argues for it to serve those IGDIs (IBOs of geographically determined interest) whose
footprints overlap its domain, or to provide indirect links to the respective custodians. The
library's responsibility to its scholars argues for it to serve the results of their research
and their contributions to the corpus of human knowledge, or to provide indirect access to
IBOs on each scholar's personal server (though it will likely be argued that the institution
is more persistent than the location of the scholar). The library may also serve IBOs that
are of particular relevance to the interests of its scholars, or collections of archival IBOs
that are analogous to today's special collections. In all other cases, however, the institu-
tion will rely not on its own library but on services provided collectively and paid for col-
lectively. The research library of the digital world will be a much more specialized entity,
reflecting the effectively infinite range and zero threshold of library service provision in
the digital world (http://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu/).
The Alexandria Digital Library Project is utilizing several databases, including both
Informix/Illustra and Oracle. Illustra DBMS (now owned by Informix Software, Inc.) is
the primary catalog DBMS for the WP. Currently, Informix serves as the full catalog and
gazetteer with Illustra version 3.2 on Solaris, and a smaller California-only catalog and
gazetteer with Illustra version 2.4 on digital UNIX. The 6M-record gazetteer is one of the
largest spatial databases supported by Illustra. Oracle Corporation is the world's leading
supplier of software for information management, and the world's second-largest software
company. Oracle, as part of the ADL, will leverage its expertise in Very Large Databases
(VLDBs) as well as its ability to store and access large amounts of geographic informa-
tion to assist in the creation of very large and complex databases. Oracle Universal Server
with the Spatial Data Option will be used to build a distributed VLDB of geospatial infor-
mation. The Spatial Data Option enables spatial information to be stored, accessed, and
manipulated in the same manner as structured data and allows complete integration of
complex dimensional data into the Oracle7 release 7.3 database. Spatial data can be geo-
graphic, scientific, demographic, physical, or time-referenced.
Some of the major plans for the Alexandria Project during the next six months
include:
Conversion of the ADL middleware to Java
Redesign of the ADL catalog
Develop an ingest system for the new gazetteer
Evaluate the new Java-based client interface
Integration of research results into testbed
Making ADL an operational component of CDL
Final user evaluation and testing.
Besides the Alexandria Project and the databases that the ADL uses, other companies
and universities are dealing with geospatial data management. Core Software Technol-
ogy is one company that develops and provides software and services to handle geospa-
tial (image, cartographic, and demographic) data needs. The company's premier product,
TerraSoar 3.0, is the first comprehensive solution for the distribution of geospatial data
sets. Core's products take strategic advantage of technological progress and are based on
open industry standards. Core also operates ImageNet, the leading commercial on-line
geospatial visual indexing and distribution service. Through the company's ImageNet site
on the World Wide Web, a user can simultaneously access numerous geospatial databases
operated by Core and its affiliates across five continents.
TerraSoar allows an organization to integrate its geographic data into an enterprise-
wide solution. TerraSoar utilizes the Digital Chart of the World to specify an area of inter-
est and allows a user to zoom in to define his area of interest. TerraSoar is currently used
by organizations to manage databases ranging in size from a few thousand records to over
50 million (http://www.coresw.com/CST/).
Using ImageNet, another company dealing with geospatial data management, a user
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