Vague continuous K-nearest neighbor queries over moving objects with uncertain velocity in road networks

Recent research has focused on Continuous K Nearest Neighbor (CKNN) queries in road networks, where the queries and the data objects are moving. Most existing approaches assume the fixed velocity of moving objects. The release of fixed moving velocity makes the query process slowly due to the significant repetitive query cost. In this paper, we study CKNN queries over moving objects with uncertain velocity in road networks. A Distance Interval Model (DIM) is designed to calculate the minimal and maximal road network distances between moving objects and query point. Furthermore, we propose a novel Possibility-based Vague KNN (PVKNN) algorithm to process the query efficiently, which determines the CKNN query results with possibility within each division time subinterval of given time interval by applying the vague set theory. In the PVKNN algorithm, the query efficiency can be improved significantly with the pruning, distilling and possibility-ranking phases. With these phases, the objects candidates are scaled down and the given time interval is divided into subintervals to reduce the repetitive query cost. In addition, an index structure TPR^uv-Tree is designed to efficiently index moving objects with uncertain velocity in road network by involving edge connection and moving objects information. Experiments with simulation and comparison show that significant improvement in the performance of efficiency can be achieved with our proposed algorithms.     

Direction-aware KNN queries for moving objects in a road network

Recently more and more people focus on k-nearest neighbor (KNN) query processing over moving objects in road networks, e.g., taxi hailing and ride sharing. However, as far as we know, the existing k-nearest neighbor (KNN) queries take distance as the major criteria for nearest neighbor objects, even without taking direction into consideration. The main issue with existing methods is that moving objects change their locations and directions frequently over time, so the information updates cannot be processed in time and they run the risk of retrieving the incorrect KNN results. They may fail to meet users’ needs in certain scenarios, especially in the case of querying k-nearest neighbors for moving objects in a road network. In order to find the top k-nearest objects moving toward a query point, this paper presents a novel algorithm for direction-aware KNN (DAKNN) queries for moving objects in a road network. In this method, R-tree and simple grid are firstly used as the underlying index structure, where the R-tree is used for indexing the static road network and the simple grid is used for indexing the moving objects. Then, it introduces the notion of “azimuth” to represent the moving direction of objects in a road network, and presents a novel local network expansion method to quickly judge the direction of the moving objects. By considering whether a moving object is moving farther away from or getting closer to a query point, the object that is definitely not in the KNN result set is effectively excluded. Thus, we can reduce the communication cost, meanwhile simplify the computation of moving direction between moving objects and query point. Comprehensive experiments are conducted and the results show that our algorithm can achieve real-time and efficient queries in retrieving objects moving toward query point in a road network.

     

面向移动对象连续k近邻查询的双层索引结构

移动对象连续k近邻（CKNN）查询是指给定一个连续移动的对象集合,对于任意一个k近邻查询q,实时计算查询q的k近邻并在查询有效时间内对查询结果进行实时更新.现实生活中,交通出行、社交网络、电子商务等领域许多基于位置的应用服务都涉及移动对象连续k近邻查询这一基础问题.已有研究工作解决连续k近邻查询问题时,大多需要通过多次迭代确定一个包含k近邻的查询范围,而每次迭代需要根据移动对象的位置计算当前查询范围内移动对象的数量,整个迭代过程的计算代价占查询代价的很大部分.为此,提出了一种基于网络索引和混合高斯函数移动对象分布密度的双重索引结构（grid GMM index,GGI）,并设计了移动对象连续k近邻增量查询算法（incremental search for continuous k nearest neighbors,IS-CKNN）.GGI索引结构的底层采用网格索引对海量移动对象进行维护,上层构建混合高斯模型模拟移动对象在二维空间中的分布.对于给定的k近邻查询q,IS-CKNN算法能够基于混合高斯模型直接确定一个包含q的k近邻的查询区域,减少了已有算法求解该区域的多次迭代过程;当移动对象和查询q位置发生变化时,进一步提出一种高效的增量查询策略,能够最大限度地利用已有查询结果减少当前查询的计算量.最后,在滴滴成都网约车数据集以及两个模拟数据集上进行大量实验,充分验证了算法的性能.     

