New Query Processing Algorithms for Range and k-NN Search in Spatial Network Databases

Recently, the spatial network databases (SNDB) have been studied for emerging applications such as location-based services including mobile search and car navigation. In practice, objects, like cars and people with mobile phones, can usually move on an underlying network (road, railway, sidewalk, river, etc.), where the network distance is determined by the length of the practical shortest path connecting two objects. In this paper, we propose materialization-based query processing algorithms for typical spatial queries in SNDB, such as range search and k nearest neighbors (k-NN) search. By using a materialization-based technique with the shortest network distances of all the nodes on the network, the proposed query processing algorithms can reduce the computation time of the network distance as well as the number of disk I/Os required for accessing nodes. Thus, the proposed query processing algorithms improve the existing efficient k-NN (INE) and range search (RNE) algorithms proposed by Papadias et al. [1], respectively. It is shown that our range query processing algorithm achieves about up to one of magnitude better performance than RNE and our k-NN query processing algorithm achieves about up to 150% performance improvements over INE.

The continuous K nearest neighbor (CKNN) query is an important type of query that finds continuously the KNN to a query point on a given path. We focus on moving queries issued on stationary objects in Spatial Network Database (SNDB) The result of this type of query is a set of intervals (defined by split points) and their corresponding KNNs. This means that the KNN of an object traveling on one interval of the path remains the same all through that interval, until it reaches a split point where its KNNs change. Existing methods for CKNN are based on Euclidean distances. In this paper we propose a new algorithm for answering CKNN in SNDB where the important measure for the shortest path is network distances rather than Euclidean distances. We propose DAR and eDAR algorithms to address CKNN queries based on the progressive incremental network expansion (PINE) technique. Our experiments show that the eDAR approach has better response time, and requires fewer shortest distance computations and KNN queries than approaches that are based on VN3 using IE.

In telematics and location-based service (LBS) applications, because moving objects usually move on spatial networks, their locations are updated frequently, leading to the degradation of retrieval performance. To manage the frequent updates of moving objects’ locations in an efficient way, we propose a new distributed grid scheme which utilizes node-based pre-computation technique to minimize the update cost of the moving objects’ locations. Because our grid scheme manages spatial network data separately from the Point of Interests (POIs) and moving objects, it can minimize the update cost of the POIs and moving objects. Using our grid scheme, we propose a new k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) query processing algorithm which minimizes the number of accesses to adjacent cells during POIs retrieval in a parallel way. Finally, we show from our performance analysis that our k-NN query processing algorithm is better on retrieval performance than that of the existing S-GRID.

In this paper, we study the problem of continuous monitoring of reverse k nearest neighbors queries in Euclidean space as well as in spatial networks. Existing techniques are sensitive toward objects and queries movement. For example, the results of a query are to be recomputed whenever the query changes its location. We present a framework for continuous reverse k nearest neighbor (RkNN) queries by assigning each object and query with a safe region such that the expensive recomputation is not required as long as the query and objects remain in their respective safe regions. This significantly improves the computation cost. As a byproduct, our framework also reduces the communication cost in client---server architectures because an object does not report its location to the server unless it leaves its safe region or the server sends a location update request. We also conduct a rigid cost analysis for our Euclidean space RkNN algorithm. We show that our techniques can also be applied to answer bichromatic RkNN queries in Euclidean space as well as in spatial networks. Furthermore, we show that our techniques can be extended for the spatial networks that are represented by directed graphs. The extensive experiments demonstrate that our techniques outperform the existing techniques by an order of magnitude in terms of computation cost and communication cost.

A k-Range Nearest Neighbor (or kRNN for short) query in road networks finds the k nearest neighbors of every point on the road segments within a given query region based on the network distance. The kRNN query is significantly important for location-based applications in many realistic scenarios. For example, (1) the user's location is uncertain, i.e., user's location is modeled by a spatial region, and (2) the user is not willing to reveal her exact location to preserve her privacy, i.e., her location is blurred into a spatial region. However, the existing solutions for kRNN queries simply apply the traditional k-nearest neighbor query processing algorithm multiple times, which poses a huge redundant searching overhead. To this end, we propose an efficient kRNN query processing algorithm in this paper. Our algorithm (1) employs a shared execution approach to eliminate the redundant searching overhead, and (2) provides a parameter that can be tuned to achieve a tradeoff between the query processing performance and the storage overhead, while guaranteeing the user's exact k-nearest neighbors are included in the query answers. The experimental results show that our algorithm always outperforms the existing solution in terms of query response time, and the introduced tuning parameter is an effective way to achieve the tradeoff between the query response time and the storage overhead.

