Frequently Asked Questions - CubeSTOR®
What is a Spatial Data Warehouse?
The concept of a Spatial Data Warehouse evolves from the same concepts and definition that are applied to business data warehousing:
A subject-oriented, integrated, time-variant, non-volatile collection of (geo)spatial data.
In essence, geospatial data that:
- Is composed of multiple (disparate) data sources and data products;
- Is optimized to support data production and data distribution requirements
- Is updated by operational systems.
A Spatial Data Warehouse is a multi-dimensional solution:
- It stores all types of GeoData (vector, matrix, raster, etc.) directly into the repository at different levels of resolution
- It allows end-users to query vast amounts (terabytes) of disparate GeoData with a very fast response time
- It allows for visual discovery (or navigation) of all GeoData relating to a subject, or spatial extent:
- End-users can "slice and dice" through different (and disparate) layers of GeoData
- End-users can drill down or roll up through various dimensions (resolutions) of GeoData
- End-users obtain a generalized or aggregated view of the GeoData
[Top of page]
What is CubeSTOR®?
CubeSTOR is a highly scalable Spatial Data Warehouse solution that handles massive amounts of disparate geospatial data. Built within the Oracle engine, this product includes a spatial cartridge used to store, manage, access and publish geospatial data (vector, matrix and imagery) on the Internet.
[Top of page]
What geospatial data types can CubeSTOR ingest?
CubeSTOR can ingest the following formats
| | ogdi | Open Geospatial Datastore Interface |
| | shape | ESRI® Shape-file format |
| | dbf | DBF xbase/dbase® file format (non spatial) |
| | mif | MapInfo® MIF/MID-file format |
| | pccf | Postal Code format |
| | links | Multi-Resolution Feature-Links format |
| | geotiff | GeoTIFF image format |
| | bsq | PCI® BSQ/AUX-file format |
| | dted | DTED® (Digital Terrain Elevation Model) format |
| | gtopo | USGS Global Elevation data format |
| | usgsdem | USGS Digital Elevation Model format |
| | ceos | CEOS/AVHRR tape format |
| | doq | USGS Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle format |
| | adrg | ARC Digitized Raster Graphics format |
| | nitf | National Imagery Transmission Format (CIB, CADRG) |
| | gml | Geographic Markup Language format |
| | soi_dgn | Suevey of India DGN encoded format |
| | dgn | Microstation DGN graphics format |
| | mdf | CubeWerx Multi-Dimensional-File format |
| | bxfs | Basic XML feature schema format |
| | wkb | CubeWerx Well Known Binary raster format |
| | png | PNG (Portable Network Graphics) Image format |
| | svg | SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) Image format |
| | gif | GIF Image format |
| | jpeg | JPEG Image format |
| | pnm | PPM/PGM/PPM Portable Pixmap Image format |
| | lidar | LIDAR irregular elevation data format |
| | wfs | OGC Web Feature Service interface |
| | cwfeature | CubeTILE feature access |
| | cwtile | CubeTILE Tile access |
| | cubestor | CUbeSTOR Spatial database |
| | | |
NOTE: Safe Software's Feature Manipulation Engine (FME) has native conversion support to CubeWerx mdf file format.
[Top of page]
Does CubeSTOR have any reprojection capabilities?
CubeSTOR allows users to specify a different reprojection when data is being ingested inside the warehouse. CubeSTOR directly supports over 1100 EPSG projections. In addition, users can create their own spatial reference system definitions.
[Top of page]
Do you need Oracle® Spatial to run CubeSTOR?
CubeSTOR does not require Oracle spatial, or Oracle Enterprise. It runs on Oracle's standard edition server product.
[Top of page]
Can CubeSTOR coexist with other spatial cartridges such as ESRI ArcSDE™ ?
CubeSTOR can coexist with ESRI ArcSDE and/or Oracle Spatial cartridges.
[Top of page]
How does CubeSTOR differ from ESRI ArcSDE™?
The two (2) major differences between CubeSTOR and ESRI ArcSDE are:
- CubeSTOR provides you full customization capabilities for the spatial data model used to create the spatial tables inside the warehouse
- Visual discovery of geospatial data stored inside CubeSTOR does not require any prior knowledge of the existence and/or location of a particular layer. This means that you don't need to create a project (map) to link/access/discover a layer. CubeSTOR support GeoData Browsing. White Paper on GeoData Browsing (PDF format)
[Top of page]
How does CubeSTOR differ from Oracle® Spatial?
CubeSTOR has a number of OGC-compliant Web services that help with the discovery, publication and distribution of geospatial data on the Internet.
[Top of page]
Does CubeSTOR allow you to customize the underlying spatial data model?
CubeSTOR comes with a utility that allows you to customize the spatial data model used to created the spatial tables inside the warehouse.
[Top of page]
Can you store raster imagery directly in CubeSTOR?
Yes, regardless of volume (terabytes).
[Top of page]
Does CubeSTOR support color rasters, multi-layered rasters, lossless compression, lossy compression?
Yes to all of the above.
[Top of page]
Which raster formats does CubeSTOR support?
GeoTIFF/TIFF, PNG, JPEG, GIF, BSQ/BIL/BIP, DTED, GTOPO, USGS DEM, CEOS, DOQ, ADRG, NITF, CADRG.
[Top of page]
Does CubeSTOR support recreation of seamless orthomosaic when tiles are updated in the warehouse?
Yes. The aggregation process allows you to update individual tiles without having to reaggregate the entire content of the spatial data warehouse.
[Top of page]
