ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the principal modelling formalisms used for ‘conventional’ database design, their applications in geographic database design and their deficiencies related to the conceptual modelling of geographic data. It presents CON.G.O.O'.s basic concepts and their graphic representation respectively. The most important elements of an Information System (IS) are its databases. The development of a database usually requires three different development phases: the conceptual phase, the logical phase and the physical phase. Conceptual formalisms useful in the context of ‘classic’ databases are used for the development of geographic databases. The classic dichotomy between treatments and data models is avoided, and a clear distinction is made between the treatments and attributes concerning groups of objects and those concerning aspects and instances of objects. The CON.G.O.O. formalism provides models that facilitate the communication among users, programmers and analysts of geographic databases because of their capacity to describe easily and clearly very complex environments.
