Linear clustering of objects with multiple attributes

There is often a need to map a multi-dimensional space on to a one-dimensional space. For example, this kind of mapping has been proposed to permit the use of one-dimensional indexing techniques to a multi-dimensional index space such as in a spatial database. This kind of mapping is also of value in assigning physical storage, such as assigning buckets to records that have been indexed on multiple attributes, to minimize the disk access effort.