PostGIS 2.2.8 Manual

The PostGIS Development Group

Abstract

PostGIS is an extension to the PostgreSQL object-relational database system which allows GIS (Geographic Information Systems) objects to be stored in the database. PostGIS includes support for GiST-based R-Tree spatial indexes, and functions for analysis and processing of GIS objects.

This is the manual for version 2.2.8

PostGIS 2.2.8 Manual This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to use this material any way you like, but we ask that you attribute credit to the PostGIS Project and wherever possible, a link back to http://postgis.net.

Chapter 1. Introduction

PostGIS was developed by Refractions Research Inc, as a spatial database technology research project. Refractions is a GIS and database consulting company in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, specializing in data integration and custom software development. We plan on supporting and developing PostGIS to support a range of important GIS functionality, including full OpenGIS support, advanced topological constructs (coverages, surfaces, networks), desktop user interface tools for viewing and editing GIS data, and web-based access tools.

PostGIS is an incubation project of the OSGeo Foundation. PostGIS is being continually improved and funded by many FOSS4G Developers as well as corporations all over the world that gain great benefit from its functionality and versatility.

Project Steering Committee

The PostGIS Project Steering Committee (PSC) coordinates the general direction, release cycles, documentation, and outreach efforts for the PostGIS project. In addition the PSC provides general user support, accepts and approves patches from the general PostGIS community and votes on miscellaneous issues involving PostGIS such as developer commit access, new PSC members or significant API changes.

Mark Cave-Ayland

Coordinates bug fixing and maintenance effort, alignment of PostGIS with PostgreSQL releases, spatial index selectivity and binding, loader/dumper, and Shapefile GUI Loader, integration of new and new function enhancements.

Regina Obe

Buildbot Maintenance, windows production and experimental builds, Documentation, general user support on PostGIS newsgroup, X3D support, Tiger Geocoder Support, management functions, and smoke testing new functionality or major code changes.

Bborie Park

Raster development, integration with GDAL, raster loader, user support, general bug fixing, testing on various OS (Slackware, Mac, Windows, and more)

Paul Ramsey (Chair)

Co-founder of PostGIS project. General bug fixing, geography support, geography and geometry index support (2D, 3D, nD index and anything spatial index), underlying geometry internal structures, PointCloud (in development), GEOS functionality integration and alignment with GEOS releases, loader/dumper, and Shapefile GUI loader.

Sandro Santilli

Bug fixes and maintenance and integration of new GEOS functionality and alignment with GEOS releases, Topology support, and Raster framework and low level api functions.

Core Contributors Present

Jorge Arévalo

Raster development, GDAL driver support, loader

Nicklas Avén

Distance function enhancements (including 3D distance and relationship functions) and additions, Tiny WKB output format (TWKB) (in development) and general user support

Dan Baston

Geometry clustering function additions, other geometry algorithm enhancements, and general user support

Olivier Courtin

Input output XML (KML,GML)/GeoJSON functions, 3D support and bug fixes.

Mateusz Loskot

CMake support for PostGIS, built original raster loader in python and low level raster api functions

Pierre Racine

Raster overall architecture, prototyping, programming support

David Zwarg

Raster development (mostly map algebra analytic functions)

Core Contributors Past

Chris Hodgson

Prior PSC Member. General development, site and buildbot maintenance, OSGeo incubation management

Kevin Neufeld

Prior PSC Member. Documentation and documentation support tools, buildbot maintenance, advanced user support on PostGIS newsgroup, and PostGIS maintenance function enhancements.

Dave Blasby

The original developer/Co-founder of PostGIS. Dave wrote the server side objects, index bindings, and many of the server side analytical functions.

Jeff Lounsbury

Original development of the Shape file loader/dumper. Current PostGIS Project Owner representative.

Mark Leslie

Ongoing maintenance and development of core functions. Enhanced curve support. Shapefile GUI loader.

Other Contributors

Individual Contributors

In alphabetical order: Alex Bodnaru, Alex Mayrhofer, Andrea Peri, Andreas Forø Tollefsen, Andreas Neumann, Anne Ghisla, Barbara Phillipot, Ben Jubb, Bernhard Reiter, Brian Hamlin, Bruce Rindahl, Bruno Wolff III, Bryce L. Nordgren, Carl Anderson, Charlie Savage, Dane Springmeyer, David Skea, David Techer, Eduin Carrillo, Even Rouault, Frank Warmerdam, George Silva, Gerald Fenoy, Gino Lucrezi, Guillaume Lelarge, IIDA Tetsushi, Ingvild Nystuen, Jason Smith, Jeff Adams, Jose Carlos Martinez Llari, Kashif Rasul, Klaus Foerster, Kris Jurka, Leo Hsu, Loic Dachary, Luca S. Percich, Maria Arias de Reyna, Mark Sondheim, Markus Schaber, Maxime Guillaud, Maxime van Noppen, Michael Fuhr, Mike Toews, Nathan Wagner, Nathaniel Clay, Nikita Shulga, Norman Vine, Rafal Magda, Ralph Mason, Richard Greenwood, Silvio Grosso, Steffen Macke, Stephen Frost, Tom van Tilburg, Vincent Mora, Vincent Picavet

Corporate Sponsors

These are corporate entities that have contributed developer time, hosting, or direct monetary funding to the PostGIS project

In alphabetical order: Arrival 3D, Associazione Italiana per l'Informazione Geografica Libera (GFOSS.it), AusVet, Avencia, Azavea, Cadcorp, CampToCamp, CartoDB, City of Boston (DND), Clever Elephant Solutions, Cooperativa Alveo, Deimos Space, Faunalia, Geographic Data BC, Hunter Systems Group, Lidwala Consulting Engineers, LisaSoft, Logical Tracking & Tracing International AG, Michigan Tech Research Institute, Natural Resources Canada, Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute, Boundless (former OpenGeo), OSGeo, Oslandia, Palantir Technologies, Paragon Corporation, R3 GIS, Refractions Research, Regione Toscana - SITA, Safe Software, Sirius Corporation plc, Stadt Uster, UC Davis Center for Vectorborne Diseases, University of Laval, U.S Department of State (HIU), Zonar Systems

Crowd Funding Campaigns

Crowd funding campaigns are campaigns we run to get badly wanted features funded that can service a large number of people. Each campaign is specifically focused on a particular feature or set of features. Each sponsor chips in a small fraction of the needed funding and with enough people/organizations contributing, we have the funds to pay for the work that will help many. If you have an idea for a feature you think many others would be willing to co-fund, please post to the PostGIS newsgroup your thoughts and together we can make it happen.

PostGIS 2.0.0 was the first release we tried this strategy. We used PledgeBank and we got two successful campaigns out of it.

postgistopology - 10 plus sponsors each contributed $250 USD to build toTopoGeometry function and beef up topology support in 2.0.0. It happened.

postgis64windows - 20 someodd sponsors each contributed $100 USD to pay for the work needed to work out PostGIS 64-bit issues on windows. It happened. We now have a 64-bit release for PostGIS 2.0.1 available on PostgreSQL stack builder.

Important Support Libraries

The GEOS geometry operations library, and the algorithmic work of Martin Davis in making it all work, ongoing maintenance and support of Mateusz Loskot, Sandro Santilli (strk), Paul Ramsey and others.

The GDAL Geospatial Data Abstraction Library, by Frank Warmerdam and others is used to power much of the raster functionality introduced in PostGIS 2.0.0. In kind, improvements needed in GDAL to support PostGIS are contributed back to the GDAL project.

The Proj4 cartographic projection library, and the work of Gerald Evenden and Frank Warmerdam in creating and maintaining it.

Last but not least, the PostgreSQL DBMS, The giant that PostGIS stands on. Much of the speed and flexibility of PostGIS would not be possible without the extensibility, great query planner, GIST index, and plethora of SQL features provided by PostgreSQL.

More Information

The latest software, documentation and news items are available at the PostGIS web site, http://postgis.net.

More information about the GEOS geometry operations library is available at http://trac.osgeo.org/geos/.

More information about the Proj4 reprojection library is available at http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/.

More information about the PostgreSQL database server is available at the PostgreSQL main site http://www.postgresql.org.

More information about GiST indexing is available at the PostgreSQL GiST development site, http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/postgres/gist/.

More information about MapServer internet map server is available at http://mapserver.org.

The "Simple Features for Specification for SQL" is available at the OpenGIS Consortium web site: http://www.opengeospatial.org/.

Chapter 2. PostGIS Installation

This chapter details the steps required to install PostGIS.

Short Version

To compile assuming you have all the dependencies in your search path:

tar xvfz postgis-2.2.8.tar.gz
cd postgis-2.2.8
./configure
make
make install

Once postgis is installed, it needs to be enabled in each individual database you want to use it in.

Note

The raster support is currently optional, but installed by default. For enabling using the PostgreSQL 9.1+ extensions model raster is required. Using the extension enable process is preferred and more user-friendly. To spatially enable your database:

psql -d yourdatabase -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis;"
psql -d yourdatabase -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis_topology;"
-- if you built with sfcgal support --
psql -d yourdatabase -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis_sfcgal;"

-- if you want to install tiger geocoder --
psql -d yourdatabase -c "CREATE EXTENSION fuzzystrmatch"
psql -d yourdatabase -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis_tiger_geocoder;"

-- if you installed with pcre
-- you should have address standardizer extension as well
psql -d yourdatabase -c "CREATE EXTENSION address_standardizer;"

Please refer to the section called “Building PostGIS Extensions and Deploying them” for more details about querying installed/available extensions and upgrading extensions, or switching from a non-extension install to an extension install.

For those running who decided for some reason not to compile with raster support, or just are old-fashioned, here are longer more painful instructions for you:

All the .sql files once installed will be installed in share/contrib/postgis-2.2 folder of your PostgreSQL install

createdb yourdatabase
createlang plpgsql yourdatabase
psql -d yourdatabase -f postgis.sql
psql -d yourdatabase -f postgis_comments.sql
psql -d yourdatabase -f spatial_ref_sys.sql
psql -d yourdatabase -f rtpostgis.sql
psql -d yourdatabase -f raster_comments.sql
psql -d yourdatabase -f topology.sql
psql -d yourdatabase -f topology_comments.sql
--if you built with sfcgal support --
psql -d yourdatabase -f sfcgal.sql
psql -d yourdatabase -f sfcgal_comments.sql

The rest of this chapter goes into detail each of the above installation steps.

As of PostGIS 2.1.3, out-of-db rasters and all raster drivers are disabled by default. In order to re-enable these, you need to set the following environment variables POSTGIS_GDAL_ENABLED_DRIVERS and POSTGIS_ENABLE_OUTDB_RASTERS in the server environment. For PostGIS 2.2, you can use the more cross-platform approach of setting the corresponding the section called “PostGIS Grand Unified Custom Variables (GUCs)”.

If you want to enable offline raster:

POSTGIS_ENABLE_OUTDB_RASTERS=1

Any other setting or no setting at all will disable out of db rasters.

In order to enable all GDAL drivers available in your GDAL install, set this environment variable as follows

POSTGIS_GDAL_ENABLED_DRIVERS=ENABLE_ALL

If you want to only enable specific drivers, set your environment variable as follows:

POSTGIS_GDAL_ENABLED_DRIVERS="GTiff PNG JPEG GIF XYZ"

Note

If you are on windows, do not quote the driver list

Setting environment variables varies depending on OS. For PostgreSQL installed on Ubuntu or Debian via apt-postgresql, the preferred way is to edit /etc/postgresql/9.3/main/environment where 9.3 refers to version of PostgreSQL and main refers to the cluster.

On windows, if you are running as a service, you can set via System variables which for Windows 7 you can get to by right-clicking on Computer->Properties Advanced System Settings or in explorer navigating to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\System. Then clicking Advanced System Settings ->Advanced->Environment Variables and adding new system variables.

After you set the environment variables, you'll need to restart your PostgreSQL service for the changes to take effect.

Install Requirements

PostGIS has the following requirements for building and usage:

Required

PostgreSQL 9.1 and <= PostgreSQL 9.6. A complete installation of PostgreSQL (including server headers) is required. PostgreSQL is available from http://www.postgresql.org .

For a full PostgreSQL / PostGIS support matrix and PostGIS/GEOS support matrix refer to http://trac.osgeo.org/postgis/wiki/UsersWikiPostgreSQLPostGIS

GNU C compiler (gcc). Some other ANSI C compilers can be used to compile PostGIS, but we find far fewer problems when compiling with gcc.

GNU Make (gmake or make). For many systems, GNU make is the default version of make. Check the version by invoking make -v. Other versions of make may not process the PostGIS Makefile properly.

Proj4 reprojection library, version 4.6.0 or greater. The Proj4 library is used to provide coordinate reprojection support within PostGIS. Proj4 is available for download from http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/ .

GEOS geometry library, version 3.3 or greater, but GEOS 3.5+ is recommended to take full advantage of all the new functions and features. Without GEOS 3.5, you will be missing some major enhancements such as ST_ClipByBox2D and ST_Subdivide. GEOS is available for download from http://trac.osgeo.org/geos/ and 3.4+ is backward-compatible with older versions so fairly safe to upgrade.

LibXML2, version 2.5.x or higher. LibXML2 is currently used in some imports functions (ST_GeomFromGML and ST_GeomFromKML). LibXML2 is available for download from http://xmlsoft.org/downloads.html.

JSON-C, version 0.9 or higher. JSON-C is currently used to import GeoJSON via the function ST_GeomFromGeoJson. JSON-C is available for download from https://github.com/json-c/json-c/releases/.

GDAL, version 1.8 or higher (1.9 or higher is strongly recommended since some things will not work well or behavior differently with lower versions). This is required for raster support and to be able to install with CREATE EXTENSION postgis so highly recommended for those running 9.1+. http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/DownloadSource.

Optional

GDAL (pseudo optional) only if you don't want raster and don't care about installing with CREATE EXTENSION postgis can you leave it out. Keep in mind other extensions may have a requires postgis extension which will prevent you from installing them unless you install postgis as an extension. So it is highly recommended you compile with GDAL support.

Also make sure to enable the drivers you want to use as described in the section called “Short Version”.

GTK (requires GTK+2.0, 2.8+) to compile the shp2pgsql-gui shape file loader. http://www.gtk.org/ .

SFCGAL, version 1.1 (or higher) could be used to provide additional 2D and 3D advanced analysis functions to PostGIS cf the section called “SFCGAL Functions”. And also allow to use SFCGAL rather than GEOS for some 2D functions provided by both backends (like ST_Intersection or ST_Area, for instance). A PostgreSQL configuration variable postgis.backend allow end user to control which backend he want to use if SFCGAL is installed (GEOS by default). Nota: SFCGAL 1.2 require at least CGAL 4.3 and Boost 1.54 (cf: http://oslandia.github.io/SFCGAL/installation.html) https://github.com/Oslandia/SFCGAL.

In order to build the Chapter 12, Address Standardizer you will also need PCRE http://www.pcre.org (which generally is already installed on nix systems). Regex::Assemble perl CPAN package is only needed if you want to rebuild the data encoded in parseaddress-stcities.h. Chapter 12, Address Standardizer will automatically be built if it detects a PCRE library, or you pass in a valid --with-pcre-dir=/path/to/pcre during configure.

CUnit (CUnit). This is needed for regression testing. http://cunit.sourceforge.net/

DocBook (xsltproc) is required for building the documentation. Docbook is available from http://www.docbook.org/ .

DBLatex (dblatex) is required for building the documentation in PDF format. DBLatex is available from http://dblatex.sourceforge.net/ .

ImageMagick (convert) is required to generate the images used in the documentation. ImageMagick is available from http://www.imagemagick.org/ .

Getting the Source

Retrieve the PostGIS source archive from the downloads website http://download.osgeo.org/postgis/source/postgis-2.2.8.tar.gz

wget http://download.osgeo.org/postgis/source/postgis-2.2.8.tar.gz
tar -xvzf postgis-2.2.8.tar.gz

This will create a directory called postgis-2.2.8 in the current working directory.

Alternatively, checkout the source from the svn repository http://svn.osgeo.org/postgis/trunk/ .

svn checkout http://svn.osgeo.org/postgis/trunk/ postgis-2.2.8

Change into the newly created postgis-2.2.8 directory to continue the installation.

Compiling and Install from Source: Detailed

Note

Many OS systems now include pre-built packages for PostgreSQL/PostGIS. In many cases compilation is only necessary if you want the most bleeding edge versions or you are a package maintainer.

This section includes general compilation instructions, if you are compiling for Windows etc or another OS, you may find additional more detailed help at PostGIS User contributed compile guides and PostGIS Dev Wiki.

Pre-Built Packages for various OS are listed in PostGIS Pre-built Packages

If you are a windows user, you can get stable builds via Stackbuilder or PostGIS Windows download site We also have very bleeding-edge windows experimental builds that are built usually once or twice a week or whenever anything exciting happens. You can use these to experiment with the in progress releases of PostGIS

The PostGIS module is an extension to the PostgreSQL backend server. As such, PostGIS 2.2.8 requires full PostgreSQL server headers access in order to compile. It can be built against PostgreSQL versions 9.1 or higher. Earlier versions of PostgreSQL are not supported.

Refer to the PostgreSQL installation guides if you haven't already installed PostgreSQL. http://www.postgresql.org .

Note

For GEOS functionality, when you install PostgresSQL you may need to explicitly link PostgreSQL against the standard C++ library:

LDFLAGS=-lstdc++ ./configure [YOUR OPTIONS HERE]

This is a workaround for bogus C++ exceptions interaction with older development tools. If you experience weird problems (backend unexpectedly closed or similar things) try this trick. This will require recompiling your PostgreSQL from scratch, of course.

The following steps outline the configuration and compilation of the PostGIS source. They are written for Linux users and will not work on Windows or Mac.

Configuration

As with most linux installations, the first step is to generate the Makefile that will be used to build the source code. This is done by running the shell script

./configure

With no additional parameters, this command will attempt to automatically locate the required components and libraries needed to build the PostGIS source code on your system. Although this is the most common usage of ./configure, the script accepts several parameters for those who have the required libraries and programs in non-standard locations.

The following list shows only the most commonly used parameters. For a complete list, use the --help or --help=short parameters.

--prefix=PREFIX

This is the location the PostGIS libraries and SQL scripts will be installed to. By default, this location is the same as the detected PostgreSQL installation.

Caution

This parameter is currently broken, as the package will only install into the PostgreSQL installation directory. Visit http://trac.osgeo.org/postgis/ticket/635 to track this bug.

--with-pgconfig=FILE

PostgreSQL provides a utility called pg_config to enable extensions like PostGIS to locate the PostgreSQL installation directory. Use this parameter (--with-pgconfig=/path/to/pg_config) to manually specify a particular PostgreSQL installation that PostGIS will build against.

--with-gdalconfig=FILE

GDAL, a required library, provides functionality needed for raster support gdal-config to enable software installations to locate the GDAL installation directory. Use this parameter (--with-gdalconfig=/path/to/gdal-config) to manually specify a particular GDAL installation that PostGIS will build against.

--with-geosconfig=FILE

GEOS, a required geometry library, provides a utility called geos-config to enable software installations to locate the GEOS installation directory. Use this parameter (--with-geosconfig=/path/to/geos-config) to manually specify a particular GEOS installation that PostGIS will build against.

--with-xml2config=FILE

LibXML is the library required for doing GeomFromKML/GML processes. It normally is found if you have libxml installed, but if not or you want a specific version used, you'll need to point PostGIS at a specific xml2-config confi file to enable software installations to locate the LibXML installation directory. Use this parameter (>--with-xml2config=/path/to/xml2-config) to manually specify a particular LibXML installation that PostGIS will build against.

--with-projdir=DIR

Proj4 is a reprojection library required by PostGIS. Use this parameter (--with-projdir=/path/to/projdir) to manually specify a particular Proj4 installation directory that PostGIS will build against.

--with-libiconv=DIR

Directory where iconv is installed.

--with-jsondir=DIR

JSON-C is an MIT-licensed JSON library required by PostGIS ST_GeomFromJSON support. Use this parameter (--with-jsondir=/path/to/jsondir) to manually specify a particular JSON-C installation directory that PostGIS will build against.

--with-pcredir=DIR

PCRE is an BSD-licensed Perl Compatible Regular Expression library required by address_standardizer extension. Use this parameter (--with-pcredir=/path/to/pcredir) to manually specify a particular PCRE installation directory that PostGIS will build against.

--with-gui

Compile the data import GUI (requires GTK+2.0). This will create shp2pgsql-gui graphical interface to shp2pgsql.

--with-raster

Compile with raster support. This will build rtpostgis-2.2.8 library and rtpostgis.sql file. This may not be required in final release as plan is to build in raster support by default.

--with-topology

Compile with topology support. This will build the topology.sql file. There is no corresponding library as all logic needed for topology is in postgis-2.2.8 library.

--with-gettext=no

By default PostGIS will try to detect gettext support and compile with it, however if you run into incompatibility issues that cause breakage of loader, you can disable it entirely with this command. Refer to ticket http://trac.osgeo.org/postgis/ticket/748 for an example issue solved by configuring with this. NOTE: that you aren't missing much by turning this off. This is used for international help/label support for the GUI loader which is not yet documented and still experimental.

--with-sfcgal=PATH

By default PostGIS will not install with sfcgal support without this switch. PATH is an optional argument that allows to specify an alternate PATH to sfcgal-config.

Note

If you obtained PostGIS from the SVN repository , the first step is really to run the script

./autogen.sh

This script will generate the configure script that in turn is used to customize the installation of PostGIS.

If you instead obtained PostGIS as a tarball, running ./autogen.sh is not necessary as configure has already been generated.

Building

Once the Makefile has been generated, building PostGIS is as simple as running

make

The last line of the output should be "PostGIS was built successfully. Ready to install."

As of PostGIS v1.4.0, all the functions have comments generated from the documentation. If you wish to install these comments into your spatial databases later, run the command which requires docbook. The postgis_comments.sql and other package comments files raster_comments.sql, topology_comments.sql are also packaged in the tar.gz distribution in the doc folder so no need to make comments if installing from the tar ball.

make comments

Introduced in PostGIS 2.0. This generates html cheat sheets suitable for quick reference or for student handouts. This requires xsltproc to build and will generate 4 files in doc folder topology_cheatsheet.html, tiger_geocoder_cheatsheet.html, raster_cheatsheet.html, postgis_cheatsheet.html

You can download some pre-built ones available in html and pdf from PostGIS / PostgreSQL Study Guides

make cheatsheets

Building PostGIS Extensions and Deploying them

The PostGIS extensions are built and installed automatically if you are using PostgreSQL 9.1+.

If you are building from source repository, you need to build the function descriptions first. These get built if you have docbook installed. You can also manually build with the statement:

make comments

Building the comments is not necessary if you are building from a release tar ball since these are packaged pre-built with the tar ball already.

If you are building against PostgreSQL 9.1, the extensions should automatically build as part of the make install process. You can if needed build from the extensions folders or copy files if you need them on a different server.

cd extensions
cd postgis
make clean
make
make install
cd ..
cd postgis_topology
make clean
make
make install
cd ..
cd postgis_sfcgal
make clean
make
make install

cd ..
cd address_standardizer
make clean
make
make install
make installcheck

cd ..
cd postgis_tiger_geocoder
make clean
make
make install
make installcheck

The extension files will always be the same for the same version of PostGIS regardless of OS, so it is fine to copy over the extension files from one OS to another as long as you have the PostGIS binaries already installed on your servers.

If you want to install the extensions manually on a separate server different from your development, You need to copy the following files from the extensions folder into the PostgreSQL / share / extension folder of your PostgreSQL install as well as the needed binaries for regular PostGIS if you don't have them already on the server.

These are the control files that denote information such as the version of the extension to install if not specified. postgis.control, postgis_topology.control.

All the files in the /sql folder of each extension. Note that these need to be copied to the root of the PostgreSQL share/extension folder extensions/postgis/sql/*.sql, extensions/postgis_topology/sql/*.sql

Once you do that, you should see postgis, postgis_topology as available extensions in PgAdmin -> extensions.

If you are using psql, you can verify that the extensions are installed by running this query:

SELECT name, default_version,installed_version
FROM pg_available_extensions WHERE name LIKE 'postgis%' or name LIKE 'address%';

             name             | default_version | installed_version
------------------------------+-----------------+-------------------
 address_standardizer         | 2.2.8         | 2.2.8
 address_standardizer_data_us | 2.2.8         | 2.2.8
 postgis                      | 2.2.8         | 2.2.8
 postgis_sfcgal               | 2.2.8         |
 postgis_tiger_geocoder       | 2.2.8         | 2.2.8
 postgis_topology             | 2.2.8         |
(6 rows)

If you have the extension installed in the database you are querying, you'll see mention in the installed_version column. If you get no records back, it means you don't have postgis extensions installed on the server at all. PgAdmin III 1.14+ will also provide this information in the extensions section of the database browser tree and will even allow upgrade or uninstall by right-clicking.

If you have the extensions available, you can install postgis extension in your database of choice by either using pgAdmin extension interface or running these sql commands:

CREATE EXTENSION postgis;
CREATE EXTENSION postgis_sfcgal;
CREATE EXTENSION fuzzystrmatch; --needed for postgis_tiger_geocoder
--optional used by postgis_tiger_geocoder, or can be used standalone
CREATE EXTENSION address_standardizer;
CREATE EXTENSION address_standardizer_data_us;
CREATE EXTENSION postgis_tiger_geocoder;
CREATE EXTENSION postgis_topology;

In psql you can use to see what versions you have installed and also what schema they are installed.

\connect mygisdb
\x
\dx postgis*

List of installed extensions
-[ RECORD 1 ]-------------------------------------------------
-
Name        | postgis
Version     | 2.2.8
Schema      | public
Description | PostGIS geometry, geography, and raster spat..
-[ RECORD 2 ]-------------------------------------------------
-
Name        | postgis_tiger_geocoder
Version     | 2.2.8
Schema      | tiger
Description | PostGIS tiger geocoder and reverse geocoder
-[ RECORD 3 ]-------------------------------------------------
-
Name        | postgis_topology
Version     | 2.2.8
Schema      | topology
Description | PostGIS topology spatial types and functions

Warning

Extension tables spatial_ref_sys, layer, topology can not be explicitly backed up. They can only be backed up when the respective postgis or postgis_topology extension is backed up, which only seems to happen when you backup the whole database. As of PostGIS 2.0.1, only srid records not packaged with PostGIS are backed up when the database is backed up so don't go around changing srids we package and expect your changes to be there. Put in a ticket if you find an issue. The structures of extension tables are never backed up since they are created with CREATE EXTENSION and assumed to be the same for a given version of an extension. These behaviors are built into the current PostgreSQL extension model, so nothing we can do about it.

If you installed 2.2.8, without using our wonderful extension system, you can change it to be extension based by first upgrading to the latest micro version running the upgrade scripts: postgis_upgrade_22_minor.sql,raster_upgrade_22_minor.sql,topology_upgrade_22_minor.sql.

If you installed postgis without raster support, you'll need to install raster support first (using the full rtpostgis.sql

Then you can run the below commands to package the functions in their respective extension.

CREATE EXTENSION postgis FROM unpackaged;
CREATE EXTENSION postgis_topology FROM unpackaged;
CREATE EXTENSION postgis_tiger_geocoder FROM unpackaged;

Testing

If you wish to test the PostGIS build, run

make check

The above command will run through various checks and regression tests using the generated library against an actual PostgreSQL database.

Note

If you configured PostGIS using non-standard PostgreSQL, GEOS, or Proj4 locations, you may need to add their library locations to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable.

Caution

Currently, the make check relies on the PATH and PGPORT environment variables when performing the checks - it does not use the PostgreSQL version that may have been specified using the configuration parameter --with-pgconfig. So make sure to modify your PATH to match the detected PostgreSQL installation during configuration or be prepared to deal with the impending headaches.

If successful, the output of the test should be similar to the following:

    CUnit - A unit testing framework for C - Version 2.1-2
     http://cunit.sourceforge.net/

Suite: computational_geometry
  Test: test_lw_segment_side ...passed
  Test: test_lw_segment_intersects ...passed
  Test: test_lwline_crossing_short_lines ...passed
  Test: test_lwline_crossing_long_lines ...passed
  Test: test_lwline_crossing_bugs ...passed
  Test: test_lwpoint_set_ordinate ...passed
  Test: test_lwpoint_get_ordinate ...passed
  Test: test_point_interpolate ...passed
  Test: test_lwline_clip ...passed
  Test: test_lwline_clip_big ...passed
  Test: test_lwmline_clip ...passed
  Test: test_geohash_point ...passed
  Test: test_geohash_precision ...passed
  Test: test_geohash ...passed
  Test: test_geohash_point_as_int ...passed
  Test: test_isclosed ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_simplify ...passed
Suite: buildarea
  Test: buildarea1 ...passed
  Test: buildarea2 ...passed
  Test: buildarea3 ...passed
  Test: buildarea4 ...passed
  Test: buildarea4b ...passed
  Test: buildarea5 ...passed
  Test: buildarea6 ...passed
  Test: buildarea7 ...passed
Suite: geometry_clean
  Test: test_lwgeom_make_valid ...passed
Suite: clip_by_rectangle
  Test: test_lwgeom_clip_by_rect ...passed
Suite: force_sfs
  Test: test_sfs_11 ...passed
  Test: test_sfs_12 ...passed
  Test: test_sqlmm ...passed
Suite: geodetic
  Test: test_sphere_direction ...passed
  Test: test_sphere_project ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_area_sphere ...passed
  Test: test_signum ...passed
  Test: test_gbox_from_spherical_coordinates ...passed
  Test: test_gserialized_get_gbox_geocentric ...passed
  Test: test_clairaut ...passed
  Test: test_edge_intersection ...passed
  Test: test_edge_intersects ...passed
  Test: test_edge_distance_to_point ...passed
  Test: test_edge_distance_to_edge ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_distance_sphere ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_check_geodetic ...passed
  Test: test_gserialized_from_lwgeom ...passed
  Test: test_spheroid_distance ...passed
  Test: test_spheroid_area ...passed
  Test: test_lwpoly_covers_point2d ...passed
  Test: test_gbox_utils ...passed
  Test: test_vector_angle ...passed
  Test: test_vector_rotate ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_segmentize_sphere ...passed
  Test: test_ptarray_contains_point_sphere ...passed
  Test: test_ptarray_contains_point_sphere_iowa ...passed
Suite: GEOS
  Test: test_geos_noop ...passed
  Test: test_geos_subdivide ...passed
  Test: test_geos_linemerge ...passed
Suite: Clustering
  Test: basic_test ...passed
  Test: nonsequential_test ...passed
  Test: basic_distance_test ...passed
  Test: single_input_test ...passed
  Test: empty_inputs_test ...passed
Suite: Clustering Union-Find
  Test: test_unionfind_create ...passed
  Test: test_unionfind_union ...passed
  Test: test_unionfind_ordered_by_cluster ...passed
Suite: homogenize
  Test: test_coll_point ...passed
  Test: test_coll_line ...passed
  Test: test_coll_poly ...passed
  Test: test_coll_coll ...passed
  Test: test_geom ...passed
  Test: test_coll_curve ...passed
Suite: encoded_polyline_input
  Test: in_encoded_polyline_test_geoms ...passed
  Test: in_encoded_polyline_test_precision ...passed
Suite: geojson_input
  Test: in_geojson_test_srid ...passed
  Test: in_geojson_test_bbox ...passed
  Test: in_geojson_test_geoms ...passed
Suite: twkb_input
  Test: test_twkb_in_point ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_in_linestring ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_in_polygon ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_in_multipoint ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_in_multilinestring ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_in_multipolygon ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_in_collection ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_in_precision ...passed
Suite: serialization/deserialization
  Test: test_typmod_macros ...passed
  Test: test_flags_macros ...passed
  Test: test_serialized_srid ...passed
  Test: test_gserialized_from_lwgeom_size ...passed
  Test: test_gbox_serialized_size ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_from_gserialized ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_count_vertices ...passed
  Test: test_on_gser_lwgeom_count_vertices ...passed
  Test: test_geometry_type_from_string ...passed
  Test: test_lwcollection_extract ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_free ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_flip_coordinates ...passed
  Test: test_f2d ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_clone ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_force_clockwise ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_calculate_gbox ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_is_empty ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_same ...passed
  Test: test_lwline_from_lwmpoint ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_as_curve ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_scale ...passed
  Test: test_gserialized_is_empty ...passed
  Test: test_gbox_same_2d ...passed
Suite: measures
  Test: test_mindistance2d_tolerance ...passed
  Test: test_rect_tree_contains_point ...passed
  Test: test_rect_tree_intersects_tree ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_segmentize2d ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_locate_along ...passed
  Test: test_lw_dist2d_pt_arc ...passed
  Test: test_lw_dist2d_seg_arc ...passed
  Test: test_lw_dist2d_arc_arc ...passed
  Test: test_lw_arc_length ...passed
  Test: test_lw_dist2d_pt_ptarrayarc ...passed
  Test: test_lw_dist2d_ptarray_ptarrayarc ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_tcpa ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_is_trajectory ...passed
Suite: effectivearea
  Test: do_test_lwgeom_effectivearea_lines ...passed
  Test: do_test_lwgeom_effectivearea_polys ...passed
Suite: miscellaneous
  Test: test_misc_force_2d ...passed
  Test: test_misc_simplify ...passed
  Test: test_misc_count_vertices ...passed
  Test: test_misc_area ...passed
  Test: test_misc_wkb ...passed
  Test: test_grid ...passed
Suite: noding
  Test: test_lwgeom_node ...passed
Suite: encoded_polyline_output
  Test: out_encoded_polyline_test_geoms ...passed
  Test: out_encoded_polyline_test_srid ...passed
  Test: out_encoded_polyline_test_precision ...passed
Suite: geojson_output
  Test: out_geojson_test_precision ...passed
  Test: out_geojson_test_dims ...passed
  Test: out_geojson_test_srid ...passed
  Test: out_geojson_test_bbox ...passed
  Test: out_geojson_test_geoms ...passed
Suite: gml_output
  Test: out_gml_test_precision ...passed
  Test: out_gml_test_srid ...passed
  Test: out_gml_test_dims ...passed
  Test: out_gml_test_geodetic ...passed
  Test: out_gml_test_geoms ...passed
  Test: out_gml_test_geoms_prefix ...passed
  Test: out_gml_test_geoms_nodims ...passed
  Test: out_gml2_extent ...passed
  Test: out_gml3_extent ...passed
Suite: kml_output
  Test: out_kml_test_precision ...passed
  Test: out_kml_test_dims ...passed
  Test: out_kml_test_geoms ...passed
  Test: out_kml_test_prefix ...passed
Suite: svg_output
  Test: out_svg_test_precision ...passed
  Test: out_svg_test_dims ...passed
  Test: out_svg_test_relative ...passed
  Test: out_svg_test_geoms ...passed
  Test: out_svg_test_srid ...passed
Suite: x3d_output
  Test: out_x3d3_test_precision ...passed
  Test: out_x3d3_test_geoms ...passed
  Test: out_x3d3_test_option ...passed
Suite: ptarray
  Test: test_ptarray_append_point ...passed
  Test: test_ptarray_append_ptarray ...passed
  Test: test_ptarray_locate_point ...passed
  Test: test_ptarray_isccw ...passed
  Test: test_ptarray_signed_area ...passed
  Test: test_ptarray_unstroke ...passed
  Test: test_ptarray_insert_point ...passed
  Test: test_ptarray_contains_point ...passed
  Test: test_ptarrayarc_contains_point ...passed
  Test: test_ptarray_scale ...passed
Suite: printing
  Test: test_lwprint_default_format ...passed
  Test: test_lwprint_format_orders ...passed
  Test: test_lwprint_optional_format ...passed
  Test: test_lwprint_oddball_formats ...passed
  Test: test_lwprint_bad_formats ...passed
Suite: SFCGAL
  Test: test_sfcgal_noop ...passed
Suite: split
  Test: test_lwline_split_by_point_to ...passed
  Test: test_lwgeom_split ...passed
Suite: stringbuffer
  Test: test_stringbuffer_append ...passed
  Test: test_stringbuffer_aprintf ...passed
Suite: surface
  Test: triangle_parse ...passed
  Test: tin_parse ...passed
  Test: polyhedralsurface_parse ...passed
  Test: surface_dimension ...passed
Suite: Internal Spatial Trees
  Test: test_tree_circ_create ...passed
  Test: test_tree_circ_pip ...passed
  Test: test_tree_circ_pip2 ...passed
  Test: test_tree_circ_distance ...passed
  Test: test_tree_circ_distance_threshold ...passed
Suite: triangulate
  Test: test_lwgeom_delaunay_triangulation ...passed
Suite: twkb_output
  Test: test_twkb_out_point ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_out_linestring ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_out_polygon ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_out_multipoint ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_out_multilinestring ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_out_multipolygon ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_out_collection ...passed
  Test: test_twkb_out_idlist ...passed
Suite: varint
  Test: test_zigzag ...passed
  Test: test_varint ...passed
  Test: test_varint_roundtrip ...passed
Suite: wkb_input
  Test: test_wkb_in_point ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_linestring ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_polygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_multipoint ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_multilinestring ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_multipolygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_collection ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_circularstring ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_compoundcurve ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_curvpolygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_multicurve ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_multisurface ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_in_malformed ...passed
Suite: wkb_output
  Test: test_wkb_out_point ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_linestring ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_polygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_multipoint ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_multilinestring ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_multipolygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_collection ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_circularstring ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_compoundcurve ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_curvpolygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_multicurve ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_multisurface ...passed
  Test: test_wkb_out_polyhedralsurface ...passed
Suite: wkt_input
  Test: test_wkt_in_point ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_linestring ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_polygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_multipoint ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_multilinestring ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_multipolygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_collection ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_circularstring ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_compoundcurve ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_curvpolygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_multicurve ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_multisurface ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_tin ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_polyhedralsurface ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_in_errlocation ...passed
Suite: wkt_output
  Test: test_wkt_out_point ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_linestring ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_polygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_multipoint ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_multilinestring ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_multipolygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_collection ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_circularstring ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_compoundcurve ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_curvpolygon ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_multicurve ...passed
  Test: test_wkt_out_multisurface ...passed

Run Summary:    Type  Total    Ran Passed Failed Inactive
              suites     38     38    n/a      0        0
               tests    251    251    251      0        0
             asserts   2468   2468   2468      0      n/a

Elapsed time =    0.298 seconds

Creating database 'postgis_reg'
Loading PostGIS into 'postgis_reg'
  /projects/postgis/branches/2.2/regress/00-regress-install/share/contrib/postgis/postgis.sql
  /projects/postgis/branches/2.2/regress/00-regress-install/share/contrib/postgis/postgis_comments.sql
Loading SFCGAL into 'postgis_reg'
  /projects/postgis/branches/2.2/regress/00-regress-install/share/contrib/postgis/sfcgal.sql
  /projects/postgis/branches/2.2/regress/00-regress-install/share/contrib/postgis/sfcgal_comments.sql
PostgreSQL 9.4.4, compiled by Visual C++ build 1800, 32-bit
  Postgis 2.2.0dev - r13980 - 2015-08-23 06:13:07
  scripts 2.2.0dev r13980
  GEOS: 3.5.0-CAPI-1.9.0 r4088
  PROJ: Rel. 4.9.1, 04 March 2015
  SFCGAL: 1.1.0

Running tests

 loader/Point .............. ok
 loader/PointM .............. ok
 loader/PointZ .............. ok
 loader/MultiPoint .............. ok
 loader/MultiPointM .............. ok
 loader/MultiPointZ .............. ok
 loader/Arc .............. ok
 loader/ArcM .............. ok
 loader/ArcZ .............. ok
 loader/Polygon .............. ok
 loader/PolygonM .............. ok
 loader/PolygonZ .............. ok
 loader/TSTPolygon ......... ok
 loader/TSIPolygon ......... ok
 loader/TSTIPolygon ......... ok
 loader/PointWithSchema ..... ok
 loader/NoTransPoint ......... ok
 loader/NotReallyMultiPoint ......... ok
 loader/MultiToSinglePoint ......... ok
 loader/ReprojectPts ........ ok
 loader/ReprojectPtsGeog ........ ok
 loader/Latin1 .... ok
 loader/Latin1-implicit .... ok
 loader/mfile .... ok
 dumper/literalsrid ....... ok
 dumper/realtable ....... ok
 affine .. ok
 bestsrid .. ok
 binary .. ok
 boundary .. ok
 cluster .. ok
 concave_hull .. ok
 ctors .. ok
 dump .. ok
 dumppoints .. ok
 empty .. ok
 forcecurve .. ok
 geography .. ok
 in_geohash .. ok
 in_gml .. ok
 in_kml .. ok
 in_encodedpolyline .. ok
 iscollection .. ok
 legacy .. ok
 long_xact .. ok
 lwgeom_regress .. ok
 measures .. ok
 operators .. ok
 out_geometry .. ok
 out_geography .. ok
 polygonize .. ok
 polyhedralsurface .. ok
 postgis_type_name .. ok
 regress .. ok
 regress_bdpoly .. ok
 regress_index .. ok
 regress_index_nulls .. ok
 regress_management .. ok
 regress_selectivity .. ok
 regress_lrs .. ok
 regress_ogc .. ok
 regress_ogc_cover .. ok
 regress_ogc_prep .. ok
 regress_proj .. ok
 relate .. ok
 remove_repeated_points .. ok
 removepoint .. ok
 setpoint .. ok
 simplify .. ok
 simplifyvw .. ok
 size .. ok
 snaptogrid .. ok
 split .. ok
 sql-mm-serialize .. ok
 sql-mm-circularstring .. ok
 sql-mm-compoundcurve .. ok
 sql-mm-curvepoly .. ok
 sql-mm-general .. ok
 sql-mm-multicurve .. ok
 sql-mm-multisurface .. ok
 swapordinates .. ok
 summary .. ok
 temporal .. ok
 tickets .. ok
 twkb .. ok
 typmod .. ok
 wkb .. ok
 wkt .. ok
 wmsservers .. ok
 knn .. ok
 hausdorff .. ok
 regress_buffer_params .. ok
 offsetcurve .. ok
 relatematch .. ok
 isvaliddetail .. ok
 sharedpaths .. ok
 snap .. ok
 node .. ok
 unaryunion .. ok
 clean .. ok
 relate_bnr .. ok
 delaunaytriangles .. ok
 clipbybox2d .. ok
 subdivide .. ok
 in_geojson .. ok
 regress_sfcgal .. ok
 sfcgal/empty .. ok
 sfcgal/geography .. ok
 sfcgal/legacy .. ok
 sfcgal/measures .. ok
 sfcgal/regress_ogc_prep .. ok
 sfcgal/regress_ogc .. ok
 sfcgal/regress .. ok
 sfcgal/tickets .. ok
 sfcgal/concave_hull .. ok
 sfcgal/wmsservers .. ok
 sfcgal/approximatemedialaxis .. ok
 uninstall .  /projects/postgis/branches/2.2/regress/00-regress-install/share/contrib/postgis/uninstall_sfcgal.sql
  /projects/postgis/branches/2.2/regress/00-regress-install/share/contrib/postgis/uninstall_postgis.sql
. ok (4336)

Run tests: 118
Failed: 0

-- if you built --with-gui, you should see this too

     CUnit - A unit testing framework for C - Version 2.1-2
     http://cunit.sourceforge.net/

Suite: Shapefile Loader File shp2pgsql Test
  Test: test_ShpLoaderCreate() ...passed
  Test: test_ShpLoaderDestroy() ...passed
Suite: Shapefile Loader File pgsql2shp Test
  Test: test_ShpDumperCreate() ...passed
  Test: test_ShpDumperDestroy() ...passed

Run Summary:    Type  Total    Ran Passed Failed Inactive
              suites      2      2    n/a      0        0
               tests      4      4      4      0        0
             asserts      4      4      4      0      n/a

The postgis_tiger_geocoder and address_standardizer extensions, currenlty only support the standard PostgreSQL installcheck. To test these use the below. Note: the make install is not necessary if you already did make install at root of PostGIS code folder.

For address_standardizer:

cd extensions/address_standardizer
make install
make installcheck

Output should look like:

============== dropping database "contrib_regression" ==============
DROP DATABASE
============== creating database "contrib_regression" ==============
CREATE DATABASE
ALTER DATABASE
============== running regression test queries        ==============
test test-init-extensions     ... ok
test test-parseaddress        ... ok
test test-standardize_address_1 ... ok
test test-standardize_address_2 ... ok

=====================
 All 4 tests passed.
=====================

For tiger geocoder, make sure you have postgis and fuzzystrmatch extensions available in your PostgreSQL instance. The address_standardizer tests will also kick in if you built postgis with address_standardizer support:

cd extensions/postgis_tiger_geocoder
make install
make installcheck

output should look like:

============== dropping database "contrib_regression" ==============
DROP DATABASE
============== creating database "contrib_regression" ==============
CREATE DATABASE
ALTER DATABASE
============== installing fuzzystrmatch               ==============
CREATE EXTENSION
============== installing postgis                     ==============
CREATE EXTENSION
============== installing postgis_tiger_geocoder      ==============
CREATE EXTENSION
============== installing address_standardizer        ==============
CREATE EXTENSION
============== running regression test queries        ==============
test test-normalize_address   ... ok
test test-pagc_normalize_address ... ok

=====================
All 2 tests passed.
=====================

Installation

To install PostGIS, type

make install

This will copy the PostGIS installation files into their appropriate subdirectory specified by the --prefix configuration parameter. In particular:

The loader and dumper binaries are installed in [prefix]/bin.

The SQL files, such as postgis.sql, are installed in [prefix]/share/contrib.

The PostGIS libraries are installed in [prefix]/lib.

If you previously ran the make comments command to generate the postgis_comments.sql, raster_comments.sql file, install the sql file by running

make comments-install

Note

postgis_comments.sql, raster_comments.sql, topology_comments.sql was separated from the typical build and installation targets since with it comes the extra dependency of xsltproc.

Create a spatially-enabled database on PostgreSQL lower than 9.1

The first step in creating a PostGIS database is to create a simple PostgreSQL database.

createdb [yourdatabase]

Many of the PostGIS functions are written in the PL/pgSQL procedural language. As such, the next step to create a PostGIS database is to enable the PL/pgSQL language in your new database. This is accomplish by the command below command. For PostgreSQL 8.4+, this is generally already installed

createlang plpgsql [yourdatabase]

Now load the PostGIS object and function definitions into your database by loading the postgis.sql definitions file (located in [prefix]/share/contrib as specified during the configuration step).

psql -d [yourdatabase] -f postgis.sql

For a complete set of EPSG coordinate system definition identifiers, you can also load the spatial_ref_sys.sql definitions file and populate the spatial_ref_sys table. This will permit you to perform ST_Transform() operations on geometries.

psql -d [yourdatabase] -f spatial_ref_sys.sql

If you wish to add comments to the PostGIS functions, the final step is to load the postgis_comments.sql into your spatial database. The comments can be viewed by simply typing \dd [function_name] from a psql terminal window.

psql -d [yourdatabase] -f postgis_comments.sql

Install raster support

psql -d [yourdatabase] -f rtpostgis.sql

Install raster support comments. This will provide quick help info for each raster function using psql or PgAdmin or any other PostgreSQL tool that can show function comments

psql -d [yourdatabase] -f raster_comments.sql

Install topology support

psql -d [yourdatabase] -f topology/topology.sql

Install topology support comments. This will provide quick help info for each topology function / type using psql or PgAdmin or any other PostgreSQL tool that can show function comments

psql -d [yourdatabase] -f topology/topology_comments.sql

If you plan to restore an old backup from prior versions in this new db, run:

psql -d [yourdatabase] -f legacy.sql

Note

There is an alternative legacy_minimal.sql you can run instead which will install barebones needed to recover tables and work with apps like MapServer and GeoServer. If you have views that use things like distance / length etc, you'll need the full blown legacy.sql

You can later run uninstall_legacy.sql to get rid of the deprecated functions after you are done with restoring and cleanup.

