MySQL 4.1 introduces spatial extensions to allow the generation, storage, and analysis of geographic features. This chapter covers the following topics:
MySQL implements spatial extensions following the specification of
the Open GIS Consortium
(OGC). This is an international consortium
of more than 250 companies, agencies, and universities participating
in the development of publicly available conceptual solutions that can be
useful with all kinds of applications that manage spatial data.
The OGC maintains a web site at http://www.opengis.org/.
In 1997, the Open GIS Consortium published the OpenGIS (R) Simple Features Specifications For SQL, a document that proposes several conceptual ways for extending an SQL RDBMS to support spatial data. This specification is available from the Open GIS web site at http://www.opengis.org/techno/implementation.htm. It contains additional information relevant to this chapter.
MySQL implements a subset of the SQL with Geometry Types environment proposed by OGC. This term refers to an SQL environment that has been extended with a set of geometry types. A geometry-valued SQL column is implemented as a column that has a geometry type. The specifications describe a set of SQL geometry types, as well as functions on those types to create and analyse geometry values.
A geographic feature is anything in the world that has a location. A feature can be:
You can also find documents that use term geospatial feature to refer to geographic features.
Geometry is another word that denotes a geographic feature. The original meaning of the word geometry denotes a branch of mathematics. Another meaning comes from cartography, referring to the geometric features that cartographers use to map the world.
This chapter uses all of these terms synonymously: geographic feature, geospatial feature, feature, or geometry. The term most commonly used here is geometry.
Let's define a geometry as a point or an aggregate of points representing anything in the world that has a location.
The set of geometry types proposed by OGC's SQL with Geometry Types environment is based on the OpenGIS Geometry Model. In this model, each geometric object has the following general properties:
The geometry classes define a hierarchy as follows:
Geometry
(non-instantiable)
Point
(instantiable)
Curve
(non-instantiable)
LineString
(instantiable)
Line
LinearRing
Surface
(non-instantiable)
Polygon
(instantiable)
GeometryCollection
(instantiable)
MultiPoint
(instantiable)
MultiCurve
(non-instantiable)
MultiLineString
(instantiable)
MultiSurface
(non-instantiable)
MultiPolygon
(instantiable)
Some of these classes are abstract (non-instantiable). That is, it is not possible to create an object of these classes. Other classes are instantiable and objects may be created of them. Each class has properties and instantiable classes may have assertions (rules that define valid class instances).
Geometry
is the base class. It's an abstract class.
The instantiable subclasses of Geometry
are restricted to zero-, one-,
and two-dimensional geometric objects that exist in
two-dimensional coordinate space. All instantiable geometry classes are
defined so that valid instances of a geometry class are topologically closed
(that is, all defined geometries include their boundary).
The base Geometry
class has subclasses for Point
,
Curve
, Surface
and GeometryCollection
:
Point
represents zero-dimensional objects.
Curve
represents one-dimensional objects, and has subclass
LineString
, with sub-subclasses Line
and LinearRing
.
Surface
is designed for two-dimensional objects and
has subclass Polygon
.
GeometryCollection
has specialised zero-, one-, and two-dimensional collection classes named
MultiPoint
, MultiLineString
, and MultiPolygon
for modelling geometries corresponding to collections of
Points
, LineStrings
, and Polygons
, respectively.
MultiCurve
and MultiSurface
are introduced as abstract superclasses
that generalise the collection interfaces to handle Curves
and Surfaces
.
Geometry
, Curve
, Surface
, MultiCurve
,
and MultiSurface
are defined as non-instantiable classes.
They define a common set of methods for their subclasses and
are included for the reason of extensibility.
Point
, LineString
, Polygon
, GeometryCollection
,
MultiPoint
, MultiLineString
, and
MultiPolygon
are instantiable classes.
Geometry
Geometry
is the root class of the hierarchy. It is a
non-instantiable class but has a number of properties that are common to
all geometry values created from any of the Geometry
subclasses.
These properties are described in the following list. (Particular
subclasses have their own specific properties, described later.)
A geometry value has the following properties:
((MINX MINY, MAXX MINY, MAXX MAXY, MINX MAXY, MINX MINY))
LineString
, MultiPoint
,
MultiLineString)
are either simple of non-simple. Each type determines its own assertions
for being simple or non-simple.
LineString
, MultiString
) are
either closed
or not closed. Each type determines its own assertions for being closed
or not closed.
NULL
value).
An empty geometry is defined to be always simple and has an area of 0.
Point
objects have a dimension of zero. LineString
objects have a dimension of 1. Polygon
objects have a
dimension of 2. The dimensions of MultiPoint
,
MultiLineString
, and MultiPolygon
objects are the
same as the dimensions of the elements they consist of.
Point
A Point
is a geometry that represents a single
location in coordinate space.
Point
ExamplesPoint
PropertiesPoint
is defined as a zero-dimensional geometry.
Point
is the empty set.
Curve
A Curve
is a one-dimensional geometry, usually represented by a sequence
of points. Particular subclasses of Curve
define the type of
interpolation between points. Curve
is a non-instantiable class.
Curve
PropertiesCurve
is defined as one-dimensional geometry.
Curve
is simple if it does not pass through the same point twice.
Curve
is closed if its start point is equal to its end point.
Curve
is empty.
Curve
consists of its two end points.
Curve
that is simple and closed is a LinearRing
.
LineString
A LineString
is a Curve
with linear interpolation between points.
LineString
ExamplesLineString
objects could represent rivers.
LineString
objects could represent streets.
LineString
PropertiesLineString
segments, defined by each consecutive pair of points.
