Publications

Work in progress and preprints

Manuscripts of the current program. Every one of them is deposited at PhilSci-Archive, which assigns a stable, citable eprint identifier and serves the full text. Years are those of the archive records; the status beside each title is current. Further papers of the series are in preparation; the program itself is described on the research page.

1. 2026
   Liquid mereology: vagueness, information capacity, and the cost of precisionUnder review Bittner, T.
   Submitted to a journal. PhilSci-Archive 30967
2. 2026
   A relational theory of mereological judgmentUnder review Bittner, T.
   Submitted to a journal. PhilSci-Archive 30864
3. 2026
   A formal framework for ontological vagueness in intelligence analysis: toward trustworthy and explainable judgmentsTo appear Bittner, T.
   Presented at the Semantic Technology for Intelligence, Defense, and Security Conference (STIDS 2026), Arlington, Virginia, May 27-28, 2026. To appear in the CEUR-WS proceedings. PhilSci-Archive 30614
4. 2026
   An algebraic framework for indeterminate predicates: classification, reasoning and dispositional dynamicsUnder review Bittner, T.
   Submitted to a journal. PhilSci-Archive 30569
5. 2025
   Quantized mereologyIn press Bittner, T.
   Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research. Accepted; in production. PhilSci-Archive 30559 arXiv:2609.01620
6. 2025
   A relational, real-valued Hilbert space for macroscopic vagueness: foundations of quantized mereologyRevise and resubmit Bittner, T.
   Submitted to a journal. PhilSci-Archive 30560
7. 2025
   Mereological vagueness and quantum informationPreprint Bittner, T.
   Companion to Quantized mereology, treating the entangled-state and measurement-dynamics layer. PhilSci-Archive 30557

Articles in refereed journals

1. 2023
   Information, mereology and vagueness Bittner, T.
   Applied Ontology 18(2), 119-167. A corrected author version is deposited at PhilSci-Archive; the published article remains the version of record. DOI PhilSci-Archive 30558
2. 2021
   Assessing the effect of topography on Cs-137 concentrations within forested soils due to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, Japan Yasumiishi, M., Nishimura, T., Aldstadt, J., Bennett, S. J., and Bittner, T.
   Earth Surface Dynamics 9(4), 861-893. DOI
3. 2019
   On the computational realization of formal ontologies: Formalizing an ontology of instantiation in spacetime using Isabelle/HOL as a case study Bittner, T.
   Applied Ontology 14(3), 251-292. DOI
4. 2018
   Formal ontology of space, time, and physical entities in classical mechanics Bittner, T.
   Applied Ontology 13(2), 135-179. DOI
5. 2017
   Vague distance predicates Bittner, T.
   GeoInformatica 21(2), 209-229. First published online December 26, 2016. DOI
6. 2011
   Vagueness and the trade-off between the classification and delineation of geographic regions: an ontological analysis Bittner, T.
   International Journal of Geographical Information Science 25(5), 825-850. DOI
7. 2011
   Vague size predicates Bittner, T.
   Applied Ontology 6(4), 317-343. DOI
8. 2011
   The RNA Ontology (RNAO): An ontology for integrating RNA sequence and structure data Hoehndorf, R., Batchelor, C., Bittner, T., Dumontier, M., Eilbeck, K., Knight, R., Mungall, C. J., Richardson, J. S., Stombaugh, J., Westhof, E., Zirbel, C. L., and Leontis, N. B.
   Applied Ontology 6(1), 53-89. DOI
9. 2010
   On the integration of regional classification and delineation systems into The National Map Bittner, T.
   Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization 45(2), 127-139. Presented in earlier form at the UCGIS and USGS Specialist Workshop on Ontology for the National Map, Washington DC, February 2009. DOI Preprint
10. 2010
    Ontology-based qualitative feature analysis: bays as a case study Feng, C.-C., and Bittner, T.
    Transactions in GIS 14(4), 547-568. DOI
11. 2009
    Logical properties of foundational mereogeometrical relations in bio-ontologies Bittner, T.
    Applied Ontology 4(2), 109-138. DOI PDF
12. 2009
    A spatio-temporal ontology for geographic information integration Bittner, T., Donnelly, M., and Smith, B.
    International Journal of Geographical Information Science 23(6), 765-798. DOI PDF
13. 2009
    Summation relations and portions of stuff Donnelly, M., and Bittner, T.
    Philosophical Studies 143(2), 167-185. First published online February 1, 2008; issue of record March 2009. DOI PDF
14. 2007
    The qualitative and time-dependent character of spatial relations in biomedical ontologies Bittner, T., and Goldberg, L. J.
    Bioinformatics 23(13), 1674-1682. Re-reviewed in 2008 and accepted for presentation in the Highlight Section of the 16th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB 2008). DOI
15. 2007
    Logical properties of foundational relations in bio-ontologies Bittner, T., and Donnelly, M.
    Artificial Intelligence in Medicine 39(3), 197-216. DOI
16. 2006
    Ontological investigation of a multiscale ecosystem classification using the National Hierarchical Framework of Ecological Units as an example Sorokine, A., Bittner, T., and Renschler, C.
    GeoInformatica 10(3), 313-335. DOI
17. 2006
    Granularity, scale and collectivity: when size does and does not matter Rector, A., Rogers, J., and Bittner, T.
    Journal of Biomedical Informatics 39(3), 333-349. DOI
18. 2006
    Biomedical ontologies: what part-of is and isn't Schulz, S., Kumar, A., and Bittner, T.
    Journal of Biomedical Informatics 39(3), 350-361. DOI
19. 2006
    A formal theory for spatial representation and reasoning in biomedical ontologies Donnelly, M., Bittner, T., and Rosse, C.
    Artificial Intelligence in Medicine 36(1), 1-27. DOI PDF
20. 2004
    Endurants and perdurants in directly depicting ontologies Bittner, T., Donnelly, M., and Smith, B.
    AI Communications 17(4), 247-258. PDF
21. 2004
    A mereological theory of frames of reference Bittner, T.
    International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools 13(1), 171-198. DOI PDF
22. 2003
    Vague reference and approximating judgments Bittner, T., and Smith, B.
    Spatial Cognition and Computation 3(2-3), 137-156. DOI PDF
23. 2002
    Approximate qualitative temporal reasoning Bittner, T.
    Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence 36(1-2), 39-80. DOI PDF
24. 2002
    Vagueness and rough location Bittner, T., and Stell, J. G.
    GeoInformatica 6(2), 99-121. DOI PDF
25. 2001
    Towards an ontology for geomatics Bittner, T., and Edwards, G.
    Geomatica 55(4), 475-490.
26. 2001
    The qualitative structure of built environments Bittner, T.
    Fundamenta Informaticae 46(1-2), 97-128. PDF
27. 2000
    Approximate qualitative spatial reasoning Bittner, T., and Stell, J. G.
    Spatial Cognition and Computation 2(4), 435-466. Printed in 2002; the issue carries the cover date 2000. DOI PDF
28. 1999
    On the design of formal theories of geographic space Bittner, T., and Frank, A. U.
    Journal of Geographical Systems 1(3), 237-275. DOI
29. 1998
    A boundary-sensitive approach to qualitative location Bittner, T., and Stell, J. G.
    Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence 24(1-4), 93-114. DOI

