"Same, Same but Different" - A Survey on Duplicate Detection Methods for Situation Awareness

Systems supporting situation awareness typically deal with a vast stream of information about a large number of real-world objects anchored in time and space provided by multiple sources. These sources are often characterized by frequent updates, heterogeneous formats and most crucial, identical, incomplete and often even contradictory information. In this respect, duplicate detection methods are of paramount importance allowing to explore whether or not information having, e. g., different origins or different observation times concern one and the same real-world object. Although many such duplicate detection methods have been proposed in literature - each of them having different origins, pursuing different goals and often, by nature, being heavily domain-specific - the unique characteristics of situation awareness and their implications on the method's applicability were not the focus up to now. This paper examines existing duplicate detection methods appearing to be suitable in the area of situation awareness and identifies their strengths and shortcomings. As a prerequisite, based on a motivating case study in the domain of road traffic management, an evaluation framework is suggested, which categorizes the major requirements on duplicate detection methods with regard to situation awareness.