Structural schema integration in heterogeneous multi-database systems using the Dual Model

The integration of views and schemas is an important part of database design and evolution to support complex and multiple applications sharing data. The view and schema integration methodologies proposed are driven purely by semantic considerations, and allow integration of objects only if that is valid from both semantic and structural view points. The authors discuss a new integration method called structural integration that has the advantage of being able to integrate objects that have structural similarities, even if they differ semantically. This is possible by using the object-oriented Dual Model which allows separate representation of structure and semantics. Structural integration has several advantages, including the identification of shared common structures that is important for physical database design and sharing of data and methods (code reusability)