needs, and of the time it will take to download. Browse images are provided in ADL to
help overcome these problems, and ADL's work on wavelet decomposition and progres-
sive transmission is also aimed in this direction.
Second, many user queries will be expressed in terms of geographic areas that do not
have geographic referents, and are thus retrievable using geographic search mechanisms,
but for which the corresponding footprints are fuzzy. Several issues must be dealt with
if fuzzy footprints are to be incorporated into digital spatial data search and retrieval
mechanisms. The Geospatial Information Research Team has experimented with three
methods of formal representation of fuzzy footprints: a crisp polygon degraded by a sim-
ple mathematical function, a radially symmetric function, and a raster representation of
a general surface. Appropriate methods were examined for eliciting such representations
from users, both before and during the search process. A number of display methods have
been implemented, in an effort to find methods that are as informative as possible to the
user. Finally, the research team experimented with metrics of the goodness of fit between
fuzzy or crisp representations of the user's area of interest, and fuzzy or crisp represen-
tations of an information object's footprint. It has been assumed throughout that fuzzy
footprints can be described by one of a set of simple models, and there may be instances
where none of these models is satisfactory. The approach assumes that a single model is
appropriate, but there will certainly be instances where one group's concept of a fuzzy
region differs from that of another group.
Third, it is physically impossible to build a geolibrary, although conventional map
libraries come as close as it is possible to come. In a digital world, however, these prob-
lems disappear. The user of a digital geolibrary can be presented with a globe, can zoom
to the appropriate level of detail, can access lists of placenames and see their footprints,
and can move up or down the placename hierarchy using links between places. Moreover,
a digital geolibrary solves the problem of physical access, if the services of the library are
provided over a universal network like the internet. And finally, the collection of a geoli-
brary can be dispersed--a digital geolibrary can consist of a collection of servers, each
specializing in materials about their local regions. The contents of the geolibrary would
be very different from those of a conventional physical library. They would be dominated
by multimedia information of local interest, in fact precisely the kinds of information
needed by an informed citizenry, and one that is deeply involved in issues affecting its
neighborhood, region, and planet. Because its contents would be different, a geolibrary
might attract an entirely new type of library user.
Fourth, geocomputation has a large appetite for data. It focuses on modeling processes
on geographic landscapes that can be sharply differentiated. In short, geocomputation,
with its extensive data demands, is arriving as a novel paradigm at a time when many tra-
ditional arrangements for production and dissemination of geographic data are breaking
down and are being replaced by a much more flexible, localized, autonomous, and chaotic
system that is at the same time much richer, with far more to offer. While new technology
has made far more data available, it has also created massive problems in making effective
use of its potential. Paradoxically, only the technology itself can provide the basis of solu-
tions.
Finally, libraries fall into the category of central facilities serving a dispersed popu-
lation. The transition to digital information handling is in the process of engendering
changes in many aspects of the central facilities model, including access (transition from
physical access and delivery of media to access through electronic networks and delivery
of bits), economies of scale (physical libraries replaced by digital servers), and consumer
behavior (consumers have increasing numbers of choices). The future map of research
libraries will look very different from today's. Instead of the classical pattern of central
service provision, it will be sufficient for each information-bearing object (IBO) to be
available from only a small number of servers, and under perfect connectivity, from only
one. A research library will be able to focus on serving only those IBOs that are of partic-
ular relevance to its local role. Its responsibility to a geographically defined constituency
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