A three-dimensional (3D) volumetric geo-spatial querying system. The system can
include a 3D GIS. The 3D GIS can include a database of geo-spatial data configured
to store geo-spatial data using, not two-dimensional, but three-dimensional coordinates.
The GIS further can include at least one database operation configured to process
a database query against geo-spatial data stored in the database. Notably, the
database operation can accept three-dimensional coordinates as part of the database
query. Importantly, the 3D GIS can include a geo-spatial data encoder configured
to encode the geo-spatial data prior to storing the geo-spatial data in the database.
In particular, in one aspect of the present invention, the encoder can be a helical
hyperspatial code encoder, or an oct-tree encoder.
