Specifications for efficient indexing in spatiotemporal databases

A new issue that arises in modern applications involves the efficient manipulation of (static or moving) spatial objects, and the relationships among them. As a result, modern database systems should be able to efficiently support that type of data. Towards this goal, appropriate extensions of multidimensional access methods can be exploited in order to index and retrieve spatiotemporal objects, satisfying users' demands. This paper introduces the basic specifications such a spatiotemporal index structure should follow, evaluates existing proposals with respect to the above specifications, and illustrates issues of interest involving object representation, query processing, and index maintenance.