Summer school teaching unit:
Spatial Databases

Andrea Rodríguez – April 30, 2004.

Hours

Session 1: May 31 : 90 min. + 90 min. (afternoon)

Session 2: June 1: 90 min. + 90 min. (morning)

Content

The unit of spatial databases is presented in the following four 90-minutes lessons:

1. Conceptual Modeling (Theory)

a. Basic Concepts

Ontological primitives

Space Models

b. Operations and manipulation on geospatial data

Operations and queries

Consistency

c. Conceptual Models

Extended ER

Object Oriented Paradigm  (UML)

d. Conclusions

2. Modeling of Practical Applications  (Practical session)

Different practical applications will be presented and discuss with students. These applications will cover different areas, such as utility networks, natural resource management and urban planning applications. In this session, students will actively participate in the conceptual modeling of problems. Each application will be modeled by using extended ER or UML, with characterization of spatial primitives and data manipulation. This session should highlight advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to modeling geospatial applications.

3. Logical and Physical Model (Theory)

a. Logical Models and Languages:

Abstract Data Types

Object orientation

b. Access Methods

Space-driven structures

Data-driven structures

c. Types of query processing

d. Conclusions

4. Challenges and Trends (Theory)

a. Data Integration 

Standards and current efforts for data integration

Research issues

b. Spatio-temporal databases

Basic concepts

Challenges

Goals

The modeling of geospatial data plays an important role in geospatial manipulation. Students completing this teaching unit should be able to answer the following questions:

• Requirements of Geospatial database systems
• Advantages and disadvantages of current paradigms to model geospatial information
• Issues of access methods
• Current types of query processing and limitations
• Consistency problems in the treatment of geospatial information
• Data integration issues
• Requirements of spatio-temporal databases.

Students’ preparation in advance

The sessions assume that students have reviewed the following reading material for each unit:

Sessions  1 and 2:

· Rodríguez, A. Brief Introduction to Database Concepts. (reading material)

Session 3 and 4:

· Voisard, A. and David, B. (2002). A Database Perspective on Geospatial Data Modeling. IEEE Transactions of Knowledge and Data Engineering, 14(2): 226-243.

· Shekhar, S and Chawla, S. (1999). Spatial Databases: Accomplishments and Research Needs.  IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering 11(1):  45-56.

URL and Software

On-line material:

• Information Technology Services. Introduction to Data Modeling. http://www.utexas.edu/its/windows/database/datamodeling/dm/erintro.html
• A. Cumming (2003), A Gentle Introduction to SQL, http://sqlzoo.net/

• ODMG (2000). Object Database Management Group, http://www.odmg.org
• OGIS(1999). Open GIS consortium: Open GIS simple features specification for SQL. In URL: http://www.opengis.org/specs/.

Software Requirement:

• Poseidon for UML, UML case tool, http://www.gentleware.com/products/download.php4