The six faces of the data cube

This paper provides a structure to the recently intensified discussion around ‘data cubes’ as a means to facilitate management and analysis of very large volumes of structured geospatial data. The goal is to arrive to a widely agreed and harmonised definition of a ‘data cube’. To this end, we propose an approach that deconstructs the ‘data cube’ concept into distinct aspects. We have identified six such aspects, which we refer to as the 6 faces of the data cube. More than a pleasing analogy, these 6 faces are fairly independent, and hence ‘orthogonal’ domains. They should allow breaking down the description and handling of data cubes into meaningful and manageable ‘parts’, which however, only if seen holistically, make it possible to harness the full potential of this multidisciplinary infrastructure.