VMDS
Encyclopedia
VMDS abbreviates the relational database technology called Version Managed Data Store provided by GE Energy as part of its Smallworld
technology platform and was designed from the outset to store and analyse the highly complex spatial and topological networks typically used by enterprise utilities such as power distribution and telecommunications.
VMDS was originally introduced in 1990 as has been improved and updated over the years. Its current version is 6.0.
VMDS has been designed as a spatial database
. This gives VMDS a number of distinctive characteristics when compared to conventional attribute only relational databases.
written in C
and Magik
. Spatial and attribute data are stored in data blocks that reside in special files called data store files on the server. When the client application requests data it has sufficient intelligence to work out the optimum set of data blocks that are required. This request is then made to SWMFS which returns the data to the client via the network for processing.
This approach is particularly efficient and scalable when dealing with spatial and topological data which tends to flow in larger volumes and require more processing then plain attribute data (for example during a map redraw operation). This approach makes VMDS well suited to enterprise deployment that might involve hundreds or even thousands of concurrent clients.
in which changes to data are relatively small and are brief in terms in duration (the maximum period between the start and the end of a transaction is typically a few seconds or less).
VMDS supports long transactions in which the volume of data involved in the transaction can be substantial and the duration of the transaction can be significant (days, weeks or even months). These types of transaction are common in advanced network applications used by, for example, power distribution utilities.
Due to the time span of a long transaction in this context the amount of change can be significant (not only within the scope of the transaction, but also within the context of the database as a whole). Accordingly, it is likely that the same record might be changed more than once. To cope with this scenario VMDS has inbuilt support for automatically managing such conflicts and allows applications to review changes and accept only those edits that are correct.
Spatial functions include: find all features within a polygon, calculate the Voronoi polygons of a set of sites and perform a cluster analysis on a set of points.
Vector spatial data such as points, polylines and polygons can be given topological attributes that allow complex networks to be modelled. Network analysis engines are provided to answer questions such as find the shortest path between two nodes or how to optimize a delivery route (the travelling salesman
problem). A topology engine can be configured with a set of rules that define how topological entities interact with each other when new data is added or existing data edited.
technology platform that allows administrators to associate a table in the database with a Magik exemplar (or class). Magik get and set methods for the Magik exemplar can be automatically generated that expose a table's field (or column). Each VMDS row manifests itself to the application as an instance of a Magik
object and is known as an RWO (or real world object). Tables are known as collections in Smallworld parlance.
# all_rwos hold all the rwos in the database and is heterogeneous
all_rwos << my_application.rwo_set
# valve_collection holds the valve collection
valves << all_rwos.select(:collection, {:valve})
number_of_valves << valves.size
Queries are built up using predicate objects:
# find 'open' valves.
open_valves << valves.select(predicate.eq(:operating_status, "open"))
number_of_open_valves << open_valves.size
_for valve _over open_valves.elements
_loop
write(valve.id)
_endloop
Joins are implemented as methods on the parent RWO. For example a manager might have several employees who report to him:
# get the employee collection.
employees << my_application.database.collection(:gis, :employees)
# find a manager called 'Steve' and get the first matching element
steve << employees.select(predicate.eq(:name, "Steve").and(predicate.eq(:role, "manager")).an_element
# display the names of his direct reports. name is a field (or column)
# on the employee collection (or table)
_for employee _over steve.direct_reports.elements
_loop
write(employee.name)
_endloop
Performing a transaction:
# each key in the hash table corresponds to the name of the field (or column) in
# the collection (or table)
valve_data << hash_table.new_with(
:asset_id, 57648576,
:material, "Iron")
# get the valve collection directly
valve_collection << my_application.database.collection(:gis, :valve)
# create an insert transaction to insert a new valve record into the collection a
# comment can be provide that describes the transaction
transaction << record_transaction.new_insert(valve_collection, valve_data, "Inserted a new valve")
transaction.run
Smallworld
Smallworld was a GIS company founded in Cambridge, England, in 1989 by Dick Newell and others. It grew to become the global market leader for GIS in utilities and communications, according to Daratech. In September 2000, it was acquired by GE Energy, a division of General Electric...
technology platform and was designed from the outset to store and analyse the highly complex spatial and topological networks typically used by enterprise utilities such as power distribution and telecommunications.
VMDS was originally introduced in 1990 as has been improved and updated over the years. Its current version is 6.0.
VMDS has been designed as a spatial database
Spatial Database
A spatial database is a database that is optimized to store and query data that is related to objects in space, including points, lines and polygons. While typical databases can understand various numeric and character types of data, additional functionality needs to be added for databases to...
. This gives VMDS a number of distinctive characteristics when compared to conventional attribute only relational databases.
Distributed server processing
VMDS is composed of two parts: a simple, highly scalable data block server called SWMFS (Smallworld Master File System) and an intelligent client APIApplication programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
written in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
and Magik
Magik programming language
Magik is an object-oriented programming language that supports multiple inheritance, polymorphism and is dynamically typed. It is provided by GE Energy as part of its Smallworld technology platform and was designed from the outset to implement complex applications for enterprise utilities such as...
