National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

NCGIA Research Initiative 5 explored the Architecture of Very Large GIS Databases. This report covers research activities in this area over the period July 1989–August 1992. Central attention is given to problems relating to the storage, access, processing, and analysis of spatially indexed data processing. This report highlights how such datasets require radically new approaches to spatial data models, spatial data structures, algorithms, and user inter-faces.