Focusing on the specialized techniques for managing spatial data, this book provides a comprehensive examination of geographic information systems (GIS). It covers spatial data models, algorithms, and indexing methods that address unique challenges not met by traditional database management systems. Additionally, it evaluates commercial GIS solutions like ArcInfo and Oracle Spatial, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses to determine optimal applications for each.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Spatial Databases, SSD '97, held in Berlin, Germany, in July 1997. The 18 revised full papers presented were carefully selected from a total of 55 submissions. Also included are two keynote contributions. The papers are organized in topical sections on spatial similarities, geo-algorithms, spatial constraint databases, spatial query processing, systems, spatial data models and spatial access methods.