16MDS64 – ADVANCED DATABASES

ASSIGNMENT – 3

Question 1:
1. List the applications of field-based spatial models.
2. Create a theme for the country spatial data model to represent the
location of the country using spatial data type.
3. Illustrate the tessellation model to represent spatial entity-based data.
4. Write the structure of the topological model to describe the country with
the vertices of (1,1), (7,3), (4,4), and (7,1)

List the applications of field-based spatial models.

1.Field-based spatial models, also known as continuous spatial models, are
statistical models that assume that spatially continuous processes vary
smoothly across space. Here are some applications of field-based spatial
models:
Environmental modelling: Field-based spatial models are often used to model
environmental processes such as air pollution, soil moisture, and temperature.
These models can help identify areas of high pollution or vulnerability to
environmental hazards.
Epidemiology: Field-based spatial models can be used to analyse disease
patterns and predict disease outbreaks. These models can be used to identify
high-risk areas and target public health interventions.
Natural resource management: Field-based spatial models are often used to
model natural resource processes such as water availability, land use change,
and biodiversity. These models can help inform land use decisions and
conservation efforts.
Agriculture: Field-based spatial models can be used to model crop yield, soil
quality, and water availability. These models can help farmers make decisions
about planting, irrigation, and fertilizer application.
Urban planning: Field-based spatial models can be used to model urban
growth, traffic patterns, and accessibility. These models can help urban
planners make decisions about land use, transportation infrastructure, and
public services.
Climate modelling: Field-based spatial models are used in climate modelling to
predict future climate patterns and identify areas that are most vulnerable to
climate change.
Remote sensing: Field-based spatial models are used to process and analyse
remote sensing data such as satellite imagery. These models can help identify
land use patterns, monitor vegetation growth, and map changes in the earth's
surface.
Overall, field-based spatial models are widely used in many fields to
understand spatially continuous processes and inform decision-making.

Create a theme for the country spatial data model to represent the
location of the country using spatial data type.
Theme: Mapping the Administrative Boundaries of a Country
The country spatial data model can be used to represent the administrative
boundaries of a country using spatial data types. This theme is focused on
mapping the various levels of administrative divisions within a country,
including regions, states, provinces, districts, and municipalities. Here are some
potential elements to include in the country spatial data model for this theme:
Country boundary: This would involve representing the outer boundary of the
country, which could be defined by political, cultural, or geographic factors.
Administrative divisions: This would involve representing the various levels of
administrative divisions within the country, including their names, boundaries,
and hierarchical relationships. This could include states, provinces, districts,
municipalities, and other administrative divisions depending on the country.
Population and demographics: This would involve representing the population
and demographic characteristics of each administrative division, including age,
gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
Infrastructure: This would involve representing the various types of
infrastructure within each administrative division, including roads, airports,
seaports, and public transportation systems.
Land use: This would involve representing how the land within each
administrative division is being used, including urban areas, agricultural land,
and protected areas.
Political affiliations: This would involve representing the political affiliations of
each administrative division, including the ruling party, elected officials, and
other political institutions.
Overall, this theme would be useful for a variety of applications, including
electoral mapping, public policy analysis, and disaster response planning. By
representing the administrative boundaries of a country using spatial data
types, it becomes easier to analyse and understand the complex interactions
between different levels of government, as well as the social and economic
characteristics of different regions within the country.

Illustrate the tessellation model to represent spatial entity-based data.

A cellular decomposition of the plane (usually, a grid) serves as a basis for
representing the geometry. The partitioning of the embedding space into
disjoint cells defines a discrete model, sometimes called spatial resolution
model, tiling, or meshes in the field of computer graphics. The approach can
be further divided into fixed (or regular) and variable (or irregular) tessellation
modes. A fixed representation model uses a regular grid or raster, which is a
collection of polygonal units of equal size. A variable spatial resolution model
handles units of decomposition of various sizes.
The size of the units may also change according to the level of resolution. To
illustrate the tessellation model, consider the following example:

