The large scale proliferation of multimedia data necessitates the use of sophisticated techniques for accessing the information based on the content. VideoRoadMap is a new content-based video indexing system for retrieving video clips and images from multimedia databases. The system indexes the audio-visual information using spatio-temporal features and information modelling methods. The proposed system employs adaptive similarity measurements based on the contents of media objects, resulting in more accurate retrievals. Principal component analysis and second order statistical analysis are employed to determine the appropriate combination of weight values in similarity search. In addition, VideoRoadMap includes a powerful multi-faceted querying mechanism which allows queries to be formulated and presented in a variety of modes, including query by example (image and/or video), query by sketch, and query by object motion trajectory.