In this paper, we identify and solve a new type of spatial queries, called continuous visible nearest neighbor (CVNN) search. Given a data set P, an obstacle set O, and a query line segment q in a two-dimensional space, a CVNN query returns a set of $${\langle p, R\rangle}$$ tuples such that $${p \in P}$$ is the nearest neighbor to every point r along the interval $${R \subseteq q}$$ as well as p is visible to r. Note that p may be NULL, meaning that all points in P are invisible to all points in R due to the obstruction of some obstacles in O. In contrast to existing continuous nearest neighbor query, CVNN retrieval considers the impact of obstacles on visibility between objects, which is ignored by most of spatial queries. We formulate the problem, analyze its unique characteristics, and develop efficient algorithms for exact CVNN query processing. Our methods (1) utilize conventional data-partitioning indices (e.g., R-trees) on both P and O, (2) tackle the CVNN search by performing a single query for the entire query line segment, and (3) only access the data points and obstacles relevant to the final query result by employing a suite of effective pruning heuristics. In addition, several interesting variations of CVNN queries have been introduced, and they can be supported by our techniques, which further demonstrates the flexibility of the proposed algorithms. A comprehensive experimental evaluation using both real and synthetic data sets has been conducted to verify the effectiveness of our proposed pruning heuristics and the performance of our proposed algorithms.

Nearest neighbor (NN) searches represent an important class of queries in geographic information systems (GIS). Most nearest neighbor algorithms rely on static distance information to compute NN queries (e.g., Euclidean distance or spatial network distance). However, the final goal of a user when performing an NN search is often to travel to one of the points of the search result. In this case, finding the nearest neighbors in terms of travel time is more important than the actual distance. In the existing NN algorithms dynamic real-time events (e.g., traffic congestions, detours, etc.) are usually not considered and hence the pre-computed nearest neighbor objects may not accurately reflect the shortest travel time. In this paper we propose a novel travel time network that integrates both spatial networks and real-time traffic event information. Based on this foundation of the travel time network, we develop a local-based greedy nearest neighbor algorithm and a global-based adaptive nearest neighbor algorithm that both utilize real-time traffic information to provide adaptive nearest neighbor search results. We have performed a theoretical analysis and simulations to verify our methods. The results indicate that our algorithms remarkably reduce the travel time compared with previous nearest neighbor solutions.

A critical piece of the modern information retrieval puzzle is approximate nearest neighbor search. Its objective is to return a set of k data points that are closest to a query point, with its accuracy measured by the proportion of exact nearest neighbors captured in the returned set. One popular approach to this question is clustering: The indexing algorithm partitions data points into non-overlapping subsets and represents each partition by a point such as its centroid. The query processing algorithm first identifies the nearest clusters---a process known as routing---then performs a nearest neighbor search over those clusters only. In this work, we make a simple observation: The routing function solves a ranking problem. Its quality can therefore be assessed with a ranking metric, making the function amenable to learning-to-rank. Interestingly, ground-truth is often freely available: Given a query distribution in a top-k configuration, the ground-truth is the set of clusters that contain the exact top-k vectors. We develop this insight and apply it to Maximum Inner Product Search (MIPS). As we demonstrate empirically on various datasets, learning a simple linear function consistently improves the accuracy of clustering-based MIPS.

Much research has recently been devoted to the data management foundations of location-based mobile services. In one important scenario, the service users are constrained to a transportation network. As a result, query processing in spatial road networks is of interest. We propose a versatile approach to k nearest neighbor computation in spatial networks, termed the Islands approach. By offering flexible yet simple means of balancing re-computation and pre-computation, this approach is able to manage the trade-off between query and update performance. The result is a single, efficient, and versatile approach to k nearest neighbor computation that obviates the need for using several k nearest neighbor approaches for supporting a single service scenario. The experimental comparison with the existing techniques uses real-world road network data and considers both I/O and CPU performance, for both queries and updates.

Given a group $\mathcal {Q}$ of query points and a set $\mathcal {P}$ of points of interest (POIs), aggregate nearest neighbor (ANN) queries find a POI p from $\mathcal {P}$ that achieves the smallest aggregate distance. Specifically, the aggregate distance is defined over the set of distances between p and all query points in $\mathcal {Q}$ . Existing studies on ANN query mainly consider the spatial proximity, whereas the textual similarity has received considerable attention recently. In this work, we utilize user-specified query keywords to capture textual similarity. We study the aggregate keyword nearest neighbor (AKNN) queries, finding the POI that has the smallest aggregate distance and covers all query keywords. Nevertheless, existing methods on ANN query are either inapplicable or inefficient when applied to the AKNN query. To answer our query efficiently, we first develop a dual-granularity (DG) indexing schema. It preserves abstracts of the road network by a tree structure, and preserves detailed network information by an extended adjacency list. Then, we propose a minimal first search (MFS) algorithm. It traverses the tree and explores the node with the minimal aggregate distance iteratively. This method suffers from false hits arising from keyword tests. Thus, we propose the collaborative filtering technique, which performs keywords test by multiple keyword bitmaps collectively rather than by only one. Extensive experiments on both real and synthetic datasets demonstrate the superiority of our algorithms and optimizing strategies.

