The invention discloses a database operation method and device, and relates to the field of computers, in particular to the field of databases. According to the specific implementation scheme, a source file is read according to set configuration parameters, wherein the source file comprises update content of map data; and brief map data corresponding to the source file in a cache and map data in adistributed map database are updated according to the source file and the configuration parameters. According to the embodiment of the invention, the expandability of the database can be improved, and the maintenance cost is reduced.