LineString
is a Line
if it consists of exactly two points.
LineString
is a LinearRing
if it's both closed and simple.
Surface
A Surface
is a two-dimensional geometry. It is a non-instantiable
class. Its only instantiable subclass is Polygon
.
Surface
PropertiesSurface
is defined as a two-dimensional geometry.
Surface
as a geometry that
consists of a single ``patch'' that is associated with a single exterior
boundary and zero or more interior boundaries.
Surface
is the set of closed curves
corresponding to its exterior and interior boundaries.
Polygon
A Polygon
is a planar Surface
representing a multisided
geometry. It is defined by a single exterior boundary and zero or more
interior boundaries, where
each interior boundary defines a hole in the Polygon
.
Polygon
ExamplesPolygon
objects could represent forests, districts, etc.
Polygon
AssertionsPolygon
consists of a set of LinearRing
s
(that is, LineString
s that are both simple and closed) that make up its
exterior and interior boundaries.
Polygon
may intersect at a Point
, but only as a tangent.
Polygon
may not have cut lines, spikes, or punctures.
Polygon
is a connected point set.
Polygon
with one or more holes is not connected.
Each hole defines a connected component of the exterior.
In the above assertions, polygons are simple geometries. These assertions make
a Polygon
a simple geometry.
GeometryCollection
A GeometryCollection
is a geometry that is a collection of one or more
geometries of any class.
All the elements in a GeometryCollection
must be in
the same Spatial Reference System (that is, in the same coordinate system).
GeometryCollection
places no other constraints on its elements,
although the
subclasses of GeometryCollection
described in the following sections
may restrict membership. Retrictions may be based on:
MultiPoint
may contain only Point
elements)
MultiPoint
A MultiPoint
is a geometry collection composed of
Point
elements. The points are not connected or ordered
in any way.
MultiPoint
ExamplesMultipoint
could represent a chain of small islands.
Multipoint
could represent the outlets for a ticket
office.
MultiPoint
PropertiesMultiPoint
is defined as a zero-dimensional geometry.
MultiPoint
is simple if no two of its Point
values are
equal (have identical coordinate values).
MultiPoint
is the empty set.
MultiCurve
A MultiCurve
is a geometry collection composed of
Curve
elements. MultiCurve
is a non-instantiable class.
MultiCurve
PropertiesMultiCurve
is defined as a one-dimensional geometry.
MultiCurve
is simple if and only if all of its elements are simple,
the only intersections between any two elements occur at points that are
on the boundaries of both elements.
MultiCurve
is obtained by applying the ``mod 2 union
rule'' (also known as the odd-even rule):
A point is in the boundary of a MultiCurve
if it is in the
boundaries of an odd number of MultiCurve
elements.
MultiCurve
is closed if all of its elements are closed.
MultiCurve
is always empty.
MultiLineString
A MultiLineString
is a MultiCurve
geometry collection composed
of LineString
elements.
MultiLineString
ExamplesMultiLineString
could represent a river system or
a highway system.
MultiSurface
A MultiSurface
is a geometry collection composed of surface elements.
MultiSurface
is a non-instantiable class. Its only instantiable
subclass is MultiPolygon
.
MultiSurface
AssertionsMultiSurface
may not intersect.
MultiSurface
may
intersect at most at a finite number of points.
MultiPolygon
A MultiPolygon
is a MultiSurface
object composed of
Polygon
elements.
MultiPolygon
ExamplesMultiPolygon
could represent a system of lakes.
MultiPolygon
AssertionsPolygon
values that are elements of a
MultiPolygon
may not intersect.
Polygon
values that are elements of a
MultiPolygon
may
not cross and may touch at only a finite number of points.
(Crossing is also forbidden by the preceding assertion.)
MultiPolygon
may not have cut lines, spikes or punctures. A
MultiPolygon
is a regular, closed point set.
MultiPolygon
composed of more than one Polygon
is not connected. The number of connected components of the interior
of a MultiPolygon
is equal to the number of Polygon
values in
the MultiPolygon
.
MultiPolygon
PropertiesMultiPolygon
is defined as a two-dimensional geometry.
MultiPolygon
is a set of closed curves
(LineString
values) corresponding to the boundaries of its
Polygon
elements.
Curve
in the boundary of the MultiPolygon
is in the
boundary of exactly one element Polygon
.
Curve
in the boundary of an element Polygon
is
in the boundary of the MultiPolygon
.
This section describes the standard spatial data formats that are used to represent geometry objects in queries. They are:
Internally, MySQL stores geometry values in a format that is not identical to either WKT or WKB format.
The Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of Geometry is designed to exchange geometry data in ASCII form.
Examples of WKT representations of geometry objects are:
Point
:
POINT(15 20)Note that point coordinates are specified with no separating comma.
LineString
with four points:
LINESTRING(0 0, 10 10, 20 25, 50 60)
Polygon
with one exterior ring and one interior ring:
POLYGON((0 0,10 0,10 10,0 10,0 0),(5 5,7 5,7 7,5 7, 5 5))
MultiPoint
with three Point
values:
MULTIPOINT(0 0, 20 20, 60 60)
MultiLineString
with two LineString
values:
MULTILINESTRING((10 10, 20 20), (15 15, 30 15))
MultiPolygon
with two Polygon
values:
MULTIPOLYGON(((0 0,10 0,10 10,0 10,0 0)),((5 5,7 5,7 7,5 7, 5 5)))
GeometryCollection
consisting of two Point
values and one
LineString
:
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(10 10), POINT(30 30), LINESTRING(15 15, 20 20))
A Backus-Naur grammer that specifies the formal production rules for writing WKT values may be found in the OGC specification document referenced near the beginning of this chapter.
The Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation for geometric values is defined by the OpenGIS specifications. It is also defined in the ISO ``SQL/MM Part 3: Spatial'' standard.
WKB is used to exchange geometry data as binary streams represented by
BLOB
values containing geometric WKB information.
WKB uses 1-byte unsigned integers, 4-byte unsigned integers, and 8-byte double-precision numbers (IEEE 754 format). A byte is 8 bits.
For example, a WKB value that corresponds to POINT(1 1)
consists of
this sequence of 21 bytes (each represented here by two hex digits):
0101000000000000000000F03F000000000000F03F
The sequence may be broken down into these components:
Byte order : 01 WKB type : 01000000 X : 000000000000F03F Y : 000000000000F03F
Component representation is as follows:
Point
,
LineString
,
Polygon
,
MultiPoint
,
MultiLineString
,
MultiPolygon
,
and
GeometryCollection
.
Point
value has X and Y coordinates, each represented as a
double-precision value.
WKB values for more complex geometry values are represented by more complex data structures, as detailed in the OpenGIS specification.
This section describes the datatypes you can use for representing spatial data in MySQL, and the functions available for creating and retrieving spatial values.
MySQL provides a set of datatypes that correspond to classes in the class hierarchy of the OpenGIS Geometry Model. Some of these types hold single geometry values:
GEOMETRY
POINT
LINESTRING
POLYGON
GEOMETRY
is the most general of these single-value types;
it can store geometry values of any type.
The others restrict their values to a particular geometry type.
The other datatypes hold collections of values:
MULTIPOINT
MULTILINESTRING
MULTIPOLYGON
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION
can store a collection of objects
of any type. The other collection types
restrict collection members to those having a particular geometry type.
This section describes how to create spatial values using Well-Known Text and Well-Known Binary functions that are defined in the OpenGIS standard, and using MySQL-specific functions.
MySQL provides a number of functions that take as input parameters a Well-Known Text representation (and, optionally, a spatial reference system identifier (SRID)), and return the corresponding geometry.
GeomFromText()
accepts a WKT of any geometry type as its first
argument. An implementation also provides type-specific construction
functions for construction of geometry values of each geometry type.
GeomFromText(wkt[,srid])
GeometryFromText(wkt[,srid])
PointFromText(wkt[,srid])
POINT
value using its WKT representation and SRID.
LineFromText(wkt[,srid])
LineStringFromText(wkt[,srid])
LINESTRING
value using its WKT representation and SRID.
PolyFromText(wkt[,srid])
PolygonFromText(wkt[,srid])
POLYGON
value using its WKT representation and SRID.
MPointFromText(wkt[,srid])
MultiPointFromText(wkt[,srid])
MULTIPOINT
value using its WKT representation and SRID.
MLineFromText(wkt[,srid])
MultiLineStringFromText(wkt[,srid])
MULTILINESTRING
value using its WKT representation and SRID.
MPolyFromText(wkt[,srid])
MultiPolygonFromText(wkt[,srid])
MULTIPOLYGON
value using its WKT representation and SRID.
GeomCollFromText(wkt[,srid])
GeometryCollectionFromText(wkt[,srid])
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION
value using its WKT representation and SRID.
The OpenGIS specification also describes optional functions for constructing
Polygon
or MultiPolygon
values based on the WKT representation
of a collection of rings or closed LineString
values. These values
may intersect. MySQL does not yet implement these functions:
BdPolyFromText(wkt,srid)
Polygon
value from a
MultiLineString
value in WKT format containing
an arbitrary collection of closed LineString
values.
BdMPolyFromText(wkt,srid)
MultiPolygon
value from a
MultiLineString
value in WKT format containing
an arbitrary collection of closed LineString
values.
MySQL provides a number of functions that take as input parameters a
BLOB
containing a Well-Known Binary representation
(and, optionally, a spatial reference
system identifier (SRID)), and return the corresponding geometry.
GeomFromWKT()
accepts a WKB of any geometry type as its first
argument. An implementation also provides type-specific construction
functions for construction of geometry values of each geometry type.
GeomFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
GeometryFromWKB(wkt[,srid])
PointFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
POINT
value using its WKB representation and SRID.
LineFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
LineStringFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
LINESTRING
value using its WKB representation and SRID.
PolyFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
PolygonFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
POLYGON
value using its WKB representation and SRID.
MPointFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
MultiPointFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
MULTIPOINT
value using its WKB representation and SRID.
MLineFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
MultiLineStringFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
MULTILINESTRING
value using its WKB representation and SRID.
MPolyFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
MultiPolygonFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
MULTIPOLYGON
value using its WKB representation and SRID.
GeomCollFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
GeometryCollectionFromWKB(wkt[,srid])
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION
value using its WKB representation and SRID.
The OpenGIS specification also describes optional functions for constructing
Polygon
or MultiPolygon
values based on the WKB representation
of a collection of rings or closed LineString
values. These values
may intersect. MySQL does not yet implement these functions:
BdPolyFromWKB(wkb,srid)
Polygon
value from a
MultiLineString
value in WKB format containing
an arbitrary collection of closed LineString
values.
BdMPolyFromWKB(wkb,srid)
MultiPolygon
value from a
MultiLineString
value in WKB format containing
an arbitrary collection of closed LineString
values.
Note: MySQL does not yet implement the functions listed in this section.
MySQL provides a set of useful functions for creating geometry WKB
representations. The functions described in this section are MySQL
extensions to the OpenGIS specifications. The results of these
functions are BLOB
values containing WKB representations of geometry
values with no SRID.
