Spatiotemporal database

A spatiotemporal database is a database that manages both space and time information. Common examples include:

• Tracking of moving objects, which typically can occupy only a single position at a given time.
• A database of wireless communication networks, which may exist only for a short timespan within a geographic region.
• An index of species in a given geographic region, where over time additional species may be introduced or existing species migrate or die out.
• Historical tracking of plate tectonic activity.

Spatiotemporal databases are an extension of spatial databases and temporal databases. A spatiotemporal database embodies spatial, temporal, and spatiotemporal database concepts, and captures spatial and temporal aspects of data and deals with:

• Geometry changing over time and/or
• Location of objects moving over invariant geometry (known variously as moving objects databases^[1] or real-time locating systems).