ABSTRACT
One concept, which has been stressed throughout our discussion, is that of the digital map base as a special kind of ‘model’ of geographic reality. We have seen how data from a variety of sources may be input to the computer, and it is now necessary to consider the structures which may be used for the storage of these data. Any such database can be viewed as a computerized record-keeping system, and just as a badly organized records office will tend to sprawl and take a long time to answer a simple enquiry, so the same principles apply here. The framework chosen will have important implications for ease of access to, and size of the data, and different structures exist which will be best suited to different types of application.
