What does spatial format and spatial query mean?
A spatial format organizes data in a multi-dimension fashion such that features near each other in reality get stored close together in the database.This means that once you find an item in a spatially formatted dataset, you can quickly find other items close by. There are many other ways to organize data, such as sequentially or in layers. A spatial query asks a question involving the geographic relation of two or more items. Examples are “What map features fall within a given area”, “What is the fastest route from point A to point B”, and “Where is the closest (restaurant, gas station, bank, etc.)” deCarta’s spatially oriented RMF (Rich Map Format) makes it easy to answer these kinds of questions and many more.
