An important step in the success of any geospatial project is the designing of spatial databases. Designing Geodatabases : Case Studies in Geodata Modelling by David Arctur and Mike Zailer delves into the subject in detail. The theoretical concepts are lucidly dealt with and the principles in designing geodatabases discussed in simple language. Each chapter largely discusses seven complex models and illustrates features, feature data sets, relationships and topology rules of each of them. The first chapter geodatabase design is an introductory chapter presenting steps to design. It shows how spatial data modelling is an extension to conventional methodologies for conceptual, logical and physical data modelling within a relational or object oriented database. It prepares readers for reading data model illustrations and recurring patterns occurring in geodatabase The following chapters deal with seven models including streams and river networks which is the title of the second chapter. It summarises the key points of Arc Hydro, a mature data model for hydrographic and hydrologic modelling applications. The third chapter on Census units and boundaries focusses on the spatial hierarchy of physical features, census blocks and higher level administrative units to make it easy for rich demographic data to be joined easily to the spatial features for further analysis. As the book is part of ESRI's ongoing exercise to publicise geodatabases and ultimately drive demand for its products, each subsequent chapter deals with remaining five models. One of the strengths of this book is in stressing the value of basics like topology rules. However, as the emphasis is on using ESRI products, the fuller exploration of database relationships is somewhere missing.

Advanced Spatial Analysis edited by Paul A Longley and Michael Batty deals with real heart of GIS, the analytical part, exploring at the scientific level the spatial relationships, patterns and processes of geographic, cultural, biological and physical phenomena. The book focuses on advanced spatial analysis from the perspective of non-domain specialised users, who wish to perform geospatial analysis in their own work without delving into the nuances of mathematics and algorithms. The book is divided into sections and each section has a few chapters on that theme, largely describing the latest developments in GIS applications at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at the University College, London. The first chapter is an introductory chapter on advanced spatial analysis extending GIS. Subsequent chapters illustrate cases from archaeology, architecture, cartography, computer science, environmental science, geography, planning, remote sensing, geomatic engineering and transport studies, thus depicting the integrating nature of GI domain. The section on Virtual Cities and Visual Simulations describes digital Egypt in the second chapter on Digital Egypt reconstruction from Egypt on the World Wide Web. It describes virtual reality reconstructions for Egyptian archaeological finds and evolves spatial modelling for the same. The section on virtual cities explores the concepts and nature of virtual cities, from early CAD models to the newly emerging data-rich cities that merge GIS with three-dimensional visualisation. The book can also be treated as a guide to urban geographers. The reading helps you understand that spatial analysis is really a kind of data-mining technology. The authors have creatively collected writings and aptly illustrated how spatial analysis ultimately leads to correct decision making.
Seema M Parihar