Book chapters and encyclopedia entries

1. 2019
   Is there a quantum geography? Bittner, T.
   In T. Tambassi (ed.), The Philosophy of GIS, Springer Geography, 209-239. Springer, Cham. DOI
2. 2017
   Fiat and de facto objects Bittner, T.
   In D. Richardson et al. (eds.), The International Encyclopedia of Geography, 1-8. Wiley-Blackwell. DOI
3. 2017
   Approximation Bittner, T., and Stell, J. G.
   In S. Shekhar, H. Xiong, and X. Zhou (eds.), Encyclopedia of GIS, 2nd edition, 71-77. Springer, Cham. DOI
4. 2008
   Modeling principles and methodologies: spatial representation and reasoning Bittner, T., Donnelly, M., Goldberg, L. J., and Neuhaus, F.
   In A. Burger, D. Davidson, and R. Baldock (eds.), Anatomy Ontologies for Bioinformatics: Principles and Practice, Computational Biology 6, 307-326. Springer, London. DOI
5. 2008
   Approximation Bittner, T., and Stell, J. G.
   In S. Shekhar and H. Xiong (eds.), Encyclopedia of GIS, 1st edition, 21-25. Springer, Boston. DOI
6. 2008
   A theory of granular partitions Bittner, T., and Smith, B.
   In K. Munn and B. Smith (eds.), Applied Ontology: An Introduction, chapter 6, 125-158. Ontos Verlag / De Gruyter. Revised reprint of the 2003 chapter listed below. DOI
7. 2005
   Ontology and semantic interoperability Bittner, T., Donnelly, M., and Winter, S.
   In S. Zlatanova and D. Prosperi (eds.), Large-scale 3D Data Integration: Challenges and Opportunities, 139-160. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis. DOI PDF
8. 2003
   A theory of granular partitions Bittner, T., and Smith, B.
   In M. Duckham, M. F. Goodchild, and M. F. Worboys (eds.), Foundations of Geographic Information Science, 117-149. Taylor and Francis, London. DOI PDF
9. 2002
   Hierarchical topological reasoning with vague regions Winter, S., and Bittner, T.
   In W. Shi, P. F. Fisher, and M. F. Goodchild (eds.), Spatial Data Quality. Taylor and Francis, London. Book version of the 1999 International Symposium on Spatial Data Quality paper listed under Other publications and presentations. DOI

