Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related applications of geospatial data were once a small software niche; today nearly all Internet and mobile users utilize some sort of mapping or location-aware software. This widespread use reaches beyond mere consumption of geodata; projects like OpenStreetMap (OSM) represent a new source of geodata production, sometimes dubbed “Volunteered Geographic Information.” The volume of geodata produced and the user demand for geodata will surely continue to grow, so the storage and query techniques for geospatial data must evolve accordingly. This thesis compares three paradigms for systems that manage vector data. Over the past few decades these methodologies have fallen in and out of favor. Today, some are considered new and experimental (distributed), others nearly forgotten (flat file), and others are the workhorse of present-day GIS (relational database). Each is well-suited to some use cases, and poorly-suited to others. This thesis investigates exemplars of each paradigm.