Decentralized Spatial Computing

Decentralized Spatial Computing

Computing increasingly happens somewhere, with that geographic location important to the computational process itself. Many new and evolving spatial technologies, such as geosensor networks and smartphones, embody this trend. Conventional approaches to spatial computing are centralized, and do not account for the inherently decentralized nature of ‘computing somewhere": the limited, local knowledge of individual system components, and the interaction between those components at different locations. On the other hand, despite being an established topic in distributed systems, decentralized computing is not concerned with geographical constraints to the generation and movement of information. In this context, of (centralized) spatial computing and decentralized (non-spatial) computing, the key question becomes: ‘What makes decentralized spatial computing special?’

Decentralized Spatial Computing

Transactions on Large-Scale Data- and Knowledge- Centered Systems IX

Transactions on Large-Scale Data- and Knowledge- Centered Systems IX

The L.N.C.S. journal Transactions on Large-Scale Data- and Knowledge-Centered Systems focuses on data management, knowledge discovery, and knowledge processing, which are core and hot topics in computer science. Since the 1990s, the Internet has become the main driving force behind application development in all domains. An increase in the demand for resource sharing across different sites connected through networks has led to an evolution of data- and knowledge-management systems from centralized systems to decentralized systems enabling large-scale distributed applications providing high scalability. Current decentralized systems still focus on data and knowledge as their main resource. Feasibility of these systems relies basically on P2P (peer-to-peer) techniques and the support of agent systems with scaling and decentralized control. Synergy between Grids, P2P systems, and agent technologies is the key to data- and knowledge-centered systems in large-scale environments. This, the fifth issue of Transactions on Large-Scale Data- and Knowledge-Centered Systems, contains nine selected full-length papers, focusing on the topics of query processing, information extraction, management of dataspaces and contents, and mobile applications.

Transactions on Large-Scale Data- and Knowledge- Centered Systems IX