DART+: Direction-aware bichromatic reverse k nearest neighbor query processing in spatial databases

This article presents a novel type of queries in spatial databases, called the direction-aware bichromatic reverse k nearest neighbor(DBRkNN) queries, which extend the bichromatic reverse nearest neighbor queries. Given two disjoint sets, P and S, of spatial objects, and a query object q in S, the DBRkNN query returns a subset P′ of P such that k nearest neighbors of each object in P′ include q and each object in P′ has a direction toward q within a pre-defined distance. We formally define the DBRkNN query, and then propose an efficient algorithm, called DART, for processing the DBRkNN query. Our method utilizes a grid-based index to cluster the spatial objects, and the B⁺-tree to index the direction angle. We adopt a filter-refinement framework that is widely used in many algorithms for reverse nearest neighbor queries. In the filtering step, DART eliminates all the objects that are away from the query object more than a pre-defined distance, or have an invalid direction angle. In the refinement step, remaining objects are verified whether the query object is actually one of the k nearest neighbors of them. As a major extension of DART, we also present an improved algorithm, called DART+, for DBRkNN queries. From extensive experiments with several datasets, we show that DART outperforms an R-tree-based naive algorithm in both indexing time and query processing time. In addition, our extension algorithm, DART+, also shows significantly better performance than DART.     

Instance optimal query processing in spatial networks

The performance optimization of query processing in spatial networks focuses on minimizing network data accesses and the cost of network distance calculations. This paper proposes algorithms for network k-NN queries, range queries, closest-pair queries and multi-source skyline queries based on a novel processing framework, namely, incremental lower bound constraint. By giving high processing priority to the query associated data points and utilizing the incremental nature of the lower bound, the performance of our algorithms is better optimized in contrast to the corresponding algorithms based on known framework incremental Euclidean restriction and incremental network expansion. More importantly, the proposed algorithms are proven to be instance optimal among classes of algorithms. Through experiments on real road network datasets, the superiority of the proposed algorithms is demonstrated.     

路网中移动对象快照K近邻查询处理

扩展了一种支持路网中移动对象的位置相关查询框架的功能,利用存在磁盘上的R树来存储网络连通性和一种基于内存的网格结构来维持移动对象的位置更新,提出了基于范围查询(MNDR)的快照K近邻查询算法(SKNN),对空间中的任意一条边,分析可能受影响的最大数量和最小数量的网格单元格,说明用于快照范围查询处理的搜索空间的最大范围,预估包含查询结果的子空间,使用这个子空间作为范围调用MNDR来有效地计算路网中查询点的KNN POI,降低I/O成本,缩短查询时间。通过实验对比,当规模扩展到数十万的移动对象时,SKNN比种有效查询处理空间网络数据的预计算方法S-GRID有更好大的系统吞吐量。     

Continuous monitoring of range spatial keyword query over moving objects

In this paper, we propose an efficient solution for processing continuous range spatial keyword queries over moving spatio-textual objects (namely, CRSK-mo queries). Major challenges in efficient processing of CRSK-mo queries are as follows: (i) the query range is determined based on both spatial proximity and textual similarity; thus a straightforward spatial proximity based pruning of the search space is not applicable as any object far from a query location with a high textual similarity score can still be the answer (and vice versa), (ii) frequent location updates may invalidate a query result, and thus require frequent re-computing of the result set for any object updates. To address these challenges, the key idea of our approach is to exploit the spatial and textual upper bounds between queries and objects to form safe zones (at the client-side) and buffer regions (at the server-side), and then use these bounds to quickly prune objects and queries through smart in-memory data structures. We conduct extensive experiments with a synthetic dataset that verify the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed algorithm.     

