Statistical and Scientific Database Issues

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the research issues of statistical and scientific databases (SSDB´s). It organizes the issues into four major groups: physical organization and access methods, operators, logical organization and user interfaces, and miscellaneous issues. It emphasizes the differences between SSDB´s and traditional database applications, and motivates the need for new and innovative techniques for the support of SSDB´s. In addition to describing current work in this field, it discusses open research areas and proposes possible approaches to their solution.