In a raster representation, the rectangular 2D space is partitioned into a finite

number of elementary cells. Usually, the space is decomposed according to a
regular 2D grid of N × M rectangular cells, whose sides are parallel to the space
coordinate axes. The cells are called pixels. A pixel has an address in the plane,
which usually is a pair (x, y) where x ≤ N is the column of the cell in the grid,
and y ≤ M is the row.
Field based data in tessellation model:
In practice, a regular tessellation may be encountered in applications that
process image data coming from remote sensing (satellite images), such as
weather or pollution forecast. Then field-based data is still represented as a
function from space to a range such as temperature or elevation. However, the
function domain is no longer the infinite set of points but a finite set of pixels.
In other words, space is no longer seen as a continuous field, but as a discrete
one, which permits an explicit representation of data. An irregular tessellation
is used, for instance, in zoning (a typical GIS function) in social, demographic,
or economic data. Other applications include surface modelling using triangles
or administrative and political units.
Entity based data in tessellation mode:
A spatial object in 2D space is represented by the smallest (finite) subset of
pixels that contains it. A point is described as a single pixel. Its location is
described as the pixel address; that is, a pair of integer coordinates. A polyline,
polygon, or region is represented by a finite number of pixels. In Figure 2.5, the
following list of pixels is a representation of polygon P.
< 5, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35, 36, 37, 38 >
For the sake of simplicity, instead of using the (x,y) coordinate notation we
referenced cells by an integer identifier.
The tessellation mode makes it possible to approximate a spatial object by a
finite number of cells. The larger the grid resolution (i.e., the smaller the pixel
size), the better the approximation but the higher the number of cells for
representing an object. A faithful object representation has as a consequence
that objects occupy much memory space. In addition, operations on objects
are then more time-consuming. This is a clear drawback to this approach.
Nevertheless, information may sometimes be compressed to lead to a more
compact form. To conclude this section, the tessellation mode is of prime
importance because of the exponentially growing volume of data coming from
satellite (raster) sources and because of the increasing use of it in specific
applications, such as environmental fields (pollution, weather, and so on).
Write the structure of the topological model to describe the country with the
vertices of (1,1), (7,3), (4,4), and (7,1)
The topological model is a way of representing spatial data that describes the
relationships between geometric objects, such as points, lines, and polygons.
In the case of the county described by the vertices (1,1), (7,3),(4,4), and (7,1),
the topological model can be represented using the following components:
Nodes: The vertices of the county can be represented as nodes in the
topological model. In this case, there are four nodes located at (1,1), (7,3),
(4,4), and (7,1).
Arcs: Arcs represent the line segments that connect the vertices of the county.
In this case, there are three arcs: one connecting the nodes at (1,1) and (7,3),
another connecting (7,3) and (4,4), and a third connecting (4,4) and (7,1).
Polygons: The county itself can be represented as a polygon in the topological
model. In this case, there is one polygon that is bounded by the three arcs
described above.
The topological model of the county with the vertices of (1,1), (7,3),(4,4), and
(7,1) can be represented graphically as follows:
(4,4)
*
/\
/ \
/ \
(1,1)*-------*(7,1)
\ /
\ /
\/
(7,3)

In this diagram, each vertex is represented by a dot (*), and the edges are
represented by lines connecting the dots. The direction of the edges is not
important for the topological model, only the connectivity of the vertices
matters. Therefore, we can represent the polygon with the given vertices as a
simple connected graph, where each vertex is connected to its neighbouring
vertices by edges.
Question 2:

1. Which are the relational algebra operations used to manipulate the theme?

2. Which are the spatial objects used to describe the geographic objects?

3. List out the requirements for Spatial DBMS

4. State the tole of tessellation mode to represent continuous space of an object by a discrete value.

5. Describe the features of topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing (TIGER)
data format.

1. Which are the relational algebra operations used to manipulate the

theme?
A theme is like a relation in the relational model. It has a schema and instances.
A theme can be a unifying element that ties together different pieces of data or
information.
Example: Rivers, cities, and countries are examples of themes
Relational algebra is a mathematical query language used to manipulate and
retrieve data from relational databases.
The following are some of the relational algebra operations used to manipulate
data in advance database systems:
i) Selection: This operation is used to select tuples from a relation that satisfy a
given condition.
Theme selection (theme×pAi →theme), where pAi is a predicate on the
descriptive attributes, is similar to relational selection and is denoted by σpAi (T
). Consider the query Name and population of countries of 50 million
inhabitants or more.
Theme Selection: A theme of countries and population of western Europe (a) and projection
on the attribute population (b).

