logical progression for spatial data analysis technology. Related work in this
direction has been done by Koperski and Han (1997) and Ester et al. (1999). An integration
has also been proposed by MacEachren and Wachowitz (1999). The range of application
areas is huge and there are many different types of applications in statistical analysis, urban
planning, environmental decision-making, and geomarketing.
This paper describes the most comprehensive and ambitious attempt to bring together some of
the best results in Data Mining and interactive thematic mapping to date, carried out under the
European Commission Fifth Framework IST programme (IST-1999-10536 SPIN!). Partners
come from five different European countries: Germany, Italy, Netherlands, UK, and Russia.
The project started in January 2000, its duration is 3 years. It is co-ordinated by GMD.
Building a spatial mining system is a demanding interdisciplinary task, requiring expertise in
many fields including Geographic Information Systems, cartography, statistics, machine
learning, and databases, as well as software engineering skills. The consortium has been
chosen to reflect these skills. It includes
• A university and a national research centre for computer science active in the areas of
Data Mining, Statistics, Machine Learning, and GIS: University of Bari, Italy; German
National Research Center for Information Technology (GMD), Bonn,
• An institute for geography active in exploratory spatial data analysis: School of
Geography, University of Leeds, UK,
• Two industrial partners active in data mining and Geographic Information Systems:
Dialogis Software & Services GmbH, Bonn, Germany; Professional GeoSystems
(PGS), Amsterdam, Netherlands; and, on the application side,
• Two universities having a leading role in the dissemination of statistical data in the UK:
Metropolitan and Victoria University, Manchester, MIMAS project; and
• Two institutes active in seismic data research: IITP, Russian Academy of Sciences,
Moscow; GeoForschungszentrum Potsdam, Germany.
The overall objective of SPIN! is to develop a state of the art, extendable and internet-enabled
GIS-Data-Mining platform. Data mining and GIS are quite complex tools with wide ranging
functionality, so the SPIN! Consortium does not propose to start from scratch, but to build on
existing tools. In recent years, a number of project partners have developed the technological
components and scientific tools that are needed to develop the kernel of this type of spatial
data mining system. During the project these individual efforts and the associated expertise
and experience will be united in a joint effort to develop and integrate the missing pieces.
Specific application areas chosen for the project are volcano and earthquake research and
decision support for urban development plans. Applications outside the SPIN! project will
include environmental issues, especially biodiversity (May 1999).
Figure 2: Elements of SPIN!. From left to right: Lava map viewer, interactive classification
produced by Descartes, topography relief in Geoprocessor spatial clusters found by GAM,
visualization of decision trees and subgroup mining in Kepler.
SPIN!: The Elements
This section describes the existing systems that will be extended and integrated during the
project (fig. 2). To describe the functionality of SPIN!, it is useful to distinguish five levels of
Level 1: Data access and management
The basis functionality will be provided by the data mining platform Kepler, jointly
developed by GMD and Dialogis (Wrobel et al. 1996). Besides its data mining methods,
discussed below, it already provides the following features:
• Data access to heterogeneous data sources (JDBC-compliant databases, flat files, spatial
data interfaces etc.), also over the internet,
• Data transformation capabilities for discretization, restriction, projection, union, join, and
• Exploratory non-spatial visualization using histogram, scatter-plots, or pie charts,
• Facilities for organizing and documenting analysis tasks.
Special features of Kepler are: its plug-in architecture that allows third party analysis tools to
be integrated; the capability to analyse multi-relational (multi-table) data without performing
explicit joins; and its support for inductive logic programming tools (Wrobel et al. 1996).
The current architecture will be redesigned to allow for a seamless integration with the other
components, including accessing and organizing geometry data, map objects etc. and handling
basic server-side tasks such as multi-user access and security.
Level 2: Internet-enabled Geographic Information System for displaying maps
As a basic map viewer we use the Lava/Magma system developed by PGS. It can display a
map consisting of several layers and supports basic operations such as zooming, panning,
querying features and changing visual properties such as colour, fill styles, drawing of labels.
The client is implemented in Java and is operable over the Internet. An important reason for
using it is its advanced caching mechanism, leading to good scalability (van den Berg et al.
