Using space-filling curves for multi-dimensional indexing

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses a radically different approach to multi-dimensional indexing based on the concept of the spacefilling curve. It reports the novel algorithms which had to be developed to create the first actual implementation of a system based on this approach, on some comparative performance tests, and on its actual use within the TriStarp Group at Birkbeck to provide a Triple Store repository. An important result that goes beyond this requirement, however, is that the performance improvement over the Grid File is greater the higher the dimension.