A hybrid data model for dynamic GIS: application to marine geomorphological dynamics

ABSTRACT

The search for the most appropriate GIS data model to integrate, manipulate and analyse spatio-temporal data raises several research questions about the conceptualisation of geographic spaces. Although there is now a general consensus that many environmental phenomena require field and object conceptualisations to provide a comprehensive GIS representation, there is still a need for better integration of these dual representations of space within a formal spatio-temporal database. The research presented in this paper introduces a hybrid and formal dual data model for the representation of spatio-temporal data. The whole approach has been fully implemented in PostgreSQL and its spatial extension PostGIS, where the SQL language is extended by a series of data type constructions and manipulation functions to support hybrid queries. The potential of the approach is illustrated by an application to underwater geomorphological dynamics oriented towards the monitoring of the evolution of seabed changes. A series of performance and scalability experiments are also reported to demonstrate the computational performance of the model.

KEYWORDS:

• Hybrid data model
• field
• object
• dynamic GIS
• marine geomorphology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data and codes availability statement

The data and codes that support the findings of this study are available with a DOI at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12121386

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Younes Hamdani

Younes Hamdani, is a Research and Teaching Assistant.

Rémy Thibaud

Rémy Thibaud, is a Researcher and Education Director.

Christophe Claramunt

Christophe Claramunt, Professor of Computer Science and Research Chair.