Index Structures for XML Databases

Abstract

Extensible Markup Language (XML), which provides a flexible way to define semistructured data, is a de facto standard for information exchange in the World Wide Web. The trend towards storing data in its XML format has meant a rapid growth in XML databases and the need to query them. Indexing plays a key role in improving the execution of a query. In this chapter the authors give a brief history of the creation and the development of the XML data model. They discuss the three main categories of indexes proposed in the literature to handle the XML semistructured data model and provide an evaluation of indexing schemes within these categories. Finally, they discuss limitations and open problems related to the major existing indexing schemes.