1. A method for producing a database that represents a road network in a geographic region for comprising the steps of: spatially parcelizing a plurality of data entities into a plurality of parcels wherein each parcel said plurality of parcels contains a separate subset of said plurality of data entities; with respect to each of said parcels, determining a plurality of sub-areas each of which encompasses some of the geographic features represented by the data entities contained in said parcel; and storing a first index identifying with respect to each of the data entities contained in said parcel each of said sub-areas intersected by the geographic feature represented thereby.