SpatialDBMS

DataStorage
Therearetwoapproachesofstoringdata:
1.Filebased
2.Database

Filebasedapproach
Filebasedsystemisacollectionofapplicationprogramsthatperformservicesfortheuserswitheachprogram
definingandmanagingitsdata.

Aflatfileisanordinaryfilewhererecordsofthefiledonotcontainanyinformationtocommunicatethefile
structureorrelationshipamongtherecordstotheapplicationwhichisusingthefile.

TypesofFileStructure
Unorderedfiles
Orderedfiles
Indexfiles

Unorderedfiles

Alsoknownasheapfiles,theunorderedsequentialfileshavethebasictypeoforganizationwhererecordsare
placedinthefileintheorderinwhichtheyareinsertedi.e.newrecordsareinsertedattheendofthefile.

Orderedfiles

Therecordsinsuchafilecanbeorderedbasedonthevaluesofoneoftheirfieldsknownasorderingfields.If
the ordering field is the field whose value are distinct for each individual entity of the file, then the field is
knownasorderingkey.Readingtherecordsinorderoforderingkeyvaluesbecomesefficientasnosortingis
required.
IndexFiles

Indexesareadditionalaccessstructureswhichareusedtospeeduptheretrievaloftherecordsinresponseto
a search condition. These provide alternative ways of accessing the records without affecting the physical
placementofrecords.