PR-tree: A multidimensional distributed index for peer-to-peer systems

At present peer-to-peer (P2P) systems provide a convenient and efficient way to share and publish data. In order to improve the efficiency of query, we are urged to find a more appropriate index. It makes the search on data objects of multidimensional space more complicated because of the logic structures of the multidimensional objects. This results in that the present spatial index structures are not match with the system of P2P data sharing. The paper put forward a multidimensional distributed index based on R-tree which is fit P2P environment very well; we named it as PR-tree. The main features of this distributed index structures are two-fold. First, it is hierarchical partitions on data space which will be searched. Second, it is completely decentralized, scalable and robust to peers joining/leaving the system. Our results show the efficacy of our approach.