Spatial data warehouses: a methodological framework

In this paper, we propose a methodological framework dedicated to spatial data warehouses. Due to the specificities of such data, we have to take into account spatial measures and dimensions during the construction of a multidimensional data cube. OLAP tools can be used during the exploratory step and can be seen as a preprocessing phase before data mining. Generalization and specialization should be used during the execution of these methods. A few studies have already been conducted to define a methodology for designing multidimensional models for spatial data. This paper deals with the design of a spatial multidimensional model and also with spatial data analysis for decisional applications.