Creating a spatial database using EXTENSIONS

If you are using PostgreSQL 9.1+ and have compiled and installed the extensions/ postgis modules, you can create a spatial database the new way.

createdb [yourdatabase]

The core postgis extension installs PostGIS geometry, geography, raster, spatial_ref_sys and all the functions and comments with a simple:

CREATE EXTENSION postgis;

command.

psql -d [yourdatabase] -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis;"

Topology is packaged as a separate extension and installable with command:

psql -d [yourdatabase] -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis_topology;"

If you plan to restore an old backup from prior versions in this new db, run:

psql -d [yourdatabase] -f legacy.sql

You can later run uninstall_legacy.sql to get rid of the deprecated functions after you are done with restoring and cleanup.

Installing and Using the address standardizer

The address_standardizer extension used to be a separate package that required separate download. From PostGIS 2.2 on, it is now bundled in. For more information about the address_standardize, what it does, and how to configure it for your needs, refer to Chapter 12, Address Standardizer.

This standardizer can be used in conjunction with the PostGIS packaged tiger geocoder extension as a replacement for the Normalize_Address discussed. To use as replacement refer to the section called “Using Address Standardizer Extension with Tiger geocoder”. You can also use it as a building block for your own geocoder or use it to standardize your addresses for easier compare of addresses.

The address standardizer relies on PCRE which is usually already installed on many Nix systems, but you can download the latest at: http://www.pcre.org. If during the section called “Configuration”, PCRE is found, then the address standardizer extension will automatically be built. If you have a custom pcre install you want to use instead, pass to configure --with-pcredir=/path/to/pcre where /path/to/pcre is the root folder for your pcre include and lib directories.

For Windows users, the PostGIS 2.1+ bundle is packaged with the address_standardizer already so no need to compile and can move straight to CREATE EXTENSION step.

Once you have installed, you can connect to your database and run the SQL:

CREATE EXTENSION address_standardizer;

The following test requires no rules, gaz, or lex tables

SELECT num, street, city, state, zip
 FROM parse_address('1 Devonshire Place, Boston, MA 02109');

Output should be

 num |         street         |  city  | state |  zip
-----+------------------------+--------+-------+-------
 1   | Devonshire Place PH301 | Boston | MA    | 02109

Installing Regex::Assemble

Perl Regex:Assemble is no longer needed for compiling address_standardizer extension since the files it generates are part of the source tree. However if you need to edit the usps-st-city-orig.txt or usps-st-city-orig.txt usps-st-city-adds.tx, you need to rebuild parseaddress-stcities.h which does require Regex:Assemble.

cpan Regexp::Assemble

or if you are on Ubuntu / Debian you might need to do

sudo perl -MCPAN -e "install Regexp::Assemble"

Installing, Upgrading Tiger Geocoder and loading data

Extras like Tiger geocoder may not be packaged in your PostGIS distribution, but will always be available in the postgis-2.2.8.tar.gz file. The instructions provided here are also available in the extras/tiger_geocoder/README

If you are on Windows and you don't have tar installed, you can use http://www.7-zip.org/ to unzip the PostGIS tarball.

Tiger Geocoder Enabling your PostGIS database: Using Extension

If you are using PostgreSQL 9.1+ and PostGIS 2.1+, you can take advantage of the new extension model for installing tiger geocoder. To do so:

First get binaries for PostGIS 2.1+ or compile and install as usual. This should install the necessary extension files as well for tiger geocoder.

Connect to your database via psql or pgAdmin or some other tool and run the following SQL commands. Note that if you are installing in a database that already has postgis, you don't need to do the first step. If you have fuzzystrmatch extension already installed, you don't need to do the second step either.

CREATE EXTENSION postgis;
CREATE EXTENSION fuzzystrmatch;
--this one is optional if you want to use the rules based standardizer (pagc_normalize_address)
CREATE EXTENSION address_standardizer;
CREATE EXTENSION postgis_tiger_geocoder;

If you already have postgis_tiger_geocoder extension installed, and just want to update to the latest run:

ALTER EXTENSION postgis UPDATE;
ALTER EXTENSION postgis_tiger_geocoder UPDATE;

If you made custom entries or changes to tiger.loader_platform and tiger.loader_variables you may need to update these.

To confirm your install is working correctly, run this sql in your database:

SELECT na.address, na.streetname,na.streettypeabbrev, na.zip
	FROM normalize_address('1 Devonshire Place, Boston, MA 02109') AS na;

Which should output

 address | streetname | streettypeabbrev |  zip
---------+------------+------------------+-------
	   1 | Devonshire | Pl               | 02109

Create a new record in tiger.loader_platform table with the paths of your executables and server.

So for example to create a profile called debbie that follows sh convention. You would do:

INSERT INTO tiger.loader_platform(os, declare_sect, pgbin, wget, unzip_command, psql, path_sep,
		   loader, environ_set_command, county_process_command)
SELECT 'debbie', declare_sect, pgbin, wget, unzip_command, psql, path_sep,
	   loader, environ_set_command, county_process_command
  FROM tiger.loader_platform
  WHERE os = 'sh';

And then edit the paths in the declare_sect column to those that fit Debbie's pg, unzip,shp2pgsql, psql, etc path locations.

If you don't edit this loader_platform table, it will just contain common case locations of items and you'll have to edit the generated script after the script is generated.

Create a folder called gisdata on root of server or your local pc if you have a fast network connection to the server. This folder is where the tiger files will be downloaded to and processed. If you are not happy with having the folder on the root of the server, or simply want to change to a different folder for staging, then edit the field staging_fold in the tiger.loader_variables table.

Create a folder called temp in the gisdata folder or whereever you designated the staging_fold to be. This will be the folder where the loader extracts the downloaded tiger data.

Then run the Loader_Generate_Nation_Script and Loader_Generate_Script SQL functions make sure to use the name of your custom profile and copy the scripts to a .sh or .bat file. So for example to do the nation load and one state using our new profile we would:

SELECT Loader_Generate_Nation_Script('debbie');

SELECT Loader_Generate_Script(ARRAY['MA'], 'debbie');

Run the generated commandline scripts.

After you are done loading all data or at a stopping point, it's a good idea to analyze all the tiger tables to update the stats (include inherited stats)

SELECT install_missing_indexes();
vacuum analyze verbose tiger.addr;
vacuum analyze verbose tiger.edges;
vacuum analyze verbose tiger.faces;
vacuum analyze verbose tiger.featnames;
vacuum analyze verbose tiger.place;
vacuum analyze verbose tiger.cousub;
vacuum analyze verbose tiger.county;
vacuum analyze verbose tiger.state;

Converting a Tiger Geocoder Regular Install to Extension Model

If you installed the tiger geocoder without using the extension model, you can convert to the extension model as follows:

Follow instructions in the section called “Upgrading your Tiger Geocoder Install” for the non-extension model upgrade.

Connect to your database with psql or pgAdmin and run the following command:

CREATE EXTENSION postgis_tiger_geocoder FROM unpackaged;

Tiger Geocoder Enabling your PostGIS database: Not Using Extensions

First install PostGIS using the prior instructions.

If you don't have an extras folder, download http://download.osgeo.org/postgis/source/postgis-2.2.8.tar.gz

tar xvfz postgis-2.2.8.tar.gz

cd postgis-2.2.8/extras/tiger_geocoder

Edit the tiger_loader_2015.sql (or latest loader file you find, unless you want to load different year) to the paths of your executables server etc or alternatively you can update the loader_platform table once installed. If you don't edit this file or the loader_platform table, it will just contain common case locations of items and you'll have to edit the generated script after the fact when you run the Loader_Generate_Nation_Script and Loader_Generate_Script SQL functions.

If you are installing Tiger geocoder for the first time edit either the create_geocode.bat script If you are on windows or the create_geocode.sh if you are on Linux/Unix/Mac OSX with your PostgreSQL specific settings and run the corresponding script from the commandline.

Verify that you now have a tiger schema in your database and that it is part of your database search_path. If it is not, add it with a command something along the line of:

ALTER DATABASE geocoder SET search_path=public, tiger;

The normalizing address functionality works more or less without any data except for tricky addresses. Run this test and verify things look like this:

SELECT pprint_addy(normalize_address('202 East Fremont Street, Las Vegas, Nevada 89101')) As pretty_address;
pretty_address
---------------------------------------
202 E Fremont St, Las Vegas, NV 89101

Using Address Standardizer Extension with Tiger geocoder

One of the many complaints of folks is the address normalizer function Normalize_Address function that normalizes an address for prepping before geocoding. The normalizer is far from perfect and trying to patch its imperfectness takes a vast amount of resources. As such we have integrated with another project that has a much better address standardizer engine. To use this new address_standardizer, you compile the extension as described in the section called “Installing and Using the address standardizer” and install as an extension in your database.

Once you install this extension in the same database as you have installed postgis_tiger_geocoder, then the Pagc_Normalize_Address can be used instead of Normalize_Address. This extension is tiger agnostic, so can be used with other data sources such as international addresses. The tiger geocoder extension does come packaged with its own custom versions of rules table ( tiger.pagc_rules) , gaz table (tiger.pagc_gaz), and lex table (tiger.pagc_lex). These you can add and update to improve your standardizing experience for your own needs.

Loading Tiger Data

The instructions for loading data are available in a more detailed form in the extras/tiger_geocoder/tiger_2011/README. This just includes the general steps.

The load process downloads data from the census website for the respective nation files, states requested, extracts the files, and then loads each state into its own separate set of state tables. Each state table inherits from the tables defined in tiger schema so that its sufficient to just query those tables to access all the data and drop a set of state tables at any time using the Drop_State_Tables_Generate_Script if you need to reload a state or just don't need a state anymore.

In order to be able to load data you'll need the following tools:

A tool to unzip the zip files from census website.

For Unix like systems: unzip executable which is usually already installed on most Unix like platforms.

For Windows, 7-zip which is a free compress/uncompress tool you can download from http://www.7-zip.org/

shp2pgsql commandline which is installed by default when you install PostGIS.

wget which is a web grabber tool usually installed on most Unix/Linux systems.

If you are on windows, you can get pre-compiled binaries from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/wget.htm

If you are upgrading from tiger_2010, you'll need to first generate and run Drop_Nation_Tables_Generate_Script. Before you load any state data, you need to load the nation wide data which you do with Loader_Generate_Nation_Script. Which will generate a loader script for you. Loader_Generate_Nation_Script is a one-time step that should be done for upgrading (from 2010) and for new installs.

To load state data refer to Loader_Generate_Script to generate a data load script for your platform for the states you desire. Note that you can install these piecemeal. You don't have to load all the states you want all at once. You can load them as you need them.

After the states you desire have been loaded, make sure to run the:

SELECT install_missing_indexes();

as described in Install_Missing_Indexes.

To test that things are working as they should, try to run a geocode on an address in your state using Geocode

Upgrading your Tiger Geocoder Install

If you have Tiger Geocoder packaged with 2.0+ already installed, you can upgrade the functions at any time even from an interim tar ball if there are fixes you badly need. This will only work for Tiger geocoder not installed with extensions.

If you don't have an extras folder, download http://download.osgeo.org/postgis/source/postgis-2.2.8.tar.gz

tar xvfz postgis-2.2.8.tar.gz

cd postgis-2.2.8/extras/tiger_geocoder/tiger_2011

Locate the upgrade_geocoder.bat script If you are on windows or the upgrade_geocoder.sh if you are on Linux/Unix/Mac OSX. Edit the file to have your postgis database credentials.

If you are upgrading from 2010 or 2011, make sure to unremark out the loader script line so you get the latest script for loading 2012 data.

Then run th corresponding script from the commandline.

Next drop all nation tables and load up the new ones. Generate a drop script with this SQL statement as detailed in Drop_Nation_Tables_Generate_Script

SELECT drop_nation_tables_generate_script();

Run the generated drop SQL statements.

Generate a nation load script with this SELECT statement as detailed in Loader_Generate_Nation_Script

For windows

SELECT loader_generate_nation_script('windows');

For unix/linux

SELECT loader_generate_nation_script('sh');

Refer to the section called “Loading Tiger Data” for instructions on how to run the generate script. This only needs to be done once.

Note

You can have a mix of 2010/2011 state tables and can upgrade each state separately. Before you upgrade a state to 2011, you first need to drop the 2010 tables for that state using Drop_State_Tables_Generate_Script.

Create a spatially-enabled database from a template

Some packaged distributions of PostGIS (in particular the Win32 installers for PostGIS >= 1.1.5) load the PostGIS functions into a template database called template_postgis. If the template_postgis database exists in your PostgreSQL installation then it is possible for users and/or applications to create spatially-enabled databases using a single command. Note that in both cases, the database user must have been granted the privilege to create new databases.

From the shell:

# createdb -T template_postgis my_spatial_db

From SQL:

postgres=# CREATE DATABASE my_spatial_db TEMPLATE=template_postgis

Upgrading

Upgrading existing spatial databases can be tricky as it requires replacement or introduction of new PostGIS object definitions.

Unfortunately not all definitions can be easily replaced in a live database, so sometimes your best bet is a dump/reload process.

PostGIS provides a SOFT UPGRADE procedure for minor or bugfix releases, and a HARD UPGRADE procedure for major releases.

Before attempting to upgrade PostGIS, it is always worth to backup your data. If you use the -Fc flag to pg_dump you will always be able to restore the dump with a HARD UPGRADE.

Soft upgrade

If you installed your database using extensions, you'll need to upgrade using the extension model as well. If you installed using the old sql script way, then you should upgrade using the sql script way. Please refer to the appropriate.

Soft Upgrade Pre 9.1+ or without extensions

This section applies only to those who installed PostGIS not using extensions. If you have extensions and try to upgrade with this approach you'll get messages like:

can't drop ... because postgis extension depends on it

After compiling and installing (make install) you should find a postgis_upgrade.sql and rtpostgis_upgrade.sql in the installation folders. For example /usr/share/postgresql/9.3/contrib/postgis_upgrade.sql. Install the postgis_upgrade.sql. If you have raster functionality installed, you will also need to install the /usr/share/postgresql/9.3/contrib/postgis_upgrade.sql. If you are moving from PostGIS 1.* to PostGIS 2.* or from PostGIS 2.* prior to r7409, you need to do a HARD UPGRADE.

psql -f postgis_upgrade.sql -d your_spatial_database

The same procedure applies to raster and topology extensions, with upgrade files named rtpostgis_upgrade*.sql and topology_upgrade*.sql respectively. If you need them:

psql -f rtpostgis_upgrade.sql -d your_spatial_database

psql -f topology_upgrade.sql -d your_spatial_database

Note

If you can't find the postgis_upgrade*.sql specific for upgrading your version you are using a version too early for a soft upgrade and need to do a HARD UPGRADE.

The PostGIS_Full_Version function should inform you about the need to run this kind of upgrade using a "procs need upgrade" message.

Soft Upgrade 9.1+ using extensions

If you originally installed PostGIS with extensions, then you need to upgrade using extensions as well. Doing a minor upgrade with extensions, is fairly painless.

ALTER EXTENSION postgis UPDATE TO "2.2.8";
ALTER EXTENSION postgis_topology UPDATE TO "2.2.8";

If you get an error notice something like:

No migration path defined for ... to 2.2.8

Then you'll need to backup your database, create a fresh one as described in the section called “Creating a spatial database using EXTENSIONS” and then restore your backup ontop of this new database.

If you get a notice message like:

Version "2.2.8" of extension "postgis" is already installed

Then everything is already up to date and you can safely ignore it. UNLESS you're attempting to upgrade from an SVN version to the next (which doesn't get a new version number); in that case you can append "next" to the version string, and next time you'll need to drop the "next" suffix again:

ALTER EXTENSION postgis UPDATE TO "2.2.8next";
ALTER EXTENSION postgis_topology UPDATE TO "2.2.8next";

Note

If you installed PostGIS originally without a version specified, you can often skip the reinstallation of postgis extension before restoring since the backup just has CREATE EXTENSION postgis and thus picks up the newest latest version during restore.

Hard upgrade

By HARD UPGRADE we mean full dump/reload of postgis-enabled databases. You need a HARD UPGRADE when PostGIS objects' internal storage changes or when SOFT UPGRADE is not possible. The Release Notes appendix reports for each version whether you need a dump/reload (HARD UPGRADE) to upgrade.

The dump/reload process is assisted by the postgis_restore.pl script which takes care of skipping from the dump all definitions which belong to PostGIS (including old ones), allowing you to restore your schemas and data into a database with PostGIS installed without getting duplicate symbol errors or bringing forward deprecated objects.

Supplementary instructions for windows users are available at Windows Hard upgrade.

The Procedure is as follows:

Create a "custom-format" dump of the database you want to upgrade (let's call it olddb) include binary blobs (-b) and verbose (-v) output. The user can be the owner of the db, need not be postgres super account.

pg_dump -h localhost -p 5432 -U postgres -Fc -b -v -f "/somepath/olddb.backup" olddb

Do a fresh install of PostGIS in a new database -- we'll refer to this database as newdb. Please refer to the section called “Create a spatially-enabled database on PostgreSQL lower than 9.1” and the section called “Creating a spatial database using EXTENSIONS” for instructions on how to do this.

The spatial_ref_sys entries found in your dump will be restored, but they will not override existing ones in spatial_ref_sys. This is to ensure that fixes in the official set will be properly propagated to restored databases. If for any reason you really want your own overrides of standard entries just don't load the spatial_ref_sys.sql file when creating the new db.

If your database is really old or you know you've been using long deprecated functions in your views and functions, you might need to load legacy.sql for all your functions and views etc. to properly come back. Only do this if _really_ needed. Consider upgrading your views and functions before dumping instead, if possible. The deprecated functions can be later removed by loading uninstall_legacy.sql.

Restore your backup into your fresh newdb database using postgis_restore.pl. Unexpected errors, if any, will be printed to the standard error stream by psql. Keep a log of those.

perl utils/postgis_restore.pl "/somepath/olddb.backup" | psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U postgres newdb 2> errors.txt

Errors may arise in the following cases:

Some of your views or functions make use of deprecated PostGIS objects. In order to fix this you may try loading legacy.sql script prior to restore or you'll have to restore to a version of PostGIS which still contains those objects and try a migration again after porting your code. If the legacy.sql way works for you, don't forget to fix your code to stop using deprecated functions and drop them loading uninstall_legacy.sql.

Some custom records of spatial_ref_sys in dump file have an invalid SRID value. Valid SRID values are bigger than 0 and smaller than 999000. Values in the 999000.999999 range are reserved for internal use while values > 999999 can't be used at all. All your custom records with invalid SRIDs will be retained, with those > 999999 moved into the reserved range, but the spatial_ref_sys table would lose a check constraint guarding for that invariant to hold and possibly also its primary key ( when multiple invalid SRIDS get converted to the same reserved SRID value ).

In order to fix this you should copy your custom SRS to a SRID with a valid value (maybe in the 910000..910999 range), convert all your tables to the new srid (see UpdateGeometrySRID), delete the invalid entry from spatial_ref_sys and re-construct the check(s) with:

ALTER TABLE spatial_ref_sys ADD CONSTRAINT spatial_ref_sys_srid_check check (srid > 0 AND srid < 999000 );

ALTER TABLE spatial_ref_sys ADD PRIMARY KEY(srid));

Common Problems during installation

There are several things to check when your installation or upgrade doesn't go as you expected.

Check that you have installed PostgreSQL 9.1 or newer, and that you are compiling against the same version of the PostgreSQL source as the version of PostgreSQL that is running. Mix-ups can occur when your (Linux) distribution has already installed PostgreSQL, or you have otherwise installed PostgreSQL before and forgotten about it. PostGIS will only work with PostgreSQL 9.1 or newer, and strange, unexpected error messages will result if you use an older version. To check the version of PostgreSQL which is running, connect to the database using psql and run this query:

SELECT version();

If you are running an RPM based distribution, you can check for the existence of pre-installed packages using the rpm command as follows: rpm -qa | grep postgresql

If your upgrade fails, make sure you are restoring into a database that already has PostGIS installed.

SELECT postgis_full_version();

Also check that configure has correctly detected the location and version of PostgreSQL, the Proj4 library and the GEOS library.

The output from configure is used to generate the postgis_config.h file. Check that the POSTGIS_PGSQL_VERSION, POSTGIS_PROJ_VERSION and POSTGIS_GEOS_VERSION variables have been set correctly.

Loader/Dumper

The data loader and dumper are built and installed automatically as part of the PostGIS build. To build and install them manually:

# cd postgis-2.2.8/loader
# make
# make install

The loader is called shp2pgsql and converts ESRI Shape files into SQL suitable for loading in PostGIS/PostgreSQL. The dumper is called pgsql2shp and converts PostGIS tables (or queries) into ESRI Shape files. For more verbose documentation, see the online help, and the manual pages.

Chapter 3. PostGIS Frequently Asked Questions

3.1.

My materialized views involving ST_Distance geography and other functions do not restore

Some materialized views involing postgis do not restore as a result of use of PostGIS functions that call other PostGIS functions. This happens if you materialized view is in a different schema from where PostGIS is installed since they make unqualified function calls, and the pg_restore always sets schema to the schema of the view being restored. Since materialized view functions get called in order to build the data, the calls fail and therefore the creation of the view fails as well.

As of PostGIS 2.2.2 there is a script in share/contrib/postgis-2.2/postgis_proc_set_search_path.sql that will set the search_path of most postgis functions. To use when restoring data:

-- make sure to install in same schema as your backup was installed in
CREATE EXTENSION postgis;
\i postgis_proc_set_search_path.sql
-- then restore your data

Keep in mind the search path was not set for functions relationship functions like ST_Intersects, ST_DWithin since these rely on SQL-inlining to force index usage, and such behavior would get broken if FUNCTION search_path is applied. In these cases, we suggest if you need these in materialized views, to explicitly call the hidden _ST_.. function instead accompanied by &&. So for example:

CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW vwmat_something AS
SELECT ...
FROM a INNER JOIN b ON ( a.geom &&; b.geom AND _ST_Intersects(a.geo, b.geom) );

3.2.

Where can I find tutorials, guides and workshops on working with PostGIS

OpenGeo has a step by step tutorial guide workshop Introduction to PostGIS. It includes packaged data as well as intro to working with OpenGeo Suite. It is probably the best tutorial on PostGIS.

BostonGIS also has a PostGIS almost idiot's guide on getting started. That one is more focused on the windows user.

3.3.

My applications and desktop tools worked with PostGIS 1.5,but they don't work with PostGIS 2.0. How do I fix this?

A lot of deprecated functions were removed from the PostGIS code base in PostGIS 2.0. This has affected applications in addition to third-party tools such as Geoserver, MapServer, QuantumGIS, and OpenJump to name a few. There are a couple of ways to resolve this. For the third-party apps, you can try to upgrade to the latest versions of these which have many of these issues fixed. For your own code, you can change your code to not use the functions removed. Most of these functions are non ST_ aliases of ST_Union, ST_Length etc. and as a last resort, install the whole of legacy.sql or just the portions of legacy.sql you need.

The legacy.sql file is located in the same folder as postgis.sql. You can install this file after you have installed postgis.sql and spatial_ref_sys.sql to get back all the 200 some-odd old functions we removed.

3.4.

When I load OpenStreetMap data with osm2pgsql, I'm getting an error failed: ERROR: operator class "gist_geometry_ops" does not exist for access method "gist" Error occurred. This worked fine in PostGIS 1.5.

In PostGIS 2, the default geometry operator class gist_geometry_ops was changed to gist_geometry_ops_2d and the gist_geometry_ops was completely removed. This was done because PostGIS 2 also introduced Nd spatial indexes for 3D support and the old name was deemed confusing and a misnomer.

Some older applications that as part of the process create tables and indexes, explicitly referenced the operator class name. This was unnecessary if you want the default 2D index. So if you manage said good, change index creation from:

BAD:

CREATE INDEX idx_my_table_geom ON my_table USING gist(geom gist_geometry_ops);

To GOOD:

CREATE INDEX idx_my_table_geom ON my_table USING gist(geom);

The only case where you WILL need to specify the operator class is if you want a 3D spatial index as follows:

CREATE INDEX idx_my_super3d_geom ON my_super3d USING gist(geom gist_geometry_ops_nd);

If you are unfortunate to be stuck with compiled code you can't change that has the old gist_geometry_ops hard-coded, then you can create the old class using the legacy_gist.sql packaged in PostGIS 2.0.2+. However if you use this fix, you are advised to at a later point drop the index and recreate it without the operator class. This will save you grief in the future when you need to upgrade again.

3.5.

I'm running PostgreSQL 9.0 and I can no longer read/view geometries in OpenJump, Safe FME, and some other tools?

In PostgreSQL 9.0+, the default encoding for bytea data has been changed to hex and older JDBC drivers still assume escape format. This has affected some applications such as Java applications using older JDBC drivers or .NET applications that use the older npgsql driver that expect the old behavior of ST_AsBinary. There are two approaches to getting this to work again.

You can upgrade your JDBC driver to the latest PostgreSQL 9.0 version which you can get from http://jdbc.postgresql.org/download.html

If you are running a .NET app, you can use Npgsql 2.0.11 or higher which you can download from http://pgfoundry.org/frs/?group_id=1000140 and as described on Francisco Figueiredo's NpgSQL 2.0.11 released blog entry

If upgrading your PostgreSQL driver is not an option, then you can set the default back to the old behavior with the following change:

ALTER DATABASE mypostgisdb SET bytea_output='escape';

3.6.

I tried to use PgAdmin to view my geometry column and it is blank, what gives?

PgAdmin doesn't show anything for large geometries. The best ways to verify you do have data in your geometry columns are?

-- this should return no records if all your geom fields are filled in
SELECT somefield FROM mytable WHERE geom IS NULL;

-- To tell just how large your geometry is do a query of the form
--which will tell you the most number of points you have in any of your geometry columns
SELECT MAX(ST_NPoints(geom)) FROM sometable;

3.7.

What kind of geometric objects can I store?

You can store Point, LineString, Polygon, MultiPoint, MultiLineString, MultiPolygon, and GeometryCollection geometries. In PostGIS 2.0 and above you can also store TINS and Polyhedral Surfaces in the basic geometry type. These are specified in the Open GIS Well Known Text Format (with Z, M, and ZM extensions). There are three data types currently supported. The standard OGC geometry data type which uses a planar coordinate system for measurement, the geography data type which uses a geodetic coordinate system, with calculations on either a sphere or spheroid. The newest family member of the PostGIS spatial type family is raster for storing and analyzing raster data. Raster has its very own FAQ. Refer to Chapter 10, PostGIS Raster Frequently Asked Questions and Chapter 9, Raster Reference for more details.

3.8.

I'm all confused. Which data store should I use geometry or geography?

Short Answer: geography is a newer data type that supports long range distances measurements, but most computations on it are slower than they are on geometry. If you use geography, you don't need to learn much about planar coordinate systems. Geography is generally best if all you care about is measuring distances and lengths and you have data from all over the world. Geometry data type is an older data type that has many more functions supporting it, enjoys greater support from third party tools, and operations on it are generally faster -- sometimes as much as 10 fold faster for larger geometries. Geometry is best if you are pretty comfortable with spatial reference systems or you are dealing with localized data where all your data fits in a single spatial reference system (SRID), or you need to do a lot of spatial processing. Note: It is fairly easy to do one-off conversions between the two types to gain the benefits of each. Refer to the section called “PostGIS Function Support Matrix” to see what is currently supported and what is not.

Long Answer: Refer to our more lengthy discussion in the the section called “When to use Geography Data type over Geometry data type” and function type matrix.

3.9.

I have more intense questions about geography, such as how big of a geographic region can I stuff in a geography column and still get reasonable answers. Are there limitations such as poles, everything in the field must fit in a hemisphere (like SQL Server 2008 has), speed etc?

Your questions are too deep and complex to be adequately answered in this section. Please refer to our the section called “Geography Advanced FAQ”.

3.10.

How do I insert a GIS object into the database?

First, you need to create a table with a column of type "geometry" or "geography" to hold your GIS data. Storing geography type data is a little different than storing geometry. Refer to the section called “Geography Basics” for details on storing geography.

For geometry: Connect to your database with psql and try the following SQL:

CREATE TABLE gtest ( gid serial primary key, name varchar(20)
        , geom geometry(LINESTRING) );

If the geometry column definition fails, you probably have not loaded the PostGIS functions and objects into this database or are using a pre-2.0 version of PostGIS. See the the section called “Compiling and Install from Source: Detailed”.

Then, you can insert a geometry into the table using a SQL insert statement. The GIS object itself is formatted using the OpenGIS Consortium "well-known text" format:

INSERT INTO gtest (ID, NAME, GEOM)
VALUES (
  1,
  'First Geometry',
  ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(2 3,4 5,6 5,7 8)')
);

For more information about other GIS objects, see the object reference.

To view your GIS data in the table:

SELECT id, name, ST_AsText(geom) AS geom FROM gtest;

The return value should look something like this:

 id | name           | geom
----+----------------+-----------------------------
  1 | First Geometry | LINESTRING(2 3,4 5,6 5,7 8)
(1 row)

3.11.

How do I construct a spatial query?

The same way you construct any other database query, as an SQL combination of return values, functions, and boolean tests.

For spatial queries, there are two issues that are important to keep in mind while constructing your query: is there a spatial index you can make use of; and, are you doing expensive calculations on a large number of geometries.

In general, you will want to use the "intersects operator" (&&) which tests whether the bounding boxes of features intersect. The reason the && operator is useful is because if a spatial index is available to speed up the test, the && operator will make use of this. This can make queries much much faster.

You will also make use of spatial functions, such as Distance(), ST_Intersects(), ST_Contains() and ST_Within(), among others, to narrow down the results of your search. Most spatial queries include both an indexed test and a spatial function test. The index test serves to limit the number of return tuples to only tuples that might meet the condition of interest. The spatial functions are then use to test the condition exactly.

SELECT id, the_geom
FROM thetable
WHERE
  ST_Contains(the_geom,'POLYGON((0 0, 0 10, 10 10, 10 0, 0 0))');

3.12.

How do I speed up spatial queries on large tables?

Fast queries on large tables is the raison d'etre of spatial databases (along with transaction support) so having a good index is important.

To build a spatial index on a table with a geometry column, use the "CREATE INDEX" function as follows:

CREATE INDEX [indexname] ON [tablename] USING GIST ( [geometrycolumn] );

The "USING GIST" option tells the server to use a GiST (Generalized Search Tree) index.

Note

GiST indexes are assumed to be lossy. Lossy indexes uses a proxy object (in the spatial case, a bounding box) for building the index.

You should also ensure that the PostgreSQL query planner has enough information about your index to make rational decisions about when to use it. To do this, you have to "gather statistics" on your geometry tables.

For PostgreSQL 8.0.x and greater, just run the VACUUM ANALYZE command.

For PostgreSQL 7.4.x and below, run the SELECT UPDATE_GEOMETRY_STATS() command.

3.13.

Why aren't PostgreSQL R-Tree indexes supported?

Early versions of PostGIS used the PostgreSQL R-Tree indexes. However, PostgreSQL R-Trees have been completely discarded since version 0.6, and spatial indexing is provided with an R-Tree-over-GiST scheme.

Our tests have shown search speed for native R-Tree and GiST to be comparable. Native PostgreSQL R-Trees have two limitations which make them undesirable for use with GIS features (note that these limitations are due to the current PostgreSQL native R-Tree implementation, not the R-Tree concept in general):

R-Tree indexes in PostgreSQL cannot handle features which are larger than 8K in size. GiST indexes can, using the "lossy" trick of substituting the bounding box for the feature itself.

R-Tree indexes in PostgreSQL are not "null safe", so building an index on a geometry column which contains null geometries will fail.

3.14.

Why should I use the AddGeometryColumn() function and all the other OpenGIS stuff?

If you do not want to use the OpenGIS support functions, you do not have to. Simply create tables as in older versions, defining your geometry columns in the CREATE statement. All your geometries will have SRIDs of -1, and the OpenGIS meta-data tables will not be filled in properly. However, this will cause most applications based on PostGIS to fail, and it is generally suggested that you do use AddGeometryColumn() to create geometry tables.

MapServer is one application which makes use of the geometry_columns meta-data. Specifically, MapServer can use the SRID of the geometry column to do on-the-fly reprojection of features into the correct map projection.

3.15.

What is the best way to find all objects within a radius of another object?

To use the database most efficiently, it is best to do radius queries which combine the radius test with a bounding box test: the bounding box test uses the spatial index, giving fast access to a subset of data which the radius test is then applied to.

The ST_DWithin(geometry, geometry, distance) function is a handy way of performing an indexed distance search. It works by creating a search rectangle large enough to enclose the distance radius, then performing an exact distance search on the indexed subset of results.

For example, to find all objects with 100 meters of POINT(1000 1000) the following query would work well:

SELECT * FROM geotable
WHERE ST_DWithin(geocolumn, 'POINT(1000 1000)', 100.0);

3.16.

How do I perform a coordinate reprojection as part of a query?

To perform a reprojection, both the source and destination coordinate systems must be defined in the SPATIAL_REF_SYS table, and the geometries being reprojected must already have an SRID set on them. Once that is done, a reprojection is as simple as referring to the desired destination SRID. The below projects a geometry to NAD 83 long lat. The below will only work if the srid of the_geom is not -1 (not undefined spatial ref)

SELECT ST_Transform(the_geom,4269) FROM geotable;

3.17.

I did an ST_AsEWKT and ST_AsText on my rather large geometry and it returned blank field. What gives?

You are probably using PgAdmin or some other tool that doesn't output large text. If your geometry is big enough, it will appear blank in these tools. Use PSQL if you really need to see it or output it in WKT.

				--To check number of geometries are really blank
				SELECT count(gid) FROM geotable WHERE the_geom IS NULL;

3.18.

When I do an ST_Intersects, it says my two geometries don't intersect when I KNOW THEY DO. What gives?

This generally happens in two common cases. Your geometry is invalid -- check ST_IsValid or you are assuming they intersect because ST_AsText truncates the numbers and you have lots of decimals after it is not showing you.

3.19.

I am releasing software that uses PostGIS, does that mean my software has to be licensed using the GPL like PostGIS? Will I have to publish all my code if I use PostGIS?

Almost certainly not. As an example, consider Oracle database running on Linux. Linux is GPL, Oracle is not, does Oracle running on Linux have to be distributed using the GPL? No. So your software can use a PostgreSQL/PostGIS database as much as it wants and be under any license you like.

The only exception would be if you made changes to the PostGIS source code, and distributed your changed version of PostGIS. In that case you would have to share the code of your changed PostGIS (but not the code of applications running on top of it). Even in this limited case, you would still only have to distribute source code to people you distributed binaries to. The GPL does not require that you publish your source code, only that you share it with people you give binaries to.

Chapter 4. Using PostGIS: Data Management and Queries

GIS Objects

The GIS objects supported by PostGIS are a superset of the "Simple Features" defined by the OpenGIS Consortium (OGC). As of version 0.9, PostGIS supports all the objects and functions specified in the OGC "Simple Features for SQL" specification.

PostGIS extends the standard with support for 3DZ,3DM and 4D coordinates.

OpenGIS WKB and WKT

The OpenGIS specification defines two standard ways of expressing spatial objects: the Well-Known Text (WKT) form and the Well-Known Binary (WKB) form. Both WKT and WKB include information about the type of the object and the coordinates which form the object.

Examples of the text representations (WKT) of the spatial objects of the features are as follows:

POINT(0 0)

LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,1 2)

POLYGON((0 0,4 0,4 4,0 4,0 0),(1 1, 2 1, 2 2, 1 2,1 1))

MULTIPOINT((0 0),(1 2))

MULTILINESTRING((0 0,1 1,1 2),(2 3,3 2,5 4))

MULTIPOLYGON(((0 0,4 0,4 4,0 4,0 0),(1 1,2 1,2 2,1 2,1 1)), ((-1 -1,-1 -2,-2 -2,-2 -1,-1 -1)))

GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(2 3),LINESTRING(2 3,3 4))

The OpenGIS specification also requires that the internal storage format of spatial objects include a spatial referencing system identifier (SRID). The SRID is required when creating spatial objects for insertion into the database.

Input/Output of these formats are available using the following interfaces:

bytea WKB = ST_AsBinary(geometry);
text WKT = ST_AsText(geometry);
geometry = ST_GeomFromWKB(bytea WKB, SRID);
geometry = ST_GeometryFromText(text WKT, SRID);

For example, a valid insert statement to create and insert an OGC spatial object would be:

INSERT INTO geotable ( the_geom, the_name )
  VALUES ( ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-126.4 45.32)', 312), 'A Place');

PostGIS EWKB, EWKT and Canonical Forms

OGC formats only support 2d geometries, and the associated SRID is *never* embedded in the input/output representations.

PostGIS extended formats are currently superset of OGC one (every valid WKB/WKT is a valid EWKB/EWKT) but this might vary in the future, specifically if OGC comes out with a new format conflicting with our extensions. Thus you SHOULD NOT rely on this feature!

PostGIS EWKB/EWKT add 3dm,3dz,4d coordinates support and embedded SRID information.

Examples of the text representations (EWKT) of the extended spatial objects of the features are as follows. The * ones are new in this version of PostGIS:

POINT(0 0 0) -- XYZ

SRID=32632;POINT(0 0) -- XY with SRID

POINTM(0 0 0) -- XYM

POINT(0 0 0 0) -- XYZM

SRID=4326;MULTIPOINTM(0 0 0,1 2 1) -- XYM with SRID

MULTILINESTRING((0 0 0,1 1 0,1 2 1),(2 3 1,3 2 1,5 4 1))

POLYGON((0 0 0,4 0 0,4 4 0,0 4 0,0 0 0),(1 1 0,2 1 0,2 2 0,1 2 0,1 1 0))

MULTIPOLYGON(((0 0 0,4 0 0,4 4 0,0 4 0,0 0 0),(1 1 0,2 1 0,2 2 0,1 2 0,1 1 0)),((-1 -1 0,-1 -2 0,-2 -2 0,-2 -1 0,-1 -1 0)))

GEOMETRYCOLLECTIONM( POINTM(2 3 9), LINESTRINGM(2 3 4, 3 4 5) )

MULTICURVE( (0 0, 5 5), CIRCULARSTRING(4 0, 4 4, 8 4) )

POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)), ((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)), ((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )

TRIANGLE ((0 0, 0 9, 9 0, 0 0))

TIN( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 0 0 0)) )

Input/Output of these formats are available using the following interfaces:

bytea EWKB = ST_AsEWKB(geometry);
text EWKT = ST_AsEWKT(geometry);
geometry = ST_GeomFromEWKB(bytea EWKB);
geometry = ST_GeomFromEWKT(text EWKT);

For example, a valid insert statement to create and insert a PostGIS spatial object would be:

INSERT INTO geotable ( the_geom, the_name )
  VALUES ( ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=312;POINTM(-126.4 45.32 15)'), 'A Place' )

The "canonical forms" of a PostgreSQL type are the representations you get with a simple query (without any function call) and the one which is guaranteed to be accepted with a simple insert, update or copy. For the postgis 'geometry' type these are:

- Output
  - binary: EWKB
	ascii: HEXEWKB (EWKB in hex form)
- Input
  - binary: EWKB
	ascii: HEXEWKB|EWKT

For example this statement reads EWKT and returns HEXEWKB in the process of canonical ascii input/output:

=# SELECT 'SRID=4;POINT(0 0)'::geometry;

geometry
----------------------------------------------------
01010000200400000000000000000000000000000000000000
(1 row)

SQL-MM Part 3

The SQL Multimedia Applications Spatial specification extends the simple features for SQL spec by defining a number of circularly interpolated curves.

The SQL-MM definitions include 3dm, 3dz and 4d coordinates, but do not allow the embedding of SRID information.

The well-known text extensions are not yet fully supported. Examples of some simple curved geometries are shown below:

CIRCULARSTRING(0 0, 1 1, 1 0)

CIRCULARSTRING(0 0, 4 0, 4 4, 0 4, 0 0)

The CIRCULARSTRING is the basic curve type, similar to a LINESTRING in the linear world. A single segment required three points, the start and end points (first and third) and any other point on the arc. The exception to this is for a closed circle, where the start and end points are the same. In this case the second point MUST be the center of the arc, ie the opposite side of the circle. To chain arcs together, the last point of the previous arc becomes the first point of the next arc, just like in LINESTRING. This means that a valid circular string must have an odd number of points greated than 1.

COMPOUNDCURVE(CIRCULARSTRING(0 0, 1 1, 1 0),(1 0, 0 1))

A compound curve is a single, continuous curve that has both curved (circular) segments and linear segments. That means that in addition to having well-formed components, the end point of every component (except the last) must be coincident with the start point of the following component.

CURVEPOLYGON(CIRCULARSTRING(0 0, 4 0, 4 4, 0 4, 0 0),(1 1, 3 3, 3 1, 1 1))

Example compound curve in a curve polygon: CURVEPOLYGON(COMPOUNDCURVE(CIRCULARSTRING(0 0,2 0, 2 1, 2 3, 4 3),(4 3, 4 5, 1 4, 0 0)), CIRCULARSTRING(1.7 1, 1.4 0.4, 1.6 0.4, 1.6 0.5, 1.7 1) )

A CURVEPOLYGON is just like a polygon, with an outer ring and zero or more inner rings. The difference is that a ring can take the form of a circular string, linear string or compound string.

As of PostGIS 1.4 PostGIS supports compound curves in a curve polygon.

MULTICURVE((0 0, 5 5),CIRCULARSTRING(4 0, 4 4, 8 4))

The MULTICURVE is a collection of curves, which can include linear strings, circular strings or compound strings.

MULTISURFACE(CURVEPOLYGON(CIRCULARSTRING(0 0, 4 0, 4 4, 0 4, 0 0),(1 1, 3 3, 3 1, 1 1)),((10 10, 14 12, 11 10, 10 10),(11 11, 11.5 11, 11 11.5, 11 11)))

This is a collection of surfaces, which can be (linear) polygons or curve polygons.

Note

PostGIS prior to 1.4 does not support compound curves in a curve polygon, but PostGIS 1.4 and above do support the use of Compound Curves in a Curve Polygon.

Note

All floating point comparisons within the SQL-MM implementation are performed to a specified tolerance, currently 1E-8.

PostGIS Geography Type

The geography type provides native support for spatial features represented on "geographic" coordinates (sometimes called "geodetic" coordinates, or "lat/lon", or "lon/lat"). Geographic coordinates are spherical coordinates expressed in angular units (degrees).

The basis for the PostGIS geometry type is a plane. The shortest path between two points on the plane is a straight line. That means calculations on geometries (areas, distances, lengths, intersections, etc) can be calculated using cartesian mathematics and straight line vectors.

The basis for the PostGIS geographic type is a sphere. The shortest path between two points on the sphere is a great circle arc. That means that calculations on geographies (areas, distances, lengths, intersections, etc) must be calculated on the sphere, using more complicated mathematics. For more accurate measurements, the calculations must take the actual spheroidal shape of the world into account, and the mathematics becomes very complicated indeed.

Because the underlying mathematics is much more complicated, there are fewer functions defined for the geography type than for the geometry type. Over time, as new algorithms are added, the capabilities of the geography type will expand.

One restriction is that it only supports WGS 84 long lat (SRID:4326). It uses a new data type called geography. None of the GEOS functions support this new type. As a workaround one can convert back and forth between geometry and geography types.

The new geography type uses the PostgreSQL 8.3+ typmod definition format so that a table with a geography field can be added in a single step. All the standard OGC formats except for curves are supported.

Geography Basics

The geography type only supports the simplest of simple features. Standard geometry type data will autocast to geography if it is of SRID 4326. You can also use the EWKT and EWKB conventions to insert data.

POINT: Creating a table with 2d point geometry:

CREATE TABLE testgeog(gid serial PRIMARY KEY, the_geog geography(POINT,4326) );

Creating a table with z coordinate point

CREATE TABLE testgeog(gid serial PRIMARY KEY, the_geog geography(POINTZ,4326) );

LINESTRING

POLYGON

MULTIPOINT

MULTILINESTRING

MULTIPOLYGON

GEOMETRYCOLLECTION

The new geography fields don't get registered in the geometry_columns. They get registered in a new view called geography_columns which is a view against the system catalogs so is always automatically kept up to date without need for an AddGeom... like function.

Now, check the "geography_columns" view and see that your table is listed.

You can create a new table with a GEOGRAPHY column using the CREATE TABLE syntax. Unlike GEOMETRY, there is no need to run a separate AddGeometryColumns() process to register the column in metadata.

CREATE TABLE global_points (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(64),
    location GEOGRAPHY(POINT,4326)
  );

Note that the location column has type GEOGRAPHY and that geography type supports two optional modifier: a type modifier that restricts the kind of shapes and dimensions allowed in the column; an SRID modifier that restricts the coordinate reference identifier to a particular number.

Allowable values for the type modifier are: POINT, LINESTRING, POLYGON, MULTIPOINT, MULTILINESTRING, MULTIPOLYGON. The modifier also supports dimensionality restrictions through suffixes: Z, M and ZM. So, for example a modifier of 'LINESTRINGM' would only allow line strings with three dimensions in, and would treat the third dimension as a measure. Similarly, 'POINTZM' would expect four dimensional data.

The SRID modifier is currently of limited use: only 4326 (WGS84) is allowed as a value. If you do not specify an SRID, the a value 0 (undefined spheroid) will be used, and all calculations will proceed using WGS84 anyways.

In the future, alternate SRIDs will allow calculations on spheroids other than WGS84.

Once you have created your table, you can see it in the GEOGRAPHY_COLUMNS table:

-- See the contents of the metadata view
SELECT * FROM geography_columns;

You can insert data into the table the same as you would if it was using a GEOMETRY column:

-- Add some data into the test table
INSERT INTO global_points (name, location) VALUES ('Town', ST_GeographyFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(-110 30)') );
INSERT INTO global_points (name, location) VALUES ('Forest', ST_GeographyFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(-109 29)') );
INSERT INTO global_points (name, location) VALUES ('London', ST_GeographyFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(0 49)') );

Creating an index works the same as GEOMETRY. PostGIS will note that the column type is GEOGRAPHY and create an appropriate sphere-based index instead of the usual planar index used for GEOMETRY.