Voronoi-based range and continuous range query processing in mobile databases

With the wide availability of mobile devices (smart phones, iPhones, etc.), mobile location-based queries are increasingly in demand. One of the most frequent queries is range search which returns objects of interest within a pre-defined area. Most of the existing methods are based on the road network expansion method – expanding all nodes (intersections and objects) and computing the distance of each node to the query point. Since road networks are extremely complex, node expansion approaches are inefficient. In this paper, we propose a method, Voronoi Range Search (VRS) based on the Voronoi diagram, to process range search queries efficiently and accurately by partitioning the road networks to some special polygons. Then we further propose Voronoi Continuous Range (VCR) to satisfy the requirement for continuous range search queries (moving queries) based on VRS. Our empirical experiments show that VRS and VCR surpass all their rivals for both static and moving queries.     

路网中双色数据集上连续反向k近邻查询处理的研究

近年来,反向最近邻查询(RNN)算法研究得到了普遍的关注,成为了数据库领域的一个研究热点。欧氏空 间中提出了较多的高效算法,而路网中的反向最近邻处理方面所做的工作不够,有关这方面的成果较少。路网中查询 点和数据对象之间以及不同数据对象之间的距离受到路网连通性的影响,欧氏空间中的反向最近部方法在路网中不 适用。反向最近部查询有两种类型:单色反向最近部查询(Monochromatic RNN, MRNN)和双色反向最近部查询(13i- chromatic RNN,13RNN)。到目前为止,仍然没有有效的算法来处理路网中双色数据集上的连续反向k近部查询。因 此,研究路网中双色数据集上连续反向k近部查询是很有意义的。     

道路网中的移动对象连续范围查询

研究了采用网络距离的道路网上移动对象连续多范围查询处理技术。设计了道路网、移动对象和查询数据在内存中存储的数据模型。基于该数据模型提出了两种道路网上的移动对象连续多范围查询处理算法。其中,增量式范围查询算法(incremental range query algorithm,IRQA)通过使用扩张树和影响列表结构减少查询的重新计算;组范围查询算法(group range query algorithm,GRQA)利用同一路径上多查询的结果具有相关性这一特点减少查询的重新计算。实验结果表明GRQA算法在查询分布比较集中时性能较优,IRQA算法在查询均匀分布时性能较优,此外,两种算法均优于重新计算所有查询结果的原始算法。     

可伸缩的增量连续k近邻查询处理

针对基于TPR树(time-parameterized R-tree)索引的大量并发CKNN(continuous k-nearest neighbor)查询处理,提出了一种可伸缩的增量连续k近邻查询处理(scalable processing of incremental continuous k-nearest neighbor queries,简称SI-CNN)框架,通过引入搜索区域进行预裁剪以减少查询更新所需要的TPR树节点访问代价,并引入了增量结果表以保存候选对象,批量地更新查询结果集,具有良好的可伸缩性.基于SI-CNN框架提出了一种增量更新的SI-CNN查询处理算法,能够基于上次查询结果增量的更新查询,支持查询集合中加入或删除查询和移动对象数据集的插入、删除等动态更新操作.实验结果与分析表明,基于SI-CNN框架的SI-CNN算法可以很好地支持大量并发的CKNN查询处理,具有良好的实用价值.     

分布式环境下大规模移动对象范围查询算法

移动对象的连续范围查询是许多基于位置的服务的核心问题。针对该问题,提出一种面向大规模移动对象并发范围查询的分布式搜索方法。首先,设计了一种由全局网格索引（GGI）和局部弹性四叉树构成的移动对象分布式动态索引（DDI）结构。其次,提出了一种基于DDI结构的分布式查询算法（DSA）,该算法首先引入了一种在移动对象和查询点的位置连续变化的情况下的查询结果增量更新策略;然后,在增量更新过程中引入一种面向多并发查询的共享计算优化策略,该策略能够根据已有计算结果对移动对象范围查询结果进行增量搜索。最后,基于德国路网模拟了3个具有不同空间分布的移动对象数据集,将DSA与NS(Naive Search)、GI(Grid Index)和分布式混合索引（DHI）进行对比。实验结果表明,与性能最好的对比算法DHI相比,DSA的初始查询时间减少了22.7%,增量查询时间减少了15.2%,性能优于对比算法。     

