Commonsense Inference in Dynamic Spatial Systems “Phenomenal and Reasoning Requirements”

Spatial changes within an environment are typically a result of interaction— actions and events— occurring within. Reasoning about such changes, when dealt with formally within the context of qualitative spatial calculi and logics of action and change, poses several difficulties along multiple dimensions: (a) phenomenal requirements stemming from the dynamic nature of the spatial system (e.g., appearing and disappearing objects), (b) reasoning requirements (e.g., abductive explanation), (c) domain-independent or epistemological (e.g., persistence, ramification), and (d) aspects concerning the need to satisfy the intrinsic (axiomatic) properties of the spatial calculi (e.g., compositional consistency) being modelled. This paper, encompassing the phenomenal and reasoning aspects in (a) and (b) respectively, presents some instances that demonstrate the role of commonsense reasoning and the non-monotonic inference patterns it necessitates whilst representing and reasoning about dynamic spatial systems in general.