After the selection of the countries whose population is greater than 50 million
inhabitants were obtained in the theme of selection.
ii)Projection: This operation is used to select specific attributes from a relation
and discard the rest.
Theme projection with signature2 theme × {A1,... An} → theme, where {A1,...
An} is a subset of the descriptive attributes of theme, returns a theme whose
description is made of the attributes in {A1,... An} and whose spatial part is
unchanged. If geo denotes the spatial type, and T denotes an instance of the
theme schema (i.e., a collection of geographic objects of this theme), this
operation is denoted by π A1,...An, geo(T ) (projection in the relational algebra).
Consider this operation and theme of western European countries with their
respective names and populations. Each country is a geographic object, and the
name of the country together with its population represents its description (Fig
a). By applying a theme projection to the population, we eliminate the country
names (Fig b). The resulting theme has as a schema (population, geo)

Theme projection: a theme of countries and population of western Europe (a) and projection
on the attribute population (b).
iii)Union: This operation combines two relations and returns a relation that
includes all the tuples in both relations, eliminating duplicates.
The (relational) union of two themes (theme × theme → theme) consists in
performing the union of sets of geographic objects having the same schema. It is
like the relational union. Hence if T1 and T2 are two theme instances, the result
is denoted T1 ∪ T2. The below figure depicts the union of two them.

Theme Union: A theme of countries of western Europe with more than (or exactly) 10
million inhabitants (a), theme of countries and population of western Europe with less than
10 million inhabitants (b), and the union of these two themes (c).

iv)Join: This operation is used to combine tuples from two relations based on a
common attribute, resulting in a new relation that includes all the attributes
from both input relations.
Overlaying two themes (theme × theme → theme) is common in GIS
applications. This operation generates a new theme from overlaid themes. New
geographic objects are created in the resulting theme. Their geometry is
computed by applying the intersection operation to the geometry of the involved
geographic objects.
If ∞G denotes a spatial join, and T1 and T2 are themes, then the overlay is
expressed as T1 ∞G T2. The following figure gives an example of the overlay of
Countries and Languages. The new theme has as descriptive attributes (country)
name and language. An example object of the new theme is the northern part of
Switzerland whose descriptive attributes are “Switzerland” and “Anglo-Saxon.”

Theme Join: T1 (theme of western European countries) (a) and T2 (families of languages
spoken all over western Europe) (b).

These operations can be combined to form complex queries that can manipulate
and retrieve data from relational databases efficiently.

2.Which are the spatial objects used to describe the geographic objects?

The most common spatial objects used to describe geographic objects are:
◆ Zero-dimensional objects or points: Points are used for representing the
location of entities whose shape is not considered as useful, or when the area is
quite small with respect to the embedding space size.
Example: Cities, churches, and crossings are examples of entities whose spatial
extent might be reduced to a point on a large-scale map.
◆ One-dimensional objects or linear objects: These objects are commonly
used for representing networks (roads, hydrography, and so on). The basic
geometric type considered is the polyline.
A polyline is defined as a finite set of line segments or edges, such that each
segment endpoint (called a vertex) is shared by exactly two segments, except
for two endpoints (called the extreme points), which belong to only one
segment. Variants of polyline are:
• A polyline is closed if the two extreme points are identical.
• A simple polyline is such that no pairs of non-consecutive edges
intersect at any place.
• A polyline is monotone with respect to a line L if every line L ’
orthogonal to L meets the polyline at one point at most.

Examples of one-dimensional objects: line segment (edge) (a), polyline (b), non-simple
polyline (c), simple closed polyline (d), monotone polyline (e), and non-monotone polyline
(f)

◆ Two-dimensional objects or surfacic objects: These are mostly used for

representing entities with large areas, such as parcels or administrative units.
Polygons constitute the main geometric type for such objects. A polygon is a
region of the plane bounded by a closed polyline, called its boundary.
It is customary to distinguish the following types of polygons.
• A polygon is simple if its boundary is a simple polyline.
 • A convex polygon P is such that for any pair of points A and B in P
the segment AB is fully included in P.
• A monotone polygon is a simple polygon such that its boundary
δP can be split into exactly two monotone polylines MC 1 and MC2. The
monotonicity is usually expressed with respect to the axes.

