Statistical and Scientific Database Issues

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the research issues of statistical and scientific databases (SSDB's). It organizes the issues into four major groups: physical organization and access methods, operators, logical organization and user interfaces, and miscellaneous issues. It emphasizes the differences between SSDB's and traditional database applications, and motivates the need for new and innovative techniques for the support of SSDB's. In addition to describing current work in this field, it discusses open research areas and proposes possible approaches to their solution.