On spatial database integration

TLDR

The paper investigates challenges of integrating autonomous spatial databases into a federated system, especially when the databases differ in scale. The authors propose a general format for defining correspondences between objects of two databases, outline interoperability approaches, and present a method to resolve aggregation conflicts, demonstrated on real cartographic data. The proposed format effectively handles a wide range of GIS data discrepancies.

Abstract

This paper investigates the problems that arise when application requirements dictate that autonomous spatial databases be integrated into a federated one. The paper focuses on the most critical issues raised by the integration of databases of different scales. A short presentation of approaches to interoperability and of the main steps composing the integration process is given first. Next, a general format is proposed for precisely defining correspondences between objects of two databases. The format can deal with a wide range of discrepancies in GIS data. Last, a solution is presented for aggregation conflicts which arise when one object of one database corresponds to a set of objects in the other database, a very frequent case when the databases are of different scales. The method is applied to excerpts of real cartographic databases.