The results of these functions can be substituted as the first argument
for any function in the GeomFromWKB()
function family.
Point(x,y)
Point
using its coordinates.
MultiPoint(pt1,pt2,...)
MultiPoint
value using WKB Point
arguments.
If any argument is not a WKBPoint
, the return value is NULL
.
LineString(pt1,pt2,...)
LineString
valeu from a number of WKB Point
arguments. If any argument is not a WKB Point
, the return value
is NULL
. If the number of Point
arguments is less than two,
the return value is NULL
.
MultiLineString(ls1,ls2,...)
MultiLineString
value using using WBK LineString
arguments. If any argument is not a LineString
, the return
value is NULL
.
Polygon(ls1,ls2,...)
Polygon
value from a number of WKB LineString
arguments. If any argument does not represent the WKB of a LinearRing
(that is, not a closed and simple LineString
) the return value
is NULL
.
MultiPolygon(poly1,poly2,...)
MultiPolygon
value from a set of WKB Polygon
arguments.
If any argument is not a WKB Polygon
, the rerurn value is NULL
.
GeometryCollection(g1,g2,...)
GeometryCollection
. If any argument is not a
well-formed WKB representation of a geometry, the return value is
NULL
.
MySQL provides a standard way of creating spatial columns for
geometry types, for example, with CREATE TABLE
or ALTER TABLE
.
Currently, spatial columns are supported only for MyISAM
tables.
CREATE TABLE
statement to create a table with a spatial column:
mysql> CREATE TABLE geom (g GEOMETRY); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)
ALTER TABLE
statement to add or drop a spatial column to or
from an existing table:
mysql> ALTER TABLE geom ADD pt POINT; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) Records: 0 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0 mysql> ALTER TABLE geom DROP pt; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) Records: 0 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
After you have created spatial columns, you can populate them with spatial data.
Values should be stored in internal geometry format, but you can convert them to that format from either Well-Known Text (WKT) or Well-Known Binary (WKB) format. The following examples demonstrate how to insert geometry values into a table by converting WKT values into internal geometry format.
You can perform the conversion directly in the INSERT
statement:
INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromText('POINT(1 1)')); SET @g = 'POINT(1 1)'; INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromText(@g));
Or conversion can take place prior to the INSERT
:
SET @g = GeomFromText('POINT(1 1)'); INSERT INTO geom VALUES (@g);
The following examples insert more complex geometries into the table:
SET @g = 'LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,2 2)'; INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromText(@g)); SET @g = 'POLYGON((0 0,10 0,10 10,0 10,0 0),(5 5,7 5,7 7,5 7, 5 5))'; INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromText(@g)); SET @g = 'GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(1 1),LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,2 2,3 3,4 4))'; INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromText(@g));
The preceding examples all use GeomFromText()
to create geometry
values. You can also use type-specific functions:
SET @g = 'POINT(1 1)'; INSERT INTO geom VALUES (PointFromText(@g)); SET @g = 'LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,2 2)'; INSERT INTO geom VALUES (LineStringFromText(@g)); SET @g = 'POLYGON((0 0,10 0,10 10,0 10,0 0),(5 5,7 5,7 7,5 7, 5 5))'; INSERT INTO geom VALUES (PolygonFromText(@g)); SET @g = 'GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(1 1),LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,2 2,3 3,4 4))'; INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomCollFromText(@g));
Note that if a client application program wants to use WKB representations of geometry values, it is responsible for sending correctly formed WKB in queries to the server. However, there are several ways of satisfying this requirement. For example:
POINT(1 1)
value with hex literal syntax:
mysql> INSERT INTO geom VALUES -> (GeomFromWKB(0x0101000000000000000000F03F000000000000F03F));
BLOB
type:
INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromWKB(?))Other programming interfaces may support a similar placeholder mechanism.
mysql_real_escape_string()
and include the result in a query string
that is sent to the server.
See section 9.1.3.43 mysql_real_escape_string()
.
Geometry values stored in a table can be fetched with conversion in internal format. You can also convert them into WKT or WKB format.
Fetching geometry values using internal format can be useful in table-to-table transfers:
CREATE TABLE geom2 (g GEOMETRY) SELECT g FROM geom;
The AsText()
function provides textual access to geometry values. It
converts a geometry from internal format into a WKT string.
mysql> SELECT AsText(g) FROM geom; +-------------------------+ | AsText(p1) | +-------------------------+ | POINT(1 1) | | LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,2 2) | +-------------------------+
The AsBinary()
function provides binary access to geometry values.
It converts a geometry from internal format into a BLOB
containing
the WKB value.
SELECT AsBinary(g) FROM geom;
After populating spatial columns with values, you are ready to query and analyse them. MySQL provides a set of functions to perform various operations on spatial data. These functions can be grouped into four major categories according to the type of operation they perform:
Spatial analysis functions can be used in many contexts, such as:
mysql
or MySQLCC
MySQL supports the following functions for converting geometry values between internal format and either WKT or WKB format:
GeomFromText(wkt[,srid])
PointFromText()
and LineFromText()
; see
section 11.4.2.1 Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions.
GeomFromWKB(wkb[,srid])
PointFromWKB()
and LineFromWKB()
; see
section 11.4.2.2 Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions.
