The stated objective of this book is to “identify the challenges raised by the peculiar nature of spatial information, and to describe the specific techniques recently developed to meet these novel requirements.” This work is perhaps the first to thoroughly explore spatial databases within the framework of database management systems.

Storage, retrieval, and processing of spatial data are critical to many contemporary application areas, such as geographic information systems (GIS), computer-aided design, image processing, and very large scale integration (VLSI) design. This book focuses primarily on GIS applications, although it also has a lot to say about extended relational and object-oriented database models. It should be of interest both to database specialists exploring spatial databases, and to geographers seeking to understand the database technology underlying GIS software.

The book is organized into eight chapters, covering a wide variety of topics. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of database management concepts, followed by a lengthier introduction to the vocabulary and domain of geospatial databases. This material is a prerequisite for chapter 2, which delves into spatial object representation in depth, serving as a primer for those new to geographic modeling. The coverage moves quickly from mathematical foundations to spatial data exchange formats. Although generally very informative, the chapter suffers somewhat from being overly ambitious, and from unusual phrasing such as “a vector representation not eager in memory” and “an inequation of the form...” Fortunately, sufficient bibliographic notes are provided for those needing to pursue this material with more rigor.

Logical data models for geographic objects are the focus of chapter 3. This chapter develops an extensive case study that is modeled and realized in both extended relational and object-oriented forms. Chapter 4 introduces the alternative and promising constraint data model. This model is motivated by the desire to represent and manipulate infinite relations and arbitrary dimensions in the framework of a single data model.

Chapter 5 moves into the field of computational geometry, which provides the algorithmic techniques for implementing many of the database operations introduced in chapter 3. Although this is the most mathematical chapter in the book, the exposition is well done, and many of the topics will be familiar to students of computer graphics.

Chapter 6 discusses indexing techniques specifically designed to accelerate access to spatial objects represented in a database. These include grid files, quadtrees, space-filling curves, and the R-tree. The pedagogy is well done, but once again, most of the topics will be known to computer scientists who have previously studied spatial search algorithms. Chapter 7 continues in the same vein, extending relational query processing techniques to spatial database queries. Particular attention is given to discussion of the efficient processing of spatial joins.

Finally, chapter 8 provides an overview of current commercial solutions for handling of geographic information. The major contribution of this chapter is to relate the previously discussed theoretical study of spatial databases to existing commercial products. The reader will find a variety of approaches discussed, ranging from GIS software systems still evolving towards a sound data model, to traditional relational database management systems offering extensions for managing and querying multidimensional data. This is a very useful chapter for the practitioner; unlike the remainder of the book, however, it may quickly become dated, due to the rapidly evolving nature of the topics discussed.

Although this book could be used as an introductory text for teaching spatial database topics, it is more appropriate as a resource for the computer scientist or GIS specialist seeking to understand the theory and techniques underpinning GIS databases. The bibliography is extensive, and appropriately so, since the interested reader will find it necessary to seek additional information on many of the topics introduced in this book. If you work with GIS systems or spatial databases you should consider adding this volume to your collection.