Papers in refereed conferences and workshops

1. 2019
   Why classificatory information of geographic regions is quantum information (vision paper) Bittner, T.
   In S. Timpf, C. Schlieder, M. Kattenbeck, B. Ludwig, and K. Stewart (eds.), 14th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2019), LIPIcs 142, 16:1-16:15. Schloss Dagstuhl, Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik. DOI
2. 2017
   Towards a quantum theory of geographic fields Bittner, T.
   In E. Clementini, M. Donnelly, M. Yuan, C. Kray, P. Fogliaroni, and A. Ballatore (eds.), 13th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2017), LIPIcs 86, 5:1-5:14. Schloss Dagstuhl, Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik. DOI
3. 2016
   Ontologies of dynamical systems and verifiable ontology-based computation: towards a Haskell-based implementation of referent tracking Bittner, T., Bona, J., and Ceusters, W.
   In R. Ferrario and W. Kuhn (eds.), Formal Ontology in Information Systems: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference (FOIS 2016), Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications 283, 313-327. IOS Press. DOI
4. 2015
   Spatial and temporal analysis of human movements and applications for disaster response management utilizing cell phone usage data Yasumiishi, M., Renschler, C. S., and Bittner, T.
   ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences II-4/W2, 217-224. DOI
5. 2008
   Ontology and qualitative medical images analysis Bittner, T., Goldberg, L. J., and Donnelly, M.
   In M. Okada and B. Smith (eds.), Proceedings of InterOntology 08. Keio University Press. PDF
6. 2007
   From top-level to domain ontologies: ecosystem classifications as a case study Bittner, T.
   In S. Winter, M. Duckham, L. Kulik, and B. Kuipers (eds.), Spatial Information Theory: International Conference (COSIT 2007), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4736, 61-77. Springer, Berlin. DOI PDF
7. 2007
   A formal theory of qualitative size and distance relations between regions Bittner, T., and Donnelly, M.
   In C. Price (ed.), Proceedings of the 21st Annual Workshop on Qualitative Reasoning (QR07). PDF
8. 2007
   A temporal mereology for distinguishing between integral objects and portions of stuff Bittner, T., and Donnelly, M.
   In R. Holte and A. Howe (eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Second AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-07), 287-292. AAAI Press. PDF
9. 2006
   A theory of granular parthood based on qualitative cardinality and size measures Bittner, T., and Donnelly, M.
   In B. Bennett and C. Fellbaum (eds.), Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Formal Ontology in Information Systems (FOIS 2006), 65-76. IOS Press. PDF
10. 2006
    The qualitative and time-dependent character of spatial relations in biomedical ontologies Bittner, T., and Goldberg, L. J.
    In O. Bodenreider (ed.), KR-MED 2006: Second International Workshop on Formal Biomedical Knowledge Representation, CEUR Workshop Proceedings 222, 47-55. PDF
11. 2006
    A classification of spatio-temporal entities based on their location in space-time Bittner, T., and Donnelly, M.
    In R. Meersman, Z. Tari, and P. Herrero (eds.), On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems 2006: OTM 2006 Workshops, Part II, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4278, 1626-1635. Springer, Berlin. SeBGIS 2006 track. DOI PDF
12. 2005
    Computational ontologies of parthood, componenthood, and containment Bittner, T., and Donnelly, M.
    In L. P. Kaelbling and A. Saffiotti (eds.), Proceedings of the Nineteenth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-05), 382-387. PDF
13. 2005
    Spatial relations between classes of individuals Donnelly, M., and Bittner, T.
    In A. G. Cohn and D. M. Mark (eds.), Spatial Information Theory: International Conference (COSIT 2005), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3693, 182-199. Springer, Berlin. DOI
14. 2004
    Understanding taxonomies of ecosystems: a case study Sorokine, A., and Bittner, T.
    In P. Fisher (ed.), Developments in Spatial Data Handling, 559-572. Springer, Berlin. PDF
15. 2004
    Individuals, universals, collections: on the foundational relations of ontology Bittner, T., Donnelly, M., and Smith, B.
    In A. C. Varzi and L. Vieu (eds.), Proceedings of the Third Conference on Formal Ontology in Information Systems (FOIS 2004), 37-48. IOS Press. PDF
16. 2004
    The mereology of stages and persistent entities Bittner, T., and Donnelly, M.
    In R. López de Mántaras and L. Saitta (eds.), Proceedings of the 16th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI 2004), 283-287. IOS Press. PDF
17. 2004
    Modeling surface hydrology concepts with endurance and perdurance Feng, C.-C., Bittner, T., and Flewelling, D. M.
    In M. J. Egenhofer, C. Freksa, and H. J. Miller (eds.), Proceedings of GIScience 2004, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3234, 67-80. Springer, Berlin. DOI PDF
18. 2004
    Axioms for parthood and containment relations in bio-ontologies Bittner, T.
    In U. Hahn (ed.), First International Workshop on Formal Biomedical Knowledge Representation (KR-MED 2004), CEUR Workshop Proceedings 102, 4-11. PDF
19. 2003
    Stratified rough sets and vagueness Bittner, T., and Stell, J. G.