AsText(g)
mysql> SET @g = 'LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'; mysql> SELECT AsText(GeomFromText(@g)); +--------------------------+ | AsText(GeomFromText(@G)) | +--------------------------+ | LINESTRING(1 1,2 2,3 3) | +--------------------------+
AsBinary(g)
Geometry
Property Analysis Functions
Each function that belongs to this group takes a geometry value as its
argument and returns some quantitive or qualitive property of the
geometry. Some functions restrict their argument type. Such functions
return NULL
if the argument is of an incorrect geometry
type. For example, Area()
returns NULL
if the object
type is neither Polygon
nor MultiPolygon
.
The functions listed in this ssection do not restrict their argument and accept a geometry value of any type.
GeometryType(g)
g
is a member.
The name will correspond to one of the instantiable Geometry
subclasses.
mysql> SELECT GeometryType(GeomFromText('POINT(1 1)')); +------------------------------------------+ | GeometryType(GeomFromText('POINT(1 1)')) | +------------------------------------------+ | POINT | +------------------------------------------+
Dimension(g)
g
. The result
can be -1, 0, 1, or 2. (The meaning of these values is given in
section 11.2.2 Class Geometry
.)
mysql> SELECT Dimension(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)')); +------------------------------------------------+ | Dimension(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)')) | +------------------------------------------------+ | 1 | +------------------------------------------------+
SRID(g)
g
.
mysql> SELECT SRID(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)',101)); +-----------------------------------------------+ | SRID(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)',101)) | +-----------------------------------------------+ | 101 | +-----------------------------------------------+
Envelope(g)
g
.
The result is returned as a polygon value.
mysql> SELECT AsText(Envelope(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)'))); +-------------------------------------------------------+ | AsText(Envelope(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)'))) | +-------------------------------------------------------+ | POLYGON((1 1,2 1,2 2,1 2,1 1)) | +-------------------------------------------------------+The polygon is defined by the corner points of the bounding box:
POLYGON((MINX MINY, MAXX MINY, MAXX MAXY, MINX MAXY, MINX MINY))
The OpenGIS specification also defines the following functions, which MySQL does not yet implement:
Boundary(g)
g
.
IsEmpty(g)
g
is the empty geometry, 0 if it is not
empty, and -1 if the argument is NULL
.
If the geometry is empty, it represents the empty point set.
IsSimple(g)
g
has no anomalous geometric points,
such as self intersection or self tangency. IsSimple()
returns 0 if the
argument is not simple, and -1 if it is NULL
.
The description of each instantiable geometric class given earlier in
the chapter includes the specific conditions that cause an instance of
that class to be classified as not simple.
Point
Property Analysis Functions
A Point
consists of its X and Y coordinates, which may be obtained
using the following functions:
X(p)
p
as a double-precision
number.
mysql> SELECT X(GeomFromText('Point(56.7 53.34)')); +--------------------------------------+ | X(GeomFromText('Point(56.7 53.34)')) | +--------------------------------------+ | 56.7 | +--------------------------------------+
Y(p)
p
as a double-precision
number.
mysql> SELECT Y(GeomFromText('Point(56.7 53.34)')); +--------------------------------------+ | Y(GeomFromText('Point(56.7 53.34)')) | +--------------------------------------+ | 53.34 | +--------------------------------------+
LineString
Property Analysis Functions
A LineString
consists of Point
values. You can extract
particular points of a LineString
, count the number of points that it
contains, or obtain its length.
EndPoint(ls)
Point
that is the end point of the LineString
value
ls
.
mysql> SELECT AsText(EndPoint(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'))); +------------------------------------------------------------+ | AsText(EndPoint(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'))) | +------------------------------------------------------------+ | POINT(3 3) | +------------------------------------------------------------+
GLength(ls)
LineString
value ls
in its associated spatial reference.
mysql> SELECT GLength(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')); +--------------------------------------------------+ | GLength(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')) | +--------------------------------------------------+ | 2.8284271247462 | +--------------------------------------------------+
IsClosed(ls)
LineString
value ls
is closed
(that is, it sStartPoint()
and EndPoint()
values are the same).
Returns 0 if ls
is not closed, and -1 if it is NULL
.
mysql> SELECT IsClosed(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')); +---------------------------------------------------+ | IsClosed(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')) | +---------------------------------------------------+ | 0 | +---------------------------------------------------+
NumPoints(ls)
LineString
value ls
.
mysql> SELECT NumPoints(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')); +----------------------------------------------------+ | NumPoints(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')) | +----------------------------------------------------+ | 3 | +----------------------------------------------------+
PointN(ls,n)
n
-th point in the Linestring
value ls
.
Point numbers begin at 1.
mysql> SELECT AsText(PointN(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'),2)); +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | AsText(PointN(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'),2)) | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | POINT(2 2) | +-----------------------------------------------------------+
StartPoint(ls)
Point
that is the start point of the LineString
value
ls
.
mysql> SELECT AsText(StartPoint(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'))); +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | AsText(StartPoint(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'))) | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | POINT(1 1) | +-------------------------------------------------------------+
The OpenGIS specification also defines the following function, which MySQL does not yet implement:
IsRing(ls)
LineString
value ls
is closed
(thatis, its StartPoint()
and EndPoint()
values are the same)
and is simple (does not pass through the same point more than once).
Returns 0 if ls
is not a ring, and -1 if it is NULL
.
MultiLineString
Property Analysis FunctionsGLength(mls)
MultiLineString
value mls
. The length of
mls
is equal to the sum of the lengths of its elements.
mysql> SELECT GLength(GeomFromText('MultiLineString((1 1,2 2,3 3),(4 4,5 5))')); +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | GLength(GeomFromText('MultiLineString((1 1,2 2,3 3),(4 4,5 5))')) | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 4.2426406871193 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
IsClosed(mls)
MultiLineString
value mls
is closed
(that is, the StartPoint()
and EndPoint()
values are the same
for each LineString
in mls
).
