Design and implementation of a visual query language for large spatial databases

Author

Morris, Andrew J. ; Abdelmoty, Alia I. ; Tudhope, Douglas S. ; El-Geresy, Baher A.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Comput., Univ. of Glamorgan, Treforest, UK

fYear

2002

fDate

2002

Firstpage

226

Lastpage

233

Abstract

In this paper a visual approach to querying in large spatial databases is presented. A diagrammatic technique utilising a dataflow metaphor is used to express different kinds of spatial and non-spatial constraints. Basic filters are designed to represent the various types of queries in such systems. Icons for different types of spatial relations are used to denote the filters. Different granularities of the relations are presented in a hierarchical fashion when selecting the spatial constraints. The language constructs are presented and examples are used to demonstrate the expressiveness of the approach in representing different kinds of queries, including spatial joins and composite spatial queries. The implementation prototype of the language is also described and its features evaluated against a general purpose GIS package.

Keywords

diagrams; geographic information systems; graphical user interfaces; query languages; query processing; very large databases; visual databases; visual languages; GIS; composite spatial queries; dataflow metaphor; diagrammatic technique; geographic information system; icons; large spatial databases; nonspatial constraints; querying; spatial constraints; spatial joins; spatial relations; visual query language; Biology computing; Computer aided manufacturing; Computer science; Database languages; Filters; Geographic Information Systems; Packaging; Prototypes; Spatial databases; Visual databases;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Information Visualisation, 2002. Proceedings. Sixth International Conference on

ISSN

1093-9547

Print_ISBN

0-7695-1656-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IV.2002.1028781

Filename

1028781