NoSQL Geographic Databases: An Overview - Geographical Information Systems: Trends and Technologies - page 73

CHAPTER 4
NoSQL Geographic Databases:
An Overview
Cláudio de Souza Baptista, a, * Carlos Eduardo Santos Pires, a
Daniel Farias Batista Leite, a Maxwell Guimarães de Oliveira a
and Odilon Francisco de Lima Junior b
Introduction
Web 2.0 refers to a new form of using the World Wide Web in which users
are encouraged to add value to applications as they operate them (Amer-
Yahia and Halevy 2007). Examples of such applications include blogs, wikis,
and social networks. The amount of data has increased exponentially, as
well as the need to store, retrieve and manipulate it effectively. As a result,
databases of a size that have never existed before have emerged. These
databases can no longer be contained in one physical system, but must run
in a distributed system.
Traditional Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMSs)
have reached their limitations as they face the problem of fl exible scaling
required for Web 2.0 applications (Cattell 2010). In fact, it is possible to
scale a relational database; however, the costs are very high. For instance,
a Information Systems Laboratory (LSI), Department of Systems and Computing, Federal
University of Campina Grande (UFCG), Av. AprígioVeloso 882, Bloco CN, BairroUniversitário-
58.429-140, Campina Grande-PB-Brazil.
Emails: [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail]
b Center for High Education of Seridó (CERES), Department of Mathematical and Applied
Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), RuaJoaquimGregório, S/N,
Penedo-59.300-000, Caicó-RN-Brazil.