Spatial Data Warehouses - Data Warehouse Systems: Design and Implementation - page 459

11.10 Bibliographic Notes
There are many topics on spatial databases and geographic information sys-
tems (GIS). Popular topics in these topics are [ 174 , 187 , 229 , 234 ]. SQL/MM,
the spatial extension of SQL, is an ISO standard [ 94 ], which is also described
in [ 132 , 134 ]. The ISO 19123:2005 standard [ 93 ] defines a conceptual schema
for coverages, which are logical implementations of continuous fields such as
rasters and TINs. A topic introducing the main features of PostGIS is [ 146 ].
The topic [ 143 ] describes GRASS, an open-source GIS that includes advanced
capabilities for manipulating raster data.
The spatial extension of the MultiDim model presented in this chapter is
based on the spatial data types of MADS [ 155 ], a spatiotemporal conceptual
model, and on the work on field types by the present authors [ 69 , 212 , 214 ].
The notion of SOLAP was introduced in [ 176 ], and it is reviewed in [ 11 ]. Other
relevant work on SOLAP can be found in [ 13 , 14 , 224 ]. A topic introducing
Mondrian is [ 10 ]. Although not much work has been done on the topic of
OLAP analysis of continuous fields (see [ 5 , 6 ]), this kind of data has been
under study for many years in GISs. An algebra for fields was defined in the
classic topic of Tomlin [ 202 ] and continued by the work of several authors [ 24 ,
34 , 138 , 154 ].
Since spatial data warehousing is a relatively recent research area,
methodological aspects of their design have not been much addressed in the
literature (see, for instance, [ 63 , 64 , 125 ]).
11.11 Review Questions
11.1 What are spatial databases? Describe two complementary ways of
modeling spatial data in database applications.
11.2 Describe the various spatial data types at a conceptual level, giving
for each one of them an example of its use.
11.3 Define the various topological relationships in terms of the boundary,
interior, and exterior of spatial values.
11.4 What are continuous fields? How are they implemented at a concep-
tual level?
11.5 Give examples of operations associated with field types. Explain the
rate-of-change operations for field types.
11.6 Explain why traditional operations must be lifted for field types.
Illustrate this with examples.
11.7 Discuss the following concepts: spatial dimension, spatial level, spatial
attribute, spatial fact, spatial measure, spatial hierarchy, and topolog-
ical relationship.