Development of A SOLAP Patrimony Management Application System: Fez Medina as a Case Study

It is well known that transactional and analytical systems each require different database architecture. In general, the database structure of transactional systems is optimized for consistency and efficient updates while the database structure for decision-support systems is optimized for complex query analysis and key performance indicators reporting. Spatial data has also become an important ingredient to consider in data warehouses to support spatial-temporal analysis aims. To monitor their activities and measure the performance of their procedures, today's organizations deploy data warehouses and client tools such as OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) to access, visualize, and analyze their integrated, aggregated and summarized data. Since a large part of these data has a spatial component, suitable tools are required to take full advantage of the geometry of the spatial phenomena or objects being analyzed. With this regard, Spatial OLAP (SOLAP) technology offers promising possibilities. Our study focuses on the design of a SOLAP application prototype that can be used to analyze and monitor the restoration requirement and profitability of commercial ancient houses. The Medina of Fez is taken as a case study for developing our prototype. Diagrams and geographical maps are produced for the key indicators. These can be considered as powerful intuitive charts to support visual spatio-temporal analysis.