In cloud computing environments parallel kNN queries for big data is an important issue. The k nearest neighbor queries (kNN queries), designed to find k nearest neighbors from a dataset S for every object in another dataset R, is a primitive operator widely adopted by many applications including knowledge discovery, data mining, and spatial databases. This chapter proposes a parallel method of kNN queries for big data using MapReduce programming model. Firstly, this chapter proposes an approximate algorithm that is based on mapping multi-dimensional data sets into two-dimensional data sets, and transforming kNN queries into a sequence of two-dimensional point searches. Then, in two-dimensional space this chapter proposes a partitioning method using Voronoi diagram, which incorporates the Voronoi diagram into R-tree. Furthermore, this chapter proposes an efficient algorithm for processing kNN queries based on R-tree using MapReduce programming model. Finally, this chapter presents the results of extensive experimental evaluations which indicate efficiency of the proposed approach.
Efficient Maximum Range Search on Remote Spatial Databases Using k-Nearest Neighbor Queries