Spatial inverse query processing

Traditional spatial queries return, for a given query object q, all database objects that satisfy a given predicate, such as epsilon range and k-nearest neighbors. This paper defines and studies inverse spatial queries, which, given a subset of database objects Q and a query predicate, return all objects which, if used as query objects with the predicate, contain Q in their result. We first show a straightforward solution for answering inverse spatial queries for any query predicate. Then, we propose a filter-and-refinement framework that can be used to improve efficiency. We show how to apply this framework on a variety of inverse queries, using appropriate space pruning strategies. In particular, we propose solutions for inverse epsilon range queries, inverse k-nearest neighbor queries, and inverse skyline queries. Furthermore, we show how to relax the definition of inverse queries in order to ensure non-empty result sets. Our experiments show that our framework is significantly more efficient than naive approaches.     

Spatial query processing for fuzzy objects

Range and nearest neighbor queries are the most common types of spatial queries, which have been investigated extensively in the last decades due to its broad range of applications. In this paper, we study this problem in the context of fuzzy objects that have indeterministic boundaries. Fuzzy objects play an important role in many areas, such as biomedical image databases and GIS communities. Existing research on fuzzy objects mainly focuses on modeling basic fuzzy object types and operations, leaving the processing of more advanced queries largely untouched. In this paper, we propose two new kinds of spatial queries for fuzzy objects, namely single threshold query and continuous threshold query, to determine the query results which qualify at a certain probability threshold and within a probability interval, respectively. For efficient single threshold query processing, we optimize the classical R-tree-based search algorithm by deriving more accurate approximations for the distance function between fuzzy objects and the query object. To enhance the performance of continuous threshold queries, effective pruning rules are developed to reduce the search space and speed up the candidate refinement process. The efficiency of our proposed algorithms as well as the optimization techniques is verified with an extensive set of experiments using both synthetic and real datasets.     

Direction-based surrounder queries for mobile recommendations

Location-based recommendation services recommend objects to the user based on the user’s preferences. In general, the nearest objects are good choices considering their spatial proximity to the user. However, not only the distance of an object to the user but also their directional relationship are important. Motivated by these, we propose a new spatial query, namely a direction-based surrounder (DBS) query, which retrieves the nearest objects around the user from different directions. We define the DBS query not only in a two-dimensional Euclidean space \mathbbE{\mathbb{E}} but also in a road network \mathbbR{\mathbb{R}} . In the Euclidean space \mathbbE{\mathbb{E}} , we consider two objects a and b are directional close w.r.t. a query point q iff the included angle Daqb{\angle aqb} is bounded by a threshold specified by the user at the query time. In a road network \mathbbR{\mathbb{R}} , we consider two objects a and b are directional close iff their shortest paths to q overlap. We say object a dominates object b iff they are directional close and meanwhile a is closer to q than b. All the objects that are not dominated by others based on the above dominance relationship constitute direction-based surrounders (DBSs). In this paper, we formalize the DBS query, study it in both the snapshot and continuous settings, and conduct extensive experiments with both real and synthetic datasets to evaluate our proposed algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms can answer DBS queries efficiently.     

Round-Eye: A system for tracking nearest surrounders in moving object environments

This paper presents “Round-Eye”, a system for tracking nearest surrounding objects (or nearest surrounders) in moving object environments. This system provides a platform for surveillance applications. The core part of this system is continuous nearest surrounder (NS) query that maintains views of the nearest objects at distinct angles from query points. This query differs from conventional spatial queries such as range queries and nearest neighbor queries as NS query considers both distance and angular aspects of objects with respect to a query point at the same time. In our system framework, a centralized server is dedicated (1) to collect location updates of both objects and queries, (2) to determine which NS queries are invalidated in presence of object/query location changes and corresponding result changes if any, and (3) to refresh the affected query answers. To enhance the system performance in terms of processing time and network bandwidth consumption, we propose various techniques, namely, safe region, partial query reevaluation, and incremental query result update. Through simulations, we evaluate our system with the proposed techniques over a wide range of settings.     

