Location Database
Location Database is a more user-friendly or marketing-oriented term that emphasizes the primary utility of such a system: managing and querying data based on its physical location. While accurate in its description of the functionality, it might not fully convey the sophisticated underlying geometric and topological capabilities that define a true spatial database. It often implies simpler point-based location data rather than complex polygons or network analysis.
The term Geodatabase has a specific connotation, especially within the Geographic special database Information Systems (GIS) industry. While it is a type of geographic database, it is also a proprietary data model developed by Esri (the creators of ArcGIS, a leading GIS software suite). An Esri Geodatabase is a structured collection of geographic datasets (feature classes, raster datasets, tables, etc.) that can be stored within various relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle) or as file-based databases. When someone says "geodatabase," they often implicitly refer to this Esri-specific implementation, which includes additional functionality like topology rules, geometric networks, and versioning capabilities directly managed by Esri's software. Therefore, while a Geodatabase is a spatial database, not all spatial databases are Geodatabases.
Why Use a Spatial Database?
The need for spatial databases arises from the unique nature of spatial data and the types of queries that need to be performed on it.
Complexity of Spatial Relationships: Determining if two polygons overlap, finding the shortest route between two points on a road network, or identifying all points within a certain distance of a line are complex computational tasks that traditional databases are ill-equipped to handle efficiently.
Performance: Without specialized spatial indexing and functions, spatial queries on large datasets would be prohibitively slow, requiring full table scans and complex geometric calculations in application code.