A large number of design decisions have to be made, with indeterminate trade-offs, before any approach to implementation can even be considered. What is essential, however, at this stage in the development, is that these issues and problems are clearly explained and documented. This is the approach adopted in this book. The main focus is on describing of algorithm and software design issues, to a much greater level than is common is GIS texts, with implementation examples to illustrate how the research could be taken forward in future. High level programming paradigms and software engineering issues underlying parallel software developments are considered.
Emphasis is given to designing modular re-usable software libraries.
The book continues with problems in designing parallel software for GIS applications, potential vector and raster data structures and details the algorithmic design for some major GIS operations. An implementation case study is included, based around a raster generalisation problem, which illustrates some of the principles involved. Subsequent chapters review progress in parallel database technology in a GIS environment and the use of parallel techniques in various application areas, dealing with both algorithmic and implementation issues. Overall, it is hoped that the reader will gain a much clearer picture of both the technical problems and cost-benefits of developing GIS algorithms in a parallel environment. Towards parallel libraries for geographical algorithms M.J. Mineter, R.G. Healey, B.M.Gittings and S. Dowers Editors' Biographical Details Richard Healey is Professor of Geography at the University of Portsmouth.