Semi-Structured Data Modelling for a Web-Enabled Engineering Application
Edvinas Rasys, Nashwan N. Dawood · 2012
This paper is part of a larger research project, initiated to leverage the existing NoSQL database storage solutions for creating a platform-independent, fast, scalable and reliable database, capable of efficiently storing and retrieving information for oil & gas/civil engineering projects. This information is usually stored in SQL-based data warehouses to facilitate planning, maintenance or shutdown business processes. The proposed semi-structured database system stores information in JSON format, thus requiring a different approach in structuring, querying and aggregating data. The prototype storage model implemented in MongoDB looks very promising. JSON structure is a convenient way for storing project data, test scenarios show it being faster than a SQL alternative, and flexible schema definition means it is properly aligned with the agile development strategy. This storage approach fulfils the requirements of the project and is expected to be expanded to support ontology-driven storage, knowledge sharing and 3D model integration for a web application.