    In W. Kuhn, M. F. Worboys, and S. Timpf (eds.), Spatial Information Theory: Foundations of Geographic Information Science (COSIT 2003), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2825, 270-286. Springer, Berlin. DOI PDF
20. 2003
    Scale in object and process ontologies Reitsma, F., and Bittner, T.
    In W. Kuhn, M. F. Worboys, and S. Timpf (eds.), Spatial Information Theory: Foundations of Geographic Information Science (COSIT 2003), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2825, 13-27. Springer, Berlin. Listed in earlier bibliographies as ‘Process, hierarchy, and scale’. DOI PDF
21. 2003
    Directly depicting granular ontologies Bittner, T., and Smith, B.
    1st International Workshop on Adaptive Multimedia Retrieval, Hamburg. Expanded as Bittner, Donnelly, and Smith (2004), AI Communications 17(4). Journal version
22. 2003
    Indeterminacy and rough approximation Bittner, T.
    In I. Russell and S. M. Haller (eds.), Proceedings of the Sixteenth International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS 2003), 450-454. AAAI Press. PDF
23. 2003
    Granular spatio-temporal ontologies Bittner, T., and Smith, B.
    In AAAI Spring Symposium: Foundations and Applications of Spatio-Temporal Reasoning (FASTR), 12-17. AAAI Press. PDF
24. 2002
    Reasoning about qualitative spatio-temporal relations at multiple levels of granularity Bittner, T.
    In F. van Harmelen (ed.), ECAI 2002: Proceedings of the 15th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 317-321. IOS Press, Amsterdam. PDF
25. 2002
    Granularity in reference to spatio-temporal location and relations Bittner, T.
    In S. M. Haller and G. Simmons (eds.), Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS 2002), 466-470. AAAI Press. PDF
26. 2002
    Judgments about spatio-temporal relations Bittner, T.
    In D. Fensel, F. Giunchiglia, D. McGuinness, and M.-A. Williams (eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR 2002), 521-532. Morgan Kaufmann. PDF
27. 2001
    A unified theory of granularity, vagueness and approximation Bittner, T., and Smith, B.
    In COSIT Workshop on Spatial Vagueness, Uncertainty, and Granularity. PDF
28. 2001
    Granular partitions and vagueness Bittner, T., and Smith, B.
    In C. Welty and B. Smith (eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Formal Ontology in Information Systems (FOIS 2001), 309-320. ACM Press. DOI
29. 2001
    A taxonomy of granular partitions Bittner, T., and Smith, B.
    In D. R. Montello (ed.), Spatial Information Theory: Foundations of Geographic Information Science (COSIT 2001), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2205, 28-43. Springer, Berlin. DOI
30. 2001
    Rough sets in approximate spatial reasoning Bittner, T., and Stell, J. G.
    In W. Ziarko and Y. Yao (eds.), Rough Sets and Current Trends in Computing (RSCTC 2000), Revised Papers, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 2005, 445-453. Springer, Berlin. DOI PDF
31. 2001
    Rough sets in spatio-temporal data mining Bittner, T.
    In J. F. Roddick and K. Hornsby (eds.), Temporal, Spatial, and Spatio-Temporal Data Mining (TSDM 2000), Revised Papers, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 2007, 89-104. Springer, Berlin. DOI PDF Haskell program
32. 2000
    A qualitative formalization of built environments Bittner, T.
    In M. Ibrahim, J. Küng, and N. Revell (eds.), Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA 2000), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1873, 959-969. Springer, Berlin. DOI PDF
33. 2000
    Approximate qualitative temporal reasoning Bittner, T.
    In Spatial and Temporal Granularity: Papers from the AAAI Workshop, AAAI Technical Report WS-00-08, 45-52. AAAI Press. Listed in earlier bibliographies as ‘Approximate temporal reasoning, Time 2000’.
34. 1999
    On ontology and epistemology of rough location Bittner, T.
    In C. Freksa and D. M. Mark (eds.), Spatial Information Theory: A Theoretical Basis for GIS (COSIT'99), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1661, 433-448. Springer, Berlin. DOI PDF
35. 1999
    On ontology in image analysis Bittner, T., and Winter, S.
    In P. Agouris and A. Stefanidis (eds.), Integrated Spatial Databases: Digital Images and GIS (ISD'99), Portland, Maine, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1737, 168-191. Springer. DOI PDF
36. 1998
    On representing geometries of geographic space Bittner, T., and Frank, A. U.
    In T. K. Poiker and N. Chrisman (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling (SDH'98), Vancouver, 111-122. International Geographical Union. PDF
37. 1997
    An introduction to the application of formal theories to GIS Bittner, T., and Frank, A. U.
    In F. Dollinger and J. Strobl (eds.), Angewandte Geographische Informationsverarbeitung IX (AGIT), Salzburger Geographische Materialien 26, 11-22. Institut für Geographie, Universität Salzburg. PDF
38. 1997
    A qualitative coordinate language of location of figures within the ground Bittner, T.
    In S. C. Hirtle and A. U. Frank (eds.), Spatial Information Theory: A Theoretical Basis for GIS (COSIT'97), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1329, 223-240. Springer, Berlin. DOI PDF
39. 1996
    A qualitative model of geographic space Bittner, T.
    In M. J. Kraak and M. Molenaar (eds.), Proceedings of SDH'96, Delft, volume 2, 10.19-10.32. International Geographical Union. PDF

