A linguistic framework for querying dimensional data

This paper deals with dimensional data. Examples of dimensions are space and time. Thus, temporal, spatial, spatiotemporal values are examples of dimensional data. We define the notion of dimensional object, extending an object-oriented ODMG-like type system to include dimensional types. We then address the problem of querying dimensional objects. Linguistic constructs are introduced that allow objects with different dimensions to be mixed in the same phrases. This allows the user to formulate both associative and navigational accesses seamlessly without having to worry about the dimensions of the various data elements involved