Extending relational database management systems to support spatial data

The main goal of this paper is to propose a method for storing and manipulating crisp and vague spatial data. We propose several ways of storing crisp spatial data based on some Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards and on manipulating it by means of computational geometry. We also propose ways to represent and manipulate vague spatial data using sampling techniques, which are employed in the field of GIS. In order to prove the proposed concepts, we design and implement a spatial extension package (SPEX) and integrate it in a commercial relational DBMS. We also devise the necessary visual components and a software prototype to test our package.