DATA WAREHOUSES FOR HGIS – IDENTIFYING USER REQUIREMENTS AND CREATING DATABASES

Abstract

Historical geographic information systems (HGIS) are the key focus of a relatively new branch of science that deals with analyzing spatial data in a historical context. One of the approaches that may be taken when performing such studies relies on data warehouses. While the rules for building data warehouses for the purpose of conducting business analyses are well known and thoroughly described, this issue has not yet been widely reflected in the subject literature in connection with HGIS. This paper attempts to take into consideration HGIS-related requirements in the first two phases of the process of building a data warehouse. In the first phase, during which user requirements are identified, the use of a well-recognized point model has been proposed, with its geographic portion expanded to offer the ability to distinguish many-to-many relationships between various levels of the dimension hierarchy. The proposed solution allows to intuitively model a multidimensional space on a plane, without requiring the user to be familiar with the technical details involved.