Equational buffer and its potential application

There are two buffer representation methods at present: vector buffer and raster buffer. When dealing with a large geographic dataset, both of them are unsatisfactory either in time efficiency or in space efficiency. This paper presents a new buffer representation method-equational buffer, which is not represented by physical entities like vector buffer and raster buffer but by a mathematical equation. Such a representation method frees equational buffer from complicated geometric calculations and makes it suitable for dealing with massive geographic data and dynamic geographic data. We also discuss the characteristics and potential application of equational buffer.