This is an old revision of the document!
You are in Geoinformatics - Creative Commons :: Spatial Databases: A soft Introduction
Spatial Databases: A soft Introduction
Lecturer: Malumbo Chaka Chipofya
Course Description
Learning Objectives
The main learning objectives of this course are
to gain a general understanding of what Spatial Databases and Database Management Systems are and what they do
to learn some applications where Spatial Databases they are used and how (using spatial relational DB combo Postgres/Postgis)
explore a few contemporary database models
Main Topics and Tentative Schedule
Prelude: Data and problem solving in science and applications
A small gallery of geospatial applications to be used throughout the course
Land use change modelling and detection (place holder - will depend on data: what happened/is happening/will happen? how it happened/is happening/will happen?)
Logistics and Transportation (place holder - will depend on data: specify the problem, determine the network, optimize the delivery cost)
Social and business analysis: demographics (place holder - will depend on data: where is happening? as in where's whatsapp trending? next?)
Spatial Data Models: Field/Object vs. Raster/Vector dichotomy - different problems different representations.
An overview of Spatial Analysis methods and the required input data models and formats
Database models for GIS: A historical overview
(1 Session: 23.10.14)
The Relational Database Model
Recap and Overview of Database Systems
Relations, Tuples, Attributes, Keys and References (Relationships), and Relation Schemas
Relational Database Design
Functional Dependencies and Normalization (1st Normal Form plus a note about other normal forms - up to BCNF if time allows)
Problem analysis and data modelling
Database schema design: E-R Model
(1 Session 3.a-b.: 30.10.14; 1 Session 3.c.i-ii.: 06.11.14)
Interacting with Relational Databases
Relational Query Language: Structured Query Language
Spatial Extensions of Relational Databases: Example - Postgresql and Postgis
Designing SQL queries - simple queries, query nesting, query chaining
Database access from applications (just a mention with examples)
connecting to a DBMS from a GIS
connecting to a DBMS using scripting/programming languages - Java, Python
(2 Sessions: 13.11.14, 20.11.14,)
Spatial Relational Database Systems:
Spatial data storage formats (WKB, WKT)
OGC Simple Features Standard
Spatial queries
simple postgis queries
complex queries
built-in functions
extensions - pgrouting
(1 Session 5.a-c.: 27.11.14; 2 Sessions 5.d. : 4.12.14, 11.12.14)
Applications: Terraview and Terralib: Prof. Dr. Gilberto Camara
(2 Sessions: 18.12.14, 8.01.15)
A sample of Nosql Databases
Array databases: brief introduction and example application (SciDB)
Document databases: brief introduction and example application (search locations of events: MongoDB)
Graph databases: brief introduction and example application (routing - compare with pgrouting or qualitative storage and query - directly store qcn and fetch subnetwork given in the query: Neo4J)
(3 Sessions: 15.01.15, 22.01.15, 29.01.15)
8. Conclusion: Summary of all lectures given and tips for future directions for research and further use cases.
(1 Session: 5.02.15)
Literature