Interpretations of the Cover Graphics

• The outdoors scene represents the field work nature of GIS and spatial databases. The moon symbolizes that the applications of spatial databases go beyond geographic applications. Blue sky depicts the unlimited potential of spatial database technology. The justraposition of bright and dark clouds symbolizes the light this book sheds on the subject matter of spatial databases.
• Given the boxy buildings housing computers and boxy representations for database concepts (e.g. entities in a conceptual data model, relations in a relational schema, and tables in a database system), the outdoor scene emphasizes the need for out of box thinking needed to manage spatial databases.
• As the book is a tour into the spatial databases, being within the clouds in the blue sky next to the moon reflects the idea of a trip, of flying in the space to reach certain destinations, that could be the different chapters of the book!!! Escape is a food for the imagination that this outdoor picture enables. Indeed, it urges the desire to buy the ticket to that dazzling trip; the book is hence that ticket to make the travel real ;)

  Dorsaf AZZABI, PhD student.
  Gunma. Univ. Kiryu Faculty of Engineering
  Computer Science Department, Dr. Kanamori Laboratory
  1-5-1 Tenjin-machi, Kiryu, Gunma, T 376-8515. Japan