ISPRS, Vol.34, Part 2W2, “Dynamic and Multi-Dimensional GIS", Bangkok, May 23-25, 2001 
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newer than t2. Then, execute the GDSF commands stored in The system definition file define the extent of the spatial data 
the queue in the working memory W while the time print of the and names of several definition files, 
command is newer than t1. When the steps have completed, 
the entities existing in W are a part of the result. To do this Spatial index file is for high-speed spatial retrieval, which is 
operation over the leaf nodes overlapping the specified area, organized by GBD-tree. The contents of vector file and 
the change can be detected in the area. connector file are managed by this index. 
5. DATA FORMAT Legend definition file defines several attributes of depicted line 
Figure 7 shows datasets used in STIMS. The detail of the format and regions, including the kind of hatching, kind of line, 
will be released to public after fixed the detail of the format. thickness and color. 
system definition file 
F'S 7 Organization of STIMS files 
Theme definition file define several kinds of theme used in 
several kinds of spatial retrieval. A theme is defined by a 
ordered set of line kinds. For example, city shape is defined the 
region divided by shoreline, country border, prefectural border, 
city border, and sheet border. The theme definition file defines 
such kinds of line for each theme. 
Differential script file is for synchronization with external GIS. 
This file is similar with transaction file, recording addition and 
deletion of geographic entities. 
Current version of STIMS has simple DBMS to manage 
attribute information. The attribute database file showing in the 
figure is this file. For more complicated query, ordinary database 
managenet system, for example SQL server, MS ACCESS, or 
Postgre SQL, are used. To connect these attribute databases, 
STIMS provides two interfaces. The first one is attribute 
database interface file, and the other one is communication 
using ODBC. Suppose an order to color each city area to 
distinguish the population density according to a legend, the 
send to external attribute DBMS. Then the DBMS replay the 
result by an attribute database interface file. 
6. CONCLUSION 
STIMS is now implemented on PC by VC++. At present, basic 
spatio-temporal data and attribute data handling is available. 
Figure 7 shows an example of STIMS window. 
This paper describes abstract feature of spatio-temporal 
geographic information system based on Implicit topology 
description. This system will be open to public as free software 
in near future. 
At present, core of spatio-temporal management has been 
implemented, however, ample functions for spatial calculations 
and operations have not been implemented yet. According to 
user’s feedback, to enrich such functions are future issues. 
The implicit topology description model adopted in STIMS 
require much calculation time than conventional GIS. this 
problem becomes less serious according to remarkable 
progress of computer power. However, when several users 
access the system through network simultaneously, the 
calculation load may become large. The authors have been 
developping a chase method to settle the problem. To adopt the 
method to STIMS is a future work.