-- Index the test table with a spherical index
  CREATE INDEX global_points_gix ON global_points USING GIST ( location );

Query and measurement functions use units of meters. So distance parameters should be expressed in meters, and return values should be expected in meters (or square meters for areas).

-- Show a distance query and note, London is outside the 1000km tolerance
  SELECT name FROM global_points WHERE ST_DWithin(location, ST_GeographyFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(-110 29)'), 1000000);

You can see the power of GEOGRAPHY in action by calculating the how close a plane flying from Seattle to London (LINESTRING(-122.33 47.606, 0.0 51.5)) comes to Reykjavik (POINT(-21.96 64.15)).

-- Distance calculation using GEOGRAPHY (122.2km)
  SELECT ST_Distance('LINESTRING(-122.33 47.606, 0.0 51.5)'::geography, 'POINT(-21.96 64.15)':: geography);

-- Distance calculation using GEOMETRY (13.3 "degrees")
  SELECT ST_Distance('LINESTRING(-122.33 47.606, 0.0 51.5)'::geometry, 'POINT(-21.96 64.15)':: geometry);

The GEOGRAPHY type calculates the true shortest distance over the sphere between Reykjavik and the great circle flight path between Seattle and London.

Great Circle mapper The GEOMETRY type calculates a meaningless cartesian distance between Reykjavik and the straight line path from Seattle to London plotted on a flat map of the world. The nominal units of the result might be called "degrees", but the result doesn't correspond to any true angular difference between the points, so even calling them "degrees" is inaccurate.

When to use Geography Data type over Geometry data type

The new GEOGRAPHY type allows you to store data in longitude/latitude coordinates, but at a cost: there are fewer functions defined on GEOGRAPHY than there are on GEOMETRY; those functions that are defined take more CPU time to execute.

The type you choose should be conditioned on the expected working area of the application you are building. Will your data span the globe or a large continental area, or is it local to a state, county or municipality?

If your data is contained in a small area, you might find that choosing an appropriate projection and using GEOMETRY is the best solution, in terms of performance and functionality available.

If your data is global or covers a continental region, you may find that GEOGRAPHY allows you to build a system without having to worry about projection details. You store your data in longitude/latitude, and use the functions that have been defined on GEOGRAPHY.

If you don't understand projections, and you don't want to learn about them, and you're prepared to accept the limitations in functionality available in GEOGRAPHY, then it might be easier for you to use GEOGRAPHY than GEOMETRY. Simply load your data up as longitude/latitude and go from there.

Refer to the section called “PostGIS Function Support Matrix” for compare between what is supported for Geography vs. Geometry. For a brief listing and description of Geography functions, refer to the section called “PostGIS Geography Support Functions”

Geography Advanced FAQ

1.

Do you calculate on the sphere or the spheroid?

By default, all distance and area calculations are done on the spheroid. You should find that the results of calculations in local areas match up will with local planar results in good local projections. Over larger areas, the spheroidal calculations will be more accurate than any calculation done on a projected plane.

All the geography functions have the option of using a sphere calculation, by setting a final boolean parameter to 'FALSE'. This will somewhat speed up calculations, particularly for cases where the geometries are very simple.

2.

What about the date-line and the poles?

All the calculations have no conception of date-line or poles, the coordinates are spherical (longitude/latitude) so a shape that crosses the dateline is, from a calculation point of view, no different from any other shape.

3.

What is the longest arc you can process?

We use great circle arcs as the "interpolation line" between two points. That means any two points are actually joined up two ways, depending on which direction you travel along the great circle. All our code assumes that the points are joined by the *shorter* of the two paths along the great circle. As a consequence, shapes that have arcs of more than 180 degrees will not be correctly modelled.

4.

Why is it so slow to calculate the area of Europe / Russia / insert big geographic region here ?

Because the polygon is so darned huge! Big areas are bad for two reasons: their bounds are huge, so the index tends to pull the feature no matter what query you run; the number of vertices is huge, and tests (distance, containment) have to traverse the vertex list at least once and sometimes N times (with N being the number of vertices in the other candidate feature).

As with GEOMETRY, we recommend that when you have very large polygons, but are doing queries in small areas, you "denormalize" your geometric data into smaller chunks so that the index can effectively subquery parts of the object and so queries don't have to pull out the whole object every time. Just because you *can* store all of Europe in one polygon doesn't mean you *should*.

Using OpenGIS Standards

The OpenGIS "Simple Features Specification for SQL" defines standard GIS object types, the functions required to manipulate them, and a set of meta-data tables. In order to ensure that meta-data remain consistent, operations such as creating and removing a spatial column are carried out through special procedures defined by OpenGIS.

There are two OpenGIS meta-data tables: SPATIAL_REF_SYS and GEOMETRY_COLUMNS. The SPATIAL_REF_SYS table holds the numeric IDs and textual descriptions of coordinate systems used in the spatial database.

The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems

The spatial_ref_sys table is a PostGIS included and OGC compliant database table that lists over 3000 known spatial reference systems and details needed to transform/reproject between them.

Although the PostGIS spatial_ref_sys table contains over 3000 of the more commonly used spatial reference system definitions that can be handled by the proj library, it does not contain all known to man and you can even define your own custom projection if you are familiar with proj4 constructs. Keep in mind that most spatial reference systems are regional and have no meaning when used outside of the bounds they were intended for.

An excellent resource for finding spatial reference systems not defined in the core set is http://spatialreference.org/

Some of the more commonly used spatial reference systems are: 4326 - WGS 84 Long Lat, 4269 - NAD 83 Long Lat, 3395 - WGS 84 World Mercator, 2163 - US National Atlas Equal Area, Spatial reference systems for each NAD 83, WGS 84 UTM zone - UTM zones are one of the most ideal for measurement, but only cover 6-degree regions.

Various US state plane spatial reference systems (meter or feet based) - usually one or 2 exists per US state. Most of the meter ones are in the core set, but many of the feet based ones or ESRI created ones you will need to pull from spatialreference.org.

For details on determining which UTM zone to use for your area of interest, check out the utmzone PostGIS plpgsql helper function.

The SPATIAL_REF_SYS table definition is as follows:

CREATE TABLE spatial_ref_sys (
  srid       INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
  auth_name  VARCHAR(256),
  auth_srid  INTEGER,
  srtext     VARCHAR(2048),
  proj4text  VARCHAR(2048)
)

The SPATIAL_REF_SYS columns are as follows:

SRID

An integer value that uniquely identifies the Spatial Referencing System (SRS) within the database.

AUTH_NAME

The name of the standard or standards body that is being cited for this reference system. For example, "EPSG" would be a valid AUTH_NAME.

AUTH_SRID

The ID of the Spatial Reference System as defined by the Authority cited in the AUTH_NAME. In the case of EPSG, this is where the EPSG projection code would go.

SRTEXT

The Well-Known Text representation of the Spatial Reference System. An example of a WKT SRS representation is:

PROJCS["NAD83 / UTM Zone 10N",
  GEOGCS["NAD83",
	DATUM["North_American_Datum_1983",
	  SPHEROID["GRS 1980",6378137,298.257222101]
	],
	PRIMEM["Greenwich",0],
	UNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]
  ],
  PROJECTION["Transverse_Mercator"],
  PARAMETER["latitude_of_origin",0],
  PARAMETER["central_meridian",-123],
  PARAMETER["scale_factor",0.9996],
  PARAMETER["false_easting",500000],
  PARAMETER["false_northing",0],
  UNIT["metre",1]
]

For a listing of EPSG projection codes and their corresponding WKT representations, see http://www.opengeospatial.org/. For a discussion of WKT in general, see the OpenGIS "Coordinate Transformation Services Implementation Specification" at http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards. For information on the European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) and their database of spatial reference systems, see http://www.epsg.org.

PROJ4TEXT

PostGIS uses the Proj4 library to provide coordinate transformation capabilities. The PROJ4TEXT column contains the Proj4 coordinate definition string for a particular SRID. For example:

+proj=utm +zone=10 +ellps=clrk66 +datum=NAD27 +units=m

For more information about, see the Proj4 web site at http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/. The spatial_ref_sys.sql file contains both SRTEXT and PROJ4TEXT definitions for all EPSG projections.

The GEOMETRY_COLUMNS VIEW

In versions of PostGIS prior to 2.0.0, geometry_columns was a table that could be directly edited, and sometimes got out of synch with the actual definition of the geometry columns. In PostGIS 2.0.0, GEOMETRY_COLUMNS became a view with the same front-facing structure as prior versions, but reading from database system catalogs Its structure is as follows:

\d geometry_columns

             View "public.geometry_columns"
      Column       |          Type          | Modifiers
-------------------+------------------------+-----------
 f_table_catalog   | character varying(256) |
 f_table_schema    | character varying(256) |
 f_table_name      | character varying(256) |
 f_geometry_column | character varying(256) |
 coord_dimension   | integer                |
 srid              | integer                |
 type              | character varying(30)  |

The column meanings have not changed from prior versions and are:

F_TABLE_CATALOG, F_TABLE_SCHEMA, F_TABLE_NAME

The fully qualified name of the feature table containing the geometry column. Note that the terms "catalog" and "schema" are Oracle-ish. There is not PostgreSQL analogue of "catalog" so that column is left blank -- for "schema" the PostgreSQL schema name is used (public is the default).

F_GEOMETRY_COLUMN

The name of the geometry column in the feature table.

COORD_DIMENSION

The spatial dimension (2, 3 or 4 dimensional) of the column.

SRID

The ID of the spatial reference system used for the coordinate geometry in this table. It is a foreign key reference to the SPATIAL_REF_SYS.

TYPE

The type of the spatial object. To restrict the spatial column to a single type, use one of: POINT, LINESTRING, POLYGON, MULTIPOINT, MULTILINESTRING, MULTIPOLYGON, GEOMETRYCOLLECTION or corresponding XYM versions POINTM, LINESTRINGM, POLYGONM, MULTIPOINTM, MULTILINESTRINGM, MULTIPOLYGONM, GEOMETRYCOLLECTIONM. For heterogeneous (mixed-type) collections, you can use "GEOMETRY" as the type.

Note

This attribute is (probably) not part of the OpenGIS specification, but is required for ensuring type homogeneity.

Creating a Spatial Table

Creating a table with spatial data, can be done in one step. As shown in the following example which creates a roads table with a 2D linestring geometry column in WGS84 long lat

CREATE TABLE ROADS ( ID int4
	  	, ROAD_NAME varchar(25), geom geometry(LINESTRING,4326) );

We can add additional columns using standard ALTER TABLE command as we do in this next example where we add a 3-D linestring.

ALTER TABLE roads ADD COLUMN geom2 geometry(LINESTRINGZ,4326);

For backwards compability, you can still create a spatial table in two stages using the management functions.

Create a normal non-spatial table.

For example: CREATE TABLE ROADS ( ID int4, ROAD_NAME varchar(25) )

Add a spatial column to the table using the OpenGIS "AddGeometryColumn" function. Refer to AddGeometryColumn for more details.

The syntax is:

AddGeometryColumn(
  <schema_name>,
  <table_name>,
  <column_name>,
  <srid>,
  <type>,
  <dimension>
)

Or, using current schema:

AddGeometryColumn(
  <table_name>,
  <column_name>,
  <srid>,
  <type>,
  <dimension>
)

Example1: SELECT AddGeometryColumn('public', 'roads', 'geom', 423, 'LINESTRING', 2)

Example2: SELECT AddGeometryColumn( 'roads', 'geom', 423, 'LINESTRING', 2)

Here is an example of SQL used to create a table and add a spatial column (assuming that an SRID of 128 exists already):

CREATE TABLE parks (
  park_id    INTEGER,
  park_name  VARCHAR,
  park_date  DATE,
  park_type  VARCHAR
);
SELECT AddGeometryColumn('parks', 'park_geom', 128, 'MULTIPOLYGON', 2 );

Here is another example, using the generic "geometry" type and the undefined SRID value of 0:

CREATE TABLE roads (
  road_id INTEGER,
  road_name VARCHAR
);
SELECT AddGeometryColumn( 'roads', 'roads_geom', 0, 'GEOMETRY', 3 );

Manually Registering Geometry Columns in geometry_columns

The AddGeometryColumn() approach creates a geometry column and also registers the new column in the geometry_columns table. If your software utilizes geometry_columns, then any geometry columns you need to query by must be registered in this view. Starting with PostGIS 2.0, geometry_columns is no longer editable and all geometry columns are autoregistered.

However they may be registered as a generic geometry column if the column was not defined as a specific type during creation.

Two of the cases where this may happen, but you can't use AddGeometryColumn, is in the case of SQL Views and bulk inserts. For these cases, you can correct the registration in the geometry_columns table by constraining the column. Note in PostGIS 2.0+ if your column is typmod based, the creation process would register it correctly, so no need to do anything.

--Lets say you have a view created like this
CREATE VIEW  public.vwmytablemercator AS
	SELECT gid, ST_Transform(geom,3395) As geom, f_name
	FROM public.mytable;

-- For it to register correctly in PostGIS 2.0+
-- You need to cast the geometry
--
DROP VIEW public.vwmytablemercator;
CREATE VIEW  public.vwmytablemercator AS
	SELECT gid, ST_Transform(geom,3395)::geometry(Geometry, 3395) As geom, f_name
	FROM public.mytable;

-- If you know the geometry type for sure is a 2D POLYGON then you could do
DROP VIEW public.vwmytablemercator;
CREATE VIEW  public.vwmytablemercator AS
	SELECT gid, ST_Transform(geom,3395)::geometry(Polygon, 3395) As geom, f_name
	FROM public.mytable;

--Lets say you created a derivative table by doing a bulk insert
SELECT poi.gid, poi.geom, citybounds.city_name
INTO myschema.my_special_pois
FROM poi INNER JOIN citybounds ON ST_Intersects(citybounds.geom, poi.geom);

--Create 2d index on new table
CREATE INDEX idx_myschema_myspecialpois_geom_gist
  ON myschema.my_special_pois USING gist(geom);

-- If your points are 3D points or 3M points,
-- then you might want to create an nd index instead of a 2d index
-- like so
CREATE INDEX my_special_pois_geom_gist_nd
	ON my_special_pois USING gist(geom gist_geometry_ops_nd);

--To manually register this new table's geometry column in geometry_columns
-- Note that this approach will work for both PostGIS 2.0+ and PostGIS 1.4+
-- For PostGIS 2.0 it will also change the underlying structure of the table to
-- to make the column typmod based.
-- For PostGIS prior to 2.0, this technique can also be used to register views
SELECT populate_geometry_columns('myschema.my_special_pois'::regclass);

--If you are using PostGIS 2.0 and for whatever reason, you
-- you need the old constraint based definition behavior
-- (such as case of inherited tables where all children do not have the same type and srid)
-- set new optional  use_typmod argument to false
SELECT populate_geometry_columns('myschema.my_special_pois'::regclass, false);

Although the old-constraint based method is still supported, a constraint-based geomentry column used directly in a view, will not register correctly in geometry_columns, as will a typmod one. In this example we define a column using typmod and another using constraints.

CREATE TABLE pois_ny(gid SERIAL PRIMARY KEY
   , poi_name text, cat varchar(20)
   , geom geometry(POINT,4326) );
SELECT AddGeometryColumn('pois_ny', 'geom_2160', 2160, 'POINT', 2, false);

If we run in psql

\d pois_ny;

We observe they are defined differently -- one is typmod, one is constraint

                                  Table "public.pois_ny"
  Column   |         Type          |                       Modifiers

-----------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------------------
 gid       | integer               | not null default nextval('pois_ny_gid_seq'::regclass)
 poi_name  | text                  |
 cat       | character varying(20) |
 geom      | geometry(Point,4326)  |
 geom_2160 | geometry              |
Indexes:
    "pois_ny_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (gid)
Check constraints:
    "enforce_dims_geom_2160" CHECK (st_ndims(geom_2160) = 2)
    "enforce_geotype_geom_2160" CHECK (geometrytype(geom_2160) = 'POINT'::text
        OR geom_2160 IS NULL)
    "enforce_srid_geom_2160" CHECK (st_srid(geom_2160) = 2160)

In geometry_columns, they both register correctly

SELECT f_table_name, f_geometry_column, srid, type
	FROM geometry_columns
	WHERE f_table_name = 'pois_ny';

f_table_name | f_geometry_column | srid | type
-------------+-------------------+------+-------
pois_ny      | geom              | 4326 | POINT
pois_ny      | geom_2160         | 2160 | POINT

However -- if we were to create a view like this

CREATE VIEW vw_pois_ny_parks AS
SELECT *
  FROM pois_ny
  WHERE cat='park';

SELECT f_table_name, f_geometry_column, srid, type
	FROM geometry_columns
	WHERE f_table_name = 'vw_pois_ny_parks';

The typmod based geom view column registers correctly, but the constraint based one does not.

   f_table_name   | f_geometry_column | srid |   type
------------------+-------------------+------+----------
 vw_pois_ny_parks | geom              | 4326 | POINT
 vw_pois_ny_parks | geom_2160         |    0 | GEOMETRY

This may change in future versions of PostGIS, but for now To force the constraint based view column to register correctly, we need to do this:

DROP VIEW vw_pois_ny_parks;
CREATE VIEW vw_pois_ny_parks AS
SELECT gid, poi_name, cat
  , geom
  , geom_2160::geometry(POINT,2160) As geom_2160
  FROM pois_ny
  WHERE cat='park';
SELECT f_table_name, f_geometry_column, srid, type
	FROM geometry_columns
	WHERE f_table_name = 'vw_pois_ny_parks';

   f_table_name   | f_geometry_column | srid | type
------------------+-------------------+------+-------
 vw_pois_ny_parks | geom              | 4326 | POINT
 vw_pois_ny_parks | geom_2160         | 2160 | POINT

Ensuring OpenGIS compliancy of geometries

PostGIS is compliant with the Open Geospatial Consortium’s (OGC) OpenGIS Specifications. As such, many PostGIS methods require, or more accurately, assume that geometries that are operated on are both simple and valid. For example, it does not make sense to calculate the area of a polygon that has a hole defined outside of the polygon, or to construct a polygon from a non-simple boundary line.

According to the OGC Specifications, a simple geometry is one that has no anomalous geometric points, such as self intersection or self tangency and primarily refers to 0 or 1-dimensional geometries (i.e. [MULTI]POINT, [MULTI]LINESTRING). Geometry validity, on the other hand, primarily refers to 2-dimensional geometries (i.e. [MULTI]POLYGON) and defines the set of assertions that characterizes a valid polygon. The description of each geometric class includes specific conditions that further detail geometric simplicity and validity.

A POINT is inheritably simple as a 0-dimensional geometry object.

MULTIPOINTs are simple if no two coordinates (POINTs) are equal (have identical coordinate values).

A LINESTRING is simple if it does not pass through the same POINT twice (except for the endpoints, in which case it is referred to as a linear ring and additionally considered closed).

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(a) and (c) are simple LINESTRINGs, (b) and (d) are not.

A MULTILINESTRING is simple only if all of its elements are simple and the only intersection between any two elements occurs at POINTs that are on the boundaries of both elements.

(e)

(f)

(g)

(e) and (f) are simple MULTILINESTRINGs, (g) is not.

By definition, a POLYGON is always simple. It is valid if no two rings in the boundary (made up of an exterior ring and interior rings) cross. The boundary of a POLYGON may intersect at a POINT but only as a tangent (i.e. not on a line). A POLYGON may not have cut lines or spikes and the interior rings must be contained entirely within the exterior ring.

(h)

(i)

(j)

(k)

(l)

(m)

(h) and (i) are valid POLYGONs, (j-m) cannot be represented as single POLYGONs, but (j) and (m) could be represented as a valid MULTIPOLYGON.

A MULTIPOLYGON is valid if and only if all of its elements are valid and the interiors of no two elements intersect. The boundaries of any two elements may touch, but only at a finite number of POINTs.

(n)

(o)

(p)

(n) and (o) are not valid MULTIPOLYGONs. (p), however, is valid.

Most of the functions implemented by the GEOS library rely on the assumption that your geometries are valid as specified by the OpenGIS Simple Feature Specification. To check simplicity or validity of geometries you can use the ST_IsSimple() and ST_IsValid()

-- Typically, it doesn't make sense to check
-- for validity on linear features since it will always return TRUE.
-- But in this example, PostGIS extends the definition of the OGC IsValid
-- by returning false if a LineString has less than 2 *distinct* vertices.
gisdb=# SELECT
   ST_IsValid('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1)'),
   ST_IsValid('LINESTRING(0 0, 0 0, 0 0)');

 st_isvalid | st_isvalid
------------+-----------
      t     |     f

By default, PostGIS does not apply this validity check on geometry input, because testing for validity needs lots of CPU time for complex geometries, especially polygons. If you do not trust your data sources, you can manually enforce such a check to your tables by adding a check constraint:

ALTER TABLE mytable
  ADD CONSTRAINT geometry_valid_check
	CHECK (ST_IsValid(the_geom));

If you encounter any strange error messages such as "GEOS Intersection() threw an error!" or "JTS Intersection() threw an error!" when calling PostGIS functions with valid input geometries, you likely found an error in either PostGIS or one of the libraries it uses, and you should contact the PostGIS developers. The same is true if a PostGIS function returns an invalid geometry for valid input.

Note

Strictly compliant OGC geometries cannot have Z or M values. The ST_IsValid() function won't consider higher dimensioned geometries invalid! Invocations of AddGeometryColumn() will add a constraint checking geometry dimensions, so it is enough to specify 2 there.

Dimensionally Extended 9 Intersection Model (DE-9IM)

It is sometimes the case that the typical spatial predicates (ST_Contains, ST_Crosses, ST_Intersects, ST_Touches, ...) are insufficient in and of themselves to adequately provide that desired spatial filter.

For example, consider a linear dataset representing a road network. It may be the task of a GIS analyst to identify all road segments that cross each other, not at a point, but on a line, perhaps invalidating some business rule. In this case, ST_Crosses does not adequately provide the necessary spatial filter since, for linear features, it returns true only where they cross at a point.

One two-step solution might be to first perform the actual intersection (ST_Intersection) of pairs of road segments that spatially intersect (ST_Intersects), and then compare the intersection's ST_GeometryType with 'LINESTRING' (properly dealing with cases that return GEOMETRYCOLLECTIONs of [MULTI]POINTs, [MULTI]LINESTRINGs, etc.).

A more elegant / faster solution may indeed be desirable.

A second [theoretical] example may be that of a GIS analyst trying to locate all wharfs or docks that intersect a lake's boundary on a line and where only one end of the wharf is up on shore. In other words, where a wharf is within, but not completely within a lake, intersecting the boundary of a lake on a line, and where the wharf's endpoints are both completely within and on the boundary of the lake. The analyst may need to use a combination of spatial predicates to isolate the sought after features:

ST_Contains(lake, wharf) = TRUE

ST_ContainsProperly(lake, wharf) = FALSE

ST_GeometryType(ST_Intersection(wharf, lake)) = 'LINESTRING'

ST_NumGeometries(ST_Multi(ST_Intersection(ST_Boundary(wharf), ST_Boundary(lake)))) = 1

... (needless to say, this could get quite complicated)

So enters the Dimensionally Extended 9 Intersection Model, or DE-9IM for short.

Theory

According to the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL, "the basic approach to comparing two geometries is to make pair-wise tests of the intersections between the Interiors, Boundaries and Exteriors of the two geometries and to classify the relationship between the two geometries based on the entries in the resulting 'intersection' matrix."

Boundary

The boundary of a geometry is the set of geometries of the next lower dimension. For POINTs, which have a dimension of 0, the boundary is the empty set. The boundary of a LINESTRING are the two endpoints. For POLYGONs, the boundary is the linework that make up the exterior and interior rings.

Interior

The interior of a geometry are those points of a geometry that are left when the boundary is removed. For POINTs, the interior is the POINT itself. The interior of a LINESTRING are the set of real points between the endpoints. For POLYGONs, the interior is the areal surface inside the polygon.

Exterior

The exterior of a geometry is the universe, an areal surface, not on the interior or boundary of the geometry.

Given geometry a, where the I(a), B(a), and E(a) are the Interior, Boundary, and Exterior of a, the mathematical representation of the matrix is:

| Interior | Boundary | Exterior
Interior | dim( I(a) ∩ I(b) ) | dim( I(a) ∩ B(b) ) | dim( I(a) ∩ E(b) )
Boundary | dim( B(a) ∩ I(b) ) | dim( B(a) ∩ B(b) ) | dim( B(a) ∩ E(b) )
Exterior | dim( E(a) ∩ I(b) ) | dim( E(a) ∩ B(b) ) | dim( E(a) ∩ E(b) )

Where dim(a) is the dimension of a as specified by ST_Dimension but has the domain of {0,1,2,T,F,*}

0 => point

1 => line

2 => area

T => {0,1,2}

F => empty set

* => don't care

Visually, for two overlapping polygonal geometries, this looks like:

Interior
Boundary
Exterior

Interior

dim(...) = 2

dim(...) = 1

dim(...) = 2

Boundary

dim(...) = 1

dim(...) = 0

dim(...) = 1

Exterior

dim(...) = 2

dim(...) = 1

dim(...) = 2

Read from left to right and from top to bottom, the dimensional matrix is represented, '212101212'.

A relate matrix that would therefore represent our first example of two lines that intersect on a line would be: '1*1***1**'

-- Identify road segments that cross on a line
SELECT a.id
FROM roads a, roads b
WHERE a.id != b.id
AND a.geom && b.geom
AND ST_Relate(a.geom, b.geom, '1*1***1**');

A relate matrix that represents the second example of wharfs partly on the lake's shoreline would be '102101FF2'

-- Identify wharfs partly on a lake's shoreline
SELECT a.lake_id, b.wharf_id
FROM lakes a, wharfs b
WHERE a.geom && b.geom
AND ST_Relate(a.geom, b.geom, '102101FF2');

For more information or reading, see:

OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL (version 1.1, section 2.1.13.2)

Dimensionally Extended Nine-Intersection Model (DE-9IM) by Christian Strobl

GeoTools: Point Set Theory and the DE-9IM Matrix

Encyclopedia of GIS By Hui Xiong

Loading GIS (Vector) Data

Once you have created a spatial table, you are ready to upload GIS data to the database. Currently, there are two ways to get data into a PostGIS/PostgreSQL database: using formatted SQL statements or using the Shape file loader/dumper.

Loading Data Using SQL

If you can convert your data to a text representation, then using formatted SQL might be the easiest way to get your data into PostGIS. As with Oracle and other SQL databases, data can be bulk loaded by piping a large text file full of SQL "INSERT" statements into the SQL terminal monitor.

A data upload file (roads.sql for example) might look like this:

BEGIN;
INSERT INTO roads (road_id, roads_geom, road_name)
  VALUES (1,ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(191232 243118,191108 243242)',-1),'Jeff Rd');
INSERT INTO roads (road_id, roads_geom, road_name)
  VALUES (2,ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(189141 244158,189265 244817)',-1),'Geordie Rd');
INSERT INTO roads (road_id, roads_geom, road_name)
  VALUES (3,ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(192783 228138,192612 229814)',-1),'Paul St');
INSERT INTO roads (road_id, roads_geom, road_name)
  VALUES (4,ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(189412 252431,189631 259122)',-1),'Graeme Ave');
INSERT INTO roads (road_id, roads_geom, road_name)
  VALUES (5,ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(190131 224148,190871 228134)',-1),'Phil Tce');
INSERT INTO roads (road_id, roads_geom, road_name)
  VALUES (6,ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(198231 263418,198213 268322)',-1),'Dave Cres');
COMMIT;

The data file can be piped into PostgreSQL very easily using the "psql" SQL terminal monitor:

psql -d [database] -f roads.sql

shp2pgsql: Using the ESRI Shapefile Loader

The shp2pgsql data loader converts ESRI Shape files into SQL suitable for insertion into a PostGIS/PostgreSQL database either in geometry or geography format. The loader has several operating modes distinguished by command line flags:

In addition to the shp2pgsql command-line loader, there is an shp2pgsql-gui graphical interface with most of the options as the command-line loader, but may be easier to use for one-off non-scripted loading or if you are new to PostGIS. It can also be configured as a plugin to PgAdminIII.

(c|a|d|p) These are mutually exclusive options:

-c

Creates a new table and populates it from the shapefile. This is the default mode.

-a

Appends data from the Shape file into the database table. Note that to use this option to load multiple files, the files must have the same attributes and same data types.

-d

Drops the database table before creating a new table with the data in the Shape file.

-p

Only produces the table creation SQL code, without adding any actual data. This can be used if you need to completely separate the table creation and data loading steps.

-?

Display help screen.

-D

Use the PostgreSQL "dump" format for the output data. This can be combined with -a, -c and -d. It is much faster to load than the default "insert" SQL format. Use this for very large data sets.

-s [<FROM_SRID%gt;:]<SRID>

Creates and populates the geometry tables with the specified SRID. Optionally specifies that the input shapefile uses the given FROM_SRID, in which case the geometries will be reprojected to the target SRID. FROM_SRID cannot be specified with -D.

-k

Keep identifiers' case (column, schema and attributes). Note that attributes in Shapefile are all UPPERCASE.

-i

Coerce all integers to standard 32-bit integers, do not create 64-bit bigints, even if the DBF header signature appears to warrant it.

-I

Create a GiST index on the geometry column.

-m

-m a_file_name Specify a file containing a set of mappings of (long) column names to 10 character DBF column names. The content of the file is one or more lines of two names separated by white space and no trailing or leading space. For example:

COLUMNNAME DBFFIELD1
AVERYLONGCOLUMNNAME DBFFIELD2

-S

Generate simple geometries instead of MULTI geometries. Will only succeed if all the geometries are actually single (I.E. a MULTIPOLYGON with a single shell, or or a MULTIPOINT with a single vertex).

-t <dimensionality>

Force the output geometry to have the specified dimensionality. Use the following strings to indicate the dimensionality: 2D, 3DZ, 3DM, 4D.

If the input has fewer dimensions that specified, the output will have those dimensions filled in with zeroes. If the input has more dimensions that specified, the unwanted dimensions will be stripped.

-w

Output WKT format, instead of WKB. Note that this can introduce coordinate drifts due to loss of precision.

-e

Execute each statement on its own, without using a transaction. This allows loading of the majority of good data when there are some bad geometries that generate errors. Note that this cannot be used with the -D flag as the "dump" format always uses a transaction.

-W <encoding>

Specify encoding of the input data (dbf file). When used, all attributes of the dbf are converted from the specified encoding to UTF8. The resulting SQL output will contain a SET CLIENT_ENCODING to UTF8 command, so that the backend will be able to reconvert from UTF8 to whatever encoding the database is configured to use internally.

-N <policy>

NULL geometries handling policy (insert*,skip,abort)

-n

-n Only import DBF file. If your data has no corresponding shapefile, it will automatically switch to this mode and load just the dbf. So setting this flag is only needed if you have a full shapefile set, and you only want the attribute data and no geometry.

-G

Use geography type instead of geometry (requires lon/lat data) in WGS84 long lat (SRID=4326)

-T <tablespace>

Specify the tablespace for the new table. Indexes will still use the default tablespace unless the -X parameter is also used. The PostgreSQL documentation has a good description on when to use custom tablespaces.

-X <tablespace>

Specify the tablespace for the new table's indexes. This applies to the primary key index, and the GIST spatial index if -I is also used.

An example session using the loader to create an input file and uploading it might look like this:

# shp2pgsql -c -D -s 4269 -i -I shaperoads.shp myschema.roadstable > roads.sql
# psql -d roadsdb -f roads.sql

A conversion and upload can be done all in one step using UNIX pipes:

# shp2pgsql shaperoads.shp myschema.roadstable | psql -d roadsdb

Retrieving GIS Data

Data can be extracted from the database using either SQL or the Shape file loader/dumper. In the section on SQL we will discuss some of the operators available to do comparisons and queries on spatial tables.

Using SQL to Retrieve Data

The most straightforward means of pulling data out of the database is to use a SQL select query to reduce the number of RECORDS and COLUMNS returned and dump the resulting columns into a parsable text file:

db=# SELECT road_id, ST_AsText(road_geom) AS geom, road_name FROM roads;

road_id | geom                                    | road_name
--------+-----------------------------------------+-----------
	  1 | LINESTRING(191232 243118,191108 243242) | Jeff Rd
	  2 | LINESTRING(189141 244158,189265 244817) | Geordie Rd
	  3 | LINESTRING(192783 228138,192612 229814) | Paul St
	  4 | LINESTRING(189412 252431,189631 259122) | Graeme Ave
	  5 | LINESTRING(190131 224148,190871 228134) | Phil Tce
	  6 | LINESTRING(198231 263418,198213 268322) | Dave Cres
	  7 | LINESTRING(218421 284121,224123 241231) | Chris Way
(6 rows)

However, there will be times when some kind of restriction is necessary to cut down the number of fields returned. In the case of attribute-based restrictions, just use the same SQL syntax as normal with a non-spatial table. In the case of spatial restrictions, the following operators are available/useful:

&&

This operator tells whether the bounding box of one geometry intersects the bounding box of another.

ST_OrderingEquals

This tests whether two geometries are geometrically identical. For example, if 'POLYGON((0 0,1 1,1 0,0 0))' is the same as 'POLYGON((0 0,1 1,1 0,0 0))' (it is).

=

This operator is a little more naive, it only tests whether the bounding boxes of two geometries are the same.

Next, you can use these operators in queries. Note that when specifying geometries and boxes on the SQL command line, you must explicitly turn the string representations into geometries by using the "ST_GeomFromText()" function. The 312 is a fictitious spatial reference system that matches our data. So, for example:

SELECT road_id, road_name
  FROM roads
  WHERE ST_OrderingEquals(roads_geom , ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(191232 243118,191108 243242)',312) ) ;

The above query would return the single record from the "ROADS_GEOM" table in which the geometry was equal to that value.

When using the "&&" operator, you can specify either a BOX3D as the comparison feature or a GEOMETRY. When you specify a GEOMETRY, however, its bounding box will be used for the comparison.

SELECT road_id, road_name
FROM roads
WHERE roads_geom && ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((...))',312);

The above query will use the bounding box of the polygon for comparison purposes.

The most common spatial query will probably be a "frame-based" query, used by client software, like data browsers and web mappers, to grab a "map frame" worth of data for display. Using a "BOX3D" object for the frame, such a query looks like this:

SELECT ST_AsText(roads_geom) AS geom
FROM roads
WHERE
  roads_geom && ST_MakeEnvelope(191232, 243117,191232, 243119,312);

Note the use of the SRID 312, to specify the projection of the envelope.

Using the Dumper

The pgsql2shp table dumper connects directly to the database and converts a table (possibly defined by a query) into a shape file. The basic syntax is:

pgsql2shp [<options>] <database> [<schema>.]<table>

pgsql2shp [<options>] <database> <query>

The commandline options are:

-f <filename>

Write the output to a particular filename.

-h <host>

The database host to connect to.

-p <port>

The port to connect to on the database host.

-P <password>

The password to use when connecting to the database.

-u <user>

The username to use when connecting to the database.

-g <geometry column>

In the case of tables with multiple geometry columns, the geometry column to use when writing the shape file.

-b

Use a binary cursor. This will make the operation faster, but will not work if any NON-geometry attribute in the table lacks a cast to text.

-r

Raw mode. Do not drop the gid field, or escape column names.

-d

For backward compatibility: write a 3-dimensional shape file when dumping from old (pre-1.0.0) postgis databases (the default is to write a 2-dimensional shape file in that case). Starting from postgis-1.0.0+, dimensions are fully encoded.

-m filename

Remap identifiers to ten character names. The content of the file is lines of two symbols separated by a single white space and no trailing or leading space: VERYLONGSYMBOL SHORTONE ANOTHERVERYLONGSYMBOL SHORTER etc.

Building Indexes

Indexes are what make using a spatial database for large data sets possible. Without indexing, any search for a feature would require a "sequential scan" of every record in the database. Indexing speeds up searching by organizing the data into a search tree which can be quickly traversed to find a particular record. PostgreSQL supports three kinds of indexes by default: B-Tree indexes, R-Tree indexes, and GiST indexes.

B-Trees are used for data which can be sorted along one axis; for example, numbers, letters, dates. GIS data cannot be rationally sorted along one axis (which is greater, (0,0) or (0,1) or (1,0)?) so B-Tree indexing is of no use for us.

R-Trees break up data into rectangles, and sub-rectangles, and sub-sub rectangles, etc. R-Trees are used by some spatial databases to index GIS data, but the PostgreSQL R-Tree implementation is not as robust as the GiST implementation.

GiST (Generalized Search Trees) indexes break up data into "things to one side", "things which overlap", "things which are inside" and can be used on a wide range of data-types, including GIS data. PostGIS uses an R-Tree index implemented on top of GiST to index GIS data.

GiST Indexes

GiST stands for "Generalized Search Tree" and is a generic form of indexing. In addition to GIS indexing, GiST is used to speed up searches on all kinds of irregular data structures (integer arrays, spectral data, etc) which are not amenable to normal B-Tree indexing.

Once a GIS data table exceeds a few thousand rows, you will want to build an index to speed up spatial searches of the data (unless all your searches are based on attributes, in which case you'll want to build a normal index on the attribute fields).

The syntax for building a GiST index on a "geometry" column is as follows:

CREATE INDEX [indexname] ON [tablename] USING GIST ( [geometryfield] );

The above syntax will always build a 2D-index. To get the an n-dimensional index supported in PostGIS 2.0+ for the geometry type, you can create one using this syntax

CREATE INDEX [indexname] ON [tablename] USING GIST ([geometryfield] gist_geometry_ops_nd);

Building a spatial index is a computationally intensive exercise: on tables of around 1 million rows, on a 300MHz Solaris machine, we have found building a GiST index takes about 1 hour. After building an index, it is important to force PostgreSQL to collect table statistics, which are used to optimize query plans:

VACUUM ANALYZE [table_name] [(column_name)];
-- This is only needed for PostgreSQL 7.4 installations and below
SELECT UPDATE_GEOMETRY_STATS([table_name], [column_name]);

GiST indexes have two advantages over R-Tree indexes in PostgreSQL. Firstly, GiST indexes are "null safe", meaning they can index columns which include null values. Secondly, GiST indexes support the concept of "lossiness" which is important when dealing with GIS objects larger than the PostgreSQL 8K page size. Lossiness allows PostgreSQL to store only the "important" part of an object in an index -- in the case of GIS objects, just the bounding box. GIS objects larger than 8K will cause R-Tree indexes to fail in the process of being built.

Using Indexes

Ordinarily, indexes invisibly speed up data access: once the index is built, the query planner transparently decides when to use index information to speed up a query plan. Unfortunately, the PostgreSQL query planner does not optimize the use of GiST indexes well, so sometimes searches which should use a spatial index instead default to a sequence scan of the whole table.

If you find your spatial indexes are not being used (or your attribute indexes, for that matter) there are a couple things you can do:

Firstly, make sure statistics are gathered about the number and distributions of values in a table, to provide the query planner with better information to make decisions around index usage. For PostgreSQL 7.4 installations and below this is done by running update_geometry_stats([table_name, column_name]) (compute distribution) and VACUUM ANALYZE [table_name] [column_name] (compute number of values). Starting with PostgreSQL 8.0 running VACUUM ANALYZE will do both operations. You should regularly vacuum your databases anyways -- many PostgreSQL DBAs have VACUUM run as an off-peak cron job on a regular basis.

If vacuuming does not work, you can force the planner to use the index information by using the SET ENABLE_SEQSCAN=OFF command. You should only use this command sparingly, and only on spatially indexed queries: generally speaking, the planner knows better than you do about when to use normal B-Tree indexes. Once you have run your query, you should consider setting ENABLE_SEQSCAN back on, so that other queries will utilize the planner as normal.

Note

As of version 0.6, it should not be necessary to force the planner to use the index with ENABLE_SEQSCAN.

If you find the planner wrong about the cost of sequential vs index scans try reducing the value of random_page_cost in postgresql.conf or using SET random_page_cost=#. Default value for the parameter is 4, try setting it to 1 or 2. Decrementing the value makes the planner more inclined of using Index scans.

Complex Queries

The raison d'etre of spatial database functionality is performing queries inside the database which would ordinarily require desktop GIS functionality. Using PostGIS effectively requires knowing what spatial functions are available, and ensuring that appropriate indexes are in place to provide good performance. The SRID of 312 used in these examples is purely for demonstration. You should be using a REAL SRID listed in the the spatial_ref_sys table and one that matches the projection of your data. If your data has no spatial reference system specified, you should be THINKING very thoughtfully why it doesn't and maybe it should. If your reason is because you are modeling something that doesn't have a geographic spatial reference system defined such as the internals of a molecule or a good location on Mars to transport the human race in the event of a nuclear holocaust, then simply leave out the SRID or make one up and insert it in the spatial_ref_sys table.

Taking Advantage of Indexes

When constructing a query it is important to remember that only the bounding-box-based operators such as && can take advantage of the GiST spatial index. Functions such as ST_Distance() cannot use the index to optimize their operation. For example, the following query would be quite slow on a large table:

SELECT the_geom
FROM geom_table
WHERE ST_Distance(the_geom, ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100000 200000)', 312)) < 100

This query is selecting all the geometries in geom_table which are within 100 units of the point (100000, 200000). It will be slow because it is calculating the distance between each point in the table and our specified point, ie. one ST_Distance() calculation for each row in the table. We can avoid this by using the && operator to reduce the number of distance calculations required:

SELECT the_geom
FROM geom_table
WHERE ST_DWithin(the_geom,  ST_MakeEnvelope(90900, 190900, 100100, 200100,312), 100)

This query selects the same geometries, but it does it in a more efficient way. Assuming there is a GiST index on the_geom, the query planner will recognize that it can use the index to reduce the number of rows before calculating the result of the ST_distance() function. Notice that the ST_MakeEnvelope geometry which is used in the && operation is a 200 unit square box centered on the original point - this is our "query box". The && operator uses the index to quickly reduce the result set down to only those geometries which have bounding boxes that overlap the "query box". Assuming that our query box is much smaller than the extents of the entire geometry table, this will drastically reduce the number of distance calculations that need to be done.

Change in Behavior

As of PostGIS 1.3.0, most of the Geometry Relationship Functions, with the notable exceptions of ST_Disjoint and ST_Relate, include implicit bounding box overlap operators.

Examples of Spatial SQL

The examples in this section will make use of two tables, a table of linear roads, and a table of polygonal municipality boundaries. The table definitions for the bc_roads table is:

Column      | Type              | Description
------------+-------------------+-------------------
gid         | integer           | Unique ID
name        | character varying | Road Name
the_geom    | geometry          | Location Geometry (Linestring)

The table definition for the bc_municipality table is:

Column     | Type              | Description
-----------+-------------------+-------------------
gid        | integer           | Unique ID
code       | integer           | Unique ID
name       | character varying | City / Town Name
the_geom   | geometry          | Location Geometry (Polygon)

1.

What is the total length of all roads, expressed in kilometers?

You can answer this question with a very simple piece of SQL:

SELECT sum(ST_Length(the_geom))/1000 AS km_roads FROM bc_roads;

km_roads
------------------
70842.1243039643
(1 row)

2.

How large is the city of Prince George, in hectares?

This query combines an attribute condition (on the municipality name) with a spatial calculation (of the area):

SELECT
  ST_Area(the_geom)/10000 AS hectares
FROM bc_municipality
WHERE name = 'PRINCE GEORGE';

hectares
------------------
32657.9103824927
(1 row)

3.

What is the largest municipality in the province, by area?

This query brings a spatial measurement into the query condition. There are several ways of approaching this problem, but the most efficient is below:

SELECT
  name,
  ST_Area(the_geom)/10000 AS hectares
FROM
  bc_municipality
ORDER BY hectares DESC
LIMIT 1;

name           | hectares
---------------+-----------------
TUMBLER RIDGE  | 155020.02556131
(1 row)

Note that in order to answer this query we have to calculate the area of every polygon. If we were doing this a lot it would make sense to add an area column to the table that we could separately index for performance. By ordering the results in a descending direction, and them using the PostgreSQL "LIMIT" command we can easily pick off the largest value without using an aggregate function like max().

4.

What is the length of roads fully contained within each municipality?

This is an example of a "spatial join", because we are bringing together data from two tables (doing a join) but using a spatial interaction condition ("contained") as the join condition rather than the usual relational approach of joining on a common key:

SELECT
  m.name,
  sum(ST_Length(r.the_geom))/1000 as roads_km
FROM
  bc_roads AS r,
  bc_municipality AS m
WHERE
  ST_Contains(m.the_geom,r.the_geom)
GROUP BY m.name
ORDER BY roads_km;

name                        | roads_km
----------------------------+------------------
SURREY                      | 1539.47553551242
VANCOUVER                   | 1450.33093486576
LANGLEY DISTRICT            | 833.793392535662
BURNABY                     | 773.769091404338
PRINCE GEORGE               | 694.37554369147
...

This query takes a while, because every road in the table is summarized into the final result (about 250K roads for our particular example table). For smaller overlays (several thousand records on several hundred) the response can be very fast.

5.

Create a new table with all the roads within the city of Prince George.

This is an example of an "overlay", which takes in two tables and outputs a new table that consists of spatially clipped or cut resultants. Unlike the "spatial join" demonstrated above, this query actually creates new geometries. An overlay is like a turbo-charged spatial join, and is useful for more exact analysis work:

CREATE TABLE pg_roads as
SELECT
  ST_Intersection(r.the_geom, m.the_geom) AS intersection_geom,
  ST_Length(r.the_geom) AS rd_orig_length,
  r.*
FROM
  bc_roads AS r,
  bc_municipality AS m
WHERE  m.name = 'PRINCE GEORGE' AND ST_Intersects(r.the_geom, m.the_geom);

6.

What is the length in kilometers of "Douglas St" in Victoria?

SELECT
  sum(ST_Length(r.the_geom))/1000 AS kilometers
FROM
  bc_roads r,
  bc_municipality m
WHERE  r.name = 'Douglas St' AND m.name = 'VICTORIA'
	AND ST_Contains(m.the_geom, r.the_geom) ;

kilometers
------------------
4.89151904172838
(1 row)

7.

What is the largest municipality polygon that has a hole?

SELECT gid, name, ST_Area(the_geom) AS area
FROM bc_municipality
WHERE ST_NRings(the_geom) > 1
ORDER BY area DESC LIMIT 1;

gid  | name         | area
-----+--------------+------------------
12   | SPALLUMCHEEN | 257374619.430216
(1 row)

Chapter 5. Raster Data Management, Queries, and Applications

Loading and Creating Rasters

For most use cases, you will create PostGIS rasters by loading existing raster files using the packaged raster2pgsql raster loader.

Using raster2pgsql to load rasters

The raster2pgsql is a raster loader executable that loads GDAL supported raster formats into sql suitable for loading into a PostGIS raster table. It is capable of loading folders of raster files as well as creating overviews of rasters.