Returns 0 if mls
is not closed, and -1 if it is NULL
.
mysql> SELECT IsClosed(GeomFromText('MultiLineString((1 1,2 2,3 3),(4 4,5 5))')); +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | IsClosed(GeomFromText('MultiLineString((1 1,2 2,3 3),(4 4,5 5))')) | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 0 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Polygon
Property Analysis FunctionsArea(poly)
Polygon
value
poly
, as measured in its spatial reference system.
mysql> SELECT Area(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))')); +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Area(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))')) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 8 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
NumInteriorRings(poly)
Polygon
value poly
.
mysql> SELECT NumInteriorRings(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))')); +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | NumInteriorRings(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))')) | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 1 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
ExteriorRing(poly)
Polygon
value poly
as a LineString
.
mysql> SELECT AsText(ExteriorRing(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))'))); +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | AsText(ExteriorRing(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))'))) | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | LINESTRING(0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0) | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
InteriorRingN(poly,n)
n
-th interior ring for the Polygon
value
poly
as a LineString
.
Ring numbers begin at 1.
mysql> SELECT AsText(InteriorRingN(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))'),1)); +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | AsText(InteriorRingN(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))'),1)) | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | LINESTRING(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1) | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The OpenGIS specification also defines the following functions, which MySQL does not yet implement:
Centroid(poly)
Polygon
value poly
as a Point
. The result is not guaranteed to be on the polygon.
PointOnSurface(poly)
Point
value that is guaranteed to be on the Polygon
value poly
.
MultiPolygon
Property Analysis FunctionsArea(mpoly)
MultiPolygon
value mpoly
, as measured in its spatial reference system.
mysql> SELECT Area(GeomFromText('MultiPolygon(((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1)))')); +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Area(GeomFromText('MultiPolygon(((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1)))')) | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 8 | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The OpenGIS specification also defines the following functions, which MySQL does not yet implement:
Centroid(mpoly)
MultiPolygon
value
mpoly
as a Point
. The result is not guaranteed to be on
the MultiPolygon
.
PointOnSurface(mpoly)
Point
value that is guaranteed to be on the
MultiPolygon
value mpoly
.
GeometryCollection
Property Analysis FunctionsNumGeometries(gc)
GeometryCollection
value
gc
.
mysql> SELECT NumGeometries(GeomFromText('GeometryCollection(Point(1 1),LineString(2 2, 3 3))')); +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | NumGeometries(GeomFromText('GeometryCollection(Point(1 1),LineString(2 2, 3 3))')) | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2 | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
GeometryN(gc,n)
n
-th geometry in the GeometryCollection
value
gc
. Geometry numbers begin at 1.
mysql> SELECT AsText(GeometryN(GeomFromText('GeometryCollection(Point(1 1),LineString(2 2, 3 3))'),1)); +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | AsText(GeometryN(GeomFromText('GeometryCollection(Point(1 1),LineString(2 2, 3 3))'),1)) | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | POINT(1 1) | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
In the section section 11.5.2 Geometry
Property Analysis Functions,
we've already discussed some functions that can construct new geometries
from the existing ones:
Envelope(g)
StartPoint(ls)
EndPoint(ls)
PointN(ls,n)
ExteriorRing(poly)
InteriorRingN(poly,n)
GeometryN(gc,n)
OpenGIS proposes a number of other functions that can produce geometries. They are designed to implement Spatial Operators.
These functions are not yet implemented in MySQL. They should appear in future releases.
Intersection(g1,g2)
g1
with g2
.
Union(g1,g2)
g1
and g2
.
Difference(g1,g2)
g1
with g2
.
SymDifference(g1,g2)
g1
with g2
.
Buffer(g,d)
g
is less than or equal to a distance of d
.
ConvexHull(g)
g
.
The functions described in these sections take two geometries as input parameters and return a qualitive or quantitive relation between them.
MySQL provides some functions that can test relations
between mininal bounding rectangles of two geometries g1
and g2
.
They include:
MBRContains(g1,g2)
g1
contains the Minimum Bounding Rectangle of g2
.
mysql> SET @g1 = GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0))'); mysql> SET @g2 = GeomFromText('Point(1 1)'); mysql> SELECT MBRContains(@g1,@g2), MBRContains(@g2,@g1); ----------------------+----------------------+ | MBRContains(@g1,@g2) | MBRContains(@g2,@g1) | +----------------------+----------------------+ | 1 | 0 | +----------------------+----------------------+
MBRWithin(g1,g2)
g1
is within the Minimum Bounding Rectangle of g2
.
mysql> SET @g1 = GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0))'); mysql> SET @g2 = GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 5,5 5,5 0,0 0))'); mysql> SELECT MBRWithin(@g1,@g2), MBRWithin(@g2,@g1); +--------------------+--------------------+ | MBRWithin(@g1,@g2) | MBRWithin(@g2,@g1) | +--------------------+--------------------+ | 1 | 0 | +--------------------+--------------------+
MBRDisjoint(g1,g2)
g1
and g2
are disjoint (do not intersect).
MBREquals(g1,g2)
g1
and g2
are the same.
MBRIntersects(g1,g2)
g1
and g2
intersect.
MBROverlaps(g1,g2)
g1
and g2
overlap.
MBRTouches(g1,g2)
g1
and g2
touch.
The OpenGIS specification defines the following functions, which MySQL does not yet implement. They should appear in future releases. When implemented, they will provide full support for spatial analysis, not just MBR-based support.
