A conceptual model provides the best support for federating heterogeneous datastores into a unified framework and elaborating a global consistent description of all available data. It therefore plays a central role for exchange of information within the coming information society. This paper introduces a conceptual model for applications using spatio-temporal data. We discuss in particular the features which support spatial and temporal modeling. An example of conceptual design is given using a pedology application. Advantages of our approach for database design are assessed through comparison with traditional geographical information systems modeling techniques.
Karl Aberer, Quoc Viet Hung Nguyen, Thành Tâm Nguyên, Zoltán Miklós