In this paper, we identify and solve a new type of spatial queries, called continuous visible nearest neighbor (CVNN) search. Given a data set P, an obstacle set O, and a query line segment q, a CVNN query returns a set of (p, R) tuples such that p e P is the nearest neighbor (NN) to every point r along the interval R e q as well as p is visible to r. Note that p may be NULL, meaning that all points in P are invisible to all points in R, due to the obstruction of some obstacles in O. In this paper, we formulate the problem and propose efficient algorithms for CVNN query processing, assuming that both P and O are indexed by R-trees. In addition, we extend our techniques to several variations of the CVNN query. Extensive experiments verify the efficiency and effectiveness of our proposed algorithms using both real and synthetic datasets.

Complementary data are necessary to bind the positioning error growth of Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR). In this paper, absolute position updates are made possible with the online detection of different types of points of interest (POIs) located on the map. The POIs are selected depending on specific motion patterns which are associated to absolute locations on the map. To create the POIs database, the correlation between pedestrian motion and different map locations is first studied and the outcome is a typology of POIs. A K-NN (K nearest neighbors) algorithm is used to train different motion modes, which are further exploited for the detection of POIs in order to update the PDR algorithm with position data. Experimental assessment of the POI-based PDR calibration is conducted in both outdoor and indoor spaces with a focus on the transition between both environments. 90% of the time, motion is correctly classified and the PDR position is corrected with an accuracy that depends on POIs features (width of corridor/door, staircase size…). Therefore, the approach is found to be promising for enhancing PDR positioning using only map data.

A crowd enabled approach for processing nearest neighbor and range queries in incomplete databases with accuracy guarantee

The great advances in deep learning enable human beings to extract the semantic information in ubiquitous unstructured data into high-dimensional vectors, leading to an urgent priority of managing vector data. Nearest neighbor (NN) query is a pivotal question in vector data management. Unfortunately, the NN query has been proved to be intrinsically hard. Researchers, thus, turn to approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) query which targets better efficiency by slightly compromising accuracy. Despite this, existing ANN methods still incur high time and space costs, which are mainly due to the high dimensionality. Specifically, in most in-memory ANN algorithms, the time cost is dominated by the time for comparing the distances among vectors. Each distance comparison operation (DCO) involves hundreds of arithmetic operations as each vector has hundreds of dimensions. Similarly, the space cost is dominated by the space for storing the vectors. Towards the goal of reducing the time and space costs, we present three methods in this thesis. First, we observe that, for a DCO, if an approximate distance can confirm that a vector is not a NN, then it can be discarded without computing exact distances. Based on this observation, we propose a method named ADSampling. For a DCO, it iteratively and incrementally samples a few dimensions and computes an approximate distance. When this distance is accurate enough to decide the result of the DCO, it terminates sampling. Second, to further improve the efficiency of DCOs, we design an efficient distance estimator. We propose a new quantization method named RaBitQ, which maps $D$-dimensional vectors into $D$-bit strings. RaBitQ provides an unbiased and asymptotically optimal estimator with good empirical accuracy. In addition, we introduce efficient implementations of RaBitQ based on bitwise operations or SIMD-based operations. Third, by extending the RaBitQ method, we develop an algorithm which compresses a floating-point vector into a $B$-bit unsigned integer vector. We prove that our algorithm is asymptotically optimal in terms of the space-accuracy trade-off.

One of the most popular queries in vehicle navigation, continuous k nearest neighbor, has been widely addressed. However, none of them focuses on continuous lookahead k nearest neighbor. Hence, in this paper, we propose a new approach, called continuous lookahead K nearest neighbor (CLKNN). CLKNN query is different from the traditional continuous k nearest neighbor, whereby in our CLKNN, mobile users concerns with only the interest points in the forward space of query point according to a predefined moving direction. Interest points, which are behind the moving query point, are not of interest anymore. We propose algorithms for lookahead KNN as well as continuous lookahead KNN. The former is used for static query point, whereas the latter is used for moving query point. Our experiments verify the applicability of the proposed approach to solve queries which involve lookahead k nearest neighbors continuously.