"Intelligent databases are databases that manage information in a natural way, 

making information easy to store, access, and use."

(Intelligent Database Tools & Applications by Kamran Parsaye and Mark Chignell, p. 4)

"Early maps only showed a few well-known features like the 'Pillars of Hercules' (the modern Straits of Gibraltar) or the island of Sicily. Once the map was outlined in terms of its major features, succeeding generations of mapmakers filled in the details, and the coastlines, mountains, and river systems slowly became more precisely defined. Similarly, the concentric designer begins by sketching out the main features, based on the key constraints, and then successively elaborates these until the details are crystallized."

(Parsaye & Chignell, p. 53)