The Optimal-Location Query
Yang Du, Donghui Zhang and Tian Xia
Abstract
We propose and solve the optimal-location query in spatial
databases. Given a set S of sites, a set O of
weighted objects, and a spatial region Q, the
optimal-location query returns a location in Q with
maximum influence. Here the influence of a location
l is the total weight of its RNNs, i.e. the total weight of
objects in O that are closer to l than to any site
in S. This new query has practical applications, but is very
challenging to solve. Existing work on computing RNNs assumes a single
query location, and thus cannot be used to compute optimal
locations. The reason is that there are infinite candidate locations
in Q. If we check a finite set of candidate locations, the
result can be inaccurate, i.e. the revealed location may not have
maximum influence. This paper proposes three methods that
accurately compute optimal locations. The first method uses a
standard R*-tree. To compute an optimal location, the method retrieves
certain objects from the R*-tree and sends them as a stream to a
plane-sweep algorithm, which uses a new data structure called the
aSB-tree to ensure query efficiency. The second method is based on a
new index structure called the OL-tree, which novelly extends
the k-d-B-tree to store segmented rectangular records. The OL-tree is
only of theoretical usage for it is not space efficient. The most
practical approach is based on a new index structure called the
Virtual OL-tree. These methods are theoretically and
experimentally evaluated.