DATA MODELS AND QUERY LANGUAGES FOR SPATIAL DATABASES

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the characteristics t hat distinguish spatial databases systems from traditional ones. Heret o, we give an overview of some well-known data models and query langua ges of spatial database systems. We also investigate the concept of ge nericity, as introduced by Chandra and Warel for classical databases, for spatial databases. Paredaens, Van den Bussche and Van Gucht have s hown that the concept of genericity breaks up in a hierarchy of generi city classes. In this respect, we classify data models and query langu ages according to the type of generic operations they are designed to support.