The functions operate on two geometry values g1
and g2
.
Contains(g1,g2)
g1
completely contains
g2
.
Crosses(g1,g2)
g1
spatially crosses g2
.
Returns NULL
if g1
is a Polygon
or a MultiPolygon
,
or if g2
is a Point
or a MultiPoint
.
Otherwise, returns 0.
The term spatially crosses denotes a spatial relation between two given
geometries that has the following properties:
Disjoint(g1,g2)
g1
is spatially disjoint
from (does not intersect) g2
.
Equals(g1,g2)
g1
is spatially equal to
g2
.
Intersects(g1,g2)
g1
spatially intersects
g2
.
Overlaps(g1,g2)
g1
spatially overlaps
g2
.
The term spatially overlaps
is used if two
geometries intersect and their intersection results in a geometry of the
same dimension but not equal to either of the given geometries.
Touches(g1,g2)
g1
spatially touches
g2
. Two geometries spatially touch if the interiors of
the geometries do not intersect, but the boundary of one of the geometries
intersects either the boundary or the interior of the other.
Within(g1,g2)
g1
is spatially within
g2
.
Distance(g1,g2)
Related(g1,g2,pattern_matrix)
pattern_matrix
exists between g1
and g2
.
Returns -1 if the arguments are NULL
.
The pattern matrix is a string. Its specification will be noted here when this
function is implemented.
It is known that search operations in non-spatial databases can be optimised using indexes. This is true for spatial databases as well. With the help of a great variety of multi-dimensional indexing methods that have already been designed, it's possible to optimise spatial searches. The most typical of these are:
MySQL utilises R-Trees with quadratic splitting to index spatial columns. A spatial index is built using the MBR of a geometry. For most geometries, the MBR is a minimum rectangle that surrounds the geometries. For a horizontal or a vertical linestring, the MBR is a rectangle degenerated into the linestring. For a point, the MBR is a rectangle degenerated into the point.
MySQL can create spatial indexes using syntax similar to that for creating
regular indexes, but extended with the SPATIAL
keyword.
Spatial columns that are indexed currently must be declared NOT NULL
.
The following examples demonstrate how to create spatial indexes.
CREATE TABLE
:
mysql> CREATE TABLE geom (g GEOMETRY NOT NULL, SPATIAL INDEX(g));
ALTER TABLE
:
mysql> ALTER TABLE geom ADD SPATIAL INDEX(g);
CREATE INDEX
:
mysql> CREATE SPATIAL INDEX sp_index ON geom (g);
To drop spatial indexes, use ALTER TABLE
or DROP INDEX
:
ALTER TABLE
:
mysql> ALTER TABLE geom DROP INDEX g;
DROP INDEX
:
mysql> DROP INDEX sp_index ON geom;
Example: Suppose that a table geom
contains more than 32000 geometries,
which are stored in the column g
of type GEOMETRY
.
The table also has an AUTO_INCREMENT
column fid
for storing
object ID values.
mysql> SHOW FIELDS FROM geom; +-------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra | +-------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ | fid | int(11) | | PRI | NULL | auto_increment | | g | geometry | | | | | +-------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ 2 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM geom; +----------+ | count(*) | +----------+ | 32376 | +----------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
To add a spatial index on the column g
, use this statement:
mysql> ALTER TABLE geom ADD SPATIAL INDEX(g); Query OK, 32376 rows affected (4.05 sec) Records: 32376 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
The optimiser investigates whether available spatial indexes can
be involved in the search for queries that use a function such as
MBRContains()
or MBRWithin()
in the WHERE
clause.
For example, let's say we want to find all objects that are in the
given rectangle:
mysql> SELECT fid,AsText(g) FROM geom WHERE mysql> MBRContains(GeomFromText('Polygon((30000 15000,31000 15000,31000 16000,30000 16000,30000 15000))'),g); +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | fid | AsText(g) | +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 21 | LINESTRING(30350.4 15828.8,30350.6 15845,30333.8 15845,30333.8 15828.8) | | 22 | LINESTRING(30350.6 15871.4,30350.6 15887.8,30334 15887.8,30334 15871.4) | | 23 | LINESTRING(30350.6 15914.2,30350.6 15930.4,30334 15930.4,30334 15914.2) | | 24 | LINESTRING(30290.2 15823,30290.2 15839.4,30273.4 15839.4,30273.4 15823) | | 25 | LINESTRING(30291.4 15866.2,30291.6 15882.4,30274.8 15882.4,30274.8 15866.2) | | 26 | LINESTRING(30291.6 15918.2,30291.6 15934.4,30275 15934.4,30275 15918.2) | | 249 | LINESTRING(30337.8 15938.6,30337.8 15946.8,30320.4 15946.8,30320.4 15938.4) | | 1 | LINESTRING(30250.4 15129.2,30248.8 15138.4,30238.2 15136.4,30240 15127.2) | | 2 | LINESTRING(30220.2 15122.8,30217.2 15137.8,30207.6 15136,30210.4 15121) | | 3 | LINESTRING(30179 15114.4,30176.6 15129.4,30167 15128,30169 15113) | | 4 | LINESTRING(30155.2 15121.4,30140.4 15118.6,30142 15109,30157 15111.6) | | 5 | LINESTRING(30192.4 15085,30177.6 15082.2,30179.2 15072.4,30194.2 15075.2) | | 6 | LINESTRING(30244 15087,30229 15086.2,30229.4 15076.4,30244.6 15077) | | 7 | LINESTRING(30200.6 15059.4,30185.6 15058.6,30186 15048.8,30201.2 15049.4) | | 10 | LINESTRING(30179.6 15017.8,30181 15002.8,30190.8 15003.6,30189.6 15019) | | 11 | LINESTRING(30154.2 15000.4,30168.6 15004.8,30166 15014.2,30151.2 15009.8) | | 13 | LINESTRING(30105 15065.8,30108.4 15050.8,30118 15053,30114.6 15067.8) | | 154 | LINESTRING(30276.2 15143.8,30261.4 15141,30263 15131.4,30278 15134) | | 155 | LINESTRING(30269.8 15084,30269.4 15093.4,30258.6 15093,30259 15083.4) | | 157 | LINESTRING(30128.2 15011,30113.2 15010.2,30113.6 15000.4,30128.8 15001) | +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 20 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Now let's check the way this query is executed, using EXPLAIN
