HERMES: A Trajectory DB Engine for Mobility-Centric Applications

This paper presents HERMES, a prototype DB engine that defines a powerful query language for trajectory databases, which enables the support of mobility-centric applications, such as Location-Based Services LBS. HERMES extends the data definition and manipulation language of Object-Relational DBMS ORDBMS with spatio-temporal semantics and functionality based on advanced spatio-temporal indexing and query processing techniques. Its implementation over two ORDBMS and its utilization in various domains proves the expressive power and applicability of HERMES in different application domains where knowledge regarding mobility data is essential. As a proof-of-concept, in this paper HERMES is applied to a case study related with vehicle traffic analysis, demonstrating its flexibility and usefulness for delivering custom-defined LBS.