Spatial Data Types for Database Systems [electronic resource] : Finite Resolution Geometry for Geographic Information Systems / edited by Markus Schneider.

Spatial data types — A survey -- Realms: A foundation for spatial data types in database systems -- Realm-based spatial data types: The ROSE algebra -- Efficient algorithms for realm-based spatial data types -- Implementing concepts: Realm system and ROSE system -- Conclusions, open problems, and future work.

Database research in the last decade has increasingly focused on providing support for non-standard applications. One important domain is representation and processing of spatial information, needed, e.g., in geographical information systems. Spatial data types provide a fundamental abstraction for modeling the structure of geometric entities, their relationships, properties and operations. This monograph is an extensive survey of this field and introduces a new, general, sophisticated framework for the formal definition and robust implementation of spatial data types.