ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2, we saw that the nature of spatial data means that it is difficult to store vector data in a database. In the days when GIS was first being developed, programmers were therefore forced to develop their own ways of storing and processing vector data. A common solution was to separate the attribute data as this could be handled using a standard database. This was not a universal solution by any means, but for the time being, we will concentrate on what was done to store the locational data for points, lines and areas.
