A fuzzy-based tool for spatial reasoning: A Case study on soil erosion hazard prediction

Fuzzy set theory provides a formal system for representing and reasoning with uncertain information. Linguistic variable concept in a fuzzy logic system enables to handle numerical data and linguistic knowledge simultaneously. Even L. A. Zadeh (1965), formulated the initial statement of fuzzy set theory, at first never expected fuzzy sets to be used in consumer products or in geographic information. A collection of objects of any kind form a classical set and the objects themselves are called elements or members of the set. Since classical set theory is used in conventional decision making systems to model uncertain real world, the natural variability in the environmental phenomena can not be modeled appropriately. Because, pervasive imprecision of the real world is unavoidably reduced to artificially precise spatial entities when the conventional crisp logic is used for modeling. In this study fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic algebra were used in predicting the soil erosion hazard. Annual soil loss rates were estimated using Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) that has been used for five decades all over the world. Fuzzification of the landscape elements used in the model was done using a Fuzzy Semantic Import modeling approach. FuzzyCell, which has been developed on a commercia