Modern temporal data models: Strengths and weaknesses

Abstract

Time is generally a challenging task. All issues in relation to time can be better supported using a temporal data model than implementing them in user applications. More than two-dozen temporal data models have been introduced in time period between 1982 and 1998. After several years of stagnancy, the last couple of years brought the new revival of the topic and the emergence of new data models. Two temporal data models have been specified recently. The one is the SQL:2011 standard, published in 2011. The second one is from Teradata. In this article we present the temporal data model of the ANSI SQL standard on one side and the data model of an existing relational DBMS on the other. After that, we compare their support of several temporal concepts. Finally, we discuss strengths and weaknesses of both models and give suggestions for future extensions.