A new approach to storing dynamic data in relational databases using JSON

Abstract

JavaScript Object Notation was originally designed to transfer data. However, it soon found another use as a way to persist data in NoSQL databases. Recently, the most popular relational databases introduced JSON as native column type, which makes it easier to store and query dynamic database schema. In this paper, we review the currently popular techniques of storing data with a dynamic model with a large number of relationships between entities in relational databases. We focus on creating a simple dynamic schema with JSON in the most popular relational databases and we compare it with well-known EAV/CR data model and the document database. The results of precisely selected tests in the field of Criminal Data suggest that the use of JSON in dynamic database schema greatly simplifies queries and reduces their execution time compared to widely used approaches.