Other publications and presentations

1. 2026
   Developing ontology-based nuclear accident knowledge base Yasumiishi, M., and Bittner, T.
   EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna. Abstract EGU26-22532. DOI
2. 2025
   Developing ontology-based nuclear accident knowledge base part 1: spatiotemporal considerations in background comparison Yasumiishi, M., and Bittner, T.
   EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna. Abstract EGU25-5199. DOI
3. 2020
   Predicting Cs-137 distribution patterns from soil samples: the relationships between topographic parameters, soil properties, and Cs-137 concentration levels Yasumiishi, M., Nishimura, T., Bittner, T., Aldstadt, J., and Bennett, S.
   EGU General Assembly 2020. Abstract EGU2020-2252. DOI
4. 2019
   Radiocesium inventory and distribution patterns in forest soils in Fukushima: seven years after the nuclear accident Yasumiishi, M., Nishimura, T., Yamasaki, T., Renschler, C., Aldstadt, J., and Bittner, T.
   EGU General Assembly 2019, Vienna. Geophysical Research Abstracts 21, EGU2019-2462.
5. 2009
   The RNA Ontology (RNAO): An ontology for integrating RNA sequence and structure data Batchelor, C., Bittner, T., Eilbeck, K., Mungall, C., Richardson, J., Knight, R., Stombaugh, J., Zirbel, C., Westhof, E., and Leontis, N.
   Nature Precedings. Preprint of the 2011 Applied Ontology article. DOI
6. 2004
   Ontological investigation of ecosystem hierarchies and formal theory for multiscale ecosystem classifications Sorokine, A., Bittner, T., and Renschler, C.
   Third International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2004), extended abstracts and poster summaries. PDF
7. 2004
   Normalizing medical ontologies using Basic Formal Ontology Bittner, T., and Smith, B.
   49. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (GMDS 2004). German Medical Science, abstract Doc04gmds070. PDF
8. 1999
   Hierarchical topological reasoning with vague regions Winter, S., and Bittner, T.
   In W. Shi, M. F. Goodchild, and P. F. Fisher (eds.), Proceedings of the International Symposium on Spatial Data Quality, Hong Kong, 555-565. Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
9. 1998
   Towards a model theory for figure ground location Bittner, T.
   In Proceedings of the 6th Symposium on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Doctoral thesis

1. 1999
   Rough Location Bittner, T.
   Ph.D. thesis, Department of Geo-Informatics, Technical University of Vienna, Austria. Advisors: Andrew U. Frank and Thomas Eiter. Abstract Full text (ZIP)