2 Search Results for "Serban, Alex"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2025.14
Guiding Geospatial Analysis Processes in Dealing with Modifiable Areal Unit Problems

Authors: Guoray Cai and Yue Hao

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 346, 13th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2025)

Abstract
Geospatial analysis has been widely applied in different domains for critical decision making. However, the results of spatial analysis are often plagued with uncertainties due to measurement errors, choice of data representations, and unintended transformation artifacts. A well known example of such problems is the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) which has well documented effects on the outcome of spatial analysis on area-aggregated data. Existing methods for addressing the effects of MAUP are limited, are technically complex, and are often inaccessible to practitioners. As a result, analysts tend to ignore the effects of MAUP in practice due to lack of expertise, high cognitive loads, and resource limitations. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a machine-guidance approach to augment the analyst’s capacity in mitigating the effect of MAUP. Based on an analysis of practical challenges faced by human analysts, we identified multiple opportunities for the machine to guide the analysts by alerting to the rise of MAUP, assessing the impact of MAUP, choosing mitigation methods, and generating visual guidance messages using GIS functions and tools. For each of the opportunities, we characterize the behavior patterns and the underlying guidance strategies that generate the behavior. We illustrate the behavior of machine guidance using a hotspot analysis scenario in the context of crime policing, where MAUP has strong effects on the patterns of crime hotspots. Finally, we describe the computational framework used to build a prototype guidance system and identify a number of research questions to be addressed. We conclude by discussing how the machine guidance approach could be an answer to some of the toughest problems in geospatial analysis.
Cite as

Guoray Cai and Yue Hao. Guiding Geospatial Analysis Processes in Dealing with Modifiable Areal Unit Problems. In 13th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 346, pp. 14:1-14:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{cai_et_al:LIPIcs.GIScience.2025.14,
  author =	{Cai, Guoray and Hao, Yue},
  title =	{{Guiding Geospatial Analysis Processes in Dealing with Modifiable Areal Unit Problems}},
  booktitle =	{13th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2025)},
  pages =	{14:1--14:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-378-2},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{346},
  editor =	{Sila-Nowicka, Katarzyna and Moore, Antoni and O'Sullivan, David and Adams, Benjamin and Gahegan, Mark},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2025.14},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-238433},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2025.14},
  annote =	{Keywords: Machine Guidance, Geo-Spatial Analysis, Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP)}
}
Document
Invited Paper
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2020.3
Safe Reinforcement Learning Using Probabilistic Shields (Invited Paper)

Authors: Nils Jansen, Bettina Könighofer, Sebastian Junges, Alex Serban, and Roderick Bloem

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 171, 31st International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2020)

Abstract
This paper concerns the efficient construction of a safety shield for reinforcement learning. We specifically target scenarios that incorporate uncertainty and use Markov decision processes (MDPs) as the underlying model to capture such problems. Reinforcement learning (RL) is a machine learning technique that can determine near-optimal policies in MDPs that may be unknown before exploring the model. However, during exploration, RL is prone to induce behavior that is undesirable or not allowed in safety- or mission-critical contexts. We introduce the concept of a probabilistic shield that enables RL decision-making to adhere to safety constraints with high probability. We employ formal verification to efficiently compute the probabilities of critical decisions within a safety-relevant fragment of the MDP. These results help to realize a shield that, when applied to an RL algorithm, restricts the agent from taking unsafe actions, while optimizing the performance objective. We discuss tradeoffs between sufficient progress in the exploration of the environment and ensuring safety. In our experiments, we demonstrate on the arcade game PAC-MAN and on a case study involving service robots that the learning efficiency increases as the learning needs orders of magnitude fewer episodes.
Cite as

Nils Jansen, Bettina Könighofer, Sebastian Junges, Alex Serban, and Roderick Bloem. Safe Reinforcement Learning Using Probabilistic Shields (Invited Paper). In 31st International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2020). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 171, pp. 3:1-3:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{jansen_et_al:LIPIcs.CONCUR.2020.3,
  author =	{Jansen, Nils and K\"{o}nighofer, Bettina and Junges, Sebastian and Serban, Alex and Bloem, Roderick},
  title =	{{Safe Reinforcement Learning Using Probabilistic Shields}},
  booktitle =	{31st International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR 2020)},
  pages =	{3:1--3:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-160-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{171},
  editor =	{Konnov, Igor and Kov\'{a}cs, Laura},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2020.3},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-128155},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.CONCUR.2020.3},
  annote =	{Keywords: Safe Reinforcement Learning, Formal Verification, Safe Exploration, Model Checking, Markov Decision Process}
}
  • Refine by Type
  • 2 Document/PDF
  • 1 Document/HTML

  • Refine by Publication Year
  • 1 2025
  • 1 2020

  • Refine by Author
  • 1 Bloem, Roderick
  • 1 Cai, Guoray
  • 1 Hao, Yue
  • 1 Jansen, Nils
  • 1 Junges, Sebastian
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Series/Journal
  • 2 LIPIcs

  • Refine by Classification
  • 1 Computing methodologies → Artificial intelligence
  • 1 Computing methodologies → Markov decision processes
  • 1 Computing methodologies → Reinforcement learning
  • 1 Information systems → Geographic information systems
  • 1 Information systems → Spatial-temporal systems
  • Show More...

  • Refine by Keyword
  • 1 Formal Verification
  • 1 Geo-Spatial Analysis
  • 1 Machine Guidance
  • 1 Markov Decision Process
  • 1 Model Checking
  • Show More...

Any Issues?
X

Feedback on the Current Page

CAPTCHA

Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted to Dagstuhl Publishing

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail
© 2023-2026 Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH About DROPS Imprint Privacy Contact