Interoperability of spatial and attribute data managers: A case study

Abstract

We relate in this paper our experience in integrating a commercial relational storage manager and a commercial spatial data manager. We present the challenge of interoperating such data managers and expose the problems that must be solved to make such interoperability feasible, painless, transparent, and efficient. We present the approach we have taken in the Papyrus system at solving some of these problems, and discuss the issues that must be addressed to solve the remaining problems. Through examples, we emphasize the need for a comprehensive cost-based query optimization strategy, and show that the lack of such a strategy can result in a system with unacceptable performance.