A metric tree is any tree data structure specialized to index data in metric spaces. Metric trees exploit properties of metric spaces such as the triangle inequality to make accesses to the data more efficient. Examples include the M-tree, vp-trees, cover trees, MVP Trees, and BK-trees.
Most algorithms and data structures for searching a dataset are based on the classical binary search algorithm, and generalizations such as the k-d tree or range tree work by interleaving the binary search algorithm over the separate coordinates and treating each spatial coordinate as an independent search constraint. These data structures are well-suited for range query problems asking for every point that satisfies and .