WebArrayDB: A Geospatial Array DBMS in Your Web Browser

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Abstract

Geospatial array DBMSs operate on georeferenced N-d arrays. They provide storage engines, query parsers, and processing capabilities as their core functionality. Traditionally, those have been too heavy for a Web browser to support. Hence, Web Applications, mostly Geographic Information Systems (GIS), run array management on their server back-ends that return small portions of the results via the network. We showcase WebArrayDB, the first geospatial array DBMS that can run completely inside a Web browser. We demonstrate that modern Web browsers, JavaScript, and respective software libraries are sufficiently mature to build and run such a feature-rich and powerful DBMS. A Web-based array DBMS should reduce the server load, enable offiine work, reduce network I/O, and improve user experience. We also present ArrayGIS, our new Web GIS based on WebArrayDB, and invite everyone to explore both via a freely accessible, informative, and interactive Web GUI.