Evaluation of spatial database management systems: A performance-based comparison

Abstract

This analytical research paper investigates the question which of three Spatial Database Management Systems (Oracle 11g, PostgreSQL 8.3 with PostGIS 1.2 and MySQL 5) installed on a Linux platform performs best in queries used in typical GIS applications. It assesses the components responsible for performance and identifies a suitable methodology for a comprehensible comparison of database management systems. An application is developed to precisely measure the response from the database systems, performing various queries on the geometry data. The result showed that while for lightweight operations, MySQL 5 is performing very well, the other two database systems are by far superior, and with not too much difference, the Oracle 11g DBMS performs best overall in performance critical queries. Recommendations are made with suggestions for case-specific performance measurement.