Since the raster2pgsql is compiled as part of PostGIS most often (unless you compile your own GDAL library), the raster types supported by the executable will be the same as those compiled in the GDAL dependency library. To get a list of raster types your particular raster2pgsql supports use the -G switch. These should be the same as those provided by your PostGIS install documented here ST_GDALDrivers if you are using the same gdal library for both.

Note

The older version of this tool was a python script. The executable has replaced the python script. If you still find the need for the Python script Examples of the python one can be found at GDAL PostGIS Raster Driver Usage. Please note that the raster2pgsql python script may not work with future versions of PostGIS raster and is no longer supported.

Note

When creating overviews of a specific factor from a set of rasters that are aligned, it is possible for the overviews to not align. Visit http://trac.osgeo.org/postgis/ticket/1764 for an example where the overviews do not align.

EXAMPLE USAGE:

raster2pgsql raster_options_go_here raster_file someschema.sometable > out.sql

-?

Display help screen. Help will also display if you don't pass in any arguments.

-G

Print the supported raster formats.

(c|a|d|p) These are mutually exclusive options:

-c

Create new table and populate it with raster(s), this is the default mode

-a

Append raster(s) to an existing table.

-d

Drop table, create new one and populate it with raster(s)

-p

Prepare mode, only create the table.

Raster processing: Applying constraints for proper registering in raster catalogs

-C

Apply raster constraints -- srid, pixelsize etc. to ensure raster is properly registered in raster_columns view.

-x

Disable setting the max extent constraint. Only applied if -C flag is also used.

-r

Set the constraints (spatially unique and coverage tile) for regular blocking. Only applied if -C flag is also used.

Raster processing: Optional parameters used to manipulate input raster dataset

-s <SRID>

Assign output raster with specified SRID. If not provided or is zero, raster's metadata will be checked to determine an appropriate SRID.

-b BAND

Index (1-based) of band to extract from raster. For more than one band index, separate with comma (,). If unspecified, all bands of raster will be extracted.

-t TILE_SIZE

Cut raster into tiles to be inserted one per table row. TILE_SIZE is expressed as WIDTHxHEIGHT or set to the value "auto" to allow the loader to compute an appropriate tile size using the first raster and applied to all rasters.

-P

Pad right-most and bottom-most tiles to guarantee that all tiles have the same width and height.

-R, --register

Register the raster as a filesystem (out-db) raster.

Only the metadata of the raster and path location to the raster is stored in the database (not the pixels).

-l OVERVIEW_FACTOR

Create overview of the raster. For more than one factor, separate with comma(,). Overview table name follows the pattern o_overview factor_table, where overview factor is a placeholder for numerical overview factor and table is replaced with the base table name. Created overview is stored in the database and is not affected by -R. Note that your generated sql file will contain both the main table and overview tables.

-N NODATA

NODATA value to use on bands without a NODATA value.

Optional parameters used to manipulate database objects

-q

Wrap PostgreSQL identifiers in quotes

-f COLUMN

Specify name of destination raster column, default is 'rast'

-F

Add a column with the name of the file

-n COLUMN

Specify the name of the filename column. Implies -F.

-q

Wrap PostgreSQL identifiers in quotes.

-I

Create a GiST index on the raster column.

-M

Vacuum analyze the raster table.

-k

Skip NODATA value checks for each raster band.

-T tablespace

Specify the tablespace for the new table. Note that indices (including the primary key) will still use the default tablespace unless the -X flag is also used.

-X tablespace

Specify the tablespace for the table's new index. This applies to the primary key and the spatial index if the -I flag is used.

-Y

Use copy statements instead of insert statements.

-e

Execute each statement individually, do not use a transaction.

-E ENDIAN

Control endianness of generated binary output of raster; specify 0 for XDR and 1 for NDR (default); only NDR output is supported now

-V version

Specify version of output format. Default is 0. Only 0 is supported at this time.

An example session using the loader to create an input file and uploading it chunked in 100x100 tiles might look like this:

Note

You can leave the schema name out e.g demelevation instead of public.demelevation and the raster table will be created in the default schema of the database or user

raster2pgsql -s 4326 -I -C -M *.tif -F -t 100x100 public.demelevation > elev.sql
psql -d gisdb -f elev.sql

A conversion and upload can be done all in one step using UNIX pipes:

raster2pgsql -s 4326 -I -C -M *.tif -F -t 100x100 public.demelevation | psql -d gisdb

Load rasters Massachusetts state plane meters aerial tiles into a schema called aerial and create a full view, 2 and 4 level overview tables, use copy mode for inserting (no intermediary file just straight to db), and -e don't force everything in a transaction (good if you want to see data in tables right away without waiting). Break up the rasters into 128x128 pixel tiles and apply raster constraints. Use copy mode instead of table insert. (-F) Include a field called filename to hold the name of the file the tiles were cut from.

raster2pgsql -I -C -e -Y -F -s 26986 -t 128x128  -l 2,4 bostonaerials2008/*.jpg aerials.boston | psql -U postgres -d gisdb -h localhost -p 5432

--get a list of raster types supported:
raster2pgsql -G

The -G commands outputs a list something like

Available GDAL raster formats:
  Virtual Raster
  GeoTIFF
  National Imagery Transmission Format
  Raster Product Format TOC format
  ECRG TOC format
  Erdas Imagine Images (.img)
  CEOS SAR Image
  CEOS Image
  JAXA PALSAR Product Reader (Level 1.1/1.5)
  Ground-based SAR Applications Testbed File Format (.gff)
  ELAS
  Arc/Info Binary Grid
  Arc/Info ASCII Grid
  GRASS ASCII Grid
  SDTS Raster
  DTED Elevation Raster
  Portable Network Graphics
  JPEG JFIF
  In Memory Raster
  Japanese DEM (.mem)
  Graphics Interchange Format (.gif)
  Graphics Interchange Format (.gif)
  Envisat Image Format
  Maptech BSB Nautical Charts
  X11 PixMap Format
  MS Windows Device Independent Bitmap
  SPOT DIMAP
  AirSAR Polarimetric Image
  RadarSat 2 XML Product
  PCIDSK Database File
  PCRaster Raster File
  ILWIS Raster Map
  SGI Image File Format 1.0
  SRTMHGT File Format
  Leveller heightfield
  Terragen heightfield
  USGS Astrogeology ISIS cube (Version 3)
  USGS Astrogeology ISIS cube (Version 2)
  NASA Planetary Data System
  EarthWatch .TIL
  ERMapper .ers Labelled
  NOAA Polar Orbiter Level 1b Data Set
  FIT Image
  GRIdded Binary (.grb)
  Raster Matrix Format
  EUMETSAT Archive native (.nat)
  Idrisi Raster A.1
  Intergraph Raster
  Golden Software ASCII Grid (.grd)
  Golden Software Binary Grid (.grd)
  Golden Software 7 Binary Grid (.grd)
  COSAR Annotated Binary Matrix (TerraSAR-X)
  TerraSAR-X Product
  DRDC COASP SAR Processor Raster
  R Object Data Store
  Portable Pixmap Format (netpbm)
  USGS DOQ (Old Style)
  USGS DOQ (New Style)
  ENVI .hdr Labelled
  ESRI .hdr Labelled
  Generic Binary (.hdr Labelled)
  PCI .aux Labelled
  Vexcel MFF Raster
  Vexcel MFF2 (HKV) Raster
  Fuji BAS Scanner Image
  GSC Geogrid
  EOSAT FAST Format
  VTP .bt (Binary Terrain) 1.3 Format
  Erdas .LAN/.GIS
  Convair PolGASP
  Image Data and Analysis
  NLAPS Data Format
  Erdas Imagine Raw
  DIPEx
  FARSITE v.4 Landscape File (.lcp)
  NOAA Vertical Datum .GTX
  NADCON .los/.las Datum Grid Shift
  NTv2 Datum Grid Shift
  ACE2
  Snow Data Assimilation System
  Swedish Grid RIK (.rik)
  USGS Optional ASCII DEM (and CDED)
  GeoSoft Grid Exchange Format
  Northwood Numeric Grid Format .grd/.tab
  Northwood Classified Grid Format .grc/.tab
  ARC Digitized Raster Graphics
  Standard Raster Product (ASRP/USRP)
  Magellan topo (.blx)
  SAGA GIS Binary Grid (.sdat)
  Kml Super Overlay
  ASCII Gridded XYZ
  HF2/HFZ heightfield raster
  OziExplorer Image File
  USGS LULC Composite Theme Grid
  Arc/Info Export E00 GRID
  ZMap Plus Grid
  NOAA NGS Geoid Height Grids

Creating rasters using PostGIS raster functions

On many occasions, you'll want to create rasters and raster tables right in the database. There are a plethora of functions to do that. The general steps to follow.

Create a table with a raster column to hold the new raster records which can be accomplished with:

CREATE TABLE myrasters(rid serial primary key, rast raster);

There are many functions to help with that goal. If you are creating rasters not as a derivative of other rasters, you will want to start with: ST_MakeEmptyRaster, followed by ST_AddBand

You can also create rasters from geometries. To achieve that you'll want to use ST_AsRaster perhaps accompanied with other functions such as ST_Union or ST_MapAlgebraFct or any of the family of other map algebra functions.

There are even many more options for creating new raster tables from existing tables. For example you can create a raster table in a different projection from an existing one using ST_Transform

Once you are done populating your table initially, you'll want to create a spatial index on the raster column with something like:

CREATE INDEX myrasters_rast_st_convexhull_idx ON myrasters USING gist( ST_ConvexHull(rast) );

Note the use of ST_ConvexHull since most raster operators are based on the convex hull of the rasters.

Note

Pre-2.0 versions of PostGIS raster were based on the envelop rather than the convex hull. For the spatial indexes to work properly you'll need to drop those and replace with convex hull based index.

Apply raster constraints using AddRasterConstraints

Raster Catalogs

There are two raster catalog views that come packaged with PostGIS. Both views utilize information embedded in the constraints of the raster tables. As a result the catalog views are always consistent with the raster data in the tables since the constraints are enforced.

raster_columns this view catalogs all the raster table columns in your database.

raster_overviews this view catalogs all the raster table columns in your database that serve as overviews for a finer grained table. Tables of this type are generated when you use the -l switch during load.

Raster Columns Catalog

The raster_columns is a catalog of all raster table columns in your database that are of type raster. It is a view utilizing the constraints on the tables so the information is always consistent even if you restore one raster table from a backup of another database. The following columns exist in the raster_columns catalog.

If you created your tables not with the loader or forgot to specify the -C flag during load, you can enforce the constraints after the fact using AddRasterConstraints so that the raster_columns catalog registers the common information about your raster tiles.

r_table_catalog The database the table is in. This will always read the current database.

r_table_schema The database schema the raster table belongs to.

r_table_name raster table

r_raster_column the column in the r_table_name table that is of type raster. There is nothing in PostGIS preventing you from having multiple raster columns per table so its possible to have a raster table listed multiple times with a different raster column for each.

srid The spatial reference identifier of the raster. Should be an entry in the the section called “The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems”.

scale_x The scaling between geometric spatial coordinates and pixel. This is only available if all tiles in the raster column have the same scale_x and this constraint is applied. Refer to ST_ScaleX for more details.

scale_y The scaling between geometric spatial coordinates and pixel. This is only available if all tiles in the raster column have the same scale_y and the scale_y constraint is applied. Refer to ST_ScaleY for more details.

blocksize_x The width (number of pixels across) of each raster tile . Refer to ST_Width for more details.

blocksize_y The width (number of pixels down) of each raster tile . Refer to ST_Height for more details.

same_alignment A boolean that is true if all the raster tiles have the same alignment . Refer to ST_SameAlignment for more details.

regular_blocking If the raster column has the spatially unique and coverage tile constraints, the value with be TRUE. Otherwise, it will be FALSE.

num_bands The number of bands in each tile of your raster set. This is the same information as what is provided by ST_NumBands

pixel_types An array defining the pixel type for each band. You will have the same number of elements in this array as you have number of bands. The pixel_types are one of the following defined in ST_BandPixelType.

nodata_values An array of double precision numbers denoting the nodata_value for each band. You will have the same number of elements in this array as you have number of bands. These numbers define the pixel value for each band that should be ignored for most operations. This is similar information provided by ST_BandNoDataValue.

out_db An array of boolean flags indicating if the raster bands data is maintained outside the database. You will have the same number of elements in this array as you have number of bands.

extent This is the extent of all the raster rows in your raster set. If you plan to load more data that will change the extent of the set, you'll want to run the DropRasterConstraints function before load and then reapply constraints with AddRasterConstraints after load.

spatial_index A boolean that is true if raster column has a spatial index.

Raster Overviews

raster_overviews catalogs information about raster table columns used for overviews and additional information about them that is useful to know when utilizing overviews. Overview tables are cataloged in both raster_columns and raster_overviews because they are rasters in their own right but also serve an additional special purpose of being a lower resolution caricature of a higher resolution table. These are generated along-side the main raster table when you use the -l switch in raster loading or can be generated manually using AddOverviewConstraints.

Overview tables contain the same constraints as other raster tables as well as additional informational only constraints specific to overviews.

Note

The information in raster_overviews does not duplicate the information in raster_columns. If you need the information about an overview table present in raster_columns you can join the raster_overviews and raster_columns together to get the full set of information you need.

Two main reasons for overviews are:

Low resolution representation of the core tables commonly used for fast mapping zoom-out.

Computations are generally faster to do on them than their higher resolution parents because there are fewer records and each pixel covers more territory. Though the computations are not as accurate as the high-res tables they support, they can be sufficient in many rule-of-thumb computations.

The raster_overviews catalog contains the following columns of information.

o_table_catalog The database the overview table is in. This will always read the current database.

o_table_schema The database schema the overview raster table belongs to.

o_table_name raster overview table name

o_raster_column the raster column in the overview table.

r_table_catalog The database the raster table that this overview services is in. This will always read the current database.

r_table_schema The database schema the raster table that this overview services belongs to.

r_table_name raster table that this overview services.

r_raster_column the raster column that this overview column services.

overview_factor - this is the pyramid level of the overview table. The higher the number the lower the resolution of the table. raster2pgsql if given a folder of images, will compute overview of each image file and load separately. Level 1 is assumed and always the original file. Level 2 is will have each tile represent 4 of the original. So for example if you have a folder of 5000x5000 pixel image files that you chose to chunk 125x125, for each image file your base table will have (5000*5000)/(125*125) records = 1600, your (l=2) o_2 table will have ceiling(1600/Power(2,2)) = 400 rows, your (l=3) o_3 will have ceiling(1600/Power(2,3) ) = 200 rows. If your pixels aren't divisible by the size of your tiles, you'll get some scrap tiles (tiles not completely filled). Note that each overview tile generated by raster2pgsql has the same number of pixels as its parent, but is of a lower resolution where each pixel of it represents (Power(2,overview_factor) pixels of the original).

Building Custom Applications with PostGIS Raster

The fact that PostGIS raster provides you with SQL functions to render rasters in known image formats gives you a lot of optoins for rendering them. For example you can use OpenOffice / LibreOffice for rendering as demonstrated in Rendering PostGIS Raster graphics with LibreOffice Base Reports. In addition you can use a wide variety of languages as demonstrated in this section.

PHP Example Outputting using ST_AsPNG in concert with other raster functions

In this section, we'll demonstrate how to use the PHP PostgreSQL driver and the ST_AsGDALRaster family of functions to output band 1,2,3 of a raster to a PHP request stream that can then be embedded in an img src html tag.

The sample query demonstrates how to combine a whole bunch of raster functions together to grab all tiles that intersect a particular wgs 84 bounding box and then unions with ST_Union the intersecting tiles together returning all bands, transforms to user specified projection using ST_Transform, and then outputs the results as a png using ST_AsPNG.

You would call the below using

http://mywebserver/test_raster.php?srid=2249

to get the raster image in Massachusetts state plane feet.

<?php
/** contents of test_raster.php **/
$conn_str ='dbname=mydb host=localhost port=5432 user=myuser password=mypwd';
$dbconn = pg_connect($conn_str);
header('Content-Type: image/png');
/**If a particular projection was requested use it otherwise use mass state plane meters **/
if (!empty( $_REQUEST['srid'] ) && is_numeric( $_REQUEST['srid']) ){
		$input_srid = intval($_REQUEST['srid']);
}
else { $input_srid = 26986; }
/** The set bytea_output may be needed for PostgreSQL 9.0+, but not for 8.4 **/
$sql = "set bytea_output='escape';
SELECT ST_AsPNG(ST_Transform(
			ST_AddBand(ST_Union(rast,1), ARRAY[ST_Union(rast,2),ST_Union(rast,3)])
				,$input_srid) ) As new_rast
 FROM aerials.boston
	WHERE
	 ST_Intersects(rast, ST_Transform(ST_MakeEnvelope(-71.1217, 42.227, -71.1210, 42.218,4326),26986) )";
$result = pg_query($sql);
$row = pg_fetch_row($result);
pg_free_result($result);
if ($row === false) return;
echo pg_unescape_bytea($row[0]);
?>

ASP.NET C# Example Outputting using ST_AsPNG in concert with other raster functions

In this section, we'll demonstrate how to use Npgsql PostgreSQL .NET driver and the ST_AsGDALRaster family of functions to output band 1,2,3 of a raster to a PHP request stream that can then be embedded in an img src html tag.

You will need the npgsql .NET PostgreSQL driver for this exercise which you can get the latest of from http://npgsql.projects.postgresql.org/. Just download the latest and drop into your ASP.NET bin folder and you'll be good to go.

The sample query demonstrates how to combine a whole bunch of raster functions together to grab all tiles that intersect a particular wgs 84 bounding box and then unions with ST_Union the intersecting tiles together returning all bands, transforms to user specified projection using ST_Transform, and then outputs the results as a png using ST_AsPNG.

This is same example as the section called “PHP Example Outputting using ST_AsPNG in concert with other raster functions” except implemented in C#.

You would call the below using

http://mywebserver/TestRaster.ashx?srid=2249

to get the raster image in Massachusetts state plane feet.

 -- web.config connection string section --
<connectionStrings>
    <add name="DSN"
        connectionString="server=localhost;database=mydb;Port=5432;User Id=myuser;password=mypwd"/>
</connectionStrings>

// Code for TestRaster.ashx
<%@ WebHandler Language="C#" Class="TestRaster" %>
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Web;
using Npgsql;

public class TestRaster : IHttpHandler
{
	public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
	{

		context.Response.ContentType = "image/png";
		context.Response.BinaryWrite(GetResults(context));

	}

	public bool IsReusable {
		get { return false; }
	}

	public byte[] GetResults(HttpContext context)
	{
		byte[] result = null;
		NpgsqlCommand command;
		string sql = null;
		int input_srid = 26986;
        try {
		    using (NpgsqlConnection conn = new NpgsqlConnection(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["DSN"].ConnectionString)) {
			    conn.Open();

                if (context.Request["srid"] != null)
                {
                    input_srid = Convert.ToInt32(context.Request["srid"]);
                }
                sql = @"SELECT ST_AsPNG(
                            ST_Transform(
			                ST_AddBand(
                                ST_Union(rast,1), ARRAY[ST_Union(rast,2),ST_Union(rast,3)])
				                    ,:input_srid) ) As new_rast
                        FROM aerials.boston
	                        WHERE
	                            ST_Intersects(rast,
                                    ST_Transform(ST_MakeEnvelope(-71.1217, 42.227, -71.1210, 42.218,4326),26986) )";
			    command = new NpgsqlCommand(sql, conn);
                command.Parameters.Add(new NpgsqlParameter("input_srid", input_srid));

			    result = (byte[]) command.ExecuteScalar();
                conn.Close();
			}

		}
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            result = null;
            context.Response.Write(ex.Message.Trim());
        }
		return result;
	}
}

Java console app that outputs raster query as Image file

This is a simple java console app that takes a query that returns one image and outputs to specified file.

You can download the latest PostgreSQL JDBC drivers from http://jdbc.postgresql.org/download.html

You can compile the following code using a command something like:

set env CLASSPATH .:..\postgresql-9.0-801.jdbc4.jar
javac SaveQueryImage.java
jar cfm SaveQueryImage.jar Manifest.txt *.class

And call it from the command-line with something like

java -jar SaveQueryImage.jar "SELECT ST_AsPNG(ST_AsRaster(ST_Buffer(ST_Point(1,5),10, 'quad_segs=2'),150, 150, '8BUI',100));" "test.png"

 -- Manifest.txt --
Class-Path: postgresql-9.0-801.jdbc4.jar
Main-Class: SaveQueryImage

// Code for SaveQueryImage.java
import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.io.*;

public class SaveQueryImage {
  public static void main(String[] argv) {
      System.out.println("Checking if Driver is registered with DriverManager.");

      try {
        //java.sql.DriverManager.registerDriver (new org.postgresql.Driver());
        Class.forName("org.postgresql.Driver");
      }
      catch (ClassNotFoundException cnfe) {
        System.out.println("Couldn't find the driver!");
        cnfe.printStackTrace();
        System.exit(1);
      }

      Connection conn = null;

      try {
        conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/mydb","myuser", "mypwd");
        conn.setAutoCommit(false);

        PreparedStatement sGetImg = conn.prepareStatement(argv[0]);

        ResultSet rs = sGetImg.executeQuery();

		FileOutputStream fout;
		try
		{
			rs.next();
			/** Output to file name requested by user **/
			fout = new FileOutputStream(new File(argv[1]) );
			fout.write(rs.getBytes(1));
			fout.close();
		}
		catch(Exception e)
		{
			System.out.println("Can't create file");
			e.printStackTrace();
		}

        rs.close();
		sGetImg.close();
        conn.close();
      }
      catch (SQLException se) {
        System.out.println("Couldn't connect: print out a stack trace and exit.");
        se.printStackTrace();
        System.exit(1);
      }
  }
}

Use PLPython to dump out images via SQL

This is a plpython stored function that creates a file in the server directory for each record. Requires you have plpython installed. Should work fine with both plpythonu and plpython3u.

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION write_file (param_bytes bytea, param_filepath text)
RETURNS text
AS $$
f = open(param_filepath, 'wb+')
f.write(param_bytes)
return param_filepath
$$ LANGUAGE plpythonu;

--write out 5 images to the PostgreSQL server in varying sizes
-- note the postgresql daemon account needs to have write access to folder
-- this echos back the file names created;
 SELECT write_file(ST_AsPNG(
	ST_AsRaster(ST_Buffer(ST_Point(1,5),j*5, 'quad_segs=2'),150*j, 150*j, '8BUI',100)),
	 'C:/temp/slices'|| j || '.png')
	 FROM generate_series(1,5) As j;

     write_file
---------------------
 C:/temp/slices1.png
 C:/temp/slices2.png
 C:/temp/slices3.png
 C:/temp/slices4.png
 C:/temp/slices5.png

Outputting Rasters with PSQL

Sadly PSQL doesn't have easy to use built-in functionality for outputting binaries. This is a bit of a hack and based on one of the suggestions outlined in Clever Trick Challenge -- Outputting bytea with psql that piggy backs on PostgreSQL somewhat legacy large object support. To use first launch your psql commandline connected to your database.

Unlike the python approach, this approach creates the file on your local computer.

SELECT oid, lowrite(lo_open(oid, 131072), png) As num_bytes
 FROM
 ( VALUES (lo_create(0),
   ST_AsPNG( (SELECT rast FROM aerials.boston WHERE rid=1) )
  ) ) As v(oid,png);
-- you'll get an output something like --
   oid   | num_bytes
---------+-----------
 2630819 |     74860

-- next note the oid and do this replacing the c:/test.png to file path location
-- on your local computer
 \lo_export 2630819 'C:/temp/aerial_samp.png'

-- this deletes the file from large object storage on db
SELECT lo_unlink(2630819);

Chapter 6. Using PostGIS Geometry: Building Applications

Using MapServer

The Minnesota MapServer is an internet web-mapping server which conforms to the OpenGIS Web Mapping Server specification.

The MapServer homepage is at http://mapserver.org.

The OpenGIS Web Map Specification is at http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wms.

Basic Usage

To use PostGIS with MapServer, you will need to know about how to configure MapServer, which is beyond the scope of this documentation. This section will cover specific PostGIS issues and configuration details.

To use PostGIS with MapServer, you will need:

Version 0.6 or newer of PostGIS.

Version 3.5 or newer of MapServer.

MapServer accesses PostGIS/PostgreSQL data like any other PostgreSQL client -- using the libpq interface. This means that MapServer can be installed on any machine with network access to the PostGIS server, and use PostGIS as a source of data. The faster the connection between the systems, the better.

Compile and install MapServer, with whatever options you desire, including the "--with-postgis" configuration option.

In your MapServer map file, add a PostGIS layer. For example:

LAYER
  CONNECTIONTYPE postgis
  NAME "widehighways"
  # Connect to a remote spatial database
  CONNECTION "user=dbuser dbname=gisdatabase host=bigserver"
  PROCESSING "CLOSE_CONNECTION=DEFER"
  # Get the lines from the 'geom' column of the 'roads' table
  DATA "geom from roads using srid=4326 using unique gid"
  STATUS ON
  TYPE LINE
  # Of the lines in the extents, only render the wide highways
  FILTER "type = 'highway' and numlanes >= 4"
  CLASS
    # Make the superhighways brighter and 2 pixels wide
    EXPRESSION ([numlanes] >= 6)
    STYLE
      COLOR 255 22 22
      WIDTH 2
    END
  END
  CLASS
    # All the rest are darker and only 1 pixel wide
    EXPRESSION ([numlanes] < 6)
    STYLE
      COLOR 205 92 82
    END
  END
END

In the example above, the PostGIS-specific directives are as follows:

CONNECTIONTYPE

For PostGIS layers, this is always "postgis".

CONNECTION

The database connection is governed by the a 'connection string' which is a standard set of keys and values like this (with the default values in <>):

user=<username> password=<password> dbname=<username> hostname=<server> port=<5432>

An empty connection string is still valid, and any of the key/value pairs can be omitted. At a minimum you will generally supply the database name and username to connect with.

DATA

The form of this parameter is "<geocolumn> from <tablename> using srid=<srid> using unique <primary key>" where the column is the spatial column to be rendered to the map, the SRID is SRID used by the column and the primary key is the table primary key (or any other uniquely-valued column with an index).

You can omit the "using srid" and "using unique" clauses and MapServer will automatically determine the correct values if possible, but at the cost of running a few extra queries on the server for each map draw.

PROCESSING

Putting in a CLOSE_CONNECTION=DEFER if you have multiple layers reuses existing connections instead of closing them. This improves speed. Refer to for MapServer PostGIS Performance Tips for a more detailed explanation.

FILTER

The filter must be a valid SQL string corresponding to the logic normally following the "WHERE" keyword in a SQL query. So, for example, to render only roads with 6 or more lanes, use a filter of "num_lanes >= 6".

In your spatial database, ensure you have spatial (GiST) indexes built for any the layers you will be drawing.

CREATE INDEX [indexname] ON [tablename] USING GIST ( [geometrycolumn] );

If you will be querying your layers using MapServer you will also need to use the "using unique" clause in your DATA statement.

MapServer requires unique identifiers for each spatial record when doing queries, and the PostGIS module of MapServer uses the unique value you specify in order to provide these unique identifiers. Using the table primary key is the best practice.

Frequently Asked Questions

1.

When I use an EXPRESSION in my map file, the condition never returns as true, even though I know the values exist in my table.

Unlike shape files, PostGIS field names have to be referenced in EXPRESSIONS using lower case.

EXPRESSION ([numlanes] >= 6)

2.

The FILTER I use for my Shape files is not working for my PostGIS table of the same data.

Unlike shape files, filters for PostGIS layers use SQL syntax (they are appended to the SQL statement the PostGIS connector generates for drawing layers in MapServer).

FILTER "type = 'highway' and numlanes >= 4"

3.

My PostGIS layer draws much slower than my Shape file layer, is this normal?

In general, the more features you are drawing into a given map, the more likely it is that PostGIS will be slower than Shape files. For maps with relatively few features (100s), PostGIS will often be faster. For maps with high feature density (1000s), PostGIS will always be slower.

If you are finding substantial draw performance problems, it is possible that you have not built a spatial index on your table.

postgis# CREATE INDEX geotable_gix ON geotable USING GIST ( geocolumn );
postgis# VACUUM ANALYZE;

4.

My PostGIS layer draws fine, but queries are really slow. What is wrong?

For queries to be fast, you must have a unique key for your spatial table and you must have an index on that unique key.

You can specify what unique key for mapserver to use with the USING UNIQUE clause in your DATA line:

DATA "geom FROM geotable USING UNIQUE gid"

5.

Can I use "geography" columns (new in PostGIS 1.5) as a source for MapServer layers?

Yes! MapServer understands geography columns as being the same as geometry columns, but always using an SRID of 4326. Just make sure to include a "using srid=4326" clause in your DATA statement. Everything else works exactly the same as with geometry.

DATA "geog FROM geogtable USING SRID=4326 USING UNIQUE gid"

Advanced Usage

The USING pseudo-SQL clause is used to add some information to help mapserver understand the results of more complex queries. More specifically, when either a view or a subselect is used as the source table (the thing to the right of "FROM" in a DATA definition) it is more difficult for mapserver to automatically determine a unique identifier for each row and also the SRID for the table. The USING clause can provide mapserver with these two pieces of information as follows:

DATA "geom FROM (
  SELECT
    table1.geom AS geom,
    table1.gid AS gid,
    table2.data AS data
  FROM table1
  LEFT JOIN table2
  ON table1.id = table2.id
) AS new_table USING UNIQUE gid USING SRID=4326"

USING UNIQUE <uniqueid>

MapServer requires a unique id for each row in order to identify the row when doing map queries. Normally it identifies the primary key from the system tables. However, views and subselects don't automatically have an known unique column. If you want to use MapServer's query functionality, you need to ensure your view or subselect includes a uniquely valued column, and declare it with USING UNIQUE. For example, you could explicitly select nee of the table's primary key values for this purpose, or any other column which is guaranteed to be unique for the result set.

Note

"Querying a Map" is the action of clicking on a map to ask for information about the map features in that location. Don't confuse "map queries" with the SQL query in a DATA definition.

USING SRID=<srid>

PostGIS needs to know which spatial referencing system is being used by the geometries in order to return the correct data back to MapServer. Normally it is possible to find this information in the "geometry_columns" table in the PostGIS database, however, this is not possible for tables which are created on the fly such as subselects and views. So the USING SRID= option allows the correct SRID to be specified in the DATA definition.

Examples

Lets start with a simple example and work our way up. Consider the following MapServer layer definition:

LAYER
  CONNECTIONTYPE postgis
  NAME "roads"
  CONNECTION "user=theuser password=thepass dbname=thedb host=theserver"
  DATA "geom from roads"
  STATUS ON
  TYPE LINE
  CLASS
    STYLE
      COLOR 0 0 0
    END
  END
END

This layer will display all the road geometries in the roads table as black lines.

Now lets say we want to show only the highways until we get zoomed in to at least a 1:100000 scale - the next two layers will achieve this effect:

LAYER
  CONNECTIONTYPE postgis
  CONNECTION "user=theuser password=thepass dbname=thedb host=theserver"
  PROCESSING "CLOSE_CONNECTION=DEFER"
  DATA "geom from roads"
  MINSCALE 100000
  STATUS ON
  TYPE LINE
  FILTER "road_type = 'highway'"
  CLASS
    COLOR 0 0 0
  END
END
LAYER
  CONNECTIONTYPE postgis
  CONNECTION "user=theuser password=thepass dbname=thedb host=theserver"
  PROCESSING "CLOSE_CONNECTION=DEFER"
  DATA "geom from roads"
  MAXSCALE 100000
  STATUS ON
  TYPE LINE
  CLASSITEM road_type
  CLASS
    EXPRESSION "highway"
    STYLE
      WIDTH 2
      COLOR 255 0 0
    END
  END
  CLASS
    STYLE
      COLOR 0 0 0
    END
  END
END

The first layer is used when the scale is greater than 1:100000, and displays only the roads of type "highway" as black lines. The FILTER option causes only roads of type "highway" to be displayed.

The second layer is used when the scale is less than 1:100000, and will display highways as double-thick red lines, and other roads as regular black lines.

So, we have done a couple of interesting things using only MapServer functionality, but our DATA SQL statement has remained simple. Suppose that the name of the road is stored in another table (for whatever reason) and we need to do a join to get it and label our roads.

LAYER
  CONNECTIONTYPE postgis
  CONNECTION "user=theuser password=thepass dbname=thedb host=theserver"
  DATA "geom FROM (SELECT roads.gid AS gid, roads.geom AS geom,
        road_names.name as name FROM roads LEFT JOIN road_names ON
        roads.road_name_id = road_names.road_name_id)
        AS named_roads USING UNIQUE gid USING SRID=4326"
  MAXSCALE 20000
  STATUS ON
  TYPE ANNOTATION
  LABELITEM name
  CLASS
    LABEL
      ANGLE auto
      SIZE 8
      COLOR 0 192 0
      TYPE truetype
      FONT arial
    END
  END
END

This annotation layer adds green labels to all the roads when the scale gets down to 1:20000 or less. It also demonstrates how to use an SQL join in a DATA definition.

Java Clients (JDBC)

Java clients can access PostGIS "geometry" objects in the PostgreSQL database either directly as text representations or using the JDBC extension objects bundled with PostGIS. In order to use the extension objects, the "postgis.jar" file must be in your CLASSPATH along with the "postgresql.jar" JDBC driver package.

import java.sql.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.lang.*;
import org.postgis.*;

public class JavaGIS {

public static void main(String[] args) {

  java.sql.Connection conn;

  try {
    /*
    * Load the JDBC driver and establish a connection.
    */
    Class.forName("org.postgresql.Driver");
    String url = "jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/database";
    conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url, "postgres", "");
    /*
    * Add the geometry types to the connection. Note that you
    * must cast the connection to the pgsql-specific connection
    * implementation before calling the addDataType() method.
    */
    ((org.postgresql.PGConnection)conn).addDataType("geometry",Class.forName("org.postgis.PGgeometry"));
    ((org.postgresql.PGConnection)conn).addDataType("box3d",Class.forName("org.postgis.PGbox3d"));
    /*
    * Create a statement and execute a select query.
    */
    Statement s = conn.createStatement();
    ResultSet r = s.executeQuery("select geom,id from geomtable");
    while( r.next() ) {
      /*
      * Retrieve the geometry as an object then cast it to the geometry type.
      * Print things out.
      */
      PGgeometry geom = (PGgeometry)r.getObject(1);
      int id = r.getInt(2);
      System.out.println("Row " + id + ":");
      System.out.println(geom.toString());
    }
    s.close();
    conn.close();
  }
catch( Exception e ) {
  e.printStackTrace();
  }
}
}

The "PGgeometry" object is a wrapper object which contains a specific topological geometry object (subclasses of the abstract class "Geometry") depending on the type: Point, LineString, Polygon, MultiPoint, MultiLineString, MultiPolygon.

PGgeometry geom = (PGgeometry)r.getObject(1);
if( geom.getType() == Geometry.POLYGON ) {
  Polygon pl = (Polygon)geom.getGeometry();
  for( int r = 0; r < pl.numRings(); r++) {
    LinearRing rng = pl.getRing(r);
    System.out.println("Ring: " + r);
    for( int p = 0; p < rng.numPoints(); p++ ) {
      Point pt = rng.getPoint(p);
      System.out.println("Point: " + p);
      System.out.println(pt.toString());
    }
  }
}

The JavaDoc for the extension objects provides a reference for the various data accessor functions in the geometric objects.

C Clients (libpq)

...

Text Cursors

...

Binary Cursors

...

Chapter 7. Performance tips

Small tables of large geometries

Problem description

Current PostgreSQL versions (including 8.0) suffer from a query optimizer weakness regarding TOAST tables. TOAST tables are a kind of "extension room" used to store large (in the sense of data size) values that do not fit into normal data pages (like long texts, images or complex geometries with lots of vertices), see the PostgreSQL Documentation for TOAST for more information).

The problem appears if you happen to have a table with rather large geometries, but not too much rows of them (like a table containing the boundaries of all European countries in high resolution). Then the table itself is small, but it uses lots of TOAST space. In our example case, the table itself had about 80 rows and used only 3 data pages, but the TOAST table used 8225 pages.

Now issue a query where you use the geometry operator && to search for a bounding box that matches only very few of those rows. Now the query optimizer sees that the table has only 3 pages and 80 rows. He estimates that a sequential scan on such a small table is much faster than using an index. And so he decides to ignore the GIST index. Usually, this estimation is correct. But in our case, the && operator has to fetch every geometry from disk to compare the bounding boxes, thus reading all TOAST pages, too.

To see whether your suffer from this bug, use the "EXPLAIN ANALYZE" postgresql command. For more information and the technical details, you can read the thread on the postgres performance mailing list: http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-performance/2005-02/msg00030.php

Workarounds

The PostgreSQL people are trying to solve this issue by making the query estimation TOAST-aware. For now, here are two workarounds:

The first workaround is to force the query planner to use the index. Send "SET enable_seqscan TO off;" to the server before issuing the query. This basically forces the query planner to avoid sequential scans whenever possible. So it uses the GIST index as usual. But this flag has to be set on every connection, and it causes the query planner to make misestimations in other cases, so you should "SET enable_seqscan TO on;" after the query.

The second workaround is to make the sequential scan as fast as the query planner thinks. This can be achieved by creating an additional column that "caches" the bbox, and matching against this. In our example, the commands are like:

SELECT AddGeometryColumn('myschema','mytable','bbox','4326','GEOMETRY','2');
UPDATE mytable SET bbox = ST_Envelope(ST_Force2D(the_geom));

Now change your query to use the && operator against bbox instead of geom_column, like:

SELECT geom_column
FROM mytable
WHERE bbox && ST_SetSRID('BOX3D(0 0,1 1)'::box3d,4326);

Of course, if you change or add rows to mytable, you have to keep the bbox "in sync". The most transparent way to do this would be triggers, but you also can modify your application to keep the bbox column current or run the UPDATE query above after every modification.

CLUSTERing on geometry indices

For tables that are mostly read-only, and where a single index is used for the majority of queries, PostgreSQL offers the CLUSTER command. This command physically reorders all the data rows in the same order as the index criteria, yielding two performance advantages: First, for index range scans, the number of seeks on the data table is drastically reduced. Second, if your working set concentrates to some small intervals on the indices, you have a more efficient caching because the data rows are spread along fewer data pages. (Feel invited to read the CLUSTER command documentation from the PostgreSQL manual at this point.)

However, currently PostgreSQL does not allow clustering on PostGIS GIST indices because GIST indices simply ignores NULL values, you get an error message like:

lwgeom=# CLUSTER my_geom_index ON my_table;
ERROR: cannot cluster when index access method does not handle null values
HINT: You may be able to work around this by marking column "the_geom" NOT NULL.

As the HINT message tells you, one can work around this deficiency by adding a "not null" constraint to the table:

lwgeom=# ALTER TABLE my_table ALTER COLUMN the_geom SET not null;
ALTER TABLE

Of course, this will not work if you in fact need NULL values in your geometry column. Additionally, you must use the above method to add the constraint, using a CHECK constraint like "ALTER TABLE blubb ADD CHECK (geometry is not null);" will not work.

Avoiding dimension conversion

Sometimes, you happen to have 3D or 4D data in your table, but always access it using OpenGIS compliant ST_AsText() or ST_AsBinary() functions that only output 2D geometries. They do this by internally calling the ST_Force2D() function, which introduces a significant overhead for large geometries. To avoid this overhead, it may be feasible to pre-drop those additional dimensions once and forever:

UPDATE mytable SET the_geom = ST_Force2D(the_geom);
VACUUM FULL ANALYZE mytable;

Note that if you added your geometry column using AddGeometryColumn() there'll be a constraint on geometry dimension. To bypass it you will need to drop the constraint. Remember to update the entry in the geometry_columns table and recreate the constraint afterwards.

In case of large tables, it may be wise to divide this UPDATE into smaller portions by constraining the UPDATE to a part of the table via a WHERE clause and your primary key or another feasible criteria, and running a simple "VACUUM;" between your UPDATEs. This drastically reduces the need for temporary disk space. Additionally, if you have mixed dimension geometries, restricting the UPDATE by "WHERE dimension(the_geom)>2" skips re-writing of geometries that already are in 2D.

Tuning your configuration

These tips are taken from Kevin Neufeld's presentation "Tips for the PostGIS Power User" at the FOSS4G 2007 conference. Depending on your use of PostGIS (for example, static data and complex analysis vs frequently updated data and lots of users) these changes can provide significant speedups to your queries.

For a more tips (and better formatting), the original presentation is at http://2007.foss4g.org/presentations/view.php?abstract_id=117.

Startup

These settings are configured in postgresql.conf:

checkpoint_segments

Maximum number of log file segments between automatic WAL checkpoints (each segment is normally 16MB); default is 3

Set to at least 10 or 30 for databases with heavy write activity, or more for large database loads. Another article on the topic worth reading Greg Smith: Checkpoint and Background writer

Possibly store the xlog on a separate disk device

constraint_exclusion

Default: off (prior to PostgreSQL 8.4 and for PostgreSQL 8.4+ is set to partition)

This is generally used for table partitioning. If you are running PostgreSQL versions below 8.4, set to "on" to ensure the query planner will optimize as desired. As of PostgreSQL 8.4, the default for this is set to "partition" which is ideal for PostgreSQL 8.4 and above since it will force the planner to only analyze tables for constraint consideration if they are in an inherited hierarchy and not pay the planner penalty otherwise.

shared_buffers

Default: ~32MB

Set to about 1/3 to 3/4 of available RAM

Runtime

work_mem (the memory used for sort operations and complex queries)

Default: 1MB

Adjust up for large dbs, complex queries, lots of RAM

Adjust down for many concurrent users or low RAM.

If you have lots of RAM and few developers:

                    SET work_mem TO 1200000;

maintenance_work_mem (used for VACUUM, CREATE INDEX, etc.)

Default: 16MB

Generally too low - ties up I/O, locks objects while swapping memory

Recommend 32MB to 256MB on production servers w/lots of RAM, but depends on the # of concurrent users. If you have lots of RAM and few developers:

                    SET maintainence_work_mem TO 1200000;

Chapter 8. PostGIS Reference

The functions given below are the ones which a user of PostGIS is likely to need. There are other functions which are required support functions to the PostGIS objects which are not of use to a general user.

Note

PostGIS has begun a transition from the existing naming convention to an SQL-MM-centric convention. As a result, most of the functions that you know and love have been renamed using the standard spatial type (ST) prefix. Previous functions are still available, though are not listed in this document where updated functions are equivalent. The non ST_ functions not listed in this documentation are deprecated and will be removed in a future release so STOP USING THEM.

PostgreSQL PostGIS Geometry/Geography/Box Types

Abstract

This section lists the PostgreSQL data types installed by PostGIS. Note we describe the casting behavior of these which is very important especially when designing your own functions.

A Cast is when one type is coerced into another type. PostgreSQL is unique from most databases in that it allows you to define casting behavior for custom types and the functions used for casting. A cast can be specified as automatic in which case, you do not have to do a CAST(myfoo As otherfootype) or myfoo::otherfootype if you are feeding it to a function that only works with otherfootype and there is an automatic cast in place for it.

The danger of relying on automatic cast behavior is when you have an overloaded function say one that takes a box2d and one that takes a box3d but no geometry. What happens is that both functions are equally good to use with geometry since geometry has an autocast for both -- so you end up with an ambiguous function error. To force PostgreSQL to choose, you do a CAST(mygeom As box3d) or mygeom::box3d.

At least as of PostgreSQL 8.3 - Everything can be CAST to text (presumably because of the magical unknown type), so no defined CASTS for that need to be present for you to CAST an object to text.

PostGIS Grand Unified Custom Variables (GUCs)

Abstract

This section lists custom PostGIS Grand Unified Custom Variables(GUC). These can be set globally, by database, by session or by transaction. Best set at global or database level.

Name

postgis.backend — The backend to service a function where GEOS and SFCGAL overlap. Options: geos or sfcgal. Defaults to geos.

Description

This GUC is only relevant if you compiled PostGIS with sfcgal support. By default geos backend is used for functions where both GEOS and SFCGAL have the same named function. This variable allows you to override and make sfcgal the backend to service the request.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

Sets backend just for life of connection

set postgis.backend = sfcgal;

Sets backend for new connections to database

ALTER DATABASE mygisdb SET postgis.backend = sfcgal;

See Also

the section called “SFCGAL Functions”

Name

postgis.gdal_datapath — A configuration option to assign the value of GDAL's GDAL_DATA option. If not set, the environmentally set GDAL_DATA variable is used.

Description

A PostgreSQL GUC variable for setting the value of GDAL's GDAL_DATA option. The postgis.gdal_datapath value should be the complete physical path to GDAL's data files.

This configuration option is of most use for Windows platforms where GDAL's data files path is not hard-coded. This option should also be set when GDAL's data files are not located in GDAL's expected path.

Note

This option can be set in PostgreSQL's configuration file postgresql.conf. It can also be set by connection or transaction.

Availability: 2.2.0

Note

Additional information about GDAL_DATA is available at GDAL's Configuration Options.

Examples

Set and reset postgis.gdal_datapath

SET postgis.gdal_datapath TO '/usr/local/share/gdal.hidden';
SET postgis.gdal_datapath TO default;

Setting on windows for a particular database

ALTER DATABASE gisdb
SET postgis.gdal_datapath = 'C:/Program Files/PostgreSQL/9.3/gdal-data';

See Also

PostGIS_GDAL_Version, ST_Transform

Name

postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers — A configuration option to set the enabled GDAL drivers in the PostGIS environment. Affects the GDAL configuration variable GDAL_SKIP.

Description

A configuration option to set the enabled GDAL drivers in the PostGIS environment. Affects the GDAL configuration variable GDAL_SKIP. This option can be set in PostgreSQL's configuration file: postgresql.conf. It can also be set by connection or transaction.

The initial value of postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers may also be set by passing the environment variable POSTGIS_GDAL_ENABLED_DRIVERS with the list of enabled drivers to the process starting PostgreSQL.

Enabled GDAL specified drivers can be specified by the driver's short-name or code. Driver short-names or codes can be found at GDAL Raster Formats. Multiple drivers can be specified by putting a space between each driver.

Note

There are three special codes available for postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers. The codes are case-sensitive.

DISABLE_ALL disables all GDAL drivers. If present, DISABLE_ALL overrides all other values in postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers.

ENABLE_ALL enables all GDAL drivers.

VSICURL enables GDAL's /vsicurl/ virtual file system.

When postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers is set to DISABLE_ALL, attempts to use out-db rasters, ST_FromGDALRaster(), ST_AsGDALRaster(), ST_AsTIFF(), ST_AsJPEG() and ST_AsPNG() will result in error messages.

Note

In the standard PostGIS installation, postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers is set to DISABLE_ALL.

Note

Additional information about GDAL_SKIP is available at GDAL's Configuration Options.

