In the business world, the company name “Oracle” has a very strong prominence. This company is often associated with IT services and products, and rightfully so, because, along with Microsoft, they are one of the pioneers in database development. The company is also known for racing its famous yacht in the boating races down in the Pacific Ocean.
But, did you know that Oracle is now also carving its niche in the GIS space as well? They sure are, with the launch of its newest product called the “Oracle Big Data Spatial and Graph.” This new software is designed to operate with the latest analytic tools of Hadoop and NoSQL.
Before going much further, it is important for us to first review what Spatial and Graphics Analysis is all about. With the former, this type of GIS analysis utilizes location based data. For example, this would include such variables as postal code, city, and state information. This new software package can also filter customer data based upon how close they are to one another.
Graphics Analysis, in terms of GIS applications, examines how information and data relate to one another. Rather than examining the absolute relationships, it is the relative unknowns which are more closely examined. For instance, the location of two landmarks can be examined once another, and their proximity quickly estimated.
This new software package from Oracle contains all different kinds and types of data sets and processing workloads. It also allows for the GIS professional to minimize data movement, which means conducting the analysis upon the data where it lies.
According to Keith Bingham, Chief Architect and Technologist at Ball Aerospace, “Oracle Spatial and Graph is already a very capable technology. With the explosion of Hadoop environments, the need to spatially-enable workloads has never been greater and Oracle could not have introduced ‘Oracle Big Data Spatial and Graph’ at a better time. This exciting new technology will provide value add to spatial processing and handle very large raster workloads in a Hadoop environment. We look forward to exploring how it helps address the most challenging data processing requirements.” (SOURCE: https://www.directionsmag.com/pressrelease/6623).
GeoTel is a telecommunications research and GIS mapping firm that researches and provides telecom datasets for more than 5,500 cities in the United States and worldwide. GeoTel’s expertise includes specialists in economic geography, geospatial engineering, web GIS, and telecommunications GIS Data infrastructure.