Scalable processing of continuous K-nearest neighbor queries with uncertain velocity

Continuous K-nearest neighbor (CKNN) query is an important type of spatio-temporal queries. Given a time interval [t_s, t_e] and a moving query object q, a CKNN query is to find the K-nearest neighbors (KNNs) of q at each time instant within [t_s, t_e]. In this paper, we focus on the issue of scalable processing of CKNN queries over moving objects with uncertain velocity. Due to the large amount of CKNN queries that need to be evaluated concurrently, efficiently processing such queries inevitably becomes more complicated. We propose an index structure, namely the CI-tree, to predetermine and organize the candidates for each query issued by the user from anywhere and anytime. When the CKNN queries are evaluated, their corresponding candidates can be rapidly retrieved by traversing the CI-tree so that the processing time is greatly reduced. A comprehensive set of experiments is performed to demonstrate the effectiveness and the efficiency of the CI-tree.     

Localized monitoring of kNN queries in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks have been widely used in civilian and military applications. Primarily designed for monitoring purposes, many sensor applications require continuous collection and processing of sensed data. Due to the limited power supply for sensor nodes, energy efficiency is a major performance concern in query processing. In this paper, we focus on continuous kNN query processing in object tracking sensor networks. We propose a localized scheme to monitor nearest neighbors to a query point. The key idea is to establish a monitoring area for each query so that only the updates relevant to the query are collected. The monitoring area is set up when the kNN query is initially evaluated and is expanded and shrunk on the fly upon object movement. We analyze the optimal maintenance of the monitoring area and develop an adaptive algorithm to dynamically decide when to shrink the monitoring area. Experimental results show that establishing a monitoring area for continuous kNN query processing greatly reduces energy consumption and prolongs network lifetime.     

基于Voronoi-R*的隐私保护路网k近邻查询方法

针对已有的保护位置隐私路网k近邻查询依赖可信匿名服务器造成的安全隐患,以及服务器端全局路网索引利用效率低的缺陷,提出基于路网局部索引机制的保护位置隐私路网近邻查询方法.查询客户端通过与LBS服务器的一轮通信获取局部路网信息,生成查询位置所在路段满足l-路段多样性的匿名查询序列,并将匿名查询序列提交LBS服务器,从而避免保护位置隐私查询对可信第三方服务器的依赖.在LBS服务器端,提出基于路网基本单元划分的分段式近邻查询处理策略,对频繁查询请求路网基本单元,构建基于路网泰森多边形和R^*树的局部Vor-R^*索引结构,实现基于索引的快速查找.对非频繁请求路网基本单元,采用常规路网扩张查询处理.有效降低索引存储规模和基于全局索引进行无差异近邻查询的访问代价,在保证查询结果正确的同时,提高了LBS服务器端k近邻查询处理效率.理论分析和实验结果表明,所提方法在兼顾查询准确性的同时,有效地提高了查询处理效率.     

Continuous range-based skyline queries in road networks

With the ever-growing popularity of smartphone devices in recent years, skyline queries over spatial Web objects in road networks have received increasing attention. In the literature, various techniques have been developed to tackle skyline queries that take both spatial and non-spatial attributes into consideration. However, the existing solutions only focus on solving point-based queries, where the query location is a spatial point. We observe that in many real-life applications, the user location is often represented by a spatial range. Thus, in this paper, we study a new problem of range-based skyline queries (CRSQs) in road networks. Two efficient algorithms named landmark-based (LBA) and index-based (IBA) algorithms are proposed. We also present incremental versions of LBA and IBA to handle continuous range-based skyline queries over moving objects. Extensive experiments using real road network datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed algorithms.