<s>
A	O
georelational	B-Application
data	I-Application
model	I-Application
is	O
a	O
geographic	O
data	B-Application
model	I-Application
that	O
represents	O
geographic	O
features	O
as	O
an	O
interrelated	O
set	O
of	O
spatial	O
and	O
attribute	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Meanwhile	O
,	O
the	O
relational	B-Application
database	I-Application
was	O
quickly	O
becoming	O
the	O
most	O
promising	O
software	O
for	O
managing	O
non-spatial	O
data	O
,	O
and	O
several	O
nascent	O
GIS	O
software	O
companies	O
chose	O
to	O
adopt	O
it	O
into	O
their	O
systems	O
,	O
especially	O
Esri	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
there	O
were	O
exceptions	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
object-oriented	O
data	B-Application
models	I-Application
in	O
Smallworld	O
GIS	O
(	O
1989	O
)	O
and	O
Intergraph	O
's	O
experimental	O
TIGRIS	O
,	O
georelational	O
data	O
dominated	O
the	O
GIS	O
industry	O
until	O
the	O
rise	O
of	O
spatial	B-Algorithm
databases	I-Algorithm
in	O
the	O
late	O
1990s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
georelational	O
model	O
,	O
these	O
are	O
stored	O
as	O
separate	O
files	O
:	O
a	O
geometry	O
file	O
that	O
is	O
usually	O
custom-designed	O
by	O
a	O
software	O
developer	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
a	O
particular	O
program	O
,	O
and	O
an	O
attribute	O
table	O
that	O
follows	O
relational	B-Application
database	I-Application
principles	O
;	O
often	O
,	O
the	O
latter	O
is	O
adopted	O
directly	O
from	O
an	O
existing	O
relational	B-Application
database	I-Application
management	I-Application
system	I-Application
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
INFO	O
was	O
a	O
relational	B-Application
database	I-Application
developed	O
by	O
Henco	O
Software	O
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
(	O
originally	O
for	O
financial	O
management	O
)	O
that	O
was	O
licensed	O
by	O
ESRI	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
1980s	O
,	O
Intergraph	O
was	O
an	O
industry	O
leader	O
on	O
workstation	O
CAD	B-Application
with	O
its	O
IGDS	O
software	O
,	O
including	O
Microstation	B-Algorithm
(	O
developed	O
by	O
Bentley	O
Systems	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
it	O
developed	O
MGE	O
(	O
Modular	O
GIS	O
Environment	O
)	O
,	O
its	O
first	O
flagship	O
GIS	O
product	O
,	O
it	O
directly	O
incorporated	O
the	O
Microstation	B-Algorithm
software	O
as	O
its	O
interactive	O
environment	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
Microstation	B-Algorithm
Design	O
File	O
(	O
.dgn	O
,	O
a	O
non-topological	O
vector	O
graphics	O
file	O
format	O
)	O
for	O
storing	O
graphics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
associated	O
attribute	O
table	O
could	O
be	O
stored	O
in	O
any	O
RDBMS	O
supported	O
on	O
Intergraph	O
UNIX	B-Application
workstations	O
,	O
Informix	B-Application
being	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
most	O
common	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Esri	O
released	O
ArcView	B-Application
GIS	I-Application
2.0	O
in	O
1992	O
,	O
it	O
introduced	O
the	O
new	O
shapefile	O
format	O
for	O
vector	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
a	O
much	O
simpler	O
data	B-Application
model	I-Application
,	O
eliminating	O
features	O
such	O
as	O
topology	O
,	O
but	O
was	O
still	O
a	O
georelational	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
shape-	O
"	O
file	O
"	O
actually	O
consisted	O
of	O
several	O
files	O
,	O
including	O
at	O
the	O
very	O
least	O
a	O
.shp	O
file	O
to	O
store	O
the	O
geometry	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
.dbf	O
file	O
for	O
the	O
attributes	O
,	O
the	O
latter	O
directly	O
adopting	O
the	O
dBase	B-Application
format	O
that	O
was	O
the	O
dominant	O
microcomputer	O
database	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
(	O
despite	O
it	O
being	O
a	O
proprietary	O
trade	O
secret	O
,	O
the	O
.dbf	O
format	O
had	O
been	O
legally	O
reverse-engineered	O
by	O
the	O
xBase	B-Language
community	O
and	O
published	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