. Spatial and attribute data are stored in data blocks that reside in special files called data store files on the server. When the client application requests data it has sufficient intelligence to work out the optimum set of data blocks that are required. This request is then made to SWMFS which returns the data to the client via the network for processing.
This approach is particularly efficient and scalable when dealing with spatial and topological data which tends to flow in larger volumes and require more processing then plain attribute data (for example during a map redraw operation). This approach makes VMDS well suited to enterprise deployment that might involve hundreds or even thousands of concurrent clients.
Support for long transactions
Relational databases support short transactionsDatabase transaction
A transaction comprises a unit of work performed within a database management system against a database, and treated in a coherent and reliable way independent of other transactions...
in which changes to data are relatively small and are brief in terms in duration (the maximum period between the start and the end of a transaction is typically a few seconds or less).
VMDS supports long transactions in which the volume of data involved in the transaction can be substantial and the duration of the transaction can be significant (days, weeks or even months). These types of transaction are common in advanced network applications used by, for example, power distribution utilities.
Due to the time span of a long transaction in this context the amount of change can be significant (not only within the scope of the transaction, but also within the context of the database as a whole). Accordingly, it is likely that the same record might be changed more than once. To cope with this scenario VMDS has inbuilt support for automatically managing such conflicts and allows applications to review changes and accept only those edits that are correct.
Spatial and topological capabilities
As well as conventional relational database features such as attribute querying, join fields, triggers and calculated fields, VMDS has numerous spatial and topological capabilities. This allows spatial data such as points, texts, polylines, polygons and raster data to be stored and analysed.Spatial functions include: find all features within a polygon, calculate the Voronoi polygons of a set of sites and perform a cluster analysis on a set of points.
Vector spatial data such as points, polylines and polygons can be given topological attributes that allow complex networks to be modelled. Network analysis engines are provided to answer questions such as find the shortest path between two nodes or how to optimize a delivery route (the travelling salesman
Vendor (supply chain)
A vendor, or a supplier, is a supply chain management term meaning anyone who provides goods or services to a company. A vendor often manufactures inventoriable items, and sells those items to a customer.- History :...
problem). A topology engine can be configured with a set of rules that define how topological entities interact with each other when new data is added or existing data edited.
Data abstraction
In VMDS all data is presented to the application as objects. This is different from many relational databases that present the data as rows from a table or query result using say JDBC. VMDS provides a data modelling tool and underlying infrastructure as part of the SmallworldSmallworld
Smallworld was a GIS company founded in Cambridge, England, in 1989 by Dick Newell and others. It grew to become the global market leader for GIS in utilities and communications, according to Daratech. In September 2000, it was acquired by GE Energy, a division of General Electric...
technology platform that allows administrators to associate a table in the database with a Magik exemplar (or class). Magik get and set methods for the Magik exemplar can be automatically generated that expose a table's field (or column). Each VMDS row manifests itself to the application as an instance of a Magik
Magik programming language
Magik is an object-oriented programming language that supports multiple inheritance, polymorphism and is dynamically typed. It is provided by GE Energy as part of its Smallworld technology platform and was designed from the outset to implement complex applications for enterprise utilities such as...
object and is known as an RWO (or real world object). Tables are known as collections in Smallworld parlance.
# all_rwos hold all the rwos in the database and is heterogeneous
all_rwos << my_application.rwo_set
# valve_collection holds the valve collection
valves << all_rwos.select(:collection, {:valve})
number_of_valves << valves.size
Queries are built up using predicate objects:
# find 'open' valves.
open_valves << valves.select(predicate.eq(:operating_status, "open"))
number_of_open_valves << open_valves.size
_for valve _over open_valves.elements
_loop
write(valve.id)
_endloop
Joins are implemented as methods on the parent RWO. For example a manager might have several employees who report to him:
# get the employee collection.
employees << my_application.database.collection(:gis, :employees)
# find a manager called 'Steve' and get the first matching element
steve << employees.select(predicate.eq(:name, "Steve").and(predicate.eq(:role, "manager")).an_element
# display the names of his direct reports. name is a field (or column)
# on the employee collection (or table)
_for employee _over steve.direct_reports.elements
_loop
write(employee.name)
_endloop
Performing a transaction:
# each key in the hash table corresponds to the name of the field (or column) in
# the collection (or table)
valve_data << hash_table.new_with(
:asset_id, 57648576,
:material, "Iron")
# get the valve collection directly
valve_collection << my_application.database.collection(:gis, :valve)
# create an insert transaction to insert a new valve record into the collection a
# comment can be provide that describes the transaction
transaction << record_transaction.new_insert(valve_collection, valve_data, "Inserted a new valve")
transaction.run
See also
- List of relational database management systems
- List of object-relational database management systems
- Spatial databaseSpatial DatabaseA spatial database is a database that is optimized to store and query data that is related to objects in space, including points, lines and polygons. While typical databases can understand various numeric and character types of data, additional functionality needs to be added for databases to...
- Multiversion concurrency controlMultiversion concurrency controlMultiversion concurrency control , in the database field of computer science, is a concurrency control method commonly used by database management systems to provide concurrent access to the database and in programming languages to implement transactional memory.For instance, a database will...