Examples of 2D objects: simple polygon (a), non-simple polygon (b), convex polygon (c),
monotone polygon (d), polygon with hole (e), and region (f).

These spatial objects are typically used in conjunction with geographic data
such as latitude and longitude coordinates, address information, and other
attributes to create a comprehensive representation of a geographic object. This
allows for advanced analysis and visualization of geographic data, which is
useful in fields such as geography, urban planning, and environmental science.

3. List out the requirements for Spatial DBMS.

A spatial database management system (DBMS) is a type of database
management system that is optimized for storing and managing spatial data,
which is data that has a geographic or spatial component. Spatial data typically
includes information about the location, shape, and relationships between
different geographic features, such as streets, buildings, and natural landmarks.
Example: Spatial DBMS is used in a variety of applications, including GIS
(geographic information systems), mapping and surveying, urban planning, and
environmental management.

The requirements for spatial dbms are:

This database system should
(1) integrate the representation and manipulation of geometric information with
traditional data at the logical level, and
(2) provide an efficient support at the physical level to store and process this
information.

4. State the role of tessellation mode to represent continuous space of an

object by a discrete value.
Tessellation mode is a technique used in advanced databases to represent
continuous spaces of an object using discrete values. The process involves
breaking down a continuous space into smaller, discrete units called tiles or
tesserae, which can then be stored and manipulated in the database. The role of
tessellation mode is to provide a more efficient way of storing and processing
spatial data in databases. By representing continuous spaces as a series of
discrete tiles, tessellation mode allows for faster processing of spatial queries,
such as searching for objects within a certain area or measuring distances
between objects.
In addition, tessellation mode allows for more precise and accurate
representation of spatial data, as the discrete tiles can be made smaller or larger
depending on the level of detail required. This means that objects with complex
or irregular shapes can be represented more accurately in the database,
improving the overall quality of spatial analysis. Overall, tessellation mode
plays an important role in advanced databases by providing a more efficient and
accurate way of representing and processing spatial data.
REPRESENTATION MODES:
 Field-based Data in Tessellation Mode:
A regular tessellation may be encountered in applications that process image
data coming from remote sensing or satellite images, such as weather or
pollution forecast. Field-based data is represented as a function from space to a
range such as temperature or elevation. However, the function domain is no
longer the infinite set of points but a finite set of pixels. Space is no longer seen
as a continuous field, but as a discrete one, which permits an explicit
representation of data. An irregular tessellation is used in zoning (a typical GIS
function) in social, demographic, or economic data.
Other applications include surface modeling using triangles or administrative
and political units.
 Entity based Data in Tessellation Mode:
A spatial object in 2D space is represented by the smallest or finite subset of
pixels that contains it. A point is described as a single pixel. Its location is
described as the pixel address; that is, a pair of integer coordinates. A polyline,
polygon, or region is represented by a finite number of pixels. An A4 formatted
image, with 12 pts/mm, occupies 9 million pixels.

The following list of pixels is a representation of polygon P.

<5, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35, 36, 37, 38 >
Importance of the tessellation mode:
Exponentially growing volume of data coming from satellite sources.

5.Describe the features of topologically integrated geographic encoding

and referencing (TIGER) data format.

