Manipulating Interpolated Data is Easier than You Thought
Résumé
Data defined by interpolation is frequently found in new applications
involving geographical concepts, moving objects, and
spatio-temporal data. This data leads to potentially infinite collections of
items, (e.g. the elevation of any point in a map), whose definition is based
on the association of a collection of samples with an interpolation
function. We first argue that the manipulation of the data through direct
access to the samples and interpolation functions easily leads
to cumbersome or inaccurate queries. We therefore suggest hiding the
samples and the interpolation function away from the logical level, and
letting the system manipulate them at the physical level.
We propose to model such data conceptually using infinite relations (e.g.
the map with elevation yields an infinite ternary relation) which can be
manipulated through standard relational query languages (e.g. SQL), with no
mention of the interpolated definition. This approach is simple and
establishes a clear separation between logical and physical levels.