GIS Databases: From Multiscale to MultiRepresentation

Cartography is one of the major application areas using geographical databases. Whether it is for the business of producing paper maps for sale, or whether it is for displaying maps on a screen to visualize the result of a query, we need computer systems that know how to represent the same geographical area at different scales. The concept of multiscale database has become popular in the GIS domain as a way to enforce consistency between representations and reduce the global update load. Scaling, however, is just one of the facets that may lead to keeping several representations for the same real-world object. Viewpoint and classification are two major abstracttractions in the design process that also generate multiple representations. This paper investigates the generic issues and solutions to achieve flexible support of multiple representation in a GIS database

MurMur: A Research Agenda on MultipleRepresentations

One of the most publicized goals of modern computer society is to provide flexible access to information for everybody, anywhere, anytime. To make data management systems successful in satisfying user quest for information, an abstractolute requirement is the capability of tailoring the information to the peculiar needs of the targeted user. Unfortunately, this is a domain where current technology fails to support adequate functionality. Basically, existing approaches to such versatility rely on the idea that all possible views of a piece of information can be derived from a single ultimate representation. This may work in a centralized setting, but it is definitely unlikely to provide a sufficient framework in distributed, interoperable environments. This paper presents a research and development project that intends to explore the issue related to representation and management of multiple representations of the same reality. A specific focus of the project is spatio-temporal information and the support of multi-scale geographic databases, where objects are represented at many different resolution levels

A Conceptual View on Trajectories

Analysis of trajectory data is the key to a growing number of applications aiming at global understanding and management of complex phenomena that involve moving objects (e.g. worldwide courier distribution, city traffic management, bird migration monitoring). Current DBMS support for such data is limited to the ability to store and query raw movement (i.e. the spatio-temporal position of an object). This paper explores how conceptual modeling could provide applications with direct support of trajectories (i.e. movement data that is structured into countable semantic units) as a first class concept. A specific concern is to allow enriching trajectories with semantic annotations allowing users to attach semantic data to specific parts of the trajectory. Building on a preliminary requirement analysis and an application example, the paper proposes two modeling approaches, one based on a design pattern, the other based on dedicated data types, and illustrates their differences in terms of implementation in an extended-relational context

Modeling Spatial Data in the MADS Conceptual Model

Despite the well-established benefits of conceptual modeling for application design, current spatio-temporal conceptual models do not cope satisfactorily with designers' requirements. In this paper we first identify the goals of a spatio-temporal conceptual model and then we describe the MADS model along its structural and spatial dimensions. As the modeling concepts are orthogonal, the proposed model achieves both simplicity (as concepts are independent from each other) and expressive power (as concepts may be freely associated). The model, which includes the features of the ODMG standard model for object-oriented systems, has been implemented by translating it into operational models of existing products. Experience gained by modeling a number of applications enabled us to assess the advantages of MADS with respect to traditional entity-relationship modeling. A visual schema editor and a visual query editor are being develope

MADS: un modèle conceptuel pour des applicationsspatio-temporelles

Malgré les bienfaits reconnus de l'approche conceptuelle pour la modélisation d'applications, les modèles conceptuels spatio-temporels existants ne satisfont pas les besoins des concepteurs. Dans cet article nous identifions d'abord les objectifs d'un modèle conceptuel spatio-temporel et ensuite nous présentons le modèle MADS selon trois axes: concepts structu-rels, concepts spatiaux, concepts temporels. L'orthogonalité des concepts permet d'obtenir un modèle à la fois simple (puisque ces concepts sont indépendants) et puissant (puisque les con-cepts peuvent être combinés librement). Le modèle a été implanté et des traductions existent vers d'autres modèles opérationnels. L'article décrit brièvement les réalisations en cours ou prévues pour offrir aux utilisateurs une interface conceptuelle de définition et d'accès aux bases de données spatio-temporelles. Nous donnons également les résultats d'une expérience de mo-délisation qui a permis de vérifier les qualités du modèle