[OSGeo-Discuss] Rasdaman array DBMS released under free license

[Thierry Badard]

I relay this information seen on another list that could be of interest 
for the community.

Best regards,

Th.

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We are happy to announce availability of the free version of the

         rasdaman ("raster data manager")

array DBMS, jointly developed by Jacobs University Bremen and rasdaman 
GmbH, for download at www.rasdaman.org.

Array DBMSs extend the collection types supported by DBMSs with the 
array abstraction as first-class citizen. As such, rasdaman offers a 
conceptual model based on multi-dimensional arrays of unlimited size 
over atomic and composite base ("cell") types. The rasdaman array 
algebra serves to describe data model, query semantics and processing, 
storage mapping, and optimization.

A declarative, safe query language allows flexible retrieval in the 
style of SQL. ODMG-conformant C++ and Java APIs give programmatic client 
access. In the multi-parallel server, arrays are partitioned 
transparently into "tiles", i.e. sub-arrays, as units of storage. Each 
tile goes into a relational BLOB, optionally compressed. Tile size and 
shape can be chosen arbitrarily during object creation, and likewise the 
spatial indexing method used for tile lookup. The server architecture is 
based on "tile streaming" so that often only one tile per object needs 
to be kept in main memory at a time, thereby enabling small servers to 
process large arrays. On the other hand, transparent near-line tertiary 
storage support wipes out size limitations.

The rasdaman group has extensively researched in optimization, resulting 
in techniques like query rewriting, pre-aggregation, just-in-time 
compilation of query fragments, and GPU utilization, all of which have 
been proven highly effective in performance evaluations. At ACM PoDS 
2007, Rona Machlin has termed rasdaman the "most comprehensive effort" 
in array DBMS.

Rasdaman is in operational use in geo service applications run by both 
industry and governmental authorities since many years. For example, the 
French National Geographic Institute (IGN-F) maintains a dozen-Terabyte 
airborne image with rasdaman/PostgreSQL. Recently, the Open GeoSpatial 
Consortium (OGC, www.opengeospatial.org) has published the Web Coverage 
Processing Service (WCPS) standard which offers a geo raster processing 
language based on the concepts and experience of rasdaman.

Selected references:
- core technology:
         C. Jucovschi, P. Baumann, S. Stancu-Mara: Speeding up Array 
Query Processing by Just-In-Time Compilation. SSTDM 2008, Pisa, Italy, 
pp. 408 - 413
         P. Baumann, A. Dehmel, P. Furtado, R. Ritsch, N. Widmann: 
Spatio-Temporal Retrieval with RasDaMan (system demonstration). VLDB 
1999, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, pp. 746-749
         P. Baumann: A Database Array Algebra for Spatio-Temporal Data 
and Beyond. Next Generation Information Technologies and Systems (NGITS) 
1999, Zikhron Yaakov, Israel, Springer LNCS 1649, pp. 76 - 93
         P. Baumann, A. Dehmel, P. Furtado, R. Ritsch, N. Widmann: The 
Multidimensional Database System RasDaMan. SIGMOD 1998, Seattle, 
Washington, USA
         P. Baumann: On the Management of Multidimensional Discrete 
Data. VLDB Journal 4(3)1994, Special Issue on Spatial Database Systems, 
pp. 401-444
         P. Baumann: Database System for Management of Arrays. US Patent 
6272501, 07-aug-2001
         P. Baumann: Array-Management Data-Base System. European Patent 
EP 0847566 B1, 22-aug-1996

- applications:
         P. Baumann: The OGC Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) 
Standard. Geoinformatica (accepted for publication)
         P. Baumann (ed.): Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) 
Interface Standard. OGC 08-068r2, December 2008
         A. Pisarev, E. Poustelnikova, M. Samsonova, P. Baumann: 
Mooshka: a system for the management of multidimensional gene expression 
data in situ. Information Systems 28 (2003), pp. 269-285
         P. Baumann, P. Furtado, R. Ritsch, N. Widmann: 
Geo/Environmental and Medical Data Management in the RasDaMan System. 
VLDB 1997, Athens, Greece, pp. 548-552


-- 
Prof. Thierry Badard, Ph.D.
____________________________________________________________

Professeur au Département des sciences géomatiques
(http://www.scg.ulaval.ca)
Chercheur régulier au Centre de Recherche en Géomatique
(http://www.crg.ulaval.ca)
Chercheur régulier du Réseau de Centres d'Excellence GEOIDE
(http://www.geoide.ulaval.ca)
Chercheur collaborateur de la chaire de recherche
industrielle en base de données géospatiales décisionnelles
(http://mdspatialdb.chair.scg.ulaval.ca)
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internationales en géomatique
(http://standards.scg.ulaval.ca)
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(http://oxygene-project.sourceforge.net &
  http://www.geokettle.org)
Membre votant de la fondation OSGeo
(http://www.osgeo.org)

Département des sciences géomatiques
Faculté de foresterie et de géomatique
Pavillon Louis-Jacques Casault
1055, avenue du Séminaire
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Canada

Tél.: +1.418.656-7116 - Fax: +1.418.656-7411
Courriel : Thierry.Badard at scg.ulaval.ca
Web: http://geosoa.scg.ulaval.ca
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