The SH-tree

Nowadays feature vector based similarity search is increasingly emerging in database systems. Consequently, many multidimensional data index techniques have been widely introduced to database researcher community. These index techniques are categorized into two main classes: SP (space partitioning)/KD-tree-based and DP (data partitioning)/R-tree-based. Recently, a hybrid index structure has been proposed. It combines both SP/KDtree-based and DP/R-tree-based techniques to form a new, more efficient index structure. However, weaknesses are still existed in techniques above. In this paper, we introduce a novel and flexible index structure for multidimensional data, the SH-tree (Super Hybrid tree). Theoretical analyses show that the SHtree is a good combination of both techniques with respect to both presentation and search algorithms. It overcomes the shortcomings and makes use of their positive aspects to facilitate efficient similarity searches.