Availability: 2.2.0

Examples

Set and reset postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers

Sets backend for all new connections to database

ALTER DATABASE mygisdb SET postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers TO 'GTiff PNG JPEG';

Sets default enabled drivers for all new connections to server. Requires super user access and PostgreSQL 9.4+. Also not that database, session, and user settings override this.

ALTER SYSTEM SET postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers TO 'GTiff PNG JPEG';
SELECT pg_reload_conf();

SET postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers TO 'GTiff PNG JPEG';
SET postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers = default;

Enable all GDAL Drivers

SET postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers = 'ENABLE_ALL';

Disable all GDAL Drivers

SET postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers = 'DISABLE_ALL';

See Also

ST_FromGDALRaster, ST_AsGDALRaster, ST_AsTIFF, ST_AsPNG, ST_AsJPEG, postgis.enable_outdb_rasters

Name

postgis.enable_outdb_rasters — A boolean configuration option to enable access to out-db raster bands.

Description

A boolean configuration option to enable access to out-db raster bands. This option can be set in PostgreSQL's configuration file: postgresql.conf. It can also be set by connection or transaction.

The initial value of postgis.enable_outdb_rasters may also be set by passing the environment variable POSTGIS_ENABLE_OUTDB_RASTERS with a non-zero value to the process starting PostgreSQL.

Note

Even if postgis.enable_outdb_rasters is True, the GUC postgis.enable_outdb_rasters determines the accessible raster formats.

Note

In the standard PostGIS installation, postgis.enable_outdb_rasters is set to False.

Availability: 2.2.0

Examples

Set and reset postgis.enable_outdb_rasters

SET postgis.enable_outdb_rasters TO True;
SET postgis.enable_outdb_rasters = default;
SET postgis.enable_outdb_rasters = True;
SET postgis.enable_outdb_rasters = False;

See Also

postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers

Management Functions

Name

AddGeometryColumn — Adds a geometry column to an existing table of attributes. By default uses type modifier to define rather than constraints. Pass in false for use_typmod to get old check constraint based behavior

Synopsis

text fsfuncAddGeometryColumn( | table_name, |
| column_name, |
| srid, |
| type, |
| dimension, |
| use_typmod=true); |

varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;
integer srid;
varchar type;
integer dimension;
boolean use_typmod=true;

text fsfuncAddGeometryColumn( | schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| column_name, |
| srid, |
| type, |
| dimension, |
| use_typmod=true); |

varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;
integer srid;
varchar type;
integer dimension;
boolean use_typmod=true;

text fsfuncAddGeometryColumn( | catalog_name, |
| schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| column_name, |
| srid, |
| type, |
| dimension, |
| use_typmod=true); |

varchar catalog_name;
varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;
integer srid;
varchar type;
integer dimension;
boolean use_typmod=true;

Description

Adds a geometry column to an existing table of attributes. The schema_name is the name of the table schema. The srid must be an integer value reference to an entry in the SPATIAL_REF_SYS table. The type must be a string corresponding to the geometry type, eg, 'POLYGON' or 'MULTILINESTRING' . An error is thrown if the schemaname doesn't exist (or not visible in the current search_path) or the specified SRID, geometry type, or dimension is invalid.

Note

Changed: 2.0.0 This function no longer updates geometry_columns since geometry_columns is a view that reads from system catalogs. It by default also does not create constraints, but instead uses the built in type modifier behavior of PostgreSQL. So for example building a wgs84 POINT column with this function is now equivalent to: ALTER TABLE some_table ADD COLUMN geom geometry(Point,4326);

Changed: 2.0.0 If you require the old behavior of constraints use the default use_typmod, but set it to false.

Note

Changed: 2.0.0 Views can no longer be manually registered in geometry_columns, however views built against geometry typmod tables geometries and used without wrapper functions will register themselves correctly because they inherit the typmod behavior of their parent table column. Views that use geometry functions that output other geometries will need to be cast to typmod geometries for these view geometry columns to be registered correctly in geometry_columns. Refer to the section called “Manually Registering Geometry Columns in geometry_columns”.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Enhanced: 2.0.0 use_typmod argument introduced. Defaults to creating typmod geometry column instead of constraint-based.

Examples

-- Create schema to hold data
CREATE SCHEMA my_schema;
-- Create a new simple PostgreSQL table
CREATE TABLE my_schema.my_spatial_table (id serial);

-- Describing the table shows a simple table with a single "id" column.
postgis=# \d my_schema.my_spatial_table
							 Table "my_schema.my_spatial_table"
 Column |  Type   |                                Modifiers
--------+---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 id     | integer | not null default nextval('my_schema.my_spatial_table_id_seq'::regclass)

-- Add a spatial column to the table
SELECT AddGeometryColumn ('my_schema','my_spatial_table','geom',4326,'POINT',2);

-- Add a point using the old constraint based behavior
SELECT AddGeometryColumn ('my_schema','my_spatial_table','geom_c',4326,'POINT',2, false);

--Add a curvepolygon using old constraint behavior
SELECT AddGeometryColumn ('my_schema','my_spatial_table','geomcp_c',4326,'CURVEPOLYGON',2, false);

-- Describe the table again reveals the addition of a new geometry columns.
\d my_schema.my_spatial_table
                            addgeometrycolumn
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 my_schema.my_spatial_table.geomcp_c SRID:4326 TYPE:CURVEPOLYGON DIMS:2
(1 row)

                                    Table "my_schema.my_spatial_table"
  Column  |         Type         |                                Modifiers
----------+----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 id       | integer              | not null default nextval('my_schema.my_spatial_table_id_seq'::regclass)
 geom     | geometry(Point,4326) |
 geom_c   | geometry             |
 geomcp_c | geometry             |
Check constraints:
    "enforce_dims_geom_c" CHECK (st_ndims(geom_c) = 2)
    "enforce_dims_geomcp_c" CHECK (st_ndims(geomcp_c) = 2)
    "enforce_geotype_geom_c" CHECK (geometrytype(geom_c) = 'POINT'::text OR geom_c IS NULL)
    "enforce_geotype_geomcp_c" CHECK (geometrytype(geomcp_c) = 'CURVEPOLYGON'::text OR geomcp_c IS NULL)
    "enforce_srid_geom_c" CHECK (st_srid(geom_c) = 4326)
    "enforce_srid_geomcp_c" CHECK (st_srid(geomcp_c) = 4326)

-- geometry_columns view also registers the new columns --
SELECT f_geometry_column As col_name, type, srid, coord_dimension As ndims
    FROM geometry_columns
    WHERE f_table_name = 'my_spatial_table' AND f_table_schema = 'my_schema';

 col_name |     type     | srid | ndims
----------+--------------+------+-------
 geom     | Point        | 4326 |     2
 geom_c   | Point        | 4326 |     2
 geomcp_c | CurvePolygon | 4326 |     2

See Also

DropGeometryColumn, DropGeometryTable, the section called “The GEOMETRY_COLUMNS VIEW”, the section called “Manually Registering Geometry Columns in geometry_columns”

Name

DropGeometryColumn — Removes a geometry column from a spatial table.

Synopsis

text fsfuncDropGeometryColumn( | table_name, |
| column_name); |

varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;

text fsfuncDropGeometryColumn( | schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| column_name); |

varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;

text fsfuncDropGeometryColumn( | catalog_name, |
| schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| column_name); |

varchar catalog_name;
varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;

Description

Removes a geometry column from a spatial table. Note that schema_name will need to match the f_table_schema field of the table's row in the geometry_columns table.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Note

Changed: 2.0.0 This function is provided for backward compatibility. Now that since geometry_columns is now a view against the system catalogs, you can drop a geometry column like any other table column using ALTER TABLE

Examples

			SELECT DropGeometryColumn ('my_schema','my_spatial_table','geom');
			----RESULT output ---
			                  dropgeometrycolumn
------------------------------------------------------
 my_schema.my_spatial_table.geom effectively removed.

-- In PostGIS 2.0+ the above is also equivalent to the standard
-- the standard alter table.  Both will deregister from geometry_columns
ALTER TABLE my_schema.my_spatial_table DROP column geom;

See Also

AddGeometryColumn, DropGeometryTable, the section called “The GEOMETRY_COLUMNS VIEW”

Name

DropGeometryTable — Drops a table and all its references in geometry_columns.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncDropGeometryTable(
table_name);

varchar table_name;

boolean fsfuncDropGeometryTable( | schema_name, |
| table_name); |

varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;

boolean fsfuncDropGeometryTable( | catalog_name, |
| schema_name, |
| table_name); |

varchar catalog_name;
varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;

Description

Drops a table and all its references in geometry_columns. Note: uses current_schema() on schema-aware pgsql installations if schema is not provided.

Note

Changed: 2.0.0 This function is provided for backward compatibility. Now that since geometry_columns is now a view against the system catalogs, you can drop a table with geometry columns like any other table using DROP TABLE

Examples

SELECT DropGeometryTable ('my_schema','my_spatial_table');
----RESULT output ---
my_schema.my_spatial_table dropped.

-- The above is now equivalent to --
DROP TABLE my_schema.my_spatial_table;

See Also

AddGeometryColumn, DropGeometryColumn, the section called “The GEOMETRY_COLUMNS VIEW”

Name

PostGIS_Full_Version — Reports full postgis version and build configuration infos.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_Full_Version(
);

;

Description

Reports full postgis version and build configuration infos. Also informs about synchronization between libraries and scripts suggesting upgrades as needed.

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_Full_Version();
							   postgis_full_version
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POSTGIS="2.2.0dev r12699" GEOS="3.5.0dev-CAPI-1.9.0 r3989" SFCGAL="1.0.4" PROJ="Rel. 4.8.0, 6 March 2012"
GDAL="GDAL 1.11.0, released 2014/04/16" LIBXML="2.7.8" LIBJSON="0.12" RASTER
(1 row)

See Also

the section called “Upgrading”, PostGIS_GEOS_Version, PostGIS_Lib_Version, PostGIS_LibXML_Version, PostGIS_PROJ_Version, PostGIS_Version

Name

PostGIS_GEOS_Version — Returns the version number of the GEOS library.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_GEOS_Version(
);

;

Description

Returns the version number of the GEOS library, or NULL if GEOS support is not enabled.

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_GEOS_Version();
 postgis_geos_version
----------------------
 3.1.0-CAPI-1.5.0
(1 row)

See Also

PostGIS_Full_Version, PostGIS_Lib_Version, PostGIS_LibXML_Version, PostGIS_PROJ_Version, PostGIS_Version

Name

PostGIS_LibXML_Version — Returns the version number of the libxml2 library.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_LibXML_Version(
);

;

Description

Returns the version number of the LibXML2 library.

Availability: 1.5

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_LibXML_Version();
 postgis_libxml_version
----------------------
 2.7.6
(1 row)

See Also

PostGIS_Full_Version, PostGIS_Lib_Version, PostGIS_PROJ_Version, PostGIS_GEOS_Version, PostGIS_Version

Name

PostGIS_Lib_Build_Date — Returns build date of the PostGIS library.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_Lib_Build_Date(
);

;

Description

Returns build date of the PostGIS library.

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_Lib_Build_Date();
 postgis_lib_build_date
------------------------
 2008-06-21 17:53:21
(1 row)

Name

PostGIS_Lib_Version — Returns the version number of the PostGIS library.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_Lib_Version(
);

;

Description

Returns the version number of the PostGIS library.

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_Lib_Version();
 postgis_lib_version
---------------------
 1.3.3
(1 row)

See Also

PostGIS_Full_Version, PostGIS_GEOS_Version, PostGIS_LibXML_Version, PostGIS_PROJ_Version, PostGIS_Version

Name

PostGIS_PROJ_Version — Returns the version number of the PROJ4 library.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_PROJ_Version(
);

;

Description

Returns the version number of the PROJ4 library, or NULL if PROJ4 support is not enabled.

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_PROJ_Version();
  postgis_proj_version
-------------------------
 Rel. 4.4.9, 29 Oct 2004
(1 row)

See Also

PostGIS_Full_Version, PostGIS_GEOS_Version, PostGIS_Lib_Version, PostGIS_LibXML_Version, PostGIS_Version

Name

PostGIS_Scripts_Build_Date — Returns build date of the PostGIS scripts.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_Scripts_Build_Date(
);

;

Description

Returns build date of the PostGIS scripts.

Availability: 1.0.0RC1

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_Scripts_Build_Date();
  postgis_scripts_build_date
-------------------------
 2007-08-18 09:09:26
(1 row)

See Also

PostGIS_Full_Version, PostGIS_GEOS_Version, PostGIS_Lib_Version, PostGIS_LibXML_Version, PostGIS_Version

Name

PostGIS_Scripts_Installed — Returns version of the postgis scripts installed in this database.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_Scripts_Installed(
);

;

Description

Returns version of the postgis scripts installed in this database.

Note

If the output of this function doesn't match the output of PostGIS_Scripts_Released you probably missed to properly upgrade an existing database. See the Upgrading section for more info.

Availability: 0.9.0

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_Scripts_Installed();
  postgis_scripts_installed
-------------------------
 1.5.0SVN
(1 row)

See Also

PostGIS_Full_Version, PostGIS_Scripts_Released, PostGIS_Version

Name

PostGIS_Scripts_Released — Returns the version number of the postgis.sql script released with the installed postgis lib.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_Scripts_Released(
);

;

Description

Returns the version number of the postgis.sql script released with the installed postgis lib.

Note

Starting with version 1.1.0 this function returns the same value of PostGIS_Lib_Version. Kept for backward compatibility.

Availability: 0.9.0

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_Scripts_Released();
  postgis_scripts_released
-------------------------
 1.3.4SVN
(1 row)

See Also

PostGIS_Full_Version, PostGIS_Scripts_Installed, PostGIS_Lib_Version

Name

PostGIS_Version — Returns PostGIS version number and compile-time options.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_Version(
);

;

Description

Returns PostGIS version number and compile-time options.

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_Version();
			postgis_version
---------------------------------------
 1.3 USE_GEOS=1 USE_PROJ=1 USE_STATS=1
(1 row)

See Also

PostGIS_Full_Version, PostGIS_GEOS_Version, PostGIS_Lib_Version, PostGIS_LibXML_Version, PostGIS_PROJ_Version

Name

Populate_Geometry_Columns — Ensures geometry columns are defined with type modifiers or have appropriate spatial constraints This ensures they will be registered correctly in geometry_columns view. By default will convert all geometry columns with no type modifier to ones with type modifiers. To get old behavior set use_typmod=false

Synopsis

text fsfuncPopulate_Geometry_Columns(
use_typmod=true);

boolean use_typmod=true;

int fsfuncPopulate_Geometry_Columns( | relation_oid, |
| use_typmod=true); |

oid relation_oid;
boolean use_typmod=true;

Description

Ensures geometry columns have appropriate type modifiers or spatial constraints to ensure they are registered correctly in geometry_columns table.

For backwards compatibility and for spatial needs such as table inheritance where each child table may have different geometry type, the old check constraint behavior is still supported. If you need the old behavior, you need to pass in the new optional argument as false use_typmod=false. When this is done geometry columns will be created with no type modifiers but will have 3 constraints defined. In particular, this means that every geometry column belonging to a table has at least three constraints:

enforce_dims_the_geom - ensures every geometry has the same dimension (see ST_NDims)

enforce_geotype_the_geom - ensures every geometry is of the same type (see GeometryType)

enforce_srid_the_geom - ensures every geometry is in the same projection (see ST_SRID)

If a table oid is provided, this function tries to determine the srid, dimension, and geometry type of all geometry columns in the table, adding constraints as necessary. If successful, an appropriate row is inserted into the geometry_columns table, otherwise, the exception is caught and an error notice is raised describing the problem.

If the oid of a view is provided, as with a table oid, this function tries to determine the srid, dimension, and type of all the geometries in the view, inserting appropriate entries into the geometry_columns table, but nothing is done to enforce constraints.

The parameterless variant is a simple wrapper for the parameterized variant that first truncates and repopulates the geometry_columns table for every spatial table and view in the database, adding spatial constraints to tables where appropriate. It returns a summary of the number of geometry columns detected in the database and the number that were inserted into the geometry_columns table. The parameterized version simply returns the number of rows inserted into the geometry_columns table.

Availability: 1.4.0

Changed: 2.0.0 By default, now uses type modifiers instead of check constraints to constrain geometry types. You can still use check constraint behavior instead by using the new use_typmod and setting it to false.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 use_typmod optional argument was introduced that allows controlling if columns are created with typmodifiers or with check constraints.

Examples

CREATE TABLE public.myspatial_table(gid serial, geom geometry);
INSERT INTO myspatial_table(geom) VALUES(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)',4326) );
-- This will now use typ modifiers.  For this to work, there must exist data
SELECT Populate_Geometry_Columns('public.myspatial_table'::regclass);

populate_geometry_columns
--------------------------
                        1

\d myspatial_table

                                   Table "public.myspatial_table"
 Column |           Type            |                           Modifiers
--------+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------
 gid    | integer                   | not null default nextval('myspatial_table_gid_seq'::regclass)
 geom   | geometry(LineString,4326) |

-- This will change the geometry columns to use constraints if they are not typmod or have constraints already.
--For this to work, there must exist data
CREATE TABLE public.myspatial_table_cs(gid serial, geom geometry);
INSERT INTO myspatial_table_cs(geom) VALUES(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)',4326) );
SELECT Populate_Geometry_Columns('public.myspatial_table_cs'::regclass, false);
populate_geometry_columns
--------------------------
                        1
\d myspatial_table_cs

                          Table "public.myspatial_table_cs"
 Column |   Type   |                            Modifiers
--------+----------+------------------------------------------------------------------
 gid    | integer  | not null default nextval('myspatial_table_cs_gid_seq'::regclass)
 geom   | geometry |
Check constraints:
    "enforce_dims_geom" CHECK (st_ndims(geom) = 2)
    "enforce_geotype_geom" CHECK (geometrytype(geom) = 'LINESTRING'::text OR geom IS NULL)
    "enforce_srid_geom" CHECK (st_srid(geom) = 4326)

Name

UpdateGeometrySRID — Updates the SRID of all features in a geometry column, geometry_columns metadata and srid. If it was enforced with constraints, the constraints will be updated with new srid constraint. If the old was enforced by type definition, the type definition will be changed.

Synopsis

text fsfuncUpdateGeometrySRID( | table_name, |
| column_name, |
| srid); |

varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;
integer srid;

text fsfuncUpdateGeometrySRID( | schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| column_name, |
| srid); |

varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;
integer srid;

text fsfuncUpdateGeometrySRID( | catalog_name, |
| schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| column_name, |
| srid); |

varchar catalog_name;
varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;
integer srid;

Description

Updates the SRID of all features in a geometry column, updating constraints and reference in geometry_columns. Note: uses current_schema() on schema-aware pgsql installations if schema is not provided.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

This will change the srid of the roads table to 4326 from whatever it was before

SELECT UpdateGeometrySRID('roads','geom',4326);

The prior example is equivalent to this DDL statement

ALTER TABLE roads
  ALTER COLUMN geom TYPE geometry(MULTILINESTRING, 4326)
    USING ST_SetSRID(geom,4326);

If you got the projection wrong (or brought it in as unknown) in load and you wanted to transform to web mercator all in one shot You can do this with DDL but there is no equivalent PostGIS management function to do so in one go.

ALTER TABLE roads
 ALTER COLUMN geom TYPE geometry(MULTILINESTRING, 3857) USING ST_Transform(ST_SetSRID(geom,4326),3857) ;

See Also

UpdateRasterSRID, ST_SetSRID, ST_Transform

Geometry Constructors

Name

ST_BdPolyFromText — Construct a Polygon given an arbitrary collection of closed linestrings as a MultiLineString Well-Known text representation.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_BdPolyFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

Description

Construct a Polygon given an arbitrary collection of closed linestrings as a MultiLineString Well-Known text representation.

Note

Throws an error if WKT is not a MULTILINESTRING. Throws an error if output is a MULTIPOLYGON; use ST_BdMPolyFromText in that case, or see ST_BuildArea() for a postgis-specific approach.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2

Availability: 1.1.0 - requires GEOS >= 2.1.0.

Examples

Forthcoming

See Also

ST_BuildArea, ST_BdMPolyFromText

Name

ST_BdMPolyFromText — Construct a MultiPolygon given an arbitrary collection of closed linestrings as a MultiLineString text representation Well-Known text representation.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_BdMPolyFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

Description

Construct a Polygon given an arbitrary collection of closed linestrings, polygons, MultiLineStrings as Well-Known text representation.

Note

Throws an error if WKT is not a MULTILINESTRING. Forces MULTIPOLYGON output even when result is really only composed by a single POLYGON; use ST_BdPolyFromText if you're sure a single POLYGON will result from operation, or see ST_BuildArea() for a postgis-specific approach.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2

Availability: 1.1.0 - requires GEOS >= 2.1.0.

Examples

Forthcoming

See Also

ST_BuildArea, ST_BdPolyFromText

Name

ST_Box2dFromGeoHash — Return a BOX2D from a GeoHash string.

Synopsis

box2d fsfuncST_Box2dFromGeoHash( | geohash, |
| precision=full_precision_of_geohash); |

text geohash;
integer precision=full_precision_of_geohash;

Description

Return a BOX2D from a GeoHash string.

If no precision is specficified ST_Box2dFromGeoHash returns a BOX2D based on full precision of the input GeoHash string.

If precision is specified ST_Box2dFromGeoHash will use that many characters from the GeoHash to create the BOX2D. Lower precision values results in larger BOX2Ds and larger values increase the precision.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT ST_Box2dFromGeoHash('9qqj7nmxncgyy4d0dbxqz0');

                st_geomfromgeohash
--------------------------------------------------
 BOX(-115.172816 36.114646,-115.172816 36.114646)

SELECT ST_Box2dFromGeoHash('9qqj7nmxncgyy4d0dbxqz0', 0);

 st_box2dfromgeohash
----------------------
 BOX(-180 -90,180 90)

 SELECT ST_Box2dFromGeoHash('9qqj7nmxncgyy4d0dbxqz0', 10);
                            st_box2dfromgeohash
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 BOX(-115.17282128334 36.1146408319473,-115.172810554504 36.1146461963654)

See Also

ST_GeoHash, ST_GeomFromGeoHash, ST_PointFromGeoHash

Name

ST_GeogFromText — Return a specified geography value from Well-Known Text representation or extended (WKT).

Synopsis

geography fsfuncST_GeogFromText(
EWKT);

text EWKT;

Description

Returns a geography object from the well-known text or extended well-known representation. SRID 4326 is assumed if unspecified. This is an alias for ST_GeographyFromText. Points are always expressed in long lat form.

Examples

--- converting lon lat coords to geography
ALTER TABLE sometable ADD COLUMN geog geography(POINT,4326);
UPDATE sometable SET geog = ST_GeogFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(' || lon || ' ' || lat || ')');

--- specify a geography point using EPSG:4267, NAD27
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_GeogFromText('SRID=4267;POINT(-77.0092 38.889588)'));

See Also

ST_AsText, ST_GeographyFromText

Name

ST_GeographyFromText — Return a specified geography value from Well-Known Text representation or extended (WKT).

Synopsis

geography fsfuncST_GeographyFromText(
EWKT);

text EWKT;

Description

Returns a geography object from the well-known text representation. SRID 4326 is assumed if unspecified.

See Also

ST_GeogFromText, ST_AsText

Name

ST_GeogFromWKB — Creates a geography instance from a Well-Known Binary geometry representation (WKB) or extended Well Known Binary (EWKB).

Synopsis

geography fsfuncST_GeogFromWKB(
wkb);

bytea wkb;

Description

The ST_GeogFromWKB function, takes a well-known binary representation (WKB) of a geometry or PostGIS Extended WKB and creates an instance of the appropriate geography type. This function plays the role of the Geometry Factory in SQL.

If SRID is not specified, it defaults to 4326 (WGS 84 long lat).

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

--Although bytea rep contains single \, these need to be escaped when inserting into a table
SELECT ST_AsText(
ST_GeogFromWKB(E'\\001\\002\\000\\000\\000\\002\\000\\000\\000\\037\\205\\353Q\\270~\\\\\\300\\323Mb\\020X\\231C@\\020X9\\264\\310~\\\\\\300)\\\\\\217\\302\\365\\230C@')
);
					  st_astext
------------------------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(-113.98 39.198,-113.981 39.195)
(1 row)

See Also

ST_GeogFromText, ST_AsBinary

Name

ST_GeomFromTWKB — Creates a geometry instance from a TWKB ("Tiny Well-Known Binary") geometry representation.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromTWKB(
twkb);

bytea twkb;

Description

The ST_GeomFromTWKB function, takes a a TWKB ("Tiny Well-Known Binary") geometry representation (WKB) and creates an instance of the appropriate geometry type.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_GeomFromTWKB(ST_AsTWKB('LINESTRING(126 34, 127 35)'::geometry)));

         st_astext
-----------------------------
 LINESTRING(126 34, 127 35)
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(
  ST_GeomFromTWKB(E'\\x620002f7f40dbce4040105')
);
					  st_asewkt
------------------------------------------------------
LINESTRING(-113.98 39.198,-113.981 39.195)
(1 row)

See Also

ST_AsTWKB

Name

ST_GeomCollFromText — Makes a collection Geometry from collection WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomCollFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

geometry fsfuncST_GeomCollFromText(
WKT);

text WKT;

Description

Makes a collection Geometry from the Well-Known-Text (WKT) representation with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0.

OGC SPEC 3.2.6.2 - option SRID is from the conformance suite

Returns null if the WKT is not a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION

Note

If you are absolutely sure all your WKT geometries are collections, don't use this function. It is slower than ST_GeomFromText since it adds an additional validation step.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification.

Examples

SELECT ST_GeomCollFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(1 2),LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4))');

See Also

ST_GeomFromText, ST_SRID

Name

ST_GeomFromEWKB — Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Extended Well-Known Binary representation (EWKB).

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromEWKB(
EWKB);

bytea EWKB;

Description

Constructs a PostGIS ST_Geometry object from the OGC Extended Well-Known binary (EWKT) representation.

Note

The EWKB format is not an OGC standard, but a PostGIS specific format that includes the spatial reference system (SRID) identifier

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TIN was introduced.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

line string binary rep 0f LINESTRING(-71.160281 42.258729,-71.160837 42.259113,-71.161144 42.25932) in NAD 83 long lat (4269).

Note

NOTE: Even though byte arrays are delimited with \ and may have ', we need to escape both out with \ and '' if standard_conforming_strings is off. So it does not look exactly like its AsEWKB representation.

SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKB(E'\\001\\002\\000\\000 \\255\\020\\000\\000\\003\\000\\000\\000\\344J=
\\013B\\312Q\\300n\\303(\\010\\036!E@''\\277E''K
\\312Q\\300\\366{b\\235*!E@\\225|\\354.P\\312Q
\\300p\\231\\323e1!E@');

Note

In PostgreSQL 9.1+ - standard_conforming_strings is set to on by default, where as in past versions it was set to off. You can change defaults as needed for a single query or at the database or server level. Below is how you would do it with standard_conforming_strings = on. In this case we escape the ' with standard ansi ', but slashes are not escaped

	    set standard_conforming_strings = on;
SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKB('\001\002\000\000 \255\020\000\000\003\000\000\000\344J=\012\013B
    \312Q\300n\303(\010\036!E@''\277E''K\012\312Q\300\366{b\235*!E@\225|\354.P\312Q\012\300p\231\323e1')

See Also

ST_AsBinary, ST_AsEWKB, ST_GeomFromWKB

Name

ST_GeomFromEWKT — Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Extended Well-Known Text representation (EWKT).

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromEWKT(
EWKT);

text EWKT;

Description

Constructs a PostGIS ST_Geometry object from the OGC Extended Well-Known text (EWKT) representation.

Note

The EWKT format is not an OGC standard, but an PostGIS specific format that includes the spatial reference system (SRID) identifier

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TIN was introduced.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4269;LINESTRING(-71.160281 42.258729,-71.160837 42.259113,-71.161144 42.25932)');
SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4269;MULTILINESTRING((-71.160281 42.258729,-71.160837 42.259113,-71.161144 42.25932))');

SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4269;POINT(-71.064544 42.28787)');

SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4269;POLYGON((-71.1776585052917 42.3902909739571,-71.1776820268866 42.3903701743239,
-71.1776063012595 42.3903825660754,-71.1775826583081 42.3903033653531,-71.1776585052917 42.3902909739571))');

SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4269;MULTIPOLYGON(((-71.1031880899493 42.3152774590236,
-71.1031627617667 42.3152960829043,-71.102923838298 42.3149156848307,
-71.1023097974109 42.3151969047397,-71.1019285062273 42.3147384934248,
-71.102505233663 42.3144722937587,-71.10277487471 42.3141658254797,
-71.103113945163 42.3142739188902,-71.10324876416 42.31402489987,
-71.1033002961013 42.3140393340215,-71.1033488797549 42.3139495090772,
-71.103396240451 42.3138632439557,-71.1041521907712 42.3141153348029,
-71.1041411411543 42.3141545014533,-71.1041287795912 42.3142114839058,
-71.1041188134329 42.3142693656241,-71.1041112482575 42.3143272556118,
-71.1041072845732 42.3143851580048,-71.1041057218871 42.3144430686681,
-71.1041065602059 42.3145009876017,-71.1041097995362 42.3145589148055,
-71.1041166403905 42.3146168544148,-71.1041258822717 42.3146748022936,
-71.1041375307579 42.3147318674446,-71.1041492906949 42.3147711126569,
-71.1041598612795 42.314808571739,-71.1042515013869 42.3151287620809,
-71.1041173835118 42.3150739481917,-71.1040809891419 42.3151344119048,
-71.1040438678912 42.3151191367447,-71.1040194562988 42.3151832057859,
-71.1038734225584 42.3151140942995,-71.1038446938243 42.3151006300338,
-71.1038315271889 42.315094347535,-71.1037393329282 42.315054824985,
-71.1035447555574 42.3152608696313,-71.1033436658644 42.3151648370544,
-71.1032580383161 42.3152269126061,-71.103223066939 42.3152517403219,
-71.1031880899493 42.3152774590236)),
((-71.1043632495873 42.315113108546,-71.1043583974082 42.3151211109857,
-71.1043443253471 42.3150676015829,-71.1043850704575 42.3150793250568,-71.1043632495873 42.315113108546)))');

--3d circular string
SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415 1,220227 150505 2,220227 150406 3)');

--Polyhedral Surface example
SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE(
	((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
	((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)),
	((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
	((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
	((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)),
	((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1))
)');

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_GeomFromText, ST_GeomFromEWKT

Name

ST_GeometryFromText — Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Well-Known Text representation (WKT). This is an alias name for ST_GeomFromText

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeometryFromText(
WKT);

text WKT;

geometry fsfuncST_GeometryFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

Description

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.40

See Also

ST_GeomFromText

Name

ST_GeomFromGeoHash — Return a geometry from a GeoHash string.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromGeoHash( | geohash, |
| precision=full_precision_of_geohash); |

text geohash;
integer precision=full_precision_of_geohash;

Description

Return a geometry from a GeoHash string. The geometry will be a polygon representing the GeoHash bounds.

If no precision is specified ST_GeomFromGeoHash returns a polygon based on full precision of the input GeoHash string.

If precision is specified ST_GeomFromGeoHash will use that many characters from the GeoHash to create the polygon.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_GeomFromGeoHash('9qqj7nmxncgyy4d0dbxqz0'));
                                                        st_astext
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((-115.172816 36.114646,-115.172816 36.114646,-115.172816 36.114646,-115.172816 36.114646,-115.172816 36.114646))

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_GeomFromGeoHash('9qqj7nmxncgyy4d0dbxqz0', 4));
                                                          st_astext
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((-115.3125 36.03515625,-115.3125 36.2109375,-114.9609375 36.2109375,-114.9609375 36.03515625,-115.3125 36.03515625))

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_GeomFromGeoHash('9qqj7nmxncgyy4d0dbxqz0', 10));
                                                                                       st_astext
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((-115.17282128334 36.1146408319473,-115.17282128334 36.1146461963654,-115.172810554504 36.1146461963654,-115.172810554504 36.1146408319473,-115.17282128334 36.1146408319473))

See Also

ST_GeoHash,ST_Box2dFromGeoHash, ST_PointFromGeoHash

Name

ST_GeomFromGML — Takes as input GML representation of geometry and outputs a PostGIS geometry object

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromGML(
geomgml);

text geomgml;

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromGML( | geomgml, |
| srid); |

text geomgml;
integer srid;

Description

Constructs a PostGIS ST_Geometry object from the OGC GML representation.

ST_GeomFromGML works only for GML Geometry fragments. It throws an error if you try to use it on a whole GML document.

OGC GML versions supported:

GML 3.2.1 Namespace

GML 3.1.1 Simple Features profile SF-2 (with GML 3.1.0 and 3.0.0 backward compatibility)

GML 2.1.2

OGC GML standards, cf: http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/gml:

Availability: 1.5, requires libxml2 1.6+

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TIN was introduced.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 default srid optional parameter added.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

GML allow mixed dimensions (2D and 3D inside the same MultiGeometry for instance). As PostGIS geometries don't, ST_GeomFromGML convert the whole geometry to 2D if a missing Z dimension is found once.

GML support mixed SRS inside the same MultiGeometry. As PostGIS geometries don't, ST_GeomFromGML, in this case, reproject all subgeometries to the SRS root node. If no srsName attribute available for the GML root node, the function throw an error.

ST_GeomFromGML function is not pedantic about an explicit GML namespace. You could avoid to mention it explicitly for common usages. But you need it if you want to use XLink feature inside GML.

Note

ST_GeomFromGML function not support SQL/MM curves geometries.

Examples - A single geometry with srsName

SELECT ST_GeomFromGML('
		<gml:LineString srsName="EPSG:4269">
			<gml:coordinates>
				-71.16028,42.258729 -71.160837,42.259112 -71.161143,42.25932
			</gml:coordinates>
		</gml:LineString>');

Examples - XLink usage

SELECT ST_GeomFromGML('
		<gml:LineString xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml"
				xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
				srsName="urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4269">
			<gml:pointProperty>
				<gml:Point gml:id="p1"><gml:pos>42.258729 -71.16028</gml:pos></gml:Point>
			</gml:pointProperty>
			<gml:pos>42.259112 -71.160837</gml:pos>
			<gml:pointProperty>
				<gml:Point xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="#p1"/>
			</gml:pointProperty>
		</gml:LineString>'););

Examples - Polyhedral Surface

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_GeomFromGML('
<gml:PolyhedralSurface>
<gml:polygonPatches>
  <gml:PolygonPatch>
    <gml:exterior>
      <gml:LinearRing><gml:posList srsDimension="3">0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0</gml:posList></gml:LinearRing>
    </gml:exterior>
  </gml:PolygonPatch>
  <gml:PolygonPatch>
    <gml:exterior>
    	<gml:LinearRing><gml:posList srsDimension="3">0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0</gml:posList></gml:LinearRing>
    </gml:exterior>
  </gml:PolygonPatch>
  <gml:PolygonPatch>
    <gml:exterior>
    	<gml:LinearRing><gml:posList srsDimension="3">0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0</gml:posList></gml:LinearRing>
    </gml:exterior>
  </gml:PolygonPatch>
  <gml:PolygonPatch>
    <gml:exterior>
    	<gml:LinearRing><gml:posList srsDimension="3">1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0</gml:posList></gml:LinearRing>
    </gml:exterior>
  </gml:PolygonPatch>
  <gml:PolygonPatch>
    <gml:exterior>
    	<gml:LinearRing><gml:posList srsDimension="3">0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0</gml:posList></gml:LinearRing>
    </gml:exterior>
  </gml:PolygonPatch>
  <gml:PolygonPatch>
    <gml:exterior>
    	<gml:LinearRing><gml:posList srsDimension="3">0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1</gml:posList></gml:LinearRing>
    </gml:exterior>
  </gml:PolygonPatch>
</gml:polygonPatches>
</gml:PolyhedralSurface>'));

-- result --
 POLYHEDRALSURFACE(((0 0 0,0 0 1,0 1 1,0 1 0,0 0 0)),
 ((0 0 0,0 1 0,1 1 0,1 0 0,0 0 0)),
 ((0 0 0,1 0 0,1 0 1,0 0 1,0 0 0)),
 ((1 1 0,1 1 1,1 0 1,1 0 0,1 1 0)),
 ((0 1 0,0 1 1,1 1 1,1 1 0,0 1 0)),
 ((0 0 1,1 0 1,1 1 1,0 1 1,0 0 1)))

See Also

the section called “Configuration”, ST_AsGML, ST_GMLToSQL

Name

ST_GeomFromGeoJSON — Takes as input a geojson representation of a geometry and outputs a PostGIS geometry object

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromGeoJSON(
geomjson);

text geomjson;

Description

Constructs a PostGIS geometry object from the GeoJSON representation.

ST_GeomFromGeoJSON works only for JSON Geometry fragments. It throws an error if you try to use it on a whole JSON document.

Availability: 2.0.0 requires - JSON-C >= 0.9

Note

If you do not have JSON-C enabled, support you will get an error notice instead of seeing an output. To enable JSON-C, run configure --with-jsondir=/path/to/json-c. See the section called “Configuration” for details.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_GeomFromGeoJSON('{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-48.23456,20.12345]}')) As wkt;
wkt
------
POINT(-48.23456 20.12345)

-- a 3D linestring
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_GeomFromGeoJSON('{"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[1,2,3],[4,5,6],[7,8,9]]}')) As wkt;

wkt
-------------------
LINESTRING(1 2,4 5,7 8)

See Also

ST_AsText, ST_AsGeoJSON, the section called “Configuration”

Name

ST_GeomFromKML — Takes as input KML representation of geometry and outputs a PostGIS geometry object

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromKML(
geomkml);

text geomkml;

Description

Constructs a PostGIS ST_Geometry object from the OGC KML representation.

ST_GeomFromKML works only for KML Geometry fragments. It throws an error if you try to use it on a whole KML document.

OGC KML versions supported:

KML 2.2.0 Namespace

OGC KML standards, cf: http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/kml:

Availability: 1.5,libxml2 2.6+

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Note

ST_GeomFromKML function not support SQL/MM curves geometries.

Examples - A single geometry with srsName

SELECT ST_GeomFromKML('
		<LineString>
			<coordinates>-71.1663,42.2614
				-71.1667,42.2616</coordinates>
		</LineString>');

See Also

the section called “Configuration”, ST_AsKML

Name

ST_GMLToSQL — Return a specified ST_Geometry value from GML representation. This is an alias name for ST_GeomFromGML

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GMLToSQL(
geomgml);

text geomgml;

geometry fsfuncST_GMLToSQL( | geomgml, |
| srid); |

text geomgml;
integer srid;

Description

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.50 (except for curves support).

Availability: 1.5, requires libxml2 1.6+

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TIN was introduced.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 default srid optional parameter added.

See Also

the section called “Configuration”, ST_GeomFromGML, ST_AsGML

Name

ST_GeomFromText — Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Well-Known Text representation (WKT).

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromText(
WKT);

text WKT;

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

Description

Constructs a PostGIS ST_Geometry object from the OGC Well-Known text representation.

Note

There are 2 variants of ST_GeomFromText function, the first takes no SRID and returns a geometry with no defined spatial reference system. The second takes a spatial reference id as the second argument and returns an ST_Geometry that includes this srid as part of its meta-data. The srid must be defined in the spatial_ref_sys table.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2 - option SRID is from the conformance suite.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.40

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Warning

Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions of PostGIS ST_GeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(EMPTY)') was allowed. This is now illegal in PostGIS 2.0.0 to better conform with SQL/MM standards. This should now be written as ST_GeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION EMPTY')

Examples

SELECT ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(-71.160281 42.258729,-71.160837 42.259113,-71.161144 42.25932)');
SELECT ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(-71.160281 42.258729,-71.160837 42.259113,-71.161144 42.25932)',4269);

SELECT ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((-71.160281 42.258729,-71.160837 42.259113,-71.161144 42.25932))');

SELECT ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-71.064544 42.28787)');

SELECT ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((-71.1776585052917 42.3902909739571,-71.1776820268866 42.3903701743239,
-71.1776063012595 42.3903825660754,-71.1775826583081 42.3903033653531,-71.1776585052917 42.3902909739571))');

SELECT ST_GeomFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(((-71.1031880899493 42.3152774590236,
-71.1031627617667 42.3152960829043,-71.102923838298 42.3149156848307,
-71.1023097974109 42.3151969047397,-71.1019285062273 42.3147384934248,
-71.102505233663 42.3144722937587,-71.10277487471 42.3141658254797,
-71.103113945163 42.3142739188902,-71.10324876416 42.31402489987,
-71.1033002961013 42.3140393340215,-71.1033488797549 42.3139495090772,
-71.103396240451 42.3138632439557,-71.1041521907712 42.3141153348029,
-71.1041411411543 42.3141545014533,-71.1041287795912 42.3142114839058,
-71.1041188134329 42.3142693656241,-71.1041112482575 42.3143272556118,
-71.1041072845732 42.3143851580048,-71.1041057218871 42.3144430686681,
-71.1041065602059 42.3145009876017,-71.1041097995362 42.3145589148055,
-71.1041166403905 42.3146168544148,-71.1041258822717 42.3146748022936,
-71.1041375307579 42.3147318674446,-71.1041492906949 42.3147711126569,
-71.1041598612795 42.314808571739,-71.1042515013869 42.3151287620809,
-71.1041173835118 42.3150739481917,-71.1040809891419 42.3151344119048,
-71.1040438678912 42.3151191367447,-71.1040194562988 42.3151832057859,
-71.1038734225584 42.3151140942995,-71.1038446938243 42.3151006300338,
-71.1038315271889 42.315094347535,-71.1037393329282 42.315054824985,
-71.1035447555574 42.3152608696313,-71.1033436658644 42.3151648370544,
-71.1032580383161 42.3152269126061,-71.103223066939 42.3152517403219,
-71.1031880899493 42.3152774590236)),
((-71.1043632495873 42.315113108546,-71.1043583974082 42.3151211109857,
-71.1043443253471 42.3150676015829,-71.1043850704575 42.3150793250568,-71.1043632495873 42.315113108546)))',4326);

SELECT ST_GeomFromText('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415,220227 150505,220227 150406)');

See Also

ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_GeomFromWKB, ST_SRID

Name

ST_GeomFromWKB — Creates a geometry instance from a Well-Known Binary geometry representation (WKB) and optional SRID.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromWKB(
geom);

bytea geom;

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromWKB( | geom, |
| srid); |

bytea geom;
integer srid;

Description

The ST_GeomFromWKB function, takes a well-known binary representation of a geometry and a Spatial Reference System ID (SRID) and creates an instance of the appropriate geometry type. This function plays the role of the Geometry Factory in SQL. This is an alternate name for ST_WKBToSQL.

If SRID is not specified, it defaults to 0 (Unknown).

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.7.2 - the optional SRID is from the conformance suite

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.41

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

--Although bytea rep contains single \, these need to be escaped when inserting into a table
		-- unless standard_conforming_strings is set to on.
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(
ST_GeomFromWKB(E'\\001\\002\\000\\000\\000\\002\\000\\000\\000\\037\\205\\353Q\\270~\\\\\\300\\323Mb\\020X\\231C@\\020X9\\264\\310~\\\\\\300)\\\\\\217\\302\\365\\230C@',4326)
);
					  st_asewkt
------------------------------------------------------
 SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-113.98 39.198,-113.981 39.195)
(1 row)

SELECT
  ST_AsText(
	ST_GeomFromWKB(
	  ST_AsEWKB('POINT(2 5)'::geometry)
	)
  );
 st_astext
------------
 POINT(2 5)
(1 row)

See Also

ST_WKBToSQL, ST_AsBinary, ST_GeomFromEWKB

Name

ST_LineFromEncodedPolyline — Creates a LineString from an Encoded Polyline.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LineFromEncodedPolyline( | polyline, |
| precision=5); |

text polyline;
integer precision=5;

Description

Creates a LineString from an Encoded Polyline string.

See http://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/utilities/polylinealgorithm

Availability: 2.2.0

Examples

--Create a line string from a polyline
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_LineFromEncodedPolyline('_p~iF~ps|U_ulLnnqC_mqNvxq`@'));
--result--
LINESTRING(-120.2 38.5,-120.95 40.7,-126.453 43.252)

See Also

ST_AsEncodedPolyline

Name

ST_LineFromMultiPoint — Creates a LineString from a MultiPoint geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LineFromMultiPoint(
aMultiPoint);

geometry aMultiPoint;

Description

Creates a LineString from a MultiPoint geometry.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

--Create a 3d line string from a 3d multipoint
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_LineFromMultiPoint(ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTIPOINT(1 2 3, 4 5 6, 7 8 9)')));
--result--
LINESTRING(1 2 3,4 5 6,7 8 9)

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_Collect, ST_MakeLine

Name

ST_LineFromText — Makes a Geometry from WKT representation with the given SRID. If SRID is not given, it defaults to 0.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LineFromText(
WKT);

text WKT;

geometry fsfuncST_LineFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

Description

Makes a Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0. If WKT passed in is not a LINESTRING, then null is returned.

Note

OGC SPEC 3.2.6.2 - option SRID is from the conformance suite.

Note

If you know all your geometries are LINESTRINGS, its more efficient to just use ST_GeomFromText. This just calls ST_GeomFromText and adds additional validation that it returns a linestring.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.2.8

Examples

SELECT ST_LineFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)') AS aline, ST_LineFromText('POINT(1 2)') AS null_return;
aline                            | null_return
------------------------------------------------
010200000002000000000000000000F ... | t

See Also

ST_GeomFromText

Name

ST_LineFromWKB — Makes a LINESTRING from WKB with the given SRID

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LineFromWKB(
WKB);

bytea WKB;

geometry fsfuncST_LineFromWKB( | WKB, |
| srid); |

bytea WKB;
integer srid;

Description

The ST_LineFromWKB function, takes a well-known binary representation of geometry and a Spatial Reference System ID (SRID) and creates an instance of the appropriate geometry type - in this case, a LINESTRING geometry. This function plays the role of the Geometry Factory in SQL.

If an SRID is not specified, it defaults to 0. NULL is returned if the input bytea does not represent a LINESTRING.

Note

OGC SPEC 3.2.6.2 - option SRID is from the conformance suite.

Note

If you know all your geometries are LINESTRINGs, its more efficient to just use ST_GeomFromWKB. This function just calls ST_GeomFromWKB and adds additional validation that it returns a linestring.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.2.9

Examples

SELECT ST_LineFromWKB(ST_AsBinary(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)'))) AS aline,
		ST_LineFromWKB(ST_AsBinary(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'))) IS NULL AS null_return;
aline                            | null_return
------------------------------------------------
010200000002000000000000000000F ... | t

See Also

ST_GeomFromWKB, ST_LinestringFromWKB

Name

ST_LinestringFromWKB — Makes a geometry from WKB with the given SRID.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LinestringFromWKB(
WKB);

bytea WKB;

geometry fsfuncST_LinestringFromWKB( | WKB, |
| srid); |

bytea WKB;
integer srid;

Description

The ST_LinestringFromWKB function, takes a well-known binary representation of geometry and a Spatial Reference System ID (SRID) and creates an instance of the appropriate geometry type - in this case, a LINESTRING geometry. This function plays the role of the Geometry Factory in SQL.

