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A comparison of the space requirements of multi-dimensional quadtree-based file structures

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Abstract

A comparison is made of the space requirements of pointer and a number of pointer-less implementations of multidimensional quadtree-based file structures. The database is assumed to be static. In order to make the comparison realistic, considerations such as computer byte sizes are taken into account, and fields are constrained to start on bit and byte boundaries where appropriate. In many practical cases, the pointer quadtree requires less space than the pointer-less quadtree. This effect is more pronounced for octrees and data of higher dimension. Empirical data from a cartographic batabase are used to support the analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science Department, The University of Maryland, 20742-3251, College Park, MD, USA

    Hanan Samet

  2. Department of Computer Science, Busch Campus, Rutgers University, 08903, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Robert E. Webber

Authors
  1. Hanan Samet
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  2. Robert E. Webber
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The support of the National Science Foundation under Grant IRI8802457 is gratefully acknowledged

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Samet, H., Webber, R.E. A comparison of the space requirements of multi-dimensional quadtree-based file structures. The Visual Computer 5, 349–359 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01999102

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01999102

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