Subject: forward

From: "Rick Snodgrass" <rts>
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1993 14:50:57 MST

Henry Kucera asked me to forward this to the tsql group.

	From "CRLV01::HKUCERA"@ORION.GOV.BC.CA Wed Jul 14 17:29:06 1993

	I have included the news release as an attachment. If you could distribute it 
	on to the TSQL group that would be great.

	Henry Kucera
	Geomatics Unit 
	Ministry of Environment Lands and Parks
	British Columbia
	Inter:	[email-masked]
	  
	--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	ISO acceptance of Canadian SQL3 Multi-Media 'Spatial' Proposal

	The third generation of SQL is currently being developed, under the
	auspices of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
	 
	Scheduled for the 1996 timeframe, this version: (1) will have object
	oriented capabilities, (2) will be backwardly compatible with SQL 1992
	(SQL2 was officially adopted last year), and (3) will have extensions
	for certain application areas, including management of spatial data.
	 
	The Geomatics Unit of the Surveys and Resources Mapping Branch, British
	Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks submitted a series of
	four papers on behalf of Canada for consideration by the ISO database
	language Multi-Media working group.  Included in this submission was a
	framework for the development of Part 3 of SQL3/MM based directly on the SAIF
	standard.  This proposal was accepted and will be the basis for all future ISO
	work regarding spatial-temporal data management in SQL3/MM.
	 
	The thrust of our submissions was fourfold.
	 
	1    Traditional approaches to managing spatial data are inadequate
	     because such data is inherently complex and highly variable in
	     structure.  This is why almost all spatial data is stored outside
	     of DBMSs today.  Ideally, all data of interest to the user should
	     be able to be described, stored and accessed in the same fashion.
	     New technologies, based on object oriented capabilities, are
	     required.
	 
	2    The underlying capabilities of SQL3 must be sufficiently robust to
	     support the extensions proposed for SQL/MM.  This means that
	     various kinds of aggregate structures, object capabilities and the
	     like must be present in the basic SQL3 infrastructure.  The same
	     underlying constructs should be applicable to animation, spatial
	     and temporal phenomena, full text, etc., as well as more
	     traditional application areas.
	 
	3    Spatial extensions should not be tied to a cartographic (static,
	     2-D representational) paradigm.  Volumetric and temporal data must
	     be able to be handled, as well as a variety of spatial and
	     temporal relationships.  In addition to forestry data, census
	     data, and the like, we must address data associated with global
	     monitoring, satellite imagery, moving oil spills, subsurface
	     geological structures, etc.

	4    Standardized spatial extensions should be of a generic nature,
	     that is, without reference to roads, census tracts, ecosystem
	     zones, coal seams, etc.  However, users must be able to define
	     explicitly such real world concepts in terms of the spatial
	     extensions and the underlying SQL data constructs.

	Our submissions were based directly on the Spatial Archive and
	Interchange Format, SAIF (pronounced 'safe'), the draft standard in
	Canada for modelling and transferring geomatics  information.  SAIF is
	designed to work in a database/telecommunications environment, as well
	as with simple file transfers.  Acceptance at the ISO - SQL level of
	our approach with SAIF is particularly gratifying.
	 
	Through the ISO process we have received constructive criticism from
	the Australian Data Base Language Working Group, Oracle Corporation,
	Sierra Systems, MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, Fulcrum
	Technologies, the Canadian Department of National Defense, IBM and
	others.  With respect to SAIF, we have also benefited from work by the
	Sequoia 2000 project in Berkeley, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
	Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, the Centre de Recherche
	en Geomatique at Universite Laval in Quebec, and the Centre for
	Environmental and Resource Information at the University of New
	Brunswick, as well as some of the GIS vendors.
	 
	The ISO submission is currently being revised in accordance with the critiques
	and ISO procedures.  We are also planning on releasing SAIF 3.0, to conform
	with the ISO work  (significant changes to SAIF relate to: the way time is
	treated, a more concise way of handling gridded structures, and the
	introduction of multiple inheritance.)  For current data holdings in SAIF's
	binary format, the new version of SAIF will be backwardly compatible with the
	2.0 version.  For those interested in software development, you'll be
	interested in the SAIF ToolBox currently under development.  The ToolBox will
	provide a class library and a set of APIs for the development of applications
	(e.g. translators) based on the SAIF standard.  
	 
	If you would like to receive the ISO papers or any of the SAIF
	documentation, please feel free to contact either Henry Kucera
	([email-masked]) or me ([email-masked]) through
	Internet or at the address below.
	 
	Mark Sondheim,
	Head, Geomatics Unit
	Surveys and Resource Mapping Branch
	1802 Douglas Street
	Victoria, British Columbia, Canada  V8V 1X4
	(FAX: (604) 356-7831)