Spatial Database Systems: Design, Implementation and Project Management PDF
Preview Spatial Database Systems: Design, Implementation and Project Management
Spatial Database Systems The GeoJournal Library VOLUME 87 ManagingE ditor: Max Barlow, Toronto, Canada Founding Series E ditor: Wolf Tietze, Helmstedt, Germany E ditorial Board: Paul Claval, France Yehuda Gradus, Israel Sam Ock Park, South Korea Herman van der Wusten, The Netherlands Spatial Database Systems Design, Implementation and Project Management By ALBERT K.W. YEUNG Ontario Police College, Aylmer West, Ontario, Canada and G. BRENT HALL U niversity of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada AC.I.P.CataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. ISBN-101-4020-5393-2(PB) ISBN-13978-1-4020-5393-1(PB) ISBN-101-4020-5391-6(HB) ISBN-13978-1-4020-5391-7(HB) ISBN-101-4020-5392-4(e-book) ISBN-13978-1-4020-5392-4(e-book) PublishedbySpringer, P.O.Box17,3300AADordrecht,TheNetherlands. www.springer.com Printedonacid-freepaper AllRightsReserved ©2007 Springer Nopartofthisworkmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,microfilming,recording orotherwise,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthePublisher,withtheexception ofanymaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurposeofbeingentered andexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework. Dedication To our families: Agnes Yuk-Lan, David Lik- Hang, Peter Lik-Yeen and Wen-Ying Yeung. Pat, Snow, Masha, Aaron, Elise Hall and Rhondda Martin. Contents (cid:68)(cid:101)(cid:100)(cid:105)(cid:99)(cid:97)(cid:116)(cid:105)(cid:111) (cid:110) v Preface ix PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1. The Current Status of Spatial Information Technology 3 PART 2: DATABASE PRINCIPLES AND ARCHITECTURE 19 2. Concepts and Architecture of Database Systems 21 3. Database Models and Data Modelling 55 4. Spatial Data and Spatial Database Systems 93 5. Spatial Data Standards and Metadata 129 6. Spatial Data Sharing, Data Warehousing and Database Federation 175 PART 3: SPATIAL DATABASE IMPLEMENTATION AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT 217 7. User Education and Legal Issues of Spatial Database Systems 219 8. User Needs Assessment and Multi-user Spatial Solutions 261 9. Project Management for Spatial Database Implementation 315 vii viii Contents 10. Web-enabled Spatial Database Systems 367 11. Spatial Data Mining and Decision Support Systems 409 PART 4: THE FUTURE (cid:32) (cid:52)(cid:54)(cid:57) 12. Trends of Spatial Database Systems 471 Glossary of Terms 523 Index 547 Preface The decision to write this book was motivated by a number of factors. First, although several useful textbooks on spatial databases have recently been published, this is an area of spatial information science that has lagged somewhat behind the rapid advances of the technology and the profusion of books on domain-specific applications. Second, much of the information pertaining to spatial database technologies is only available in scattered journal papers and conference proceedings, and prior to this book no single effort has been made to sift through this expansive literature and unite the key contributions in a single volume. The tasks of sourcing and coherently integrating relevant contributions is daunting for students, many of whom have a substantial number of competing demands placed on them. This book should make the task of knowledge building less daunting. Third, and perhaps most importantly, an apparent trend in many spatial information science programs is to focus, from first or second year undergraduate through to fourth year courses, on learning to work confidently and independently with increasingly complex software tools. Hence, many courses are technical in nature, and while they continue to produce technically adept students, knowledge of the broader aspects of spatial databases is often not as complete as it might be among graduates. Some programs have sought to address this by introducing courses that focus on spatial data management. However, these courses are largely unsupported by a relevant and contemporary textbook. This book seeks to fill the void on topics that must be mastered in initiating, implementing, and managing a spatial database project. Since the mid-1990s the application-driven paradigm of GIS has gradually evolved into the database-centric paradigm that is at the heart of the approach ix x Preface adopted in this book. Hence, in addition to updating approaches to planning, designing, and implementing GIS as a technological infrastructure within an organisation, the book concentrates specifically on spatial databases as an institutional resource, a commodity, and a knowledge base for decision making. This provides the basis for a comprehensive and balanced discussion of recent advances in the concepts and technology that underlie the current data-based and user-centric approach to spatial information. The approach that is adopted in this book allows a transparent integration of spatial information with mainstream information technology. Since all major database vendors currently offer spatial information capabilities and functions in their products, it is important for students of spatial databases as well as practitioners to have a sound grasp of the possibilities these systems offer. At the same time, GIS vendors have also largely re-designed and re- built their products by taking advantage of the concepts and techniques of processing spatial data within a database environment. This new approach is heavily dependent on the development and use of standards, which figure prominently in many parts of the text. Importantly, this retooling of the spatial information marketplace does not automatically assume the demise of conventional GIS. On the contrary, GIS software has, itself, moved into a new era of usage where many non-traditional users are finding new applications and, at the same time, creating new domain-specific spatial data models. The book is intended for students of spatial information science as well as professionals already in the workplace. The bond between between these two groups of users is their common interest in the state of the art of spatial database systems. The level of the discussion assumes that readers have already completed at least one technical course in GIS, preferably two, and hence have a good understanding of the concepts of acquiring, characterising and applying spatial data, the techniques of geo-referencing and positioning, as well as domain-specific spatial analysis and spatial data modelling. The book’s audience is likely to span a wide variety of academic disciplines in the humanities, the sciences and in various fields of engineering. Such heterogeneity made it a challenge to write technical content that is accessible to readers with varying technical knowledge and skills. Hence, spatial database concepts and techniques are explained using a relatively non- technical approach. Despite this, a sound basic understanding of computing and data processing is required in order to master the material covered in several of the chapters. The content of the book is organised so that it can be used either for an intensive half year course, or for two sequential half year courses that could also be offered as a single full year course. In the first case, the ten substantive chapters (2 through 11) could be used in a half year senior
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