GDB: A graphic database indexing and retrieving by visual relations

This dissertation presents a design for graphic databases and its implementation, the GDB system. The research explores new directions for spatial database systems and addresses the problem of how to represent graphical data by their essential visual features, not the text, nor the code used to describe graphical data. Our goal in this research is to find a way that best supports the understanding of spatial data, i.e., the images, pictures, and animation projects.; Differing from other systems and research, the GDB system focuses on a special group of spatial data: the computer generated graphics, which have object structures that need to be maintained for future reuse. Another concern of this research are animation projects in which spatial properties are integrated with time factors. The design minimizes the graphical indexing process for higher efficiency, and hides the details of binary graphic data from users for simplicity sake. The query language of the system is based on visual reasoning models. The language concentrates on describing graphical data by spatial and spatial-temporal relations of the objects inside the data. The query resolving process is a deductive procedure. Visual relations in graphical data and predicates in queries are defined and interpreted by deductive rules.; The GDB system is developed in the Windows NT environment. It provides a flexible graphical interface. The system architecture is object oriented. A graphics editing module simply helps the user to edit graphical data in a way that is similar to record editing in traditional relational databases. A preprocessing module does the tasks of finding and calculating graphic properties and building index items for the graphical data. A graphics retrieving environment consists of a set of windows that enable users to specify the definitions of visual queries. The GDB system also provides the following views of graphic data: summary, object hierarchy, animation play, and image display.; The research is compared to other theories and implementations. The theoretical properties of the design are also discussed. The query language is shown to be temporally safe and complete, and spatially expandable. The power and flexibility of the interface are also presented.