Abstract: Based on fuzzy set theory, a hybrid spatial reasoning approach is proposed that combines qualitative spatial reasoning with quantitative one. The spatial relations among objects are interpreted as restrictions on l inguistic variables that represent spatial information about the objects, and the linguistic variables are provided to express qualitative spatial relations, and then these variables are associated with fuzzy sets for quantitative spatial information. By mapping linguistic values to fuzzy sets and elements of fuzzy sets to linguistic hedges, it is possible to switch back and forth between qualitative spatial information and quantitative one. Besides, we realized the reasoning of these spatial relations by showing that each Allen's basic binary relat ion can be associated with a fuzzy relation and obtaining an Allen's algorithm based on these fuzzy relations.

Key words: spatial reasoning, hybrid spatial reasoning, fuzzy set, linguistic variable