A balanced hierarchical data structure for multidimensional data with highly efficient dynamic characteristics

A new multidimensional data structure, multidimensional tree (MD-tree), is proposed. The MD-tree is developed by extending the concept of the B-tree to the multidimensional data, so that the MD-tree is a height balanced tree similar to the B-tree. The theoretical worst-case storage utilization is guaranteed to hold more than 66.7% (2/3) of full capacity. The structure of the MD-tree and the algorithms to perform the insertion, deletion, and spatial searching are described. By the series of simulation tests, the performances of the MD-tree and conventional methods are compared. The results indicate that storage utilization is more than 80% in practice, and that retrieval performance and dynamic characteristics are superior to conventional methods.< >