TIGER is an acronym for Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and

Referencing, a system and digital database developed at the U.S. Census Bureau
to support its mapping needs. In regard to information stored in the census
TIGER database, the Census Bureau releases periodic extracts of the database to
the public. These include TIGER/Line files that are a database of geographic
entities such as roads, railroads, rivers, lakes, political boundaries, and census
statistical boundaries covering the entire United States. In TIGER, these objects
are referred to as features. The database contains information about these
features, such as their location in latitude and longitude, the name, the type of
feature.
TIGER data sets provide support for the following:
◆ Creation and maintenance of the geographic database that includes complete
coverage of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, among
others.
◆ Production of maps from the TIGER database for all Census Bureau
enumeration and publication programs.
◆ Ability to assign individual addresses to geographic entities and census
blocks based on polygons formed by features such as roads and streams.
In TIGER terminology, the spatial object types are:
Node: A zero-dimensional object that is a topological junction
Entity points: A point used for identifying the location of point features such as
towers, buildings, or places.
Chain: A simple polyline described by a start node, an end node, and a list of
intermediate points called shape points.
GT-polygon: An area described by the list of complete chains that form its
boundary. GT-polygons are mutually exclusive, and their union forms a
partition of the space.
The following are the major types of features that can be found.
◆ Lines features
• Roads
• Railroads
• Hydrography
• Transportation features, power lines, and pipelines
• Boundaries
◆ Landmark features
• Point landmarks (e.g., schools and churches)
• Area landmarks (e.g., parks and cemeteries)
• Office buildings and factories
◆ Polygon features
• Census statistical areas
• School districts
• Voting districts
• Administrative divisions: states, counties, county subdivisions
• Blocks
It is important to note that in most cases the TIGER files do not list features as
such, with their descriptive attributes, an identifier, and a link to their geometric
representation. Rather, descriptive information is recorded together with spatial
data (chains, polygons, landmarks), and features are constructed on demand
from the spatial objects. The following are two examples that illustrate the
process.
◆ Boundaries of voting districts. The process is like the construction of a GT-
polygon. It provides some additional information on complete chains, including
the voting district codes (VTD) on the left and right of the chain. This VTD acts
as an identifier of the voting district. The boundary of a voting district can be
reconstructed by taking all chains that have the same VTD on either the left or
the right side, but not both. As in the case of GT-polygons, these chains must
then be linked to form a ring.
◆ Rivers. Rivers are linear geographic objects that consist of one or several
chains. With the geometric description of the chain, the feature name and the
feature type. By grouping and linking all chains with feature type “river” and
feature name “Mangosteen,” one might expect to get a correct description of the
Mangosteen River. However, there is no guarantee that this pair of values
uniquely identifies a river (there might be several rivers with the same name),
nor that the naming will be consistent enough to get all chains involved in the
geometric description of an object.
The existence of a feature identifier eases the reconstruction of a feature whose
description is distributed in many records. This is the case for voting districts, as
well as for counties, states, and so on. When this identifier does not exist (the
name of a river is not reliable as a unique identifier), the Census Bureau does
not provide the additional support that would be necessary to associate without
ambiguity an object with its geometric description.
Use of TIGER database:
Creation and maintenance of the geographic database that includes complete
coverage of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, among
others. Production of maps from the TIGER database for all Census Bureau
enumeration and publication programs. Ability to assign individual addresses to
geographic entities and census blocks based on polygons formed by features
such as roads and streams.
Question 3:
1. Name the basic data types used in spatial data models.
2. Describe the applicability of spatial database management system.
3. Represent the given polygons using topological model
P1:&lt;a,b,f&gt;,
P2:&lt;c,d,e,f&gt;, f:[N1,N2,P1,P2,&lt;&gt;] , WHERE P1,P2 are polygons :
a,b,c,d,e,f are edges , N1 and N2 are nodes/vertices
4. Discuss the issues related to Geo-Spatial Data Manipulation with them
models. Give example.

1.Name the basic data types used in spatial data models.

*Point: A single coordinate in space, usually represented by an X, Y, and
optionally a Z value.
*Line: A set of connected points, represented by a sequence of X, Y, and
optionally Z values.
*Polygon: A closed shape defined by a set of vertices, represented by a series
of X, Y, and optionally Z values.
*Multi-Point: A collection of points, each with its own X, Y, and optionally Z
value.
*Multi-Line: A collection of lines, each defined by a sequence of X, Y, and
optionally Z values.
*Multi-Polygon: A collection of polygons, each defined by a series of vertices
represented by X, Y,
and optionally Z values.
*Raster: A grid of cells, where each cell represents a value or set of values.
*Geometry Collection: A collection of any of the above types, as well as other
geometries.

2.Describe the applicability of spatial database management system.