If an SRID is not specified, it defaults to 0. NULL is returned if the input bytea does not represent a LINESTRING geometry. This an alias for ST_LineFromWKB.

Note

OGC SPEC 3.2.6.2 - optional SRID is from the conformance suite.

Note

If you know all your geometries are LINESTRINGs, it's more efficient to just use ST_GeomFromWKB. This function just calls ST_GeomFromWKB and adds additional validation that it returns a LINESTRING.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.2.9

Examples

SELECT
  ST_LineStringFromWKB(
	ST_AsBinary(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)'))
  ) AS aline,
  ST_LinestringFromWKB(
	ST_AsBinary(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'))
  ) IS NULL AS null_return;
   aline                            | null_return
------------------------------------------------
010200000002000000000000000000F ... | t

See Also

ST_GeomFromWKB, ST_LineFromWKB

Name

ST_MakeBox2D — Creates a BOX2D defined by the given point geometries.

Synopsis

box2d fsfuncST_MakeBox2D( | pointLowLeft, |
| pointUpRight); |

geometry pointLowLeft;
geometry pointUpRight;

Description

Creates a BOX2D defined by the given point geometries. This is useful for doing range queries

Examples

--Return all features that fall reside or partly reside in a US national atlas coordinate bounding box
--It is assumed here that the geometries are stored with SRID = 2163 (US National atlas equal area)
SELECT feature_id, feature_name, the_geom
FROM features
WHERE the_geom && ST_SetSRID(ST_MakeBox2D(ST_Point(-989502.1875, 528439.5625),
	ST_Point(-987121.375 ,529933.1875)),2163)

See Also

ST_MakePoint, ST_Point, ST_SetSRID, ST_SRID

Name

ST_3DMakeBox — Creates a BOX3D defined by the given 3d point geometries.

Synopsis

box3d fsfuncST_3DMakeBox( | point3DLowLeftBottom, |
| point3DUpRightTop); |

geometry point3DLowLeftBottom;
geometry point3DUpRightTop;

Description

Creates a BOX3D defined by the given 2 3D point geometries.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_MakeBox3D

Examples

SELECT ST_3DMakeBox(ST_MakePoint(-989502.1875, 528439.5625, 10),
	ST_MakePoint(-987121.375 ,529933.1875, 10)) As abb3d

--bb3d--
--------
BOX3D(-989502.1875 528439.5625 10,-987121.375 529933.1875 10)

See Also

ST_MakePoint, ST_SetSRID, ST_SRID

Name

ST_MakeLine — Creates a Linestring from point or line geometries.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MakeLine(
geoms);

geometry set geoms;

geometry fsfuncST_MakeLine( | geom1, |
| geom2); |

geometry geom1;
geometry geom2;

geometry fsfuncST_MakeLine(
geoms_array);

geometry[] geoms_array;

Description

ST_MakeLine comes in 3 forms: a spatial aggregate that takes rows of point-or-line geometries and returns a line string, a function that takes an array of point-or-lines, and a regular function that takes two point-or-line geometries. You might want to use a subselect to order points before feeding them to the aggregate version of this function.

When adding line components a common node is removed from the output.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Availability: 1.4.0 - ST_MakeLine(geomarray) was introduced. ST_MakeLine aggregate functions was enhanced to handle more points faster.

Availability: 2.0.0 - Support for linestring input elements was introduced

Examples: Spatial Aggregate version

This example takes a sequence of GPS points and creates one record for each gps travel where the geometry field is a line string composed of the gps points in the order of the travel.

-- For pre-PostgreSQL 9.0 - this usually works,
-- but the planner may on occasion choose not to respect the order of the subquery
SELECT gps.gps_track, ST_MakeLine(gps.the_geom) As newgeom
	FROM (SELECT gps_track,gps_time, the_geom
			FROM gps_points ORDER BY gps_track, gps_time) As gps
	GROUP BY gps.gps_track;

-- If you are using PostgreSQL 9.0+
-- (you can use the new ORDER BY support for aggregates)
-- this is a guaranteed way to get a correctly ordered linestring
-- Your order by part can order by more than one column if needed
SELECT gps.gps_track, ST_MakeLine(gps.the_geom ORDER BY gps_time) As newgeom
	FROM gps_points As gps
	GROUP BY gps.gps_track;

Examples: Non-Spatial Aggregate version

First example is a simple one off line string composed of 2 points. The second formulates line strings from 2 points a user draws. The third is a one-off that joins 2 3d points to create a line in 3d space.

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_MakeLine(ST_MakePoint(1,2), ST_MakePoint(3,4)));
	  st_astext
---------------------
 LINESTRING(1 2,3 4)

SELECT userpoints.id, ST_MakeLine(startpoint, endpoint) As drawn_line
	FROM userpoints ;

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_MakeLine(ST_MakePoint(1,2,3), ST_MakePoint(3,4,5)));
		st_asewkt
-------------------------
 LINESTRING(1 2 3,3 4 5)

Examples: Using Array version

SELECT ST_MakeLine(ARRAY(SELECT ST_Centroid(the_geom) FROM visit_locations ORDER BY visit_time));

--Making a 3d line with 3 3-d points
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_MakeLine(ARRAY[ST_MakePoint(1,2,3),
				ST_MakePoint(3,4,5), ST_MakePoint(6,6,6)]));
		st_asewkt
-------------------------
LINESTRING(1 2 3,3 4 5,6 6 6)

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_AsText, ST_GeomFromText, ST_MakePoint

Name

ST_MakeEnvelope — Creates a rectangular Polygon formed from the given minimums and maximums. Input values must be in SRS specified by the SRID.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MakeEnvelope( | xmin, |
| ymin, |
| xmax, |
| ymax, |
| srid=unknown); |

double precision xmin;
double precision ymin;
double precision xmax;
double precision ymax;
integer srid=unknown;

Description

Creates a rectangular Polygon formed from the minima and maxima. by the given shell. Input values must be in SRS specified by the SRID. If no SRID is specified the unknown spatial reference system is assumed

Availability: 1.5

Enhanced: 2.0: Ability to specify an envelope without specifying an SRID was introduced.

Example: Building a bounding box polygon

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_MakeEnvelope(10, 10, 11, 11, 4326));

st_asewkt
-----------
POLYGON((10 10, 10 11, 11 11, 11 10, 10 10))

See Also

ST_MakePoint, ST_MakeLine, ST_MakePolygon

Name

ST_MakePolygon — Creates a Polygon formed by the given shell. Input geometries must be closed LINESTRINGS.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MakePolygon(
linestring);

geometry linestring;

geometry fsfuncST_MakePolygon( | outerlinestring, |
| interiorlinestrings); |

geometry outerlinestring;
geometry[] interiorlinestrings;

Description

Creates a Polygon formed by the given shell. Input geometries must be closed LINESTRINGS. Comes in 2 variants.

Variant 1: takes one closed linestring.

Variant 2: Creates a Polygon formed by the given shell and array of holes. You can construct a geometry array using ST_Accum or the PostgreSQL ARRAY[] and ARRAY() constructs. Input geometries must be closed LINESTRINGS.

Note

This function will not accept a MULTILINESTRING. Use ST_LineMerge or ST_Dump to generate line strings.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples: Single closed LINESTRING

--2d line
SELECT ST_MakePolygon(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(75.15 29.53,77 29,77.6 29.5, 75.15 29.53)'));
--If linestring is not closed
--you can add the start point to close it
SELECT ST_MakePolygon(ST_AddPoint(foo.open_line, ST_StartPoint(foo.open_line)))
FROM (
SELECT ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(75.15 29.53,77 29,77.6 29.5)') As open_line) As foo;

--3d closed line
SELECT ST_MakePolygon(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(75.15 29.53 1,77 29 1,77.6 29.5 1, 75.15 29.53 1)'));

st_asewkt
-----------
POLYGON((75.15 29.53 1,77 29 1,77.6 29.5 1,75.15 29.53 1))

--measured line --
SELECT ST_MakePolygon(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRINGM(75.15 29.53 1,77 29 1,77.6 29.5 2, 75.15 29.53 2)'));

st_asewkt
----------
POLYGONM((75.15 29.53 1,77 29 1,77.6 29.5 2,75.15 29.53 2))

Examples: Outter shell with inner shells

Build a donut with an ant hole

SELECT ST_MakePolygon(
		ST_ExteriorRing(ST_Buffer(foo.line,10)),
	ARRAY[ST_Translate(foo.line,1,1),
		ST_ExteriorRing(ST_Buffer(ST_MakePoint(20,20),1)) ]
	)
FROM
	(SELECT ST_ExteriorRing(ST_Buffer(ST_MakePoint(10,10),10,10))
		As line )
		As foo;

Build province boundaries with holes representing lakes in the province from a set of province polygons/multipolygons and water line strings this is an example of using PostGIS ST_Accum

Note

The use of CASE because feeding a null array into ST_MakePolygon results in NULL

Note

the use of left join to guarantee we get all provinces back even if they have no lakes

	SELECT p.gid, p.province_name,
		CASE WHEN
			ST_Accum(w.the_geom) IS NULL THEN p.the_geom
		ELSE  ST_MakePolygon(ST_LineMerge(ST_Boundary(p.the_geom)), ST_Accum(w.the_geom)) END
	FROM
		provinces p LEFT JOIN waterlines w
			ON (ST_Within(w.the_geom, p.the_geom) AND ST_IsClosed(w.the_geom))
	GROUP BY p.gid, p.province_name, p.the_geom;

	--Same example above but utilizing a correlated subquery
	--and PostgreSQL built-in ARRAY() function that converts a row set to an array

	SELECT p.gid,  p.province_name, CASE WHEN
		EXISTS(SELECT w.the_geom
			FROM waterlines w
			WHERE ST_Within(w.the_geom, p.the_geom)
			AND ST_IsClosed(w.the_geom))
		THEN
		ST_MakePolygon(ST_LineMerge(ST_Boundary(p.the_geom)),
			ARRAY(SELECT w.the_geom
				FROM waterlines w
				WHERE ST_Within(w.the_geom, p.the_geom)
				AND ST_IsClosed(w.the_geom)))
		ELSE p.the_geom END As the_geom
	FROM
		provinces p;

See Also

ST_Boundary, ST_Accum, ST_AddPoint, ST_GeometryType, ST_IsClosed, ST_LineMerge, ST_BuildArea

Name

ST_MakePoint — Creates a 2D,3DZ or 4D point geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MakePoint( | x, |
| y); |

double precision x;
double precision y;

geometry fsfuncST_MakePoint( | x, |
| y, |
| z); |

double precision x;
double precision y;
double precision z;

geometry fsfuncST_MakePoint( | x, |
| y, |
| z, |
| m); |

double precision x;
double precision y;
double precision z;
double precision m;

Description

Creates a 2D,3DZ or 4D point geometry (geometry with measure). ST_MakePoint while not being OGC compliant is generally faster and more precise than ST_GeomFromText and ST_PointFromText. It is also easier to use if you have raw coordinates rather than WKT.

Note

Note x is longitude and y is latitude

Note

Use ST_MakePointM if you need to make a point with x,y,m.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

--Return point with unknown SRID
SELECT ST_MakePoint(-71.1043443253471, 42.3150676015829);

--Return point marked as WGS 84 long lat
SELECT ST_SetSRID(ST_MakePoint(-71.1043443253471, 42.3150676015829),4326);

--Return a 3D point (e.g. has altitude)
SELECT ST_MakePoint(1, 2,1.5);

--Get z of point
SELECT ST_Z(ST_MakePoint(1, 2,1.5));
result
-------
1.5

See Also

ST_GeomFromText, ST_PointFromText, ST_SetSRID, ST_MakePointM

Name

ST_MakePointM — Creates a point geometry with an x y and m coordinate.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MakePointM( | x, |
| y, |
| m); |

float x;
float y;
float m;

Description

Creates a point with x, y and measure coordinates.

Note

Note x is longitude and y is latitude.

Examples

We use ST_AsEWKT in these examples to show the text representation instead of ST_AsText because ST_AsText does not support returning M.

--Return EWKT representation of point with unknown SRID
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_MakePointM(-71.1043443253471, 42.3150676015829, 10));

--result
				   st_asewkt
-----------------------------------------------
 POINTM(-71.1043443253471 42.3150676015829 10)

--Return EWKT representation of point with measure marked as WGS 84 long lat
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_SetSRID(ST_MakePointM(-71.1043443253471, 42.3150676015829,10),4326));

						st_asewkt
---------------------------------------------------------
SRID=4326;POINTM(-71.1043443253471 42.3150676015829 10)

--Return a 3d point (e.g. has altitude)
SELECT ST_MakePoint(1, 2,1.5);

--Get m of point
SELECT ST_M(ST_MakePointM(-71.1043443253471, 42.3150676015829,10));
result
-------
10

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_MakePoint, ST_SetSRID

Name

ST_MLineFromText — Return a specified ST_MultiLineString value from WKT representation.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MLineFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

geometry fsfuncST_MLineFromText(
WKT);

text WKT;

Description

Makes a Geometry from Well-Known-Text (WKT) with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0.

OGC SPEC 3.2.6.2 - option SRID is from the conformance suite

Returns null if the WKT is not a MULTILINESTRING

Note

If you are absolutely sure all your WKT geometries are points, don't use this function. It is slower than ST_GeomFromText since it adds an additional validation step.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification.SQL-MM 3: 9.4.4

Examples

SELECT ST_MLineFromText('MULTILINESTRING((1 2, 3 4), (4 5, 6 7))');

See Also

ST_GeomFromText

Name

ST_MPointFromText — Makes a Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MPointFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

geometry fsfuncST_MPointFromText(
WKT);

text WKT;

Description

Makes a Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0.

OGC SPEC 3.2.6.2 - option SRID is from the conformance suite

Returns null if the WKT is not a MULTIPOINT

Note

If you are absolutely sure all your WKT geometries are points, don't use this function. It is slower than ST_GeomFromText since it adds an additional validation step.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. 3.2.6.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 9.2.4

Examples

SELECT ST_MPointFromText('MULTIPOINT(1 2, 3 4)');
SELECT ST_MPointFromText('MULTIPOINT(-70.9590 42.1180, -70.9611 42.1223)', 4326);

See Also

ST_GeomFromText

Name

ST_MPolyFromText — Makes a MultiPolygon Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MPolyFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

geometry fsfuncST_MPolyFromText(
WKT);

text WKT;

Description

Makes a MultiPolygon from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0.

OGC SPEC 3.2.6.2 - option SRID is from the conformance suite

Throws an error if the WKT is not a MULTIPOLYGON

Note

If you are absolutely sure all your WKT geometries are multipolygons, don't use this function. It is slower than ST_GeomFromText since it adds an additional validation step.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 9.6.4

Examples

SELECT ST_MPolyFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(((0 0 1,20 0 1,20 20 1,0 20 1,0 0 1),(5 5 3,5 7 3,7 7 3,7 5 3,5 5 3)))');
SELECt ST_MPolyFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(((-70.916 42.1002,-70.9468 42.0946,-70.9765 42.0872,-70.9754 42.0875,-70.9749 42.0879,-70.9752 42.0881,-70.9754 42.0891,-70.9758 42.0894,-70.9759 42.0897,-70.9759 42.0899,-70.9754 42.0902,-70.9756 42.0906,-70.9753 42.0907,-70.9753 42.0917,-70.9757 42.0924,-70.9755 42.0928,-70.9755 42.0942,-70.9751 42.0948,-70.9755 42.0953,-70.9751 42.0958,-70.9751 42.0962,-70.9759 42.0983,-70.9767 42.0987,-70.9768 42.0991,-70.9771 42.0997,-70.9771 42.1003,-70.9768 42.1005,-70.977 42.1011,-70.9766 42.1019,-70.9768 42.1026,-70.9769 42.1033,-70.9775 42.1042,-70.9773 42.1043,-70.9776 42.1043,-70.9778 42.1048,-70.9773 42.1058,-70.9774 42.1061,-70.9779 42.1065,-70.9782 42.1078,-70.9788 42.1085,-70.9798 42.1087,-70.9806 42.109,-70.9807 42.1093,-70.9806 42.1099,-70.9809 42.1109,-70.9808 42.1112,-70.9798 42.1116,-70.9792 42.1127,-70.979 42.1129,-70.9787 42.1134,-70.979 42.1139,-70.9791 42.1141,-70.9987 42.1116,-71.0022 42.1273,
	-70.9408 42.1513,-70.9315 42.1165,-70.916 42.1002)))',4326);

See Also

ST_GeomFromText, ST_SRID

Name

ST_Point — Returns an ST_Point with the given coordinate values. OGC alias for ST_MakePoint.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Point( | x_lon, |
| y_lat); |

float x_lon;
float y_lat;

Description

Returns an ST_Point with the given coordinate values. MM compliant alias for ST_MakePoint that takes just an x and y.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 6.1.2

Examples: Geometry

SELECT ST_SetSRID(ST_Point(-71.1043443253471, 42.3150676015829),4326)

Examples: Geography

SELECT CAST(ST_SetSRID(ST_Point(-71.1043443253471, 42.3150676015829),4326) As geography);

-- the :: is PostgreSQL short-hand for casting.
SELECT ST_SetSRID(ST_Point(-71.1043443253471, 42.3150676015829),4326)::geography;

--If your point coordinates are in a different spatial reference from WGS-84 long lat, then you need to transform before casting
-- This example we convert a point in Pennsylvania State Plane feet to WGS 84 and then geography
SELECT ST_Transform(ST_SetSRID(ST_Point(3637510, 3014852),2273),4326)::geography;

See Also

the section called “Geography Basics”, ST_MakePoint, ST_SetSRID, ST_Transform

Name

ST_PointFromGeoHash — Return a point from a GeoHash string.

Synopsis

point fsfuncST_PointFromGeoHash( | geohash, |
| precision=full_precision_of_geohash); |

text geohash;
integer precision=full_precision_of_geohash;

Description

Return a point from a GeoHash string. The point represents the center point of the GeoHash.

If no precision is specified ST_PointFromGeoHash returns a point based on full precision of the input GeoHash string.

If precision is specified ST_PointFromGeoHash will use that many characters from the GeoHash to create the point.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_PointFromGeoHash('9qqj7nmxncgyy4d0dbxqz0'));
          st_astext
------------------------------
 POINT(-115.172816 36.114646)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_PointFromGeoHash('9qqj7nmxncgyy4d0dbxqz0', 4));
             st_astext
-----------------------------------
 POINT(-115.13671875 36.123046875)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_PointFromGeoHash('9qqj7nmxncgyy4d0dbxqz0', 10));
                 st_astext
-------------------------------------------
 POINT(-115.172815918922 36.1146435141563)

See Also

ST_GeoHash, ST_Box2dFromGeoHash, ST_GeomFromGeoHash

Name

ST_PointFromText — Makes a point Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not given, it defaults to unknown.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_PointFromText(
WKT);

text WKT;

geometry fsfuncST_PointFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

Description

Constructs a PostGIS ST_Geometry point object from the OGC Well-Known text representation. If SRID is not give, it defaults to unknown (currently 0). If geometry is not a WKT point representation, returns null. If completely invalid WKT, then throws an error.

Note

There are 2 variants of ST_PointFromText function, the first takes no SRID and returns a geometry with no defined spatial reference system. The second takes a spatial reference id as the second argument and returns an ST_Geometry that includes this srid as part of its meta-data. The srid must be defined in the spatial_ref_sys table.

Note

If you are absolutely sure all your WKT geometries are points, don't use this function. It is slower than ST_GeomFromText since it adds an additional validation step. If you are building points from long lat coordinates and care more about performance and accuracy than OGC compliance, use ST_MakePoint or OGC compliant alias ST_Point.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2 - option SRID is from the conformance suite.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 6.1.8

Examples

SELECT ST_PointFromText('POINT(-71.064544 42.28787)');
SELECT ST_PointFromText('POINT(-71.064544 42.28787)', 4326);

See Also

ST_GeomFromText, ST_MakePoint, ST_Point, ST_SRID

Name

ST_PointFromWKB — Makes a geometry from WKB with the given SRID

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromWKB(
geom);

bytea geom;

geometry fsfuncST_GeomFromWKB( | geom, |
| srid); |

bytea geom;
integer srid;

Description

The ST_PointFromWKB function, takes a well-known binary representation of geometry and a Spatial Reference System ID (SRID) and creates an instance of the appropriate geometry type - in this case, a POINT geometry. This function plays the role of the Geometry Factory in SQL.

If an SRID is not specified, it defaults to 0. NULL is returned if the input bytea does not represent a POINT geometry.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.7.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 6.1.9

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT
  ST_AsText(
	ST_PointFromWKB(
	  ST_AsEWKB('POINT(2 5)'::geometry)
	)
  );
 st_astext
------------
 POINT(2 5)
(1 row)

SELECT
  ST_AsText(
	ST_PointFromWKB(
	  ST_AsEWKB('LINESTRING(2 5, 2 6)'::geometry)
	)
  );
 st_astext
-----------

(1 row)

See Also

ST_GeomFromWKB, ST_LineFromWKB

Name

ST_Polygon — Returns a polygon built from the specified linestring and SRID.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Polygon( | aLineString, |
| srid); |

geometry aLineString;
integer srid;

Description

Returns a polygon built from the specified linestring and SRID.

Note

ST_Polygon is similar to first version oST_MakePolygon except it also sets the spatial ref sys (SRID) of the polygon. Will not work with MULTILINESTRINGS so use LineMerge to merge multilines. Also does not create polygons with holes. Use ST_MakePolygon for that.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.3.2

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

--a 2d polygon
SELECT ST_Polygon(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(75.15 29.53,77 29,77.6 29.5, 75.15 29.53)'), 4326);

--result--
POLYGON((75.15 29.53,77 29,77.6 29.5,75.15 29.53))
--a 3d polygon
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Polygon(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(75.15 29.53 1,77 29 1,77.6 29.5 1, 75.15 29.53 1)'), 4326));

result
------
SRID=4326;POLYGON((75.15 29.53 1,77 29 1,77.6 29.5 1,75.15 29.53 1))

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_AsText, ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_GeomFromText, ST_LineMerge, ST_MakePolygon

Name

ST_PolygonFromText — Makes a Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_PolygonFromText(
WKT);

text WKT;

geometry fsfuncST_PolygonFromText( | WKT, |
| srid); |

text WKT;
integer srid;

Description

Makes a Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0. Returns null if WKT is not a polygon.

OGC SPEC 3.2.6.2 - option SRID is from the conformance suite

Note

If you are absolutely sure all your WKT geometries are polygons, don't use this function. It is slower than ST_GeomFromText since it adds an additional validation step.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.6.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.3.6

Examples

SELECT ST_PolygonFromText('POLYGON((-71.1776585052917 42.3902909739571,-71.1776820268866 42.3903701743239,
-71.1776063012595 42.3903825660754,-71.1775826583081 42.3903033653531,-71.1776585052917 42.3902909739571))');
st_polygonfromtext
------------------
010300000001000000050000006...

SELECT ST_PolygonFromText('POINT(1 2)') IS NULL as point_is_notpoly;

point_is_not_poly
----------
t

See Also

ST_GeomFromText

Name

ST_WKBToSQL — Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Well-Known Binary representation (WKB). This is an alias name for ST_GeomFromWKB that takes no srid

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_WKBToSQL(
WKB);

bytea WKB;

Description

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.36

See Also

ST_GeomFromWKB

Name

ST_WKTToSQL — Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Well-Known Text representation (WKT). This is an alias name for ST_GeomFromText

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_WKTToSQL(
WKT);

text WKT;

Description

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.34

See Also

ST_GeomFromText

Geometry Accessors

Name

GeometryType — Returns the type of the geometry as a string. Eg: 'LINESTRING', 'POLYGON', 'MULTIPOINT', etc.

Synopsis

text fsfuncGeometryType(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns the type of the geometry as a string. Eg: 'LINESTRING', 'POLYGON', 'MULTIPOINT', etc.

OGC SPEC s2.1.1.1 - Returns the name of the instantiable subtype of Geometry of which this Geometry instance is a member. The name of the instantiable subtype of Geometry is returned as a string.

Note

This function also indicates if the geometry is measured, by returning a string of the form 'POINTM'.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT GeometryType(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(77.29 29.07,77.42 29.26,77.27 29.31,77.29 29.07)'));
 geometrytype
--------------
 LINESTRING

SELECT ST_GeometryType(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
		((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
		((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
		((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )'));
			--result
			POLYHEDRALSURFACE

SELECT GeometryType(geom) as result
  FROM
    (SELECT
       ST_GeomFromEWKT('TIN (((
                0 0 0,
                0 0 1,
                0 1 0,
                0 0 0
            )), ((
                0 0 0,
                0 1 0,
                1 1 0,
                0 0 0
            ))
            )')  AS geom
    ) AS g;
 result
--------
 TIN

See Also

ST_GeometryType

Name

ST_Boundary — Returns the closure of the combinatorial boundary of this Geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Boundary(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns the closure of the combinatorial boundary of this Geometry. The combinatorial boundary is defined as described in section 3.12.3.2 of the OGC SPEC. Because the result of this function is a closure, and hence topologically closed, the resulting boundary can be represented using representational geometry primitives as discussed in the OGC SPEC, section 3.12.2.

Performed by the GEOS module

Note

Prior to 2.0.0, this function throws an exception if used with GEOMETRYCOLLECTION. From 2.0.0 up it will return NULL instead (unsupported input).

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. OGC SPEC s2.1.1.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.14

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Enhanced: 2.1.0 support for Triangle was introduced

Examples

Linestring with boundary points overlaid

SELECT ST_Boundary(geom)
FROM (SELECT 'LINESTRING(100 150,50 60, 70 80, 160 170)'::geometry As geom) As f;

-- ST_AsText output
MULTIPOINT(100 150,160 170)

polygon with holes and boundary overlaid

SELECT ST_Boundary(geom)
FROM (SELECT
'POLYGON (( 10 130, 50 190, 110 190, 140 150, 150 80, 100 10, 20 40, 10 130 ),
	( 70 40, 100 50, 120 80, 80 110, 50 90, 70 40 ))'::geometry As geom) As f;

-- ST_AsText output
MULTILINESTRING((10 130,50 190,110 190,140 150,150 80,100 10,20 40,10 130),
	(70 40,100 50,120 80,80 110,50 90,70 40))

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Boundary(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 1,0 0, -1 1)')));
st_astext
-----------
MULTIPOINT(1 1,-1 1)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Boundary(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((1 1,0 0, -1 1, 1 1))')));
st_astext
----------
LINESTRING(1 1,0 0,-1 1,1 1)

--Using a 3d polygon
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Boundary(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYGON((1 1 1,0 0 1, -1 1 1, 1 1 1))')));

st_asewkt
-----------------------------------
LINESTRING(1 1 1,0 0 1,-1 1 1,1 1 1)

--Using a 3d multilinestring
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Boundary(ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTILINESTRING((1 1 1,0 0 0.5, -1 1 1),(1 1 0.5,0 0 0.5, -1 1 0.5, 1 1 0.5) )')));

st_asewkt
----------
MULTIPOINT(-1 1 1,1 1 0.75)

See Also

ST_AsText, ST_ExteriorRing, ST_MakePolygon

Name

ST_CoordDim — Return the coordinate dimension of the ST_Geometry value.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_CoordDim(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Return the coordinate dimension of the ST_Geometry value.

This is the MM compliant alias name for ST_NDims

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.3

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT ST_CoordDim('CIRCULARSTRING(1 2 3, 1 3 4, 5 6 7, 8 9 10, 11 12 13)');
			---result--
				3

				SELECT ST_CoordDim(ST_Point(1,2));
			--result--
				2

See Also

ST_NDims

Name

ST_Dimension — The inherent dimension of this Geometry object, which must be less than or equal to the coordinate dimension.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_Dimension(
g);

geometry g;

Description

The inherent dimension of this Geometry object, which must be less than or equal to the coordinate dimension. OGC SPEC s2.1.1.1 - returns 0 for POINT, 1 for LINESTRING, 2 for POLYGON, and the largest dimension of the components of a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION. If unknown (empty geometry) null is returned.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.2

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TINs was introduced. No longer throws an exception if given empty geometry.

Note

Prior to 2.0.0, this function throws an exception if used with empty geometry.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT ST_Dimension('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(LINESTRING(1 1,0 0),POINT(0 0))');
ST_Dimension
-----------
1

See Also

ST_NDims

Name

ST_EndPoint — Returns the last point of a LINESTRING or CIRCULARLINESTRING geometry as a POINT.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_EndPoint(
g);

geometry g;

Description

Returns the last point of a LINESTRING geometry as a POINT or NULL if the input parameter is not a LINESTRING.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.4

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Note

Changed: 2.0.0 no longer works with single geometry multilinestrings. In older versions of PostGIS -- a single line multilinestring would work happily with this function and return the start point. In 2.0.0 it just returns NULL like any other multilinestring. The older behavior was an undocumented feature, but people who assumed they had their data stored as LINESTRING may experience these returning NULL in 2.0 now.

Examples

postgis=# SELECT ST_AsText(ST_EndPoint('LINESTRING(1 1, 2 2, 3 3)'::geometry));
 st_astext
------------
 POINT(3 3)
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT ST_EndPoint('POINT(1 1)'::geometry) IS NULL AS is_null;
  is_null
----------
 t
(1 row)

--3d endpoint
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_EndPoint('LINESTRING(1 1 2, 1 2 3, 0 0 5)'));
  st_asewkt
--------------
 POINT(0 0 5)
(1 row)

See Also

ST_PointN, ST_StartPoint

Name

ST_Envelope — Returns a geometry representing the double precision (float8) bounding box of the supplied geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Envelope(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Returns the float8 minimum bounding box for the supplied geometry, as a geometry. The polygon is defined by the corner points of the bounding box ((MINX, MINY), (MINX, MAXY), (MAXX, MAXY), (MAXX, MINY), (MINX, MINY)). (PostGIS will add a ZMIN/ZMAX coordinate as well).

Degenerate cases (vertical lines, points) will return a geometry of lower dimension than POLYGON, ie. POINT or LINESTRING.

Availability: 1.5.0 behavior changed to output double precision instead of float4

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.15

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Envelope('POINT(1 3)'::geometry));
 st_astext
------------
 POINT(1 3)
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Envelope('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 3)'::geometry));
		   st_astext
--------------------------------
 POLYGON((0 0,0 3,1 3,1 0,0 0))
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Envelope('POLYGON((0 0, 0 1, 1.0000001 1, 1.0000001 0, 0 0))'::geometry));
						  st_astext
--------------------------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1.00000011920929 1,1.00000011920929 0,0 0))
(1 row)
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Envelope('POLYGON((0 0, 0 1, 1.0000000001 1, 1.0000000001 0, 0 0))'::geometry));
						  st_astext
--------------------------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1.00000011920929 1,1.00000011920929 0,0 0))
(1 row)

SELECT Box3D(geom), Box2D(geom), ST_AsText(ST_Envelope(geom)) As envelopewkt
	FROM (SELECT 'POLYGON((0 0, 0 1000012333334.34545678, 1.0000001 1, 1.0000001 0, 0 0))'::geometry As geom) As foo;

See Also

Box2D, Box3D

Name

ST_BoundingDiagonal — Returns the diagonal of the supplied geometry's bounding box.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_BoundingDiagonal( | geom, |
| fits=false); |

geometry geom;
boolean fits=false;

Description

Returns the diagonal of the supplied geometry's bounding box as linestring. If the input geometry is empty, the diagonal line is also empty, otherwise it is a 2-points linestring with minimum values of each dimension in its start point and maximum values in its end point.

The returned linestring geometry always retains SRID and dimensionality (Z and M presence) of the input geometry.

The fits parameter specifies if the best fit is needed. If false, the diagonal of a somewhat larger bounding box can be accepted (is faster to obtain for geometries with a lot of vertices). In any case the bounding box of the returned diagonal line always covers the input geometry.

Note

In degenerate cases (a single vertex in input) the returned linestring will be topologically invalid (no interior). This does not make the return semantically invalid.

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports M coordinates.

Examples

-- Get the minimum X in a buffer around a point
SELECT ST_X(ST_StartPoint(ST_BoundingDiagonal(
  ST_Buffer(ST_MakePoint(0,0),10)
)));
 st_x
------
  -10

See Also

ST_StartPoint, ST_EndPoint, ST_X, ST_Y, ST_Z, ST_M, &&&

Name

ST_ExteriorRing — Returns a line string representing the exterior ring of the POLYGON geometry. Return NULL if the geometry is not a polygon. Will not work with MULTIPOLYGON

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ExteriorRing(
a_polygon);

geometry a_polygon;

Description

Returns a line string representing the exterior ring of the POLYGON geometry. Return NULL if the geometry is not a polygon.

Note

Only works with POLYGON geometry types

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. 2.1.5.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.2.3, 8.3.3

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

--If you have a table of polygons
SELECT gid, ST_ExteriorRing(the_geom) AS ering
FROM sometable;

--If you have a table of MULTIPOLYGONs
--and want to return a MULTILINESTRING composed of the exterior rings of each polygon
SELECT gid, ST_Collect(ST_ExteriorRing(the_geom)) AS erings
	FROM (SELECT gid, (ST_Dump(the_geom)).geom As the_geom
			FROM sometable) As foo
GROUP BY gid;

--3d Example
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(
	ST_ExteriorRing(
	ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYGON((0 0 1, 1 1 1, 1 2 1, 1 1 1, 0 0 1))')
	)
);

st_asewkt
---------
LINESTRING(0 0 1,1 1 1,1 2 1,1 1 1,0 0 1)

See Also

ST_InteriorRingN, ST_Boundary, ST_NumInteriorRings

Name

ST_GeometryN — Return the 1-based Nth geometry if the geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, (MULTI)POINT, (MULTI)LINESTRING, MULTICURVE or (MULTI)POLYGON, POLYHEDRALSURFACE Otherwise, return NULL.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GeometryN( | geomA, |
| n); |

geometry geomA;
integer n;

Description

Return the 1-based Nth geometry if the geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, (MULTI)POINT, (MULTI)LINESTRING, MULTICURVE or (MULTI)POLYGON, POLYHEDRALSURFACE Otherwise, return NULL

Note

Index is 1-based as for OGC specs since version 0.8.0. Previous versions implemented this as 0-based instead.

Note

If you want to extract all geometries, of a geometry, ST_Dump is more efficient and will also work for singular geoms.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Changed: 2.0.0 Prior versions would return NULL for singular geometries. This was changed to return the geometry for ST_GeometryN(..,1) case.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 9.1.5

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Standard Examples

--Extracting a subset of points from a 3d multipoint
SELECT n, ST_AsEWKT(ST_GeometryN(the_geom, n)) As geomewkt
FROM (
VALUES (ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTIPOINT(1 2 7, 3 4 7, 5 6 7, 8 9 10)') ),
( ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTICURVE(CIRCULARSTRING(2.5 2.5,4.5 2.5, 3.5 3.5), (10 11, 12 11))') )
	)As foo(the_geom)
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,100) n
WHERE n <= ST_NumGeometries(the_geom);

 n |               geomewkt
---+-----------------------------------------
 1 | POINT(1 2 7)
 2 | POINT(3 4 7)
 3 | POINT(5 6 7)
 4 | POINT(8 9 10)
 1 | CIRCULARSTRING(2.5 2.5,4.5 2.5,3.5 3.5)
 2 | LINESTRING(10 11,12 11)

--Extracting all geometries (useful when you want to assign an id)
SELECT gid, n, ST_GeometryN(the_geom, n)
FROM sometable CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,100) n
WHERE n <= ST_NumGeometries(the_geom);

Polyhedral Surfaces, TIN and Triangle Examples

-- Polyhedral surface example
-- Break a Polyhedral surface into its faces
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_GeometryN(p_geom,3)) As geom_ewkt
  FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE(
((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)),
((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)),
((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1))
)')  AS p_geom )  AS a;

                geom_ewkt
------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((0 0 0,1 0 0,1 0 1,0 0 1,0 0 0))

-- TIN --
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_GeometryN(geom,2)) as wkt
  FROM
    (SELECT
       ST_GeomFromEWKT('TIN (((
                0 0 0,
                0 0 1,
                0 1 0,
                0 0 0
            )), ((
                0 0 0,
                0 1 0,
                1 1 0,
                0 0 0
            ))
            )')  AS geom
    ) AS g;
-- result --
                 wkt
-------------------------------------
 TRIANGLE((0 0 0,0 1 0,1 1 0,0 0 0))

See Also

ST_Dump, ST_NumGeometries

Name

ST_GeometryType — Return the geometry type of the ST_Geometry value.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_GeometryType(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Returns the type of the geometry as a string. EG: 'ST_Linestring', 'ST_Polygon','ST_MultiPolygon' etc. This function differs from GeometryType(geometry) in the case of the string and ST in front that is returned, as well as the fact that it will not indicate whether the geometry is measured.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.4

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Examples

SELECT ST_GeometryType(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(77.29 29.07,77.42 29.26,77.27 29.31,77.29 29.07)'));
			--result
			ST_LineString

SELECT ST_GeometryType(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
		((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
		((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
		((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )'));
			--result
			ST_PolyhedralSurface

SELECT ST_GeometryType(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
		((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
		((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
		((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )'));
			--result
			ST_PolyhedralSurface

SELECT ST_GeometryType(geom) as result
  FROM
    (SELECT
       ST_GeomFromEWKT('TIN (((
                0 0 0,
                0 0 1,
                0 1 0,
                0 0 0
            )), ((
                0 0 0,
                0 1 0,
                1 1 0,
                0 0 0
            ))
            )')  AS geom
    ) AS g;
 result
--------
 ST_Tin

See Also

GeometryType

Name

ST_InteriorRingN — Return the Nth interior linestring ring of the polygon geometry. Return NULL if the geometry is not a polygon or the given N is out of range.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_InteriorRingN( | a_polygon, |
| n); |

geometry a_polygon;
integer n;

Description

Return the Nth interior linestring ring of the polygon geometry. Return NULL if the geometry is not a polygon or the given N is out of range. index starts at 1.

Note

This will not work for MULTIPOLYGONs. Use in conjunction with ST_Dump for MULTIPOLYGONS

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.2.6, 8.3.5

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_InteriorRingN(the_geom, 1)) As the_geom
FROM (SELECT ST_BuildArea(
		ST_Collect(ST_Buffer(ST_Point(1,2), 20,3),
			ST_Buffer(ST_Point(1, 2), 10,3))) As the_geom
		)  as foo

See Also

ST_ExteriorRing ST_BuildArea, ST_Collect, ST_Dump, ST_NumInteriorRing, ST_NumInteriorRings

Name

ST_IsClosed — Returns TRUE if the LINESTRING's start and end points are coincident. For Polyhedral surface is closed (volumetric).

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_IsClosed(
g);

geometry g;

Description

Returns TRUE if the LINESTRING's start and end points are coincident. For Polyhedral Surfaces, it tells you if the surface is areal (open) or volumetric (closed).

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.5, 9.3.3

Note

SQL-MM defines the result of ST_IsClosed(NULL) to be 0, while PostGIS returns NULL.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Line String and Point Examples

postgis=# SELECT ST_IsClosed('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1)'::geometry);
 st_isclosed
-------------
 f
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT ST_IsClosed('LINESTRING(0 0, 0 1, 1 1, 0 0)'::geometry);
 st_isclosed
-------------
 t
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT ST_IsClosed('MULTILINESTRING((0 0, 0 1, 1 1, 0 0),(0 0, 1 1))'::geometry);
 st_isclosed
-------------
 f
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT ST_IsClosed('POINT(0 0)'::geometry);
 st_isclosed
-------------
 t
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT ST_IsClosed('MULTIPOINT((0 0), (1 1))'::geometry);
 st_isclosed
-------------
 t
(1 row)

Polyhedral Surface Examples

		-- A cube --
		SELECT ST_IsClosed(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
		((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
		((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
		((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )'));

 st_isclosed
-------------
 t

 -- Same as cube but missing a side --
 SELECT ST_IsClosed(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
		((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
		((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
		((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)) )'));

 st_isclosed
-------------
 f

See Also

ST_IsRing

Name

ST_IsCollection — Returns TRUE if the argument is a collection (MULTI*, GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, ...)

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_IsCollection(
g);

geometry g;

Description

Returns TRUE if the geometry type of the argument is either:

GEOMETRYCOLLECTION

MULTI{POINT,POLYGON,LINESTRING,CURVE,SURFACE}

COMPOUNDCURVE

Note

This function analyzes the type of the geometry. This means that it will return TRUE on collections that are empty or that contain a single element.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

postgis=# SELECT ST_IsCollection('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1)'::geometry);
 st_iscollection
-------------
 f
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT ST_IsCollection('MULTIPOINT EMPTY'::geometry);
 st_iscollection
-------------
 t
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT ST_IsCollection('MULTIPOINT((0 0))'::geometry);
 st_iscollection
-------------
 t
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT ST_IsCollection('MULTIPOINT((0 0), (42 42))'::geometry);
 st_iscollection
-------------
 t
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT ST_IsCollection('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(0 0))'::geometry);
 st_iscollection
-------------
 t
(1 row)

See Also

ST_NumGeometries

Name

ST_IsEmpty — Returns true if this Geometry is an empty geometrycollection, polygon, point etc.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_IsEmpty(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns true if this Geometry is an empty geometry. If true, then this Geometry represents an empty geometry collection, polygon, point etc.

Note

SQL-MM defines the result of ST_IsEmpty(NULL) to be 0, while PostGIS returns NULL.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.7

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Warning

Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions of PostGIS ST_GeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(EMPTY)') was allowed. This is now illegal in PostGIS 2.0.0 to better conform with SQL/MM standards

Examples

SELECT ST_IsEmpty(ST_GeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION EMPTY'));
 st_isempty
------------
 t
(1 row)

 SELECT ST_IsEmpty(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON EMPTY'));
 st_isempty
------------
 t
(1 row)

SELECT ST_IsEmpty(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((1 2, 3 4, 5 6, 1 2))'));

 st_isempty
------------
 f
(1 row)

 SELECT ST_IsEmpty(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((1 2, 3 4, 5 6, 1 2))')) = false;
 ?column?
----------
 t
(1 row)

 SELECT ST_IsEmpty(ST_GeomFromText('CIRCULARSTRING EMPTY'));
  st_isempty
------------
 t
(1 row)

Name

ST_IsRing — Returns TRUE if this LINESTRING is both closed and simple.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_IsRing(
g);

geometry g;

Description

Returns TRUE if this LINESTRING is both ST_IsClosed (ST_StartPoint(g) ~= ST_Endpoint(g)) and ST_IsSimple (does not self intersect).

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. 2.1.5.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.6

Note

SQL-MM defines the result of ST_IsRing(NULL) to be 0, while PostGIS returns NULL.

Examples

SELECT ST_IsRing(the_geom), ST_IsClosed(the_geom), ST_IsSimple(the_geom)
FROM (SELECT 'LINESTRING(0 0, 0 1, 1 1, 1 0, 0 0)'::geometry AS the_geom) AS foo;
 st_isring | st_isclosed | st_issimple
-----------+-------------+-------------
 t         | t           | t
(1 row)

SELECT ST_IsRing(the_geom), ST_IsClosed(the_geom), ST_IsSimple(the_geom)
FROM (SELECT 'LINESTRING(0 0, 0 1, 1 0, 1 1, 0 0)'::geometry AS the_geom) AS foo;
 st_isring | st_isclosed | st_issimple
-----------+-------------+-------------
 f         | t           | f
(1 row)

See Also

ST_IsClosed, ST_IsSimple, ST_StartPoint, ST_EndPoint

Name

ST_IsSimple — Returns (TRUE) if this Geometry has no anomalous geometric points, such as self intersection or self tangency.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_IsSimple(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns true if this Geometry has no anomalous geometric points, such as self intersection or self tangency. For more information on the OGC's definition of geometry simplicity and validity, refer to "Ensuring OpenGIS compliancy of geometries"

Note

SQL-MM defines the result of ST_IsSimple(NULL) to be 0, while PostGIS returns NULL.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.8

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

 SELECT ST_IsSimple(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((1 2, 3 4, 5 6, 1 2))'));
 st_issimple
-------------
 t
(1 row)

 SELECT ST_IsSimple(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 1,2 2,2 3.5,1 3,1 2,2 1)'));
 st_issimple
-------------
 f
(1 row)

See Also

ST_IsValid

Name

ST_IsValid — Returns true if the ST_Geometry is well formed.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_IsValid(
g);

geometry g;

boolean fsfuncST_IsValid( | g, |
| flags); |

geometry g;
integer flags;

Description

Test if an ST_Geometry value is well formed. For geometries that are invalid, the PostgreSQL NOTICE will provide details of why it is not valid. For more information on the OGC's definition of geometry simplicity and validity, refer to "Ensuring OpenGIS compliancy of geometries"

Note

SQL-MM defines the result of ST_IsValid(NULL) to be 0, while PostGIS returns NULL.

The version accepting flags is available starting with 2.0.0 and requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Such version does not print a NOTICE explaining the invalidity. Allowed flags are documented in ST_IsValidDetail.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.9

Examples

SELECT ST_IsValid(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1)')) As good_line,
	ST_IsValid(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0, 1 1, 1 2, 1 1, 0 0))')) As bad_poly
--results
NOTICE:  Self-intersection at or near point 0 0
 good_line | bad_poly
-----------+----------
 t         | f

See Also

ST_IsSimple, ST_IsValidReason, ST_IsValidDetail, ST_Summary

Name

ST_IsValidReason — Returns text stating if a geometry is valid or not and if not valid, a reason why.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_IsValidReason(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

text fsfuncST_IsValidReason( | geomA, |
| flags); |

geometry geomA;
integer flags;

Description

Returns text stating if a geometry is valid or not an if not valid, a reason why.

Useful in combination with ST_IsValid to generate a detailed report of invalid geometries and reasons.

Allowed flags are documented in ST_IsValidDetail.

Availability: 1.4 - requires GEOS >= 3.1.0.

Availability: 2.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0 for the version taking flags.

