The geometry of uncertainty in moving objects databases

This work addresses the problem of querying moving objects databases. which capture the inherent uncertainty associated with the location of moving point objects. We address the issue of modeling, constructing, and querying a trajectories database. We propose to model a trajectory as a 3D cylindrical body. The model incorporates uncertainty in a manner that enables efficient querying. Thus our model strikes a balance between modeling power, and computational efficiency. To demonstrate efficiency, we report on experimental results that relate the length of a trajectory to its size in bytes. The experiments were conducted using a real map of the Chicago Metropolitan area. We introduce a set of novel but natural spatio-temporal operators which capture uncertainty, and are used to express spatio-temporal range queries. We also devise and analyze algorithms to process the operators. The operators have been implemented as a part of our DOMINO project.