Using an object-oriented database to encapsulate heterogeneous scientific data sources

There are many problems facing scientists in their efforts to use computers to manage, access, and analyze data. One serious problem is the heterogeneity of data sources. Previous research into accessing heterogeneous data has not addressed problems with accessing large data sources that are not managed by database management systems. We believe that an object-oriented database management system can be used to implement an object-oriented heterogeneous database (OOHDB) that efficiently addresses the problem of heterogeneity among large scientific property databases. The object-oriented data model provides a powerful modeling paradigm for representing complex scientific data. Objects within the OOHDB hide heterogeneity among various data sources. Efficient access to external data is achieved by representing external data with a small amount of data stored within the OOHDB.<>