Examples

--First 3 Rejects from a successful quintuplet experiment
SELECT gid, ST_IsValidReason(the_geom) as validity_info
FROM
(SELECT ST_MakePolygon(ST_ExteriorRing(e.buff), ST_Accum(f.line)) As the_geom, gid
FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_MakePoint(x1*10,y1), z1) As buff, x1*10 + y1*100 + z1*1000 As gid
	FROM generate_series(-4,6) x1
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(2,5) y1
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,8) z1
	WHERE x1 > y1*0.5 AND z1 < x1*y1) As e
	INNER JOIN (SELECT ST_Translate(ST_ExteriorRing(ST_Buffer(ST_MakePoint(x1*10,y1), z1)),y1*1, z1*2) As line
	FROM generate_series(-3,6) x1
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(2,5) y1
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,10) z1
	WHERE x1 > y1*0.75 AND z1 < x1*y1) As f
ON (ST_Area(e.buff) > 78 AND ST_Contains(e.buff, f.line))
GROUP BY gid, e.buff) As quintuplet_experiment
WHERE ST_IsValid(the_geom) = false
ORDER BY gid
LIMIT 3;

 gid  |      validity_info
------+--------------------------
 5330 | Self-intersection [32 5]
 5340 | Self-intersection [42 5]
 5350 | Self-intersection [52 5]

 --simple example
SELECT ST_IsValidReason('LINESTRING(220227 150406,2220227 150407,222020 150410)');

 st_isvalidreason
------------------
 Valid Geometry

See Also

ST_IsValid, ST_Summary

Name

ST_IsValidDetail — Returns a valid_detail (valid,reason,location) row stating if a geometry is valid or not and if not valid, a reason why and a location where.

Synopsis

valid_detail fsfuncST_IsValidDetail(
geom);

geometry geom;

valid_detail fsfuncST_IsValidDetail( | geom, |
| flags); |

geometry geom;
integer flags;

Description

Returns a valid_detail row, formed by a boolean (valid) stating if a geometry is valid, a varchar (reason) stating a reason why it is invalid and a geometry (location) pointing out where it is invalid.

Useful to substitute and improve the combination of ST_IsValid and ST_IsValidReason to generate a detailed report of invalid geometries.

The 'flags' argument is a bitfield. It can have the following values:

1: Consider self-intersecting rings forming holes as valid. This is also know as "the ESRI flag". Note that this is against the OGC model.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0.

Examples

--First 3 Rejects from a successful quintuplet experiment
SELECT gid, reason(ST_IsValidDetail(the_geom)), ST_AsText(location(ST_IsValidDetail(the_geom))) as location
FROM
(SELECT ST_MakePolygon(ST_ExteriorRing(e.buff), ST_Accum(f.line)) As the_geom, gid
FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_MakePoint(x1*10,y1), z1) As buff, x1*10 + y1*100 + z1*1000 As gid
	FROM generate_series(-4,6) x1
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(2,5) y1
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,8) z1
	WHERE x1 > y1*0.5 AND z1 < x1*y1) As e
	INNER JOIN (SELECT ST_Translate(ST_ExteriorRing(ST_Buffer(ST_MakePoint(x1*10,y1), z1)),y1*1, z1*2) As line
	FROM generate_series(-3,6) x1
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(2,5) y1
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,10) z1
	WHERE x1 > y1*0.75 AND z1 < x1*y1) As f
ON (ST_Area(e.buff) > 78 AND ST_Contains(e.buff, f.line))
GROUP BY gid, e.buff) As quintuplet_experiment
WHERE ST_IsValid(the_geom) = false
ORDER BY gid
LIMIT 3;

 gid  |      reason       |  location
------+-------------------+-------------
 5330 | Self-intersection | POINT(32 5)
 5340 | Self-intersection | POINT(42 5)
 5350 | Self-intersection | POINT(52 5)

 --simple example
SELECT * FROM ST_IsValidDetail('LINESTRING(220227 150406,2220227 150407,222020 150410)');

 valid | reason | location
-------+--------+----------
 t     |        |

See Also

ST_IsValid, ST_IsValidReason

Name

ST_M — Return the M coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_M(
a_point);

geometry a_point;

Description

Return the M coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

Note

This is not (yet) part of the OGC spec, but is listed here to complete the point coordinate extractor function list.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_M(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1 2 3 4)'));
 st_m
------
	4
(1 row)

See Also

ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_X, ST_Y, ST_Z

Name

ST_NDims — Returns coordinate dimension of the geometry as a small int. Values are: 2,3 or 4.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_NDims(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Returns the coordinate dimension of the geometry. PostGIS supports 2 - (x,y) , 3 - (x,y,z) or 2D with measure - x,y,m, and 4 - 3D with measure space x,y,z,m

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_NDims(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 1)')) As d2point,
	ST_NDims(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1 1 2)')) As d3point,
	ST_NDims(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINTM(1 1 0.5)')) As d2pointm;

	 d2point | d3point | d2pointm
---------+---------+----------
	   2 |       3 |        3

See Also

ST_CoordDim, ST_Dimension, ST_GeomFromEWKT

Name

ST_NPoints — Return the number of points (vertexes) in a geometry.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_NPoints(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Return the number of points in a geometry. Works for all geometries.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Note

Prior to 1.3.4, this function crashes if used with geometries that contain CURVES. This is fixed in 1.3.4+

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Examples

SELECT ST_NPoints(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(77.29 29.07,77.42 29.26,77.27 29.31,77.29 29.07)'));
--result
4

--Polygon in 3D space
SELECT ST_NPoints(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(77.29 29.07 1,77.42 29.26 0,77.27 29.31 -1,77.29 29.07 3)'))
--result
4

See Also

ST_NumPoints

Name

ST_NRings — If the geometry is a polygon or multi-polygon returns the number of rings.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_NRings(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

If the geometry is a polygon or multi-polygon returns the number of rings. Unlike NumInteriorRings, it counts the outer rings as well.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_NRings(the_geom) As Nrings, ST_NumInteriorRings(the_geom) As ninterrings
					FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((1 2, 3 4, 5 6, 1 2))') As the_geom) As foo;
	 nrings | ninterrings
--------+-------------
	  1 |           0
(1 row)

See Also

ST_NumInteriorRings

Name

ST_NumGeometries — If geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION (or MULTI*) return the number of geometries, for single geometries will return 1, otherwise return NULL.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_NumGeometries(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

Returns the number of Geometries. If geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION (or MULTI*) return the number of geometries, for single geometries will return 1, otherwise return NULL.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions this would return NULL if the geometry was not a collection/MULTI type. 2.0.0+ now returns 1 for single geometries e.g POLYGON, LINESTRING, POINT.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 9.1.4

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

--Prior versions would have returned NULL for this -- in 2.0.0 this returns 1
SELECT ST_NumGeometries(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(77.29 29.07,77.42 29.26,77.27 29.31,77.29 29.07)'));
--result
1

--Geometry Collection Example - multis count as one geom in a collection
SELECT ST_NumGeometries(ST_GeomFromEWKT('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(MULTIPOINT(-2 3 , -2 2),
LINESTRING(5 5 ,10 10),
POLYGON((-7 4.2,-7.1 5,-7.1 4.3,-7 4.2)))'));
--result
3

See Also

ST_GeometryN, ST_Multi

Name

ST_NumInteriorRings — Return the number of interior rings of the a polygon in the geometry. This will work with POLYGON and return NULL for a MULTIPOLYGON type or any other type

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_NumInteriorRings(
a_polygon);

geometry a_polygon;

Description

Return the number of interior rings of the first polygon in the geometry. This will work with both POLYGON and MULTIPOLYGON types but only looks at the first polygon. Return NULL if there is no polygon in the geometry.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.2.5

Changed: 2.0.0 - in prior versions it would return the number of interior rings for the first POLYGON in a MULTIPOLYGON.

Examples

--If you have a regular polygon
SELECT gid, field1, field2, ST_NumInteriorRings(the_geom) AS numholes
FROM sometable;

--If you have multipolygons
--And you want to know the total number of interior rings in the MULTIPOLYGON
SELECT gid, field1, field2, SUM(ST_NumInteriorRings(the_geom)) AS numholes
FROM (SELECT gid, field1, field2, (ST_Dump(the_geom)).geom As the_geom
	FROM sometable) As foo
GROUP BY gid, field1,field2;

See Also

ST_NumInteriorRing

Name

ST_NumInteriorRing — Return the number of interior rings of a polygon in the geometry. Synonym for ST_NumInteriorRings.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_NumInteriorRing(
a_polygon);

geometry a_polygon;

See Also

ST_NumInteriorRings

Name

ST_NumPatches — Return the number of faces on a Polyhedral Surface. Will return null for non-polyhedral geometries.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_NumPatches(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Return the number of faces on a Polyhedral Surface. Will return null for non-polyhedral geometries. This is an alias for ST_NumGeometries to support MM naming. Faster to use ST_NumGeometries if you don't care about MM convention.

Availability: 2.0.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: ?

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Examples

SELECT ST_NumPatches(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
		((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
		((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
		((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )'));
		--result
		6

See Also

ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_NumGeometries

Name

ST_NumPoints — Return the number of points in an ST_LineString or ST_CircularString value.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_NumPoints(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Return the number of points in an ST_LineString or ST_CircularString value. Prior to 1.4 only works with Linestrings as the specs state. From 1.4 forward this is an alias for ST_NPoints which returns number of vertexes for not just line strings. Consider using ST_NPoints instead which is multi-purpose and works with many geometry types.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.2.4

Examples

SELECT ST_NumPoints(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(77.29 29.07,77.42 29.26,77.27 29.31,77.29 29.07)'));
		--result
		4

See Also

ST_NPoints

Name

ST_PatchN — Return the 1-based Nth geometry (face) if the geometry is a POLYHEDRALSURFACE, POLYHEDRALSURFACEM. Otherwise, return NULL.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_PatchN( | geomA, |
| n); |

geometry geomA;
integer n;

Description

>Return the 1-based Nth geometry (face) if the geometry is a POLYHEDRALSURFACE, POLYHEDRALSURFACEM. Otherwise, return NULL. This returns the same answer as ST_GeometryN for Polyhedral Surfaces. Using ST_GemoetryN is faster.

Note

Index is 1-based.

Note

If you want to extract all geometries, of a geometry, ST_Dump is more efficient.

Availability: 2.0.0

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: ?

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Examples

--Extract the 2nd face of the polyhedral surface
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_PatchN(geom, 2)) As geomewkt
FROM (
VALUES (ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
	((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
	((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
	((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )')) ) As foo(geom);

              geomewkt
---+-----------------------------------------
 POLYGON((0 0 0,0 1 0,1 1 0,1 0 0,0 0 0))

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_Dump, ST_GeometryN, ST_NumGeometries

Name

ST_PointN — Return the Nth point in the first linestring or circular linestring in the geometry. Return NULL if there is no linestring in the geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_PointN( | a_linestring, |
| n); |

geometry a_linestring;
integer n;

Description

Return the Nth point in a single linestring or circular linestring in the geometry. Return NULL if there is no linestring in the geometry.

Note

Index is 1-based as for OGC specs since version 0.8.0. Previous versions implemented this as 0-based instead.

Note

If you want to get the nth point of each line string in a multilinestring, use in conjunction with ST_Dump

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.2.5, 7.3.5

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Note

Changed: 2.0.0 no longer works with single geometry multilinestrings. In older versions of PostGIS -- a single line multilinestring would work happily with this function and return the start point. In 2.0.0 it just returns NULL like any other multilinestring.

Examples

-- Extract all POINTs from a LINESTRING
SELECT ST_AsText(
   ST_PointN(
	  column1,
	  generate_series(1, ST_NPoints(column1))
   ))
FROM ( VALUES ('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1, 2 2)'::geometry) ) AS foo;

 st_astext
------------
 POINT(0 0)
 POINT(1 1)
 POINT(2 2)
(3 rows)

--Example circular string
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_PointN(ST_GeomFromText('CIRCULARSTRING(1 2, 3 2, 1 2)'),2));

st_astext
----------
POINT(3 2)

See Also

ST_NPoints

Name

ST_SRID — Returns the spatial reference identifier for the ST_Geometry as defined in spatial_ref_sys table.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_SRID(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Returns the spatial reference identifier for the ST_Geometry as defined in spatial_ref_sys table. the section called “The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems”

Note

spatial_ref_sys table is a table that catalogs all spatial reference systems known to PostGIS and is used for transformations from one spatial reference system to another. So verifying you have the right spatial reference system identifier is important if you plan to ever transform your geometries.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.5

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_SRID(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-71.1043 42.315)',4326));
		--result
		4326

See Also

the section called “The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems”, ST_GeomFromText, ST_SetSRID, ST_Transform

Name

ST_StartPoint — Returns the first point of a LINESTRING geometry as a POINT.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_StartPoint(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns the first point of a LINESTRING or CIRCULARLINESTRING geometry as a POINT or NULL if the input parameter is not a LINESTRING or CIRCULARLINESTRING.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.3

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Note

Changed: 2.0.0 no longer works with single geometry multilinestrings. In older versions of PostGIS -- a single line multilinestring would work happily with this function and return the start point. In 2.0.0 it just returns NULL like any other multilinestring. The older behavior was an undocumented feature, but people who assumed they had their data stored as LINESTRING may experience these returning NULL in 2.0 now.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_StartPoint('LINESTRING(0 1, 0 2)'::geometry));
 st_astext
------------
 POINT(0 1)
(1 row)

SELECT ST_StartPoint('POINT(0 1)'::geometry) IS NULL AS is_null;
  is_null
----------
 t
(1 row)

--3d line
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_StartPoint('LINESTRING(0 1 1, 0 2 2)'::geometry));
 st_asewkt
------------
 POINT(0 1 1)
(1 row)

-- circular linestring --
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_StartPoint('CIRCULARSTRING(5 2,-3 1.999999, -2 1, -4 2, 5 2)'::geometry));
 st_astext
------------
 POINT(5 2)

See Also

ST_EndPoint, ST_PointN

Name

ST_Summary — Returns a text summary of the contents of the geometry.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_Summary(
g);

geometry g;

text fsfuncST_Summary(
g);

geography g;

Description

Returns a text summary of the contents of the geometry.

Flags shown square brackets after the geometry type have the following meaning:

M: has M ordinate

Z: has Z ordinate

B: has a cached bounding box

G: is geodetic (geography)

S: has spatial reference system

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Availability: 1.2.2

Enhanced: 2.0.0 added support for geography

Enhanced: 2.1.0 S flag to denote if has a known spatial reference system

Enhanced: 2.2.0 Added support for TIN and Curves

Examples

=# SELECT ST_Summary(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1)')) as geom,
        ST_Summary(ST_GeogFromText('POLYGON((0 0, 1 1, 1 2, 1 1, 0 0))')) geog;
            geom             |          geog
-----------------------------+--------------------------
 LineString[B] with 2 points | Polygon[BGS] with 1 rings
                             | ring 0 has 5 points
                             :
(1 row)

=# SELECT ST_Summary(ST_GeogFromText('LINESTRING(0 0 1, 1 1 1)')) As geog_line,
        ST_Summary(ST_GeomFromText('SRID=4326;POLYGON((0 0 1, 1 1 2, 1 2 3, 1 1 1, 0 0 1))')) As geom_poly;
;
           geog_line             |        geom_poly
-------------------------------- +--------------------------
 LineString[ZBGS] with 2 points | Polygon[ZBS] with 1 rings
                                :    ring 0 has 5 points
                                :
(1 row)

See Also

PostGIS_DropBBox, PostGIS_AddBBox, ST_Force3DM, ST_Force3DZ, ST_Force2D, geography

ST_IsValid, ST_IsValid, ST_IsValidReason, ST_IsValidDetail

Name

ST_X — Return the X coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_X(
a_point);

geometry a_point;

Description

Return the X coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

Note

If you want to get the max min x values of any geometry look at ST_XMin, ST_XMax functions.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 6.1.3

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_X(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1 2 3 4)'));
 st_x
------
	1
(1 row)

SELECT ST_Y(ST_Centroid(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3 4, 1 1 1 1)')));
 st_y
------
  1.5
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Centroid, ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_M, ST_XMax, ST_XMin, ST_Y, ST_Z

Name

ST_XMax — Returns X maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_XMax(
aGeomorBox2DorBox3D);

box3d aGeomorBox2DorBox3D;

Description

Returns X maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Note

Although this function is only defined for box3d, it will work for box2d and geometry because of the auto-casting behavior defined for geometries and box2d. However you can not feed it a geometry or box2d text representation, since that will not auto-cast.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_XMax('BOX3D(1 2 3, 4 5 6)');
st_xmax
-------
4

SELECT ST_XMax(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 3 4, 5 6 7)'));
st_xmax
-------
5

SELECT ST_XMax(CAST('BOX(-3 2, 3 4)' As box2d));
st_xmax
-------
3
--Observe THIS DOES NOT WORK because it will try to autocast the string representation to a BOX3D
SELECT ST_XMax('LINESTRING(1 3, 5 6)');

--ERROR:  BOX3D parser - doesn't start with BOX3D(

SELECT ST_XMax(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415 1,220227 150505 2,220227 150406 3)'));
st_xmax
--------
220288.248780547

See Also

ST_XMin, ST_YMax, ST_YMin, ST_ZMax, ST_ZMin

Name

ST_XMin — Returns X minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_XMin(
aGeomorBox2DorBox3D);

box3d aGeomorBox2DorBox3D;

Description

Returns X minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Note

Although this function is only defined for box3d, it will work for box2d and geometry because of the auto-casting behavior defined for geometries and box2d. However you can not feed it a geometry or box2d text representation, since that will not auto-cast.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_XMin('BOX3D(1 2 3, 4 5 6)');
st_xmin
-------
1

SELECT ST_XMin(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 3 4, 5 6 7)'));
st_xmin
-------
1

SELECT ST_XMin(CAST('BOX(-3 2, 3 4)' As box2d));
st_xmin
-------
-3
--Observe THIS DOES NOT WORK because it will try to autocast the string representation to a BOX3D
SELECT ST_XMin('LINESTRING(1 3, 5 6)');

--ERROR:  BOX3D parser - doesn't start with BOX3D(

SELECT ST_XMin(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415 1,220227 150505 2,220227 150406 3)'));
st_xmin
--------
220186.995121892

See Also

ST_XMax, ST_YMax, ST_YMin, ST_ZMax, ST_ZMin

Name

ST_Y — Return the Y coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Y(
a_point);

geometry a_point;

Description

Return the Y coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 6.1.4

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_Y(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1 2 3 4)'));
 st_y
------
	2
(1 row)

SELECT ST_Y(ST_Centroid(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3 4, 1 1 1 1)')));
 st_y
------
  1.5
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Centroid, ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_M, ST_X, ST_YMax, ST_YMin, ST_Z

Name

ST_YMax — Returns Y maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_YMax(
aGeomorBox2DorBox3D);

box3d aGeomorBox2DorBox3D;

Description

Returns Y maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Note

Although this function is only defined for box3d, it will work for box2d and geometry because of the auto-casting behavior defined for geometries and box2d. However you can not feed it a geometry or box2d text representation, since that will not auto-cast.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_YMax('BOX3D(1 2 3, 4 5 6)');
st_ymax
-------
5

SELECT ST_YMax(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 3 4, 5 6 7)'));
st_ymax
-------
6

SELECT ST_YMax(CAST('BOX(-3 2, 3 4)' As box2d));
st_ymax
-------
4
--Observe THIS DOES NOT WORK because it will try to autocast the string representation to a BOX3D
SELECT ST_YMax('LINESTRING(1 3, 5 6)');

--ERROR:  BOX3D parser - doesn't start with BOX3D(

SELECT ST_YMax(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415 1,220227 150505 2,220227 150406 3)'));
st_ymax
--------
150506.126829327

See Also

ST_XMin, ST_XMax, ST_YMin, ST_ZMax, ST_ZMin

Name

ST_YMin — Returns Y minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_YMin(
aGeomorBox2DorBox3D);

box3d aGeomorBox2DorBox3D;

Description

Returns Y minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Note

Although this function is only defined for box3d, it will work for box2d and geometry because of the auto-casting behavior defined for geometries and box2d. However you can not feed it a geometry or box2d text representation, since that will not auto-cast.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_YMin('BOX3D(1 2 3, 4 5 6)');
st_ymin
-------
2

SELECT ST_YMin(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 3 4, 5 6 7)'));
st_ymin
-------
3

SELECT ST_YMin(CAST('BOX(-3 2, 3 4)' As box2d));
st_ymin
-------
2
--Observe THIS DOES NOT WORK because it will try to autocast the string representation to a BOX3D
SELECT ST_YMin('LINESTRING(1 3, 5 6)');

--ERROR:  BOX3D parser - doesn't start with BOX3D(

SELECT ST_YMin(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415 1,220227 150505 2,220227 150406 3)'));
st_ymin
--------
150406

See Also

ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_XMin, ST_XMax, ST_YMax, ST_ZMax, ST_ZMin

Name

ST_Z — Return the Z coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Z(
a_point);

geometry a_point;

Description

Return the Z coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_Z(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1 2 3 4)'));
 st_z
------
	3
(1 row)

See Also

ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_M, ST_X, ST_Y, ST_ZMax, ST_ZMin

Name

ST_ZMax — Returns Z minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_ZMax(
aGeomorBox2DorBox3D);

box3d aGeomorBox2DorBox3D;

Description

Returns Z maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Note

Although this function is only defined for box3d, it will work for box2d and geometry because of the auto-casting behavior defined for geometries and box2d. However you can not feed it a geometry or box2d text representation, since that will not auto-cast.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_ZMax('BOX3D(1 2 3, 4 5 6)');
st_zmax
-------
6

SELECT ST_ZMax(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 3 4, 5 6 7)'));
st_zmax
-------
7

SELECT ST_ZMax('BOX3D(-3 2 1, 3 4 1)' );
st_zmax
-------
1
--Observe THIS DOES NOT WORK because it will try to autocast the string representation to a BOX3D
SELECT ST_ZMax('LINESTRING(1 3 4, 5 6 7)');

--ERROR:  BOX3D parser - doesn't start with BOX3D(

SELECT ST_ZMax(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415 1,220227 150505 2,220227 150406 3)'));
st_zmax
--------
3

See Also

ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_XMin, ST_XMax, ST_YMax, ST_YMin, ST_ZMax

Name

ST_Zmflag — Returns ZM (dimension semantic) flag of the geometries as a small int. Values are: 0=2d, 1=3dm, 2=3dz, 3=4d.

Synopsis

smallint fsfuncST_Zmflag(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns ZM (dimension semantic) flag of the geometries as a small int. Values are: 0=2d, 1=3dm, 2=3dz, 3=4d.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_Zmflag(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)'));
 st_zmflag
-----------
		 0

SELECT ST_Zmflag(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRINGM(1 2 3, 3 4 3)'));
 st_zmflag
-----------
		 1

SELECT ST_Zmflag(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(1 2 3, 3 4 3, 5 6 3)'));
 st_zmflag
-----------
		 2
SELECT ST_Zmflag(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1 2 3 4)'));
 st_zmflag
-----------
		 3

See Also

ST_CoordDim, ST_NDims, ST_Dimension

Name

ST_ZMin — Returns Z minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_ZMin(
aGeomorBox2DorBox3D);

box3d aGeomorBox2DorBox3D;

Description

Returns Z minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

Note

Although this function is only defined for box3d, it will work for box2d and geometry because of the auto-casting behavior defined for geometries and box2d. However you can not feed it a geometry or box2d text representation, since that will not auto-cast.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_ZMin('BOX3D(1 2 3, 4 5 6)');
st_zmin
-------
3

SELECT ST_ZMin(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 3 4, 5 6 7)'));
st_zmin
-------
4

SELECT ST_ZMin('BOX3D(-3 2 1, 3 4 1)' );
st_zmin
-------
1
--Observe THIS DOES NOT WORK because it will try to autocast the string representation to a BOX3D
SELECT ST_ZMin('LINESTRING(1 3 4, 5 6 7)');

--ERROR:  BOX3D parser - doesn't start with BOX3D(

SELECT ST_ZMin(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415 1,220227 150505 2,220227 150406 3)'));
st_zmin
--------
1

See Also

ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_GeomFromText, ST_XMin, ST_XMax, ST_YMax, ST_YMin, ST_ZMax

Geometry Editors

Name

ST_AddPoint — Adds a point to a LineString before point <position> (0-based index).

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_AddPoint( | linestring, |
| point); |

geometry linestring;
geometry point;

geometry fsfuncST_AddPoint( | linestring, |
| point, |
| position); |

geometry linestring;
geometry point;
integer position;

Description

Adds a point to a LineString before point <position> (0-based index). Third parameter can be omitted or set to -1 for appending.

Availability: 1.1.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

		--guarantee all linestrings in a table are closed
		--by adding the start point of each linestring to the end of the line string
		--only for those that are not closed
		UPDATE sometable
		SET the_geom = ST_AddPoint(the_geom, ST_StartPoint(the_geom))
		FROM sometable
		WHERE ST_IsClosed(the_geom) = false;

		--Adding point to a 3-d line
		SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_AddPoint(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(0 0 1, 1 1 1)'), ST_MakePoint(1, 2, 3)));

		--result
		st_asewkt
		----------
		LINESTRING(0 0 1,1 1 1,1 2 3)

See Also

ST_RemovePoint, ST_SetPoint

Name

ST_Affine — Applies a 3d affine transformation to the geometry to do things like translate, rotate, scale in one step.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Affine( | geomA, |
| a, |
| b, |
| c, |
| d, |
| e, |
| f, |
| g, |
| h, |
| i, |
| xoff, |
| yoff, |
| zoff); |

geometry geomA;
float a;
float b;
float c;
float d;
float e;
float f;
float g;
float h;
float i;
float xoff;
float yoff;
float zoff;

geometry fsfuncST_Affine( | geomA, |
| a, |
| b, |
| d, |
| e, |
| xoff, |
| yoff); |

geometry geomA;
float a;
float b;
float d;
float e;
float xoff;
float yoff;

Description

Applies a 3d affine transformation to the geometry to do things like translate, rotate, scale in one step.

Version 1: The call

ST_Affine(geom, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, xoff, yoff, zoff)

represents the transformation matrix

/ a  b  c  xoff \
| d  e  f  yoff |
| g  h  i  zoff |
\ 0  0  0     1 /

and the vertices are transformed as follows:

x' = a*x + b*y + c*z + xoff
y' = d*x + e*y + f*z + yoff
z' = g*x + h*y + i*z + zoff

All of the translate / scale functions below are expressed via such an affine transformation.

Version 2: Applies a 2d affine transformation to the geometry. The call

ST_Affine(geom, a, b, d, e, xoff, yoff)

represents the transformation matrix

/  a  b  0  xoff  \       /  a  b  xoff  \
|  d  e  0  yoff  | rsp.  |  d  e  yoff  |
|  0  0  1     0  |       \  0  0     1  /
\  0  0  0     1  /

and the vertices are transformed as follows:

x' = a*x + b*y + xoff
y' = d*x + e*y + yoff
z' = z

This method is a subcase of the 3D method above.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Availability: 1.1.2. Name changed from Affine to ST_Affine in 1.2.2

Note

Prior to 1.3.4, this function crashes if used with geometries that contain CURVES. This is fixed in 1.3.4+

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

--Rotate a 3d line 180 degrees about the z axis.  Note this is long-hand for doing ST_Rotate();
 SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Affine(the_geom,  cos(pi()), -sin(pi()), 0,  sin(pi()), cos(pi()), 0,  0, 0, 1,  0, 0, 0)) As using_affine,
	 ST_AsEWKT(ST_Rotate(the_geom, pi())) As using_rotate
	FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 1 4 3)') As the_geom) As foo;
        using_affine         |        using_rotate
-----------------------------+-----------------------------
 LINESTRING(-1 -2 3,-1 -4 3) | LINESTRING(-1 -2 3,-1 -4 3)
(1 row)

--Rotate a 3d line 180 degrees in both the x and z axis
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Affine(the_geom, cos(pi()), -sin(pi()), 0, sin(pi()), cos(pi()), -sin(pi()), 0, sin(pi()), cos(pi()), 0, 0, 0))
	FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 1 4 3)') As the_geom) As foo;
           st_asewkt
-------------------------------
 LINESTRING(-1 -2 -3,-1 -4 -3)
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Rotate, ST_Scale, ST_Translate, ST_TransScale

Name

ST_Force2D — Forces the geometries into a "2-dimensional mode" so that all output representations will only have the X and Y coordinates.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Force2D(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Forces the geometries into a "2-dimensional mode" so that all output representations will only have the X and Y coordinates. This is useful for force OGC-compliant output (since OGC only specifies 2-D geometries).

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_2D.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Force2D(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(1 1 2, 2 3 2, 4 5 2, 6 7 2, 5 6 2)')));
		st_asewkt
-------------------------------------
CIRCULARSTRING(1 1,2 3,4 5,6 7,5 6)

SELECT  ST_AsEWKT(ST_Force2D('POLYGON((0 0 2,0 5 2,5 0 2,0 0 2),(1 1 2,3 1 2,1 3 2,1 1 2))'));

				  st_asewkt
----------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((0 0,0 5,5 0,0 0),(1 1,3 1,1 3,1 1))

See Also

ST_Force3D

Name

ST_Force3D — Forces the geometries into XYZ mode. This is an alias for ST_Force3DZ.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Force3D(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Forces the geometries into XYZ mode. This is an alias for ST_Force_3DZ. If a geometry has no Z component, then a 0 Z coordinate is tacked on.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_3D.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

		--Nothing happens to an already 3D geometry
		SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Force3D(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(1 1 2, 2 3 2, 4 5 2, 6 7 2, 5 6 2)')));
				   st_asewkt
-----------------------------------------------
 CIRCULARSTRING(1 1 2,2 3 2,4 5 2,6 7 2,5 6 2)

SELECT  ST_AsEWKT(ST_Force3D('POLYGON((0 0,0 5,5 0,0 0),(1 1,3 1,1 3,1 1))'));

						 st_asewkt
--------------------------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((0 0 0,0 5 0,5 0 0,0 0 0),(1 1 0,3 1 0,1 3 0,1 1 0))

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_Force2D, ST_Force3DM, ST_Force3DZ

Name

ST_Force3DZ — Forces the geometries into XYZ mode. This is a synonym for ST_Force3D.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Force3DZ(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Forces the geometries into XYZ mode. This is a synonym for ST_Force3DZ. If a geometry has no Z component, then a 0 Z coordinate is tacked on.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_3DZ.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

--Nothing happens to an already 3D geometry
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Force3DZ(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(1 1 2, 2 3 2, 4 5 2, 6 7 2, 5 6 2)')));
				   st_asewkt
-----------------------------------------------
 CIRCULARSTRING(1 1 2,2 3 2,4 5 2,6 7 2,5 6 2)

SELECT  ST_AsEWKT(ST_Force3DZ('POLYGON((0 0,0 5,5 0,0 0),(1 1,3 1,1 3,1 1))'));

						 st_asewkt
--------------------------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((0 0 0,0 5 0,5 0 0,0 0 0),(1 1 0,3 1 0,1 3 0,1 1 0))

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_Force2D, ST_Force3DM, ST_Force3D

Name

ST_Force3DM — Forces the geometries into XYM mode.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Force3DM(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Forces the geometries into XYM mode. If a geometry has no M component, then a 0 M coordinate is tacked on. If it has a Z component, then Z is removed

Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_3DM.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

--Nothing happens to an already 3D geometry
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Force3DM(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(1 1 2, 2 3 2, 4 5 2, 6 7 2, 5 6 2)')));
				   st_asewkt
------------------------------------------------
 CIRCULARSTRINGM(1 1 0,2 3 0,4 5 0,6 7 0,5 6 0)

SELECT  ST_AsEWKT(ST_Force3DM('POLYGON((0 0 1,0 5 1,5 0 1,0 0 1),(1 1 1,3 1 1,1 3 1,1 1 1))'));

						  st_asewkt
---------------------------------------------------------------
 POLYGONM((0 0 0,0 5 0,5 0 0,0 0 0),(1 1 0,3 1 0,1 3 0,1 1 0))

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_Force2D, ST_Force3DM, ST_Force3D, ST_GeomFromEWKT

Name

ST_Force4D — Forces the geometries into XYZM mode.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Force4D(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Forces the geometries into XYZM mode. 0 is tacked on for missing Z and M dimensions.

Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_4D.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

--Nothing happens to an already 3D geometry
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Force4D(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(1 1 2, 2 3 2, 4 5 2, 6 7 2, 5 6 2)')));
						st_asewkt
---------------------------------------------------------
 CIRCULARSTRING(1 1 2 0,2 3 2 0,4 5 2 0,6 7 2 0,5 6 2 0)

SELECT  ST_AsEWKT(ST_Force4D('MULTILINESTRINGM((0 0 1,0 5 2,5 0 3,0 0 4),(1 1 1,3 1 1,1 3 1,1 1 1))'));

									  st_asewkt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 MULTILINESTRING((0 0 0 1,0 5 0 2,5 0 0 3,0 0 0 4),(1 1 0 1,3 1 0 1,1 3 0 1,1 1 0 1))

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_Force2D, ST_Force3DM, ST_Force3D

Name

ST_ForceCollection — Converts the geometry into a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ForceCollection(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Converts the geometry into a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION. This is useful for simplifying the WKB representation.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Availability: 1.2.2, prior to 1.3.4 this function will crash with Curves. This is fixed in 1.3.4+

Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_Collection.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT  ST_AsEWKT(ST_ForceCollection('POLYGON((0 0 1,0 5 1,5 0 1,0 0 1),(1 1 1,3 1 1,1 3 1,1 1 1))'));

								   st_asewkt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POLYGON((0 0 1,0 5 1,5 0 1,0 0 1),(1 1 1,3 1 1,1 3 1,1 1 1)))

  SELECT ST_AsText(ST_ForceCollection('CIRCULARSTRING(220227 150406,2220227 150407,220227 150406)'));
								   st_astext
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(CIRCULARSTRING(220227 150406,2220227 150407,220227 150406))
(1 row)

-- POLYHEDRAL example --
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_ForceCollection('POLYHEDRALSURFACE(((0 0 0,0 0 1,0 1 1,0 1 0,0 0 0)),
 ((0 0 0,0 1 0,1 1 0,1 0 0,0 0 0)),
 ((0 0 0,1 0 0,1 0 1,0 0 1,0 0 0)),
 ((1 1 0,1 1 1,1 0 1,1 0 0,1 1 0)),
 ((0 1 0,0 1 1,1 1 1,1 1 0,0 1 0)),
 ((0 0 1,1 0 1,1 1 1,0 1 1,0 0 1)))'))

								   st_asewkt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(
  POLYGON((0 0 0,0 0 1,0 1 1,0 1 0,0 0 0)),
  POLYGON((0 0 0,0 1 0,1 1 0,1 0 0,0 0 0)),
  POLYGON((0 0 0,1 0 0,1 0 1,0 0 1,0 0 0)),
  POLYGON((1 1 0,1 1 1,1 0 1,1 0 0,1 1 0)),
  POLYGON((0 1 0,0 1 1,1 1 1,1 1 0,0 1 0)),
  POLYGON((0 0 1,1 0 1,1 1 1,0 1 1,0 0 1))
)

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_Force2D, ST_Force3DM, ST_Force3D, ST_GeomFromEWKT

Name

ST_ForceSFS — Forces the geometries to use SFS 1.1 geometry types only.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ForceSFS(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

geometry fsfuncST_ForceSFS( | geomA, |
| version); |

geometry geomA;
text version;

Description

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Name

ST_ForceRHR — Forces the orientation of the vertices in a polygon to follow the Right-Hand-Rule.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ForceRHR(
g);

geometry g;

Description

Forces the orientation of the vertices in a polygon to follow the Right-Hand-Rule. In GIS terminology, this means that the area that is bounded by the polygon is to the right of the boundary. In particular, the exterior ring is orientated in a clockwise direction and the interior rings in a counter-clockwise direction.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(
  ST_ForceRHR(
	'POLYGON((0 0 2, 5 0 2, 0 5 2, 0 0 2),(1 1 2, 1 3 2, 3 1 2, 1 1 2))'
  )
);
						  st_asewkt
--------------------------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((0 0 2,0 5 2,5 0 2,0 0 2),(1 1 2,3 1 2,1 3 2,1 1 2))
(1 row)

See Also

ST_BuildArea, ST_Polygonize, ST_Reverse

Name

ST_ForceCurve — Upcasts a geometry into its curved type, if applicable.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ForceCurve(
g);

geometry g;

Description

Turns a geometry into its curved representation, if applicable: lines become compoundcurves, multilines become multicurves polygons become curvepolygons multipolygons become multisurfaces. If the geometry input is already a curved representation returns back same as input.

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(
  ST_ForceCurve(
	'POLYGON((0 0 2, 5 0 2, 0 5 2, 0 0 2),(1 1 2, 1 3 2, 3 1 2, 1 1 2))'::geometry
  )
);
                              st_astext
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 CURVEPOLYGON Z ((0 0 2,5 0 2,0 5 2,0 0 2),(1 1 2,1 3 2,3 1 2,1 1 2))
(1 row)

See Also

ST_LineToCurve

Name

ST_LineMerge — Returns a (set of) LineString(s) formed by sewing together a MULTILINESTRING.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LineMerge(
amultilinestring);

geometry amultilinestring;

Description

Returns a (set of) LineString(s) formed by sewing together the constituent line work of a MULTILINESTRING.

Note

Only use with MULTILINESTRING/LINESTRINGs. If you feed a polygon or geometry collection into this function, it will return an empty GEOMETRYCOLLECTION

Availability: 1.1.0

Note

requires GEOS >= 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_LineMerge(
ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((-29 -27,-30 -29.7,-36 -31,-45 -33),(-45 -33,-46 -32))')
		)
);
st_astext
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINESTRING(-29 -27,-30 -29.7,-36 -31,-45 -33,-46 -32)
(1 row)

--If can't be merged - original MULTILINESTRING is returned
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_LineMerge(
ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((-29 -27,-30 -29.7,-36 -31,-45 -33),(-45.2 -33.2,-46 -32))')
)
);
st_astext
----------------
MULTILINESTRING((-45.2 -33.2,-46 -32),(-29 -27,-30 -29.7,-36 -31,-45 -33))

See Also

ST_Segmentize, ST_LineSubstring

Name

ST_CollectionExtract — Given a (multi)geometry, returns a (multi)geometry consisting only of elements of the specified type.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_CollectionExtract( | collection, |
| type); |

geometry collection;
integer type;

Description

Given a (multi)geometry, returns a (multi)geometry consisting only of elements of the specified type. Sub-geometries that are not the specified type are ignored. If there are no sub-geometries of the right type, an EMPTY geometry will be returned. Only points, lines and polygons are supported. Type numbers are 1 == POINT, 2 == LINESTRING, 3 == POLYGON.

Availability: 1.5.0

Note

Prior to 1.5.3 this function returned non-collection inputs untouched, no matter type. In 1.5.3 non-matching single geometries result in a NULL return. In of 2.0.0 every case of missing match results in a typed EMPTY return.

Warning

When specifying 3 == POLYGON a multipolygon is returned even when the edges are shared. This results in an invalid multipolygon for many cases such as applying this function on an ST_Split result.

Examples

-- Constants: 1 == POINT, 2 == LINESTRING, 3 == POLYGON
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_CollectionExtract(ST_GeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(0 0)))'),1));
st_astext
---------------
MULTIPOINT(0 0)
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_CollectionExtract(ST_GeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1)),LINESTRING(2 2, 3 3))'),2));
st_astext
---------------
MULTILINESTRING((0 0, 1 1), (2 2, 3 3))
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Multi, ST_Dump, ST_CollectionHomogenize

Name

ST_CollectionHomogenize — Given a geometry collection, returns the "simplest" representation of the contents.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_CollectionHomogenize(
collection);

geometry collection;

Description

Given a geometry collection, returns the "simplest" representation of the contents. Singletons will be returned as singletons. Collections that are homogeneous will be returned as the appropriate multi-type.

Warning

When specifying 3 == POLYGON a multipolygon is returned even when the edges are shared. This results in an invalid multipolygon for many cases such as applying this function on an ST_Split result.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

  SELECT ST_AsText(ST_CollectionHomogenize('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(0 0))'));

	st_astext
	------------
	 POINT(0 0)
	(1 row)

  SELECT ST_AsText(ST_CollectionHomogenize('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(0 0),POINT(1 1))'));

	st_astext
	---------------------
	 MULTIPOINT(0 0,1 1)
	(1 row)

See Also

ST_Multi, ST_CollectionExtract

Name

ST_Multi — Returns the geometry as a MULTI* geometry. If the geometry is already a MULTI*, it is returned unchanged.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Multi(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Returns the geometry as a MULTI* geometry. If the geometry is already a MULTI*, it is returned unchanged.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Multi(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((743238 2967416,743238 2967450,
			743265 2967450,743265.625 2967416,743238 2967416))')));
			st_astext
			--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
			MULTIPOLYGON(((743238 2967416,743238 2967450,743265 2967450,743265.625 2967416,
			743238 2967416)))
			(1 row)

See Also

ST_AsText

Name

ST_RemovePoint — Removes point from a linestring. Offset is 0-based.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_RemovePoint( | linestring, |
| offset); |

geometry linestring;
integer offset;

Description

Removes point from a linestring. Useful for turning a closed ring into an open line string

Availability: 1.1.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

--guarantee no LINESTRINGS are closed
--by removing the end point.  The below assumes the_geom is of type LINESTRING
UPDATE sometable
	SET the_geom = ST_RemovePoint(the_geom, ST_NPoints(the_geom) - 1)
	FROM sometable
	WHERE ST_IsClosed(the_geom) = true;

See Also

ST_AddPoint, ST_NPoints, ST_NumPoints

Name

ST_Reverse — Returns the geometry with vertex order reversed.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Reverse(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Can be used on any geometry and reverses the order of the vertexes.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(the_geom) as line, ST_AsText(ST_Reverse(the_geom)) As reverseline
FROM
(SELECT ST_MakeLine(ST_MakePoint(1,2),
		ST_MakePoint(1,10)) As the_geom) as foo;
--result
		line         |     reverseline
---------------------+----------------------
LINESTRING(1 2,1 10) | LINESTRING(1 10,1 2)

Name

ST_Rotate — Rotate a geometry rotRadians counter-clockwise about an origin.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Rotate( | geomA, |
| rotRadians); |

geometry geomA;
float rotRadians;

geometry fsfuncST_Rotate( | geomA, |
| rotRadians, |
| x0, |
| y0); |

geometry geomA;
float rotRadians;
float x0;
float y0;

geometry fsfuncST_Rotate( | geomA, |
| rotRadians, |
| pointOrigin); |

geometry geomA;
float rotRadians;
geometry pointOrigin;

Description

Rotates geometry rotRadians counter-clockwise about the origin. The rotation origin can be specified either as a POINT geometry, or as x and y coordinates. If the origin is not specified, the geometry is rotated about POINT(0 0).

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 additional parameters for specifying the origin of rotation were added.

Availability: 1.1.2. Name changed from Rotate to ST_Rotate in 1.2.2

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

--Rotate 180 degrees
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Rotate('LINESTRING (50 160, 50 50, 100 50)', pi()));
               st_asewkt
---------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(-50 -160,-50 -50,-100 -50)
(1 row)

--Rotate 30 degrees counter-clockwise at x=50, y=160
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Rotate('LINESTRING (50 160, 50 50, 100 50)', pi()/6, 50, 160));
                                 st_asewkt
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(50 160,105 64.7372055837117,148.301270189222 89.7372055837117)
(1 row)

--Rotate 60 degrees clockwise from centroid
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Rotate(geom, -pi()/3, ST_Centroid(geom)))
FROM (SELECT 'LINESTRING (50 160, 50 50, 100 50)'::geometry AS geom) AS foo;
                           st_asewkt
--------------------------------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(116.4225 130.6721,21.1597 75.6721,46.1597 32.3708)
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Affine, ST_RotateX, ST_RotateY, ST_RotateZ

Name

ST_RotateX — Rotate a geometry rotRadians about the X axis.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_RotateX( | geomA, |
| rotRadians); |

geometry geomA;
float rotRadians;

Description

Rotate a geometry geomA - rotRadians about the X axis.

Note

ST_RotateX(geomA, rotRadians) is short-hand for ST_Affine(geomA, 1, 0, 0, 0, cos(rotRadians), -sin(rotRadians), 0, sin(rotRadians), cos(rotRadians), 0, 0, 0).

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Availability: 1.1.2. Name changed from RotateX to ST_RotateX in 1.2.2

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

--Rotate a line 90 degrees along x-axis
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_RotateX(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 1 1 1)'), pi()/2));
		 st_asewkt
---------------------------
 LINESTRING(1 -3 2,1 -1 1)

See Also

ST_Affine, ST_RotateY, ST_RotateZ

Name

ST_RotateY — Rotate a geometry rotRadians about the Y axis.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_RotateY( | geomA, |
| rotRadians); |

geometry geomA;
float rotRadians;

Description

Rotate a geometry geomA - rotRadians about the y axis.

Note

ST_RotateY(geomA, rotRadians) is short-hand for ST_Affine(geomA, cos(rotRadians), 0, sin(rotRadians), 0, 1, 0, -sin(rotRadians), 0, cos(rotRadians), 0, 0, 0).

Availability: 1.1.2. Name changed from RotateY to ST_RotateY in 1.2.2

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

--Rotate a line 90 degrees along y-axis
 SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_RotateY(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 1 1 1)'), pi()/2));
		 st_asewkt
---------------------------
 LINESTRING(3 2 -1,1 1 -1)

See Also

ST_Affine, ST_RotateX, ST_RotateZ

Name

ST_RotateZ — Rotate a geometry rotRadians about the Z axis.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_RotateZ( | geomA, |
| rotRadians); |

geometry geomA;
float rotRadians;

Description

Rotate a geometry geomA - rotRadians about the Z axis.

Note

This is a synonym for ST_Rotate

Note

ST_RotateZ(geomA, rotRadians) is short-hand for SELECT ST_Affine(geomA, cos(rotRadians), -sin(rotRadians), 0, sin(rotRadians), cos(rotRadians), 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0).

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Availability: 1.1.2. Name changed from RotateZ to ST_RotateZ in 1.2.2

Note

Prior to 1.3.4, this function crashes if used with geometries that contain CURVES. This is fixed in 1.3.4+

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

--Rotate a line 90 degrees along z-axis
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_RotateZ(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 1 1 1)'), pi()/2));
		 st_asewkt
---------------------------
 LINESTRING(-2 1 3,-1 1 1)

 --Rotate a curved circle around z-axis
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_RotateZ(the_geom, pi()/2))
FROM (SELECT ST_LineToCurve(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(234 567)'), 3)) As the_geom) As foo;

													   st_asewkt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 CURVEPOLYGON(CIRCULARSTRING(-567 237,-564.87867965644 236.12132034356,-564 234,-569.12132034356 231.87867965644,-567 237))

See Also

ST_Affine, ST_RotateX, ST_RotateY

Name

ST_Scale — Scales the geometry to a new size by multiplying the ordinates with the parameters. Ie: ST_Scale(geom, Xfactor, Yfactor, Zfactor).

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Scale( | geomA, |
| XFactor, |
| YFactor, |
| ZFactor); |

geometry geomA;
float XFactor;
float YFactor;
float ZFactor;

geometry fsfuncST_Scale( | geomA, |
| XFactor, |
| YFactor); |

geometry geomA;
float XFactor;
float YFactor;

geometry fsfuncST_Scale( | geom, |
| factor); |

geometry geom;
geometry factor;

Description

Scales the geometry to a new size by multiplying the ordinates with the corresponding factor parameters.