Level 3: Interactive thematic mapping for visualizing statistical data
For visual exploratory spatial analysis the Descartes module for interactive manipulation of
statistical maps is used (Andrienko & Andrienko 1999b). To provide automated visualization
of thematic maps, Descartes incorporates the knowledge of thematic cartography in the form
of generic, domain-independent rules. To choose the adequate presentation techniques for
given data, it takes into account data characteristics and relations among data components or
attributes. The automation of map generation releases the user from the necessity of thinking
about how to present the data and from the routine work of map building; it allows the user to
concentrate on the analysis of his data. Among its features are linked displays, interactive
cross-classification, box-plots and a module for temporal visualisation. The latter will be
greatly extended and improved during the project (cf. Andrienko et al., this volume).
Level 4: Spatial cluster detection
Descartes can be used for interactive, visual identification of spatial clusters. Yet the SPIN!
system also contains modules for performing this search automatically. The objective of the
Geographical Analysis Machine GAM (Openshaw 1998, Openshaw et al. 1999) is to look for
local spatial clusters without knowing in advance where to look. GAM works by examining a
large number of overlapping circles of varying sizes that completely cover a region of
interest; e.g. to identify cancer clusters, it uses a population at risk count and an incidence
rate, comparing the relative frequency for instances within a circle with an expected value;
statistically significant circles are then retained. Then a kernel smoothing procedure is applied
to the circles to produce a smoothed density surface, giving results as displayed in fig. 2.
Whereas GAM looks for a single attribute, a second tool, the Geographic Exploration
Machine GEM (Openshaw 1998) can take also account attribute interaction. Since search in
large attribute spaces leads to a combinatorial explosion, a main task of SPIN! will be to find
more efficient search strategies; some initial tests using genetic algorithms have already been
Level 5: Explaining clusters and spatial phenomena
Assume we have found a spatial cluster or interesting classification, using either the
interactive approach of Descartes or the automated search of GAM. What attributes are
associated with a cluster that could potentially explain it? To answer this question, spatial and
nonspatial analysis methods can be applied.
It is generally accepted that there currently exists no single best data mining method.
Available methods differ in terms of complexity, representational power, accuracy,
comprehensibility, and assumptions made about the data. It is therefore important that users
have access to a variety of spatial data mining methods. Kepler already contains a variety of
non-spatial data mining methods for k-nearest neighbour, decision and regression trees,
association rules, subgroup discovery, and rule-based methods from inductive logic
programming. It also provides visualizations for these methods in abstract space.
In developing SPIN! the state of the art in spatial data mining will be advanced along several
routes. Since all these methods can be launched within a single, coherent platform, the project
can also contribute to a comparison of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the methods
and develop guidelines for their use in spatial mining.
In a GIS spatial query module, a user can ask questions such as “show me all houses with
more than 5 rooms within 1 km distance to a kindergarten, and close to a shopping centre”.
The database returns all instances satisfying this rule. In this case, the user already knows the
rule. But what if we do not know a rule but have some positive and negative examples? E.g.
we know several places where a rare plant species occurs and would like to know what
environmental site conditions are favourable for their occurrence. This may include
topological features such as being close to a river. While traditional attribute-value based
learning methods have difficulties in expressing topological features such as close_to,
adjacent_to etc. in a natural and general way, they can be easily expressed in first-order-
This makes inductive logic programming (ILP), which uses a first-order representation, a
natural and promising approach to many forms of spatial data mining. During the project we
will specifically investigate spatial association rules and subgroup discovery (Malerba et al.
1998, Klösgen 1998, Wrobel 1998). A further topic is the automated interpretation of
topographic maps (Esposito et al. 1998). In this case, symbolic first-order descriptions of cells
of a map are automatically extracted from a vector representation of maps stored in an object-
In a second line of research we approach Bayesian statistics. In the last years computationally
intensive Bayesian methods have been developed that compare favourably with classical
approaches. Instead of selecting an “optimal” model they generate a whole distribution of
models that characterize their uncertainty in the light of the available data. Paaß and
Kindermann (1998) have developed Bayesian classification methods based on Markov Chain
Monte Carlo that use a Bayesian ensemble of decision trees or neural networks. These
methods have already been successfully applied to other areas and will now be adapted to
A third line of research is the work already mentioned that combines the GAM approach with
search along the temporal dimension and in larger attribute spaces (Openshaw et al. 2000).
The way data mining results are presented to the user is crucial for their appropriate
interpretation. The approach to be taken is a combination of cartographic and non-
cartographic displays linked together through simultaneous dynamic highlighting of the
corresponding parts (Andrienko et al. 1999).
