The spatial features in Oracle Spatial and Graph aid users in managing geographic and location-data in a native type within an Oracle database, potentially supporting a wide range of applications — from automated mapping, facilities management, and geographic information systems (AM/FM/GIS), to wireless location services and location-enabled e-business.
However, the latter two editions allow the use of a subset of spatial features (called Oracle Locator[3]) at no extra cost.
An appendix of the Oracle Spatial and Graph Developer's Guide specifies the functions allowed in Locator.
The spatial indexing system for SDO involved an adaptation of Riemannian hypercube data-structures, invoking a helical spiral through 3-dimensional space, which allows n-size of features.
The "helical hyperspatial code", or HHCode, as developed by CHS and implemented by Oracle Spatial, comprises a form of space-filling curve.