Temporal data management

Abstract

A wide range of database applications manage time-varying information. Existing database technology currently provides little support for managing such data. The research area of temporal databases has made important contributions in characterizing the semantics of such information and in providing expressive and efficient means to model, store, and query temporal data. This paper introduces the reader to temporal data management, surveys state-of-the-art solutions to challenging aspects of temporal data management, and points to research directions.