The story of DB4GeO-A service-based geo-database architecture to support multi-dimensional data analysis and visualization

Multi-dimensional data analysis and visualization need efficient data handling to archive original data, to reproduce results on large data sets, and to retrieve space and time partitions just in time. This article tells the story of more than twenty years research resulting in the development of DB4GeO, a web service-based geo-database architecture for geo-objects to support the data handling of 3D/4D geo-applications. Starting from the roots and lessons learned, the concepts and implementation of DB4GeO are described in detail. Furthermore, experiences and extensions to DB4GeO are presented. Finally, conclusions and an outlook on further research also considering 3D/4D geo-applications for DB4GeO in the context of Dubai 2020 are given. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Inc. (ISPRS).