Indexing the positions of continuously moving objects

The coming years will witness dramatic advances in wireless communications as well as positioning technologies. As a result, tracking the changing pos itions of objects capable of continuous movement is becoming increasingly f easible and necessary. The present paper proposes a novel, R*-tree based in dexing technique that supports the efficient querying of the current and pr ojected future positions of such moving objects. The technique is capable o f indexing objects moving in one-, two-, and three-dimensional space. Updat e algorithms enable the index to accommodate a dynamic data set, where obje cts may appear and disappear, and where changes occur in the anticipated po sitions of existing objects. A comprehensive performance study is reported.