Critical Review

The main contribution of the use of fuzzy sets in Geographic Information Science is the development of a set of ideas to deal with uncertain and vague geographic information. Environmental scientists have emphasized again and again the need for tools able to cope with the uncertain information often encountered in their field. The use of fuzzy sets improves the information content of environmental data because it provides information about (un)certainty instead of simply assuming perfect data.

Problems arise choosing the FMF. Even if sophisticated methods help the user to choose the FMF and their parameters, this choice significantly influences the results of fuzzy analyses. Different class boundaries and transition widths may produce different results. Another drawback is related to the limits of the cartographic power of GIS. Using fuzzy sets for attributes and/or spatial boundaries for several features produces a confusing variety of data layers hard to visualize in a comprehensible way and that is difficult to interpret for non-specialists.