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R*-Tree

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of GIS

Synonyms

Spatial index structure; Spatial access method; R-tree; TPR-trees; Point query; Window query; Range query; Directory rectangles; Storage utilization; Reinsert, forced

Definition

The R*-tree, an improvement of the R-tree, is one of the most popular access methods for points and rectangles. This is achieved by modifying the insert and split algorithms of the original R-tree which is based on the heuristic optimization of the area of the enclosing rectangle in each inner node. The R*-tree incorporates a combined optimization of area, margin and overlap of each enclosing rectangle in the directory. From a practical point of view, the R*-tree is very attractive because of the following two reasons. It efficiently supports point and spatial data at the same time and its implementation cost is only slightly higher than that of other R-tree variants.

Historical Background

The R*-tree, proposed in 1990, is one of the most prominent representatives of the R-tree family. One major reason...

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Recommended Reading

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Hans-Peter Kriegel, Peter Kunath & Matthias Renz

Authors
  1. Hans-Peter Kriegel
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  2. Peter Kunath
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  3. Matthias Renz
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Shashi Shekhar (McKnight Distinguished University Professor) (McKnight Distinguished University Professor)

  2. Management Science and Information Systems Department, Rutgers Business School Newark and New Brunswick Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA

    Hui Xiong (Assistant Professor) (Assistant Professor)

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag

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Kriegel, HP., Kunath, P., Renz, M. (2008). R*-Tree. In: Shekhar, S., Xiong, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of GIS. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35973-1_1148

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