A modified binary space partitioning tree for geographic information systems

We present a reactive data structure, that is, a spatial data structure with detail levels. The two properties, spatial organization and detail levels, are the basis for a geographic information system (GIS) with a multi-scale database. A reactive data structure is a novel type of data structure catering to multiple detail levels with rapid responses to spatial queries. It is presented here as a modification of the binary space partitioning tree that includes the levels of detail. This tree is one of the few spatial data structures that does not organize space in a rectangular manner. A prototype system has been implemented. An important result of this implementation is that it shows that binary space partitioning trees of real maps have O(n) storage space complexity in contrast to the theoretical worst case O(n² ), with n the number of line segments in the map.