:
mysql> EXPLAIN SELECT fid,AsText(g) FROM geom WHERE mysql> MBRContains(GeomFromText('Polygon((30000 15000,31000 15000,31000 16000,30000 16000,30000 15000))'),g); +----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+-------------+ | id | select_type | table | type | possible_keys | key | key_len | ref | rows | Extra | +----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+-------------+ | 1 | SIMPLE | geom | range | g | g | 32 | NULL | 50 | Using where | +----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+-------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
Now let's check what would happen if we didn't have a spatial index:
mysql> EXPLAIN SELECT fid,AsText(g) FROM g IGNORE INDEX (g) WHERE mysql> MBRContains(GeomFromText('Polygon((30000 15000,31000 15000,31000 16000,30000 16000,30000 15000))'),g); +----+-------------+-------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+-------+-------------+ | id | select_type | table | type | possible_keys | key | key_len | ref | rows | Extra | +----+-------------+-------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+-------+-------------+ | 1 | SIMPLE | geom | ALL | NULL | NULL | NULL | NULL | 32376 | Using where | +----+-------------+-------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+-------+-------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
Let's execute the above query, ignoring the spatial key we have:
mysql> SELECT fid,AsText(g) FROM geom IGNORE INDEX (g) WHERE mysql> MBRContains(GeomFromText('Polygon((30000 15000,31000 15000,31000 16000,30000 16000,30000 15000))'),g); +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | fid | AsText(g) | +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 1 | LINESTRING(30250.4 15129.2,30248.8 15138.4,30238.2 15136.4,30240 15127.2) | | 2 | LINESTRING(30220.2 15122.8,30217.2 15137.8,30207.6 15136,30210.4 15121) | | 3 | LINESTRING(30179 15114.4,30176.6 15129.4,30167 15128,30169 15113) | | 4 | LINESTRING(30155.2 15121.4,30140.4 15118.6,30142 15109,30157 15111.6) | | 5 | LINESTRING(30192.4 15085,30177.6 15082.2,30179.2 15072.4,30194.2 15075.2) | | 6 | LINESTRING(30244 15087,30229 15086.2,30229.4 15076.4,30244.6 15077) | | 7 | LINESTRING(30200.6 15059.4,30185.6 15058.6,30186 15048.8,30201.2 15049.4) | | 10 | LINESTRING(30179.6 15017.8,30181 15002.8,30190.8 15003.6,30189.6 15019) | | 11 | LINESTRING(30154.2 15000.4,30168.6 15004.8,30166 15014.2,30151.2 15009.8) | | 13 | LINESTRING(30105 15065.8,30108.4 15050.8,30118 15053,30114.6 15067.8) | | 21 | LINESTRING(30350.4 15828.8,30350.6 15845,30333.8 15845,30333.8 15828.8) | | 22 | LINESTRING(30350.6 15871.4,30350.6 15887.8,30334 15887.8,30334 15871.4) | | 23 | LINESTRING(30350.6 15914.2,30350.6 15930.4,30334 15930.4,30334 15914.2) | | 24 | LINESTRING(30290.2 15823,30290.2 15839.4,30273.4 15839.4,30273.4 15823) | | 25 | LINESTRING(30291.4 15866.2,30291.6 15882.4,30274.8 15882.4,30274.8 15866.2) | | 26 | LINESTRING(30291.6 15918.2,30291.6 15934.4,30275 15934.4,30275 15918.2) | | 154 | LINESTRING(30276.2 15143.8,30261.4 15141,30263 15131.4,30278 15134) | | 155 | LINESTRING(30269.8 15084,30269.4 15093.4,30258.6 15093,30259 15083.4) | | 157 | LINESTRING(30128.2 15011,30113.2 15010.2,30113.6 15000.4,30128.8 15001) | | 249 | LINESTRING(30337.8 15938.6,30337.8 15946.8,30320.4 15946.8,30320.4 15938.4) | +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 20 rows in set (0.46 sec)
When the index is not used, the execution time for this query rises from 0.00 seconds to 0.46 seconds.
In future releases, spatial indexes will also be used for optimising other functions. See section 11.5.4 Functions For Testing Spatial Relations Between Geometric Objects.
GEOMETRY_COLUMNS
contains a
description of geometry columns, one row for each geometry column
in the database.
AddGeometryColumn()
and DropGeometryColumn()
functions. In MySQL, this is done using the ALTER TABLE
,
CREATE INDEX
, and DROP INDEX
statements instead.
Length()
and Area()
assume a planar
coordinate system.
Length()
on LineString
and MultiLineString
currently should be called in MySQL as GLength()
Length()
that calculates the length of string values,
and sometimes it's not possible to distinguish whether the function is
called in a textual or spatial context. We need either to solve this
somehow, or decide on another function name.
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