An ontology for linear spatial reasoning

An ontology for spatial reasoning based on a tesseral representation of space is presented. The principal advantage offered is that the representation has the effect of linearising multi-dimensional space while still supporting translation through the space in any direction and through any number of dimensions. Consequently, all multi-dimensional spatial reasoning can be implemented using one dimensional (temporal) reasoning techniques. As a result, many of the concerns associated with conventional multi-dimensional spatial reasoning systems, based on more traditional representations, no longer apply.