Spatial database management systems (SDBMS) are designed specifically to
handle spatial data, which consists of geospatial and location-based
information. SDBMS have several applications in various fields, including:
Geographic Information Systems (GIS): SDBMS are used extensively in GIS to
store and manage spatial data, such as maps, satellite imagery, and geospatial
data sets.
Urban Planning and Management: SDBMS are used in urban planning and
management to store and manage information on city infrastructure, such as
transportation networks, land use, and zoning.
Natural Resource Management: SDBMS are used in natural resource
management to store and manage data on environmental resources, such as
water resources, forests, and wildlife.
Emergency Management: SDBMS are used in emergency management to store
and manage information on disaster events, such as the location and extent of
a natural disaster, and the location of emergency resources.
Transportation and Logistics: SDBMS are used in transportation and logistics to
store and manage data on transportation networks, such as roads, railways,
and air routes.
Business Intelligence: SDBMS are used in business intelligence to store and
analyse location-based data to gain insights into customer behaviour, market
trends, and competitive intelligence.
Overall, SDBMS are used wherever spatial data is a crucial component of the
data management process and can provide significant benefits in terms of data
accuracy, analysis, and decision-making.

3.Represent the given polygons using topological model P1:&lt;a,b,f&gt;,

P2:&lt;c,d,e,f&gt;, f:[N1,N2,P1,P2,&lt;&gt;] , WHERE P1,P2 are polygons :
a,b,c,d,e,f are edges , N1 and N2 are nodes/vertices

To represent the given polygons using the topological model, we can use the
following notation:
P1: <a, b, f>
P2: <c, d, e, f>
Here, P1 and P2 are the two polygons in the model, and a, b, c, d, e, and f are
the edges that make up these polygons. N1 and N2 are the two nodes/vertices
in the model.
The relationship between the polygons and edges can be represented by the
following expression for f:
f: [N1, N2, P1, P2, <>]
This indicates that f is a shared edge between both polygons P1 and P2, and it
connects the two vertices N1 and N2. The notation "<>" represents an empty
set, indicating that there are no other edges connected to f.
Overall, the topological model can be represented as:
Nodes/vertices: N1, N2
Polygons: P1 = <a, b, f>, P2 = <c, d, e, f>
Edges: a, b, c, d, e, f
And the relationship between the edges can be represented as:
a: [P1, <>]
b: [P1, <>]
c: [P2, <>]
d: [P2, <>]
e: [P2, <>]
f: [N1, N2, P1, P2, <>]

Diagram: The diagram would consist of two polygons, P1 and P2. Polygon P1
would have edges a, b, and f, while polygon P2 would have edges c, d, e, and f.
The vertices N1 and N2 would be connected by the shared edge f, which is part
of both polygons. The topology of the diagram would be represented by the
relationships between the edges, polygons, and vertices, and it would be like a
graph or network.
4.Discuss the issues related to Geo-Spatial Data Manipulation with their
models. Give example.
Geo-spatial data manipulation involves the handling, analysis, and visualization
of spatial data, which is used in various fields such as urban planning,
environmental management, agriculture, and many more. Some of the issues
related to geo-spatial data manipulation are:
Data format: Geo-spatial data can be represented in different formats such as
vector and raster data. Vector data is represented by points, lines, and
polygons, while raster data is represented by a grid of pixels. Different
software and tools use different data formats, which can create issues when
trying to manipulate and analyse data.
Example: A city planner may use ArcGIS software for analysing vector data,
while an environmental scientist may use QGIS software for analysing raster
data.
Data accuracy: Geo-spatial data accuracy is critical, as any inaccuracies can lead
to incorrect analysis and decision-making. Geo-spatial data is subject to errors
caused by GPS accuracy, data collection errors, and map projection issues.
Example: In a study of land use changes, using inaccurate spatial data may lead
to incorrect conclusions about changes in vegetation cover.

Data integration: Geo-spatial data manipulation often involves the integration

of data from multiple sources and formats. This can be challenging, as different
data sources may have varying spatial references, scales, and levels of
accuracy.
Example: A wildlife biologist studying the migratory patterns of birds may need
to integrate data from multiple sources, including GPS data, satellite imagery,
and bird population data.
Large data volumes: Geo-spatial data can be large and complex, which can
create challenges for storage, processing, and analysis.
Example: A climate scientist analysing large volumes of data on temperature
and precipitation patterns may require specialized tools and techniques for
handling and analysing this data.
To overcome these issues, various geo-spatial data manipulation models and
techniques have been developed, such as the use of standard data formats,
data validation and cleaning, data integration techniques, and big data
processing techniques.