Retrieving of parts with geometric similarity

Abstract

Todays CAD applications become less and less manageable if no database system is used. One of the most important queries in these applications is the retrieval of parts with geometric similarity. The information obtained from such similar parts will drastically reduce the overhead for production planning and construction. In available retrieval and classification systems parts are described using attributes comparable to those in traditional database systems. In our paper, we suggest a system for retrieval of parts with geometric similarity which accesses to a database system storing the geometric data provided by the CAD system. By maintaining, storing and manipulating the complete geometric information of objects, our approach exhibits a flexibility and efficiency for similarity and other queries which is not known in available systems.