Geographical Hierarchy Data Source Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional geographical hierarchy systems lack flexibility in data sourcing and performance, particularly when handling spatial data, as they often require querying for spatial points within geometries, leading to slower processing times.
Innovation Solution
A system that retrieves geographical hierarchies and geometries based on user input, allowing selection of different levels and hierarchies, with the ability to switch between data sources and perform focus operations by determining whether to transition to lower levels or provide spatial points, enhancing flexibility and performance by leveraging query results for spatial point counts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional geographical hierarchy systems query for spatial points within geometries, then they can provide comprehensive spatial data coverage, but processing time increases and performance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and stores the count of spatial points within each geometry in advance, rather than querying for all spatial points during runtime. This preliminary action stores the results of complex spatial queries in a readily accessible format, eliminating the need for time-consuming runtime queries while maintaining complete spatial data coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a copy of the spatial point data in the form of pre-computed count values stored alongside geometry definitions. Instead of repeatedly accessing and processing the original spatial point datasets during runtime, the system uses these copied count values to quickly determine whether to display geometries, providing both comprehensive coverage and fast performance.
2Device complexity
If a single data source is used for geographical hierarchies, then system complexity is reduced, but flexibility and adaptability decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a universal architecture that can work with multiple different data sources (e.g., local databases, remote servers, cloud services) through a common interface. The geographical hierarchy definitions include data source identifiers that allow the system to adapt to different sourcing strategies without requiring separate system implementations, thus achieving both low complexity and high flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically selects and switches between different data sources based on runtime requirements, geography type, and performance considerations. Rather than being statically bound to a single data source, the system can adaptively choose from multiple sources, allowing flexibility in data sourcing while maintaining a relatively simple unified interface through the geographical hierarchy definition structure.
3Area of stationary object
If all geometries are retrieved and displayed, then complete geographical coverage is provided, but rendering performance and user experience deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of retrieving and rendering all geometries unconditionally, the system selectively displays only those geometries that contain spatial points from the dataset. By using pre-computed spatial point counts, the system can quickly determine which geometries are relevant and display only those, providing complete coverage of relevant areas while avoiding the performance penalty of rendering unnecessary geometries.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different display treatments to different geometries based on their local characteristics - specifically, whether they contain spatial points. Geometries with spatial points are displayed with full detail and interaction capabilities, while geometries without spatial points are either omitted or displayed in a simplified manner, optimizing rendering performance while maintaining complete geographical coverage where needed.
Data Source
AI summary
Some embodiments provide a non-transitory machine-readable medium that stores a program. The program receives an input specifying a location field of a dataset. In response to the input, the program further retrieves a set of geographical hierarchy definitions. The program also retrieves, from the data source specified for a level in the geographical hierarchy defined by a geographical hierarchy definition in the set of geographical hierarchy definitions, a subset of a set of geometries representing a set of geographical regions belonging to the level in the geographical hierarchy. For each geometry in the subset of the set of geometries, at least one record in the dataset has a spatial point in a location field that falls within the geometry. The program further provides the subset of the set of geometries in a view of a map.