Figure 3: SPIN! Architecture. Data are stored in spatial and non-spatial databases or
flat files. Analysis and visualization modules can be plugged into the system by
implementing an extension API. Clients can access the server over the internet. The
State of integration
In the ESPRIT project CommonGIS, Descartes and Lava/Magma have already been integrated
in a demonstrator (see contribution to this conference). There also exists a version of Kepler
that is integrated with Descartes (Andrienko et al. 1999a) and first experiments with GAM
running inside Kepler are underway. The challenge is now to combine this vast amount of
functionality in a coherent system (fig 3). This will lead to a redesign of significant parts of
the currently existing systems. Data are stored in spatial and non-spatial databases or flat files.
Analysis and visualization modules can be plugged into the system by implementing an
extension API. Clients can access the server over the Internet. The technology used for
implementing the architecture will be Enterprise Java Beans.
The system will be used in several applications. One application area is volcano research and
hazard management. The Merapi volcano in Central Java, Indonesia, is one of the most active
volcanoes in the world. It has been classified as a high-risk volcano and included in the list of
15 Decade Volcanoes. In co-operation with the Volcanological Survey of Indonesia and other
institutions in Indonesia and Germany, the GFZ initiated an interdisciplinary monitoring
program in 1994.
Continuous monitoring of the volcanic activities of Merapi (such as gas emanation,
seismicity, deformation) as well as repeated measurements (geomagnetism, geoelectricity and
gravity) is conducted within the MERAPI-project. Geological investigations are carried out in
situ and in laboratories. Additional information about the population, landuse, infrastructure
etc. will be collected and combined with the existing data about volcanic activity. The
analysis of all the different data will give a better understanding of the volcanic activities and
help the local authorities react in case of an eruption. Early warning and good knowledge
about the infrastructure and population in this region may save human life. It is planned to
utilize the SPIN! system for the following tasks:
• Estimation of possible future eruption;
• Building interactive hazard maps and combining them with information about land
use/land cover, infrastructure and population in order to make a damage assessment;
• Dissemination of information for volcano risk mitigation over the Internet.
Another objective is to adapt the generic SPIN! system to the specialized application area of
earthquake and volcano research and hazard assessment by integrating methods for natural
hazard assessment that have been developed by IITP and implemented in the Geoprocessor
system (Gitis et al. 1995, Gitis 1998).
A second application area is the analysis and web-based dissemination of census data from
statistical offices. Test data will be taken from the UK 1991 census. Work will be done
collaboratively with the UK Office for National Statistics, which currently together with
MIMAS is planning the tools and services for public access to the forthcoming UK national
census in 2001.
To focus the application, we chose as our topic the public debate over Unitary Development
Plans (UDP) in the United Kingdom (Petch and Gibson, 2000). The district chosen for
investigation was Stockport, one of the ten Metropolitan Districts of Greater Manchester, UK.
The UDP has eight main areas of policy, Environment, Countryside and Open Space, Housing
and Population, Economy, Shopping, Transportation, Leisure and Community Facilities and
Minerals and Waste Disposal. We will focus on Housing. The main requirements for Housing
relate to the three main tasks in the development process, i.e.
• Forecasting numbers of houses needed
• Allocation of land
• Development control.
Under these headings we currently work on prioritising several of data processing issues
based on their importance in the whole process of housing development and on the nature of
the SPIN! objectives.
In a related application, the project aims to develop a detailed concept for a web-based
information brokering service with georeferenced data as a foundation for a cost-effective
dissemination of data. Web-based, interactive Spatial Mining can add a tremendous value to
the mere distribution of data. This added value can be the key for commercialising the
distribution of data for statistical offices, public agencies, and scientific institutions.
Conclusion and future work
The architecture of the SPIN! spatial data mining system was outlined. A first prototype of
this system is expected by the end of 2000. It will combine a suite of existing data mining,
spatial analysis and spatial visualization approaches in a coherent design. In the next stage,
novel spatial analysis methods from machine learning to Bayesian statistics will be integrated
and suitable visualization tools provided.
Work on this paper was funded by the European Commission under IST-1999-10536 SPIN!.
Contributions by all project partners relating to their special area of expertise in the project
are gratefully acknowledged. Any remaining errors in putting together the material are the
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