The version taking a geometry as the factor parameter allows passing a 2d, 3dm, 3dz or 4d point to set scaling factor for all supported dimensions. Missing dimensions in the factor point are equivalent to no scaling the corresponding dimension.

Note

Prior to 1.3.4, this function crashes if used with geometries that contain CURVES. This is fixed in 1.3.4+

Availability: 1.1.0.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Enhanced: 2.2.0 support for scaling all dimension (geometry parameter) was introduced.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Description This function supports M coordinates.

Examples

--Version 1: scale X, Y, Z
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Scale(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 1 1 1)'), 0.5, 0.75, 0.8));
			  st_asewkt
--------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(0.5 1.5 2.4,0.5 0.75 0.8)

--Version 2: Scale X Y
 SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Scale(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 1 1 1)'), 0.5, 0.75));
			st_asewkt
----------------------------------
 LINESTRING(0.5 1.5 3,0.5 0.75 1)

--Version 3: Scale X Y Z M
 SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Scale(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3 4, 1 1 1 1)'),
   ST_MakePoint(0.5, 0.75, 2, -1)));
			       st_asewkt
----------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(0.5 1.5 6 -4,0.5 0.75 2 -1)

See Also

ST_Affine, ST_TransScale

Name

ST_Segmentize — Return a modified geometry/geography having no segment longer than the given distance. Distance computation is performed in 2d only. For geometry, length units are in units of spatial reference. For geography, units are in meters.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Segmentize( | geom, |
| max_segment_length); |

geometry geom;
float max_segment_length;

geography fsfuncST_Segmentize( | geog, |
| max_segment_length); |

geography geog;
float max_segment_length;

Description

Returns a modified geometry having no segment longer than the given max_segment_length. Distance computation is performed in 2d only. For geometry, length units are in units of spatial reference. For geography, units are in meters.

Availability: 1.2.2

Enhanced: 2.1.0 support for geography was introduced.

Changed: 2.1.0 As a result of the introduction of geography support: The construct SELECT ST_Segmentize('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)',0.5); will result in ambiguous function error. You need to have properly typed object e.g. a geometry/geography column, use ST_GeomFromText, ST_GeogFromText or SELECT ST_Segmentize('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)'::geometry,0.5);

Note

This will only increase segments. It will not lengthen segments shorter than max length

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Segmentize(
ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((-29 -27,-30 -29.7,-36 -31,-45 -33),(-45 -33,-46 -32))')
		,5)
);
st_astext
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MULTILINESTRING((-29 -27,-30 -29.7,-34.886615700134 -30.758766735029,-36 -31,
-40.8809353009198 -32.0846522890933,-45 -33),
(-45 -33,-46 -32))
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Segmentize(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((-29 28, -30 40, -29 28))'),10));
st_astext
-----------------------
POLYGON((-29 28,-29.8304547985374 37.9654575824488,-30 40,-29.1695452014626 30.0345424175512,-29 28))
(1 row)

See Also

ST_LineSubstring

Name

ST_SetPoint — Replace point N of linestring with given point. Index is 0-based.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_SetPoint( | linestring, |
| zerobasedposition, |
| point); |

geometry linestring;
integer zerobasedposition;
geometry point;

Description

Replace point N of linestring with given point. Index is 0-based. This is especially useful in triggers when trying to maintain relationship of joints when one vertex moves.

Availability: 1.1.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

--Change first point in line string from -1 3 to -1 1
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_SetPoint('LINESTRING(-1 2,-1 3)', 0, 'POINT(-1 1)'));
	   st_astext
-----------------------
 LINESTRING(-1 1,-1 3)

---Change last point in a line string (lets play with 3d linestring this time)
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_SetPoint(foo.the_geom, ST_NumPoints(foo.the_geom) - 1, ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(-1 1 3)')))
FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(-1 2 3,-1 3 4, 5 6 7)') As the_geom) As foo;
	   st_asewkt
-----------------------
LINESTRING(-1 2 3,-1 3 4,-1 1 3)

See Also

ST_AddPoint, ST_NPoints, ST_NumPoints, ST_PointN, ST_RemovePoint

Name

ST_SetSRID — Sets the SRID on a geometry to a particular integer value.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_SetSRID( | geom, |
| srid); |

geometry geom;
integer srid;

Description

Sets the SRID on a geometry to a particular integer value. Useful in constructing bounding boxes for queries.

Note

This function does not transform the geometry coordinates in any way - it simply sets the meta data defining the spatial reference system the geometry is assumed to be in. Use ST_Transform if you want to transform the geometry into a new projection.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

-- Mark a point as WGS 84 long lat --

SELECT ST_SetSRID(ST_Point(-123.365556, 48.428611),4326) As wgs84long_lat;
-- the ewkt representation (wrap with ST_AsEWKT) -
SRID=4326;POINT(-123.365556 48.428611)

-- Mark a point as WGS 84 long lat and then transform to web mercator (Spherical Mercator) --

SELECT ST_Transform(ST_SetSRID(ST_Point(-123.365556, 48.428611),4326),3785) As spere_merc;
-- the ewkt representation (wrap with ST_AsEWKT) -
SRID=3785;POINT(-13732990.8753491 6178458.96425423)

See Also

the section called “The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems”, ST_AsEWKT, ST_Point, ST_SRID, ST_Transform, UpdateGeometrySRID

Name

ST_SnapToGrid — Snap all points of the input geometry to a regular grid.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_SnapToGrid( | geomA, |
| originX, |
| originY, |
| sizeX, |
| sizeY); |

geometry geomA;
float originX;
float originY;
float sizeX;
float sizeY;

geometry fsfuncST_SnapToGrid( | geomA, |
| sizeX, |
| sizeY); |

geometry geomA;
float sizeX;
float sizeY;

geometry fsfuncST_SnapToGrid( | geomA, |
| size); |

geometry geomA;
float size;

geometry fsfuncST_SnapToGrid( | geomA, |
| pointOrigin, |
| sizeX, |
| sizeY, |
| sizeZ, |
| sizeM); |

geometry geomA;
geometry pointOrigin;
float sizeX;
float sizeY;
float sizeZ;
float sizeM;

Description

Variant 1,2,3: Snap all points of the input geometry to the grid defined by its origin and cell size. Remove consecutive points falling on the same cell, eventually returning NULL if output points are not enough to define a geometry of the given type. Collapsed geometries in a collection are stripped from it. Useful for reducing precision.

Variant 4: Introduced 1.1.0 - Snap all points of the input geometry to the grid defined by its origin (the second argument, must be a point) and cell sizes. Specify 0 as size for any dimension you don't want to snap to a grid.

Note

The returned geometry might lose its simplicity (see ST_IsSimple).

Note

Before release 1.1.0 this function always returned a 2d geometry. Starting at 1.1.0 the returned geometry will have same dimensionality as the input one with higher dimension values untouched. Use the version taking a second geometry argument to define all grid dimensions.

Availability: 1.0.0RC1

Availability: 1.1.0 - Z and M support

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

--Snap your geometries to a precision grid of 10^-3
UPDATE mytable
   SET the_geom = ST_SnapToGrid(the_geom, 0.001);

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_SnapToGrid(
			ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1.1115678 2.123, 4.111111 3.2374897, 4.11112 3.23748667)'),
			0.001)
		);
			  st_astext
-------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(1.112 2.123,4.111 3.237)
 --Snap a 4d geometry
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_SnapToGrid(
	ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(-1.1115678 2.123 2.3456 1.11111,
		4.111111 3.2374897 3.1234 1.1111, -1.11111112 2.123 2.3456 1.1111112)'),
 ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1.12 2.22 3.2 4.4444)'),
 0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 0.01) );
								  st_asewkt
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(-1.08 2.12 2.3 1.1144,4.12 3.22 3.1 1.1144,-1.08 2.12 2.3 1.1144)

--With a 4d geometry - the ST_SnapToGrid(geom,size) only touches x and y coords but keeps m and z the same
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_SnapToGrid(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(-1.1115678 2.123 3 2.3456,
		4.111111 3.2374897 3.1234 1.1111)'),
	   0.01)      );
						st_asewkt
---------------------------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(-1.11 2.12 3 2.3456,4.11 3.24 3.1234 1.1111)

See Also

ST_Snap, ST_AsEWKT, ST_AsText, ST_GeomFromText, ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_Simplify

Name

ST_Snap — Snap segments and vertices of input geometry to vertices of a reference geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Snap( | input, |
| reference, |
| tolerance); |

geometry input;
geometry reference;
float tolerance;

Description

Snaps the vertices and segments of a geometry another Geometry's vertices. A snap distance tolerance is used to control where snapping is performed.

Snapping one geometry to another can improve robustness for overlay operations by eliminating nearly-coincident edges (which cause problems during noding and intersection calculation).

Too much snapping can result in invalid topology being created, so the number and location of snapped vertices is decided using heuristics to determine when it is safe to snap. This can result in some potential snaps being omitted, however.

Note

The returned geometry might lose its simplicity (see ST_IsSimple) and validity (see ST_IsValid).

Availability: 2.0.0 requires GEOS >= 3.3.0.

Examples

A multipolygon shown with a linestring (before any snapping)

A multipolygon snapped to linestring to tolerance: 1.01 of distance. The new multipolygon is shown with reference linestring

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Snap(poly,line, ST_Distance(poly,line)*1.01)) AS polysnapped
FROM (SELECT
   ST_GeomFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(
     ((26 125, 26 200, 126 200, 126 125, 26 125 ),
      ( 51 150, 101 150, 76 175, 51 150 )),
      (( 151 100, 151 200, 176 175, 151 100 )))') As poly,
       ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING (5 107, 54 84, 101 100)') As line

	) As foo;

                             polysnapped
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 MULTIPOLYGON(((26 125,26 200,126 200,126 125,101 100,26 125),
 (51 150,101 150,76 175,51 150)),((151 100,151 200,176 175,151 100)))

A multipolygon snapped to linestring to tolerance: 1.25 of distance. The new multipolygon is shown with reference linestring

SELECT ST_AsText(
    ST_Snap(poly,line, ST_Distance(poly,line)*1.25)
  ) AS polysnapped
FROM (SELECT
  ST_GeomFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(
    (( 26 125, 26 200, 126 200, 126 125, 26 125 ),
      ( 51 150, 101 150, 76 175, 51 150 )),
      (( 151 100, 151 200, 176 175, 151 100 )))') As poly,
       ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING (5 107, 54 84, 101 100)') As line

	) As foo;

                             polysnapped
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MULTIPOLYGON(((5 107,26 200,126 200,126 125,101 100,54 84,5 107),
(51 150,101 150,76 175,51 150)),((151 100,151 200,176 175,151 100)))

The linestring snapped to the original multipolygon at tolerance 1.01 of distance. The new linestring is shown with reference multipolygon

SELECT ST_AsText(
   ST_Snap(line, poly, ST_Distance(poly,line)*1.01)
  ) AS linesnapped
FROM (SELECT
  ST_GeomFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(
     ((26 125, 26 200, 126 200, 126 125, 26 125),
      (51 150, 101 150, 76 175, 51 150 )),
      ((151 100, 151 200, 176 175, 151 100)))') As poly,
       ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING (5 107, 54 84, 101 100)') As line
	) As foo;

              linesnapped
----------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(5 107,26 125,54 84,101 100)

The linestring snapped to the original multipolygon at tolerance 1.25 of distance. The new linestring is shown with reference multipolygon

SELECT ST_AsText(
 ST_Snap(line, poly, ST_Distance(poly,line)*1.25)
  ) AS linesnapped
FROM (SELECT
  ST_GeomFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(
     (( 26 125, 26 200, 126 200, 126 125, 26 125 ),
      (51 150, 101 150, 76 175, 51 150 )),
      ((151 100, 151 200, 176 175, 151 100 )))') As poly,
       ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING (5 107, 54 84, 101 100)') As line
	) As foo;
              linesnapped
---------------------------------------
LINESTRING(26 125,54 84,101 100)

See Also

ST_SnapToGrid

Name

ST_Transform — Returns a new geometry with its coordinates transformed to the SRID referenced by the integer parameter.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Transform( | g1, |
| srid); |

geometry g1;
integer srid;

Description

Returns a new geometry with its coordinates transformed to spatial reference system referenced by the SRID integer parameter. The destination SRID must exist in the SPATIAL_REF_SYS table.

ST_Transform is often confused with ST_SetSRID(). ST_Transform actually changes the coordinates of a geometry from one spatial reference system to another, while ST_SetSRID() simply changes the SRID identifier of the geometry

Note

Requires PostGIS be compiled with Proj support. Use PostGIS_Full_Version to confirm you have proj support compiled in.

Note

If using more than one transformation, it is useful to have a functional index on the commonly used transformations to take advantage of index usage.

Note

Prior to 1.3.4, this function crashes if used with geometries that contain CURVES. This is fixed in 1.3.4+

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.6

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Examples

Change Mass state plane US feet geometry to WGS 84 long lat

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((743238 2967416,743238 2967450,
	743265 2967450,743265.625 2967416,743238 2967416))',2249),4326)) As wgs_geom;

 wgs_geom
---------------------------
 POLYGON((-71.1776848522251 42.3902896512902,-71.1776843766326 42.3903829478009,
-71.1775844305465 42.3903826677917,-71.1775825927231 42.3902893647987,-71.177684
8522251 42.3902896512902));
(1 row)

--3D Circular String example
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=2249;CIRCULARSTRING(743238 2967416 1,743238 2967450 2,743265 2967450 3,743265.625 2967416 3,743238 2967416 4)'),4326));

				 st_asewkt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 SRID=4326;CIRCULARSTRING(-71.1776848522251 42.3902896512902 1,-71.1776843766326 42.3903829478009 2,
 -71.1775844305465 42.3903826677917 3,
 -71.1775825927231 42.3902893647987 3,-71.1776848522251 42.3902896512902 4)

Example of creating a partial functional index. For tables where you are not sure all the geometries will be filled in, its best to use a partial index that leaves out null geometries which will both conserve space and make your index smaller and more efficient.

CREATE INDEX idx_the_geom_26986_parcels
  ON parcels
  USING gist
  (ST_Transform(the_geom, 26986))
  WHERE the_geom IS NOT NULL;

Configuring transformation behaviour

Sometimes coordinate transformation involving a grid-shift can fail, for example if PROJ.4 has not been built with grid-shift files or the coordinate does not lie within the range for which the grid shift is defined. By default, PostGIS will throw an error if a grid shift file is not present, but this behaviour can be configured on a per-SRID basis by altering the proj4text value within the spatial_ref_sys table.

For example, the proj4text parameter +datum=NAD87 is a shorthand form for the following +nadgrids parameter:

+nadgrids=@conus,@alaska,@ntv2_0.gsb,@ntv1_can.dat

The @ prefix means no error is reported if the files are not present, but if the end of the list is reached with no file having been appropriate (ie. found and overlapping) then an error is issued.

If, conversely, you wanted to ensure that at least the standard files were present, but that if all files were scanned without a hit a null transformation is applied you could use:

+nadgrids=@conus,@alaska,@ntv2_0.gsb,@ntv1_can.dat,null

The null grid shift file is a valid grid shift file covering the whole world and applying no shift. So for a complete example, if you wanted to alter PostGIS so that transformations to SRID 4267 that didn't lie within the correct range did not throw an ERROR, you would use the following:

UPDATE spatial_ref_sys SET proj4text = '+proj=longlat +ellps=clrk66 +nadgrids=@conus,@alaska,@ntv2_0.gsb,@ntv1_can.dat,null +no_defs' WHERE srid = 4267;

See Also

PostGIS_Full_Version, ST_AsText, ST_SetSRID, UpdateGeometrySRID

Name

ST_Translate — Translates the geometry to a new location using the numeric parameters as offsets. Ie: ST_Translate(geom, X, Y) or ST_Translate(geom, X, Y,Z).

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Translate( | g1, |
| deltax, |
| deltay); |

geometry g1;
float deltax;
float deltay;

geometry fsfuncST_Translate( | g1, |
| deltax, |
| deltay, |
| deltaz); |

geometry g1;
float deltax;
float deltay;
float deltaz;

Description

Returns a new geometry whose coordinates are translated delta x,delta y,delta z units. Units are based on the units defined in spatial reference (SRID) for this geometry.

Note

Prior to 1.3.4, this function crashes if used with geometries that contain CURVES. This is fixed in 1.3.4+

Availability: 1.2.2

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

Move a point 1 degree longitude

	SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Translate(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-71.01 42.37)',4326),1,0)) As wgs_transgeomtxt;

	wgs_transgeomtxt
	---------------------
	POINT(-70.01 42.37)

Move a linestring 1 degree longitude and 1/2 degree latitude

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Translate(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(-71.01 42.37,-71.11 42.38)',4326),1,0.5)) As wgs_transgeomtxt;
		   wgs_transgeomtxt
	---------------------------------------
	LINESTRING(-70.01 42.87,-70.11 42.88)

Move a 3d point

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Translate(CAST('POINT(0 0 0)' As geometry), 5, 12,3));
	st_asewkt
	---------
	POINT(5 12 3)

Move a curve and a point

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Translate(ST_Collect('CURVEPOLYGON(CIRCULARSTRING(4 3,3.12 0.878,1 0,-1.121 5.1213,6 7, 8 9,4 3))','POINT(1 3)'),1,2));
														 st_astext
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(CURVEPOLYGON(CIRCULARSTRING(5 5,4.12 2.878,2 2,-0.121 7.1213,7 9,9 11,5 5)),POINT(2 5))

See Also

ST_Affine, ST_AsText, ST_GeomFromText

Name

ST_TransScale — Translates the geometry using the deltaX and deltaY args, then scales it using the XFactor, YFactor args, working in 2D only.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_TransScale( | geomA, |
| deltaX, |
| deltaY, |
| XFactor, |
| YFactor); |

geometry geomA;
float deltaX;
float deltaY;
float XFactor;
float YFactor;

Description

Translates the geometry using the deltaX and deltaY args, then scales it using the XFactor, YFactor args, working in 2D only.

Note

ST_TransScale(geomA, deltaX, deltaY, XFactor, YFactor) is short-hand for ST_Affine(geomA, XFactor, 0, 0, 0, YFactor, 0, 0, 0, 1, deltaX*XFactor, deltaY*YFactor, 0).

Note

Prior to 1.3.4, this function crashes if used with geometries that contain CURVES. This is fixed in 1.3.4+

Availability: 1.1.0.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_TransScale(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 1 1 1)'), 0.5, 1, 1, 2));
		  st_asewkt
-----------------------------
 LINESTRING(1.5 6 3,1.5 4 1)

--Buffer a point to get an approximation of a circle, convert to curve and then translate 1,2 and scale it 3,4
  SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Transscale(ST_LineToCurve(ST_Buffer('POINT(234 567)', 3)),1,2,3,4));
														  st_astext
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 CURVEPOLYGON(CIRCULARSTRING(714 2276,711.363961030679 2267.51471862576,705 2264,698.636038969321 2284.48528137424,714 2276))

See Also

ST_Affine, ST_Translate

Geometry Outputs

Name

ST_AsBinary — Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID meta data.

Synopsis

bytea fsfuncST_AsBinary(
g1);

geometry g1;

bytea fsfuncST_AsBinary( | g1, |
| NDR_or_XDR); |

geometry g1;
text NDR_or_XDR;

bytea fsfuncST_AsBinary(
g1);

geography g1;

bytea fsfuncST_AsBinary( | g1, |
| NDR_or_XDR); |

geography g1;
text NDR_or_XDR;

Description

Returns the Well-Known Binary representation of the geometry. There are 2 variants of the function. The first variant takes no endian encoding parameter and defaults to server machine endian. The second variant takes a second argument denoting the encoding - using little-endian ('NDR') or big-endian ('XDR') encoding.

This is useful in binary cursors to pull data out of the database without converting it to a string representation.

Note

The WKB spec does not include the SRID. To get the WKB with SRID format use ST_AsEWKB

Note

ST_AsBinary is the reverse of ST_GeomFromWKB for geometry. Use ST_GeomFromWKB to convert to a postgis geometry from ST_AsBinary representation.

Note

The default behavior in PostgreSQL 9.0 has been changed to output bytea in hex encoding. ST_AsBinary is the reverse of ST_GeomFromWKB for geometry. If your GUI tools require the old behavior, then SET bytea_output='escape' in your database.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for higher coordinate dimensions was introduced.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for specifying endian with geography was introduced.

Availability: 1.5.0 geography support was introduced.

Changed: 2.0.0 Inputs to this function can not be unknown -- must be geometry. Constructs such as ST_AsBinary('POINT(1 2)') are no longer valid and you will get an n st_asbinary(unknown) is not unique error. Code like that needs to be changed to ST_AsBinary('POINT(1 2)'::geometry);. If that is not possible, then install legacy.sql.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.37

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsBinary(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))',4326));

		   st_asbinary
--------------------------------
\001\003\000\000\000\001\000\000\000\005
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\360?\000\000\000\000\000\000
\360?\000\000\000\000\000\000\360?\000\000
\000\000\000\000\360?\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsBinary(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))',4326), 'XDR');
		   st_asbinary
--------------------------------
\000\000\000\000\003\000\000\000\001\000\000\000\005\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000?\360\000\000\000\000\000\000?\360\000\000\000\000\000\000?\360\000\000
\000\000\000\000?\360\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
(1 row)

See Also

ST_GeomFromWKB, ST_AsEWKB, ST_AsTWKB, ST_AsText,

Name

ST_AsEWKB — Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry with SRID meta data.

Synopsis

bytea fsfuncST_AsEWKB(
g1);

geometry g1;

bytea fsfuncST_AsEWKB( | g1, |
| NDR_or_XDR); |

geometry g1;
text NDR_or_XDR;

Description

Returns the Well-Known Binary representation of the geometry with SRID metadata. There are 2 variants of the function. The first variant takes no endian encoding parameter and defaults to little endian. The second variant takes a second argument denoting the encoding - using little-endian ('NDR') or big-endian ('XDR') encoding.

This is useful in binary cursors to pull data out of the database without converting it to a string representation.

Note

The WKB spec does not include the SRID. To get the OGC WKB format use ST_AsBinary

Note

ST_AsEWKB is the reverse of ST_GeomFromEWKB. Use ST_GeomFromEWKB to convert to a postgis geometry from ST_AsEWKB representation.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT ST_AsEWKB(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))',4326));

		   st_asewkb
--------------------------------
\001\003\000\000 \346\020\000\000\001\000
\000\000\005\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\360?\000\000\000\000\000\000\360?
\000\000\000\000\000\000\360?\000\000\000\000\000
\000\360?\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
(1 row)

			SELECT ST_AsEWKB(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))',4326), 'XDR');
		   st_asewkb
--------------------------------
\000 \000\000\003\000\000\020\346\000\000\000\001\000\000\000\005\000\000\000\000\
000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000?
\360\000\000\000\000\000\000?\360\000\000\000\000\000\000?\360\000\000\000\000
\000\000?\360\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000
\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000

See Also

ST_AsBinary, ST_AsEWKT, ST_AsText, ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_SRID

Name

ST_AsEWKT — Return the Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the geometry with SRID meta data.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_AsEWKT(
g1);

geometry g1;

text fsfuncST_AsEWKT(
g1);

geography g1;

Description

Returns the Well-Known Text representation of the geometry prefixed with the SRID.

Note

The WKT spec does not include the SRID. To get the OGC WKT format use ST_AsText

Description WKT format does not maintain precision so to prevent floating truncation, use ST_AsBinary or ST_AsEWKB format for transport.

Note

ST_AsEWKT is the reverse of ST_GeomFromEWKT. Use ST_GeomFromEWKT to convert to a postgis geometry from ST_AsEWKT representation.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Geography, Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT ST_AsEWKT('0103000020E61000000100000005000000000000
			000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
			F03F000000000000F03F000000000000F03F000000000000F03
			F000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000'::geometry);

		   st_asewkt
--------------------------------
SRID=4326;POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsEWKT('0108000080030000000000000060E30A4100000000785C0241000000000000F03F0000000018
E20A4100000000485F024100000000000000400000000018
E20A4100000000305C02410000000000000840')

--st_asewkt---
CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415 1,220227 150505 2,220227 150406 3)

See Also

ST_AsBinary, ST_AsEWKB, ST_AsText, ST_GeomFromEWKT

Name

ST_AsGeoJSON — Return the geometry as a GeoJSON element.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_AsGeoJSON( | geom, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| options=0); |

geometry geom;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
integer options=0;

text fsfuncST_AsGeoJSON( | geog, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| options=0); |

geography geog;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
integer options=0;

text fsfuncST_AsGeoJSON( | gj_version, |
| geom, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| options=0); |

integer gj_version;
geometry geom;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
integer options=0;

text fsfuncST_AsGeoJSON( | gj_version, |
| geog, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| options=0); |

integer gj_version;
geography geog;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
integer options=0;

Description

Return the geometry as a Geometry Javascript Object Notation (GeoJSON) element. (Cf GeoJSON specifications 1.0). 2D and 3D Geometries are both supported. GeoJSON only support SFS 1.1 geometry type (no curve support for example).

The gj_version parameter is the major version of the GeoJSON spec. If specified, must be 1. This represents the spec version of GeoJSON.

The third argument may be used to reduce the maximum number of decimal places used in output (defaults to 15).

The last 'options' argument could be used to add Bbox or Crs in GeoJSON output:

0: means no option (default value)

1: GeoJSON Bbox

2: GeoJSON Short CRS (e.g EPSG:4326)

4: GeoJSON Long CRS (e.g urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326)

Version 1: ST_AsGeoJSON(geom) / precision=15 version=1 options=0

Version 2: ST_AsGeoJSON(geom, precision) / version=1 options=0

Version 3: ST_AsGeoJSON(geom, precision, options) / version=1

Version 4: ST_AsGeoJSON(gj_version, geom) / precision=15 options=0

Version 5: ST_AsGeoJSON(gj_version, geom, precision) /options=0

Version 6: ST_AsGeoJSON(gj_version, geom, precision,options)

Availability: 1.3.4

Availability: 1.5.0 geography support was introduced.

Changed: 2.0.0 support default args and named args.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

GeoJSON format is generally more efficient than other formats for use in ajax mapping. One popular javascript client that supports this is Open Layers. Example of its use is OpenLayers GeoJSON Example

SELECT ST_AsGeoJSON(the_geom) from fe_edges limit 1;
					   st_asgeojson
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

{"type":"MultiLineString","coordinates":[[[-89.734634999999997,31.492072000000000],
[-89.734955999999997,31.492237999999997]]]}
(1 row)
--3d point
SELECT ST_AsGeoJSON('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 4 5 6)');

st_asgeojson
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 {"type":"LineString","coordinates":[[1,2,3],[4,5,6]]}

Name

ST_AsGML — Return the geometry as a GML version 2 or 3 element.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_AsGML( | geom, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| options=0); |

geometry geom;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
integer options=0;

text fsfuncST_AsGML( | geog, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| options=0); |

geography geog;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
integer options=0;

text fsfuncST_AsGML( | version, |
| geom, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| options=0, |
| nprefix=null, |
| id=null); |

integer version;
geometry geom;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
integer options=0;
text nprefix=null;
text id=null;

text fsfuncST_AsGML( | version, |
| geog, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| options=0, |
| nprefix=null, |
| id=null); |

integer version;
geography geog;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
integer options=0;
text nprefix=null;
text id=null;

Description

Return the geometry as a Geography Markup Language (GML) element. The version parameter, if specified, may be either 2 or 3. If no version parameter is specified then the default is assumed to be 2. The precision argument may be used to reduce the maximum number of decimal places (maxdecimaldigits) used in output (defaults to 15).

GML 2 refer to 2.1.2 version, GML 3 to 3.1.1 version

The 'options' argument is a bitfield. It could be used to define CRS output type in GML output, and to declare data as lat/lon:

0: GML Short CRS (e.g EPSG:4326), default value

1: GML Long CRS (e.g urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326)

2: For GML 3 only, remove srsDimension attribute from output.

4: For GML 3 only, use <LineString> rather than <Curve> tag for lines.

16: Declare that datas are lat/lon (e.g srid=4326). Default is to assume that data are planars. This option is useful for GML 3.1.1 output only, related to axis order. So if you set it, it will swap the coordinates so order is lat lon instead of database lon lat.

32: Output the box of the geometry (envelope).

The 'namespace prefix' argument may be used to specify a custom namespace prefix or no prefix (if empty). If null or omitted 'gml' prefix is used

Availability: 1.3.2

Availability: 1.5.0 geography support was introduced.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 prefix support was introduced. Option 4 for GML3 was introduced to allow using LineString instead of Curve tag for lines. GML3 Support for Polyhedral surfaces and TINS was introduced. Option 32 was introduced to output the box.

Changed: 2.0.0 use default named args

Enhanced: 2.1.0 id support was introduced, for GML 3.

Note

Only version 3+ of ST_AsGML supports Polyhedral Surfaces and TINS.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples: Version 2

SELECT ST_AsGML(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))',4326));
		st_asgml
		--------
		<gml:Polygon srsName="EPSG:4326"><gml:outerBoundaryIs><gml:LinearRing><gml:coordinates>0,0 0,1 1,1 1,0 0,0</gml:coordinates></gml:LinearRing></gml:outerBoundaryIs></gml:Polygon>

Examples: Version 3

-- Flip coordinates and output extended EPSG (16 | 1)--
SELECT ST_AsGML(3, ST_GeomFromText('POINT(5.234234233242 6.34534534534)',4326), 5, 17);
			st_asgml
			--------
		<gml:Point srsName="urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326"><gml:pos>6.34535 5.23423</gml:pos></gml:Point>

-- Output the envelope (32) --
SELECT ST_AsGML(3, ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4, 10 20)',4326), 5, 32);
		st_asgml
		--------
	<gml:Envelope srsName="EPSG:4326">
		<gml:lowerCorner>1 2</gml:lowerCorner>
		<gml:upperCorner>10 20</gml:upperCorner>
	</gml:Envelope>

-- Output the envelope (32) , reverse (lat lon instead of lon lat) (16), long srs (1)= 32 | 16 | 1 = 49 --
SELECT ST_AsGML(3, ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4, 10 20)',4326), 5, 49);
	st_asgml
	--------
<gml:Envelope srsName="urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326">
	<gml:lowerCorner>2 1</gml:lowerCorner>
	<gml:upperCorner>20 10</gml:upperCorner>
</gml:Envelope>

-- Polyhedral Example --
SELECT ST_AsGML(3, ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )'));
	st_asgml
	--------
 <gml:PolyhedralSurface>
<gml:polygonPatches>
   <gml:PolygonPatch>
		<gml:exterior>
			  <gml:LinearRing>
				   <gml:posList srsDimension="3">0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0</gml:posList>
			  </gml:LinearRing>
		</gml:exterior>
   </gml:PolygonPatch>
   <gml:PolygonPatch>
		<gml:exterior>
			  <gml:LinearRing>
				   <gml:posList srsDimension="3">0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0</gml:posList>
			  </gml:LinearRing>
		</gml:exterior>
   </gml:PolygonPatch>
   <gml:PolygonPatch>
		<gml:exterior>
			  <gml:LinearRing>
				   <gml:posList srsDimension="3">0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0</gml:posList>
			  </gml:LinearRing>
		</gml:exterior>
   </gml:PolygonPatch>
   <gml:PolygonPatch>
		<gml:exterior>
			  <gml:LinearRing>
				   <gml:posList srsDimension="3">1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0</gml:posList>
			  </gml:LinearRing>
		</gml:exterior>
   </gml:PolygonPatch>
   <gml:PolygonPatch>
		<gml:exterior>
			  <gml:LinearRing>
				   <gml:posList srsDimension="3">0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0</gml:posList>
			  </gml:LinearRing>
		</gml:exterior>
   </gml:PolygonPatch>
   <gml:PolygonPatch>
		<gml:exterior>
			  <gml:LinearRing>
				   <gml:posList srsDimension="3">0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1</gml:posList>
			  </gml:LinearRing>
		</gml:exterior>
   </gml:PolygonPatch>
</gml:polygonPatches>
</gml:PolyhedralSurface>

See Also

ST_GeomFromGML

Name

ST_AsHEXEWKB — Returns a Geometry in HEXEWKB format (as text) using either little-endian (NDR) or big-endian (XDR) encoding.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_AsHEXEWKB( | g1, |
| NDRorXDR); |

geometry g1;
text NDRorXDR;

text fsfuncST_AsHEXEWKB(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Returns a Geometry in HEXEWKB format (as text) using either little-endian (NDR) or big-endian (XDR) encoding. If no encoding is specified, then NDR is used.

Note

Availability: 1.2.2

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_AsHEXEWKB(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))',4326));
		which gives same answer as

		SELECT ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))',4326)::text;

		st_ashexewkb
		--------
		0103000020E6100000010000000500
		00000000000000000000000000000000
		00000000000000000000000000000000F03F
		000000000000F03F000000000000F03F000000000000F03
		F000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Name

ST_AsKML — Return the geometry as a KML element. Several variants. Default version=2, default precision=15

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_AsKML( | geom, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15); |

geometry geom;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;

text fsfuncST_AsKML( | geog, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15); |

geography geog;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;

text fsfuncST_AsKML( | version, |
| geom, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| nprefix=NULL); |

integer version;
geometry geom;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
text nprefix=NULL;

text fsfuncST_AsKML( | version, |
| geog, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| nprefix=NULL); |

integer version;
geography geog;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
text nprefix=NULL;

Description

Return the geometry as a Keyhole Markup Language (KML) element. There are several variants of this function. maximum number of decimal places used in output (defaults to 15), version default to 2 and default namespace is no prefix.

Version 1: ST_AsKML(geom_or_geog, maxdecimaldigits) / version=2 / maxdecimaldigits=15

Version 2: ST_AsKML(version, geom_or_geog, maxdecimaldigits, nprefix) maxdecimaldigits=15 / nprefix=NULL

Note

Requires PostGIS be compiled with Proj support. Use PostGIS_Full_Version to confirm you have proj support compiled in.

Note

Availability: 1.2.2 - later variants that include version param came in 1.3.2

Note

Enhanced: 2.0.0 - Add prefix namespace. Default is no prefix

Note

Changed: 2.0.0 - uses default args and supports named args

Note

AsKML output will not work with geometries that do not have an SRID

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsKML(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))',4326));

		st_askml
		--------
		<Polygon><outerBoundaryIs><LinearRing><coordinates>0,0 0,1 1,1 1,0 0,0</coordinates></LinearRing></outerBoundaryIs></Polygon>

		--3d linestring
		SELECT ST_AsKML('SRID=4326;LINESTRING(1 2 3, 4 5 6)');
		<LineString><coordinates>1,2,3 4,5,6</coordinates></LineString>

See Also

ST_AsSVG, ST_AsGML

Name

ST_AsSVG — Returns a Geometry in SVG path data given a geometry or geography object.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_AsSVG( | geom, |
| rel=0, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15); |

geometry geom;
integer rel=0;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;

text fsfuncST_AsSVG( | geog, |
| rel=0, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15); |

geography geog;
integer rel=0;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;

Description

Return the geometry as Scalar Vector Graphics (SVG) path data. Use 1 as second argument to have the path data implemented in terms of relative moves, the default (or 0) uses absolute moves. Third argument may be used to reduce the maximum number of decimal digits used in output (defaults to 15). Point geometries will be rendered as cx/cy when 'rel' arg is 0, x/y when 'rel' is 1. Multipoint geometries are delimited by commas (","), GeometryCollection geometries are delimited by semicolons (";").

Note

Availability: 1.2.2. Availability: 1.4.0 Changed in PostGIS 1.4.0 to include L command in absolute path to conform to http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/paths.html#PathDataBNF

Changed: 2.0.0 to use default args and support named args

Examples

SELECT ST_AsSVG(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))',4326));

		st_assvg
		--------
		M 0 0 L 0 -1 1 -1 1 0 Z

Name

ST_AsX3D — Returns a Geometry in X3D xml node element format: ISO-IEC-19776-1.2-X3DEncodings-XML

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_AsX3D( | g1, |
| maxdecimaldigits=15, |
| options=0); |

geometry g1;
integer maxdecimaldigits=15;
integer options=0;

Description

Returns a geometry as an X3D xml formatted node element http://www.web3d.org/standards/number/19776-1. If maxdecimaldigits (precision) is not specified then defaults to 15.

Note

There are various options for translating PostGIS geometries to X3D since X3D geometry types don't map directly to PostGIS geometry types and some newer X3D types that might be better mappings we have avoided since most rendering tools don't currently support them. These are the mappings we have settled on. Feel free to post a bug ticket if you have thoughts on the idea or ways we can allow people to denote their preferred mappings.

Below is how we currently map PostGIS 2D/3D types to X3D types

The 'options' argument is a bitfield. For PostGIS 2.2+, this is used to denote whether to represent coordinates with X3D GeoCoordinates Geospatial node and also whether to flip the x/y axis. By default, ST_AsX3D outputs in database form (long,lat or X,Y), but X3D default of lat/lon, y/x may be preferred.

0: X/Y in database order (e.g. long/lat = X,Y is standard database order), default value, and non-spatial coordinates (just regular old Coordinate tag).

1: Flip X and Y. If used in conjunction with the GeoCoordinate option switch, then output will be default "latitude_first" and coordinates will be flipped as well.

2: Output coordinates in GeoSpatial GeoCoordinates. This option will throw an error if geometries are not in WGS 84 long lat (srid: 4326). This is currently the only GeoCoordinate type supported. Refer to X3D specs specifying a spatial reference system.. Default output will be GeoCoordinate geoSystem='"GD" "WE" "longitude_first"'. If you prefer the X3D default of GeoCoordinate geoSystem='"GD" "WE" "latitude_first"' use (2 + 1) = 3

PostGIS Type | 2D X3D Type | 3D X3D Type
LINESTRING | not yet implemented - will be PolyLine2D | LineSet
MULTILINESTRING | not yet implemented - will be PolyLine2D | IndexedLineSet
MULTIPOINT | Polypoint2D | PointSet
POINT | outputs the space delimited coordinates | outputs the space delimited coordinates
(MULTI) POLYGON, POLYHEDRALSURFACE | Invalid X3D markup | IndexedFaceSet (inner rings currently output as another faceset)
TIN | TriangleSet2D (Not Yet Implemented) | IndexedTriangleSet

Note

2D geometry support not yet complete. Inner rings currently just drawn as separate polygons. We are working on these.

Lots of advancements happening in 3D space particularly with X3D Integration with HTML5

There is also a nice open source X3D viewer you can use to view rendered geometries. Free Wrl http://freewrl.sourceforge.net/ binaries available for Mac, Linux, and Windows. Use the FreeWRL_Launcher packaged to view the geometries.

Also check out PostGIS minimalist X3D viewer that utilizes this function and x3dDom html/js open source toolkit.

Availability: 2.0.0: ISO-IEC-19776-1.2-X3DEncodings-XML

Enhanced: 2.2.0: Support for GeoCoordinates and axis (x/y, long/lat) flipping. Look at options for details.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Example: Create a fully functional X3D document - This will generate a cube that is viewable in FreeWrl and other X3D viewers.

SELECT '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE X3D PUBLIC "ISO//Web3D//DTD X3D 3.0//EN" "http://www.web3d.org/specifications/x3d-3.0.dtd">
<X3D>
  <Scene>
    <Transform>
      <Shape>
       <Appearance>
            <Material emissiveColor=''0 0 1''/>
       </Appearance> ' ||
       ST_AsX3D( ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )')) ||
      '</Shape>
    </Transform>
  </Scene>
</X3D>' As x3ddoc;

		x3ddoc
		--------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE X3D PUBLIC "ISO//Web3D//DTD X3D 3.0//EN" "http://www.web3d.org/specifications/x3d-3.0.dtd">
<X3D>
  <Scene>
    <Transform>
      <Shape>
       <Appearance>
            <Material emissiveColor='0 0 1'/>
       </Appearance>
       <IndexedFaceSet  coordIndex='0 1 2 3 -1 4 5 6 7 -1 8 9 10 11 -1 12 13 14 15 -1 16 17 18 19 -1 20 21 22 23'>
            <Coordinate point='0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1' />
      </IndexedFaceSet>
      </Shape>
    </Transform>
  </Scene>
</X3D>

Example: An Octagon elevated 3 Units and decimal precision of 6

SELECT ST_AsX3D(
ST_Translate(
    ST_Force_3d(
        ST_Buffer(ST_Point(10,10),5, 'quad_segs=2')), 0,0,
    3)
  ,6) As x3dfrag;

x3dfrag
--------
<IndexedFaceSet coordIndex="0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7">
    <Coordinate point="15 10 3 13.535534 6.464466 3 10 5 3 6.464466 6.464466 3 5 10 3 6.464466 13.535534 3 10 15 3 13.535534 13.535534 3 " />
</IndexedFaceSet>

Example: TIN

SELECT ST_AsX3D(ST_GeomFromEWKT('TIN (((
                0 0 0,
                0 0 1,
                0 1 0,
                0 0 0
            )), ((
                0 0 0,
                0 1 0,
                1 1 0,
                0 0 0
            ))
            )')) As x3dfrag;

		x3dfrag
		--------
<IndexedTriangleSet  index='0 1 2 3 4 5'><Coordinate point='0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0'/></IndexedTriangleSet>

Example: Closed multilinestring (the boundary of a polygon with holes)

SELECT ST_AsX3D(
		    ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTILINESTRING((20 0 10,16 -12 10,0 -16 10,-12 -12 10,-20 0 10,-12 16 10,0 24 10,16 16 10,20 0 10),
  (12 0 10,8 8 10,0 12 10,-8 8 10,-8 0 10,-8 -4 10,0 -8 10,8 -4 10,12 0 10))')
) As x3dfrag;

		x3dfrag
		--------
<IndexedLineSet  coordIndex='0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 -1 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 8'>
    <Coordinate point='20 0 10 16 -12 10 0 -16 10 -12 -12 10 -20 0 10 -12 16 10 0 24 10 16 16 10 12 0 10 8 8 10 0 12 10 -8 8 10 -8 0 10 -8 -4 10 0 -8 10 8 -4 10 ' />
 </IndexedLineSet>

Name

ST_GeoHash — Return a GeoHash representation of the geometry.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_GeoHash( | geom, |
| maxchars=full_precision_of_point); |

geometry geom;
integer maxchars=full_precision_of_point;

Description

Return a GeoHash representation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geohash) of the geometry. A GeoHash encodes a point into a text form that is sortable and searchable based on prefixing. A shorter GeoHash is a less precise representation of a point. It can also be thought of as a box, that contains the actual point.

If no maxchars is specified ST_GeoHash returns a GeoHash based on full precision of the input geometry type. Points return a GeoHash with 20 characters of precision (about enough to hold the full double precision of the input). Other types return a GeoHash with a variable amount of precision, based on the size of the feature. Larger features are represented with less precision, smaller features with more precision. The idea is that the box implied by the GeoHash will always contain the input feature.

If maxchars is specified ST_GeoHash returns a GeoHash with at most that many characters so a possibly lower precision representation of the input geometry. For non-points, the starting point of the calculation is the center of the bounding box of the geometry.

Availability: 1.4.0

Note

ST_GeoHash will not work with geometries that are not in geographic (lon/lat) coordinates.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_GeoHash(ST_SetSRID(ST_MakePoint(-126,48),4326));

	 st_geohash
----------------------
 c0w3hf1s70w3hf1s70w3

SELECT ST_GeoHash(ST_SetSRID(ST_MakePoint(-126,48),4326),5);

 st_geohash
------------
 c0w3h

See Also

ST_GeomFromGeoHash

Name

ST_AsText — Return the Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID metadata.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_AsText(
g1);

geometry g1;

text fsfuncST_AsText(
g1);

geography g1;

Description

Returns the Well-Known Text representation of the geometry/geography.

Note

The WKT spec does not include the SRID. To get the SRID as part of the data, use the non-standard PostGIS ST_AsEWKT

Description WKT format does not maintain precision so to prevent floating truncation, use ST_AsBinary or ST_AsEWKB format for transport.

Note

ST_AsText is the reverse of ST_GeomFromText. Use ST_GeomFromText to convert to a postgis geometry from ST_AsText representation.

Availability: 1.5 - support for geography was introduced.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.25

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText('01030000000100000005000000000000000000
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
F03F000000000000F03F000000000000F03F000000000000F03
F000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000');

		   st_astext
--------------------------------
 POLYGON((0 0,0 1,1 1,1 0,0 0))
(1 row)

See Also

ST_AsBinary, ST_AsEWKB, ST_AsEWKT, ST_GeomFromText

Name

ST_AsLatLonText — Return the Degrees, Minutes, Seconds representation of the given point.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_AsLatLonText( | pt, |
| format=''); |

geometry pt;
text format='';

Description

Returns the Degrees, Minutes, Seconds representation of the point.

Note

It is assumed the point is in a lat/lon projection. The X (lon) and Y (lat) coordinates are normalized in the output to the "normal" range (-180 to +180 for lon, -90 to +90 for lat).

The text parameter is a format string containing the format for the resulting text, similar to a date format string. Valid tokens are "D" for degrees, "M" for minutes, "S" for seconds, and "C" for cardinal direction (NSEW). DMS tokens may be repeated to indicate desired width and precision ("SSS.SSSS" means " 1.0023").

"M", "S", and "C" are optional. If "C" is omitted, degrees are shown with a "-" sign if south or west. If "S" is omitted, minutes will be shown as decimal with as many digits of precision as you specify. If "M" is also omitted, degrees are shown as decimal with as many digits precision as you specify.

If the format string is omitted (or zero-length) a default format will be used.

Availability: 2.0

Examples

Default format.

SELECT (ST_AsLatLonText('POINT (-3.2342342 -2.32498)'));
      st_aslatlontext
----------------------------
 2°19'29.928"S 3°14'3.243"W

Providing a format (same as the default).

SELECT (ST_AsLatLonText('POINT (-3.2342342 -2.32498)', 'D°M''S.SSS"C'));
      st_aslatlontext
----------------------------
 2°19'29.928"S 3°14'3.243"W

Characters other than D, M, S, C and . are just passed through.

SELECT (ST_AsLatLonText('POINT (-3.2342342 -2.32498)', 'D degrees, M minutes, S seconds to the C'));
                                   st_aslatlontext
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2 degrees, 19 minutes, 30 seconds to the S 3 degrees, 14 minutes, 3 seconds to the W

Signed degrees instead of cardinal directions.

SELECT (ST_AsLatLonText('POINT (-3.2342342 -2.32498)', 'D°M''S.SSS"'));
      st_aslatlontext
----------------------------
 -2°19'29.928" -3°14'3.243"

Decimal degrees.

SELECT (ST_AsLatLonText('POINT (-3.2342342 -2.32498)', 'D.DDDD degrees C'));
          st_aslatlontext
-----------------------------------
 2.3250 degrees S 3.2342 degrees W

Excessively large values are normalized.

SELECT (ST_AsLatLonText('POINT (-302.2342342 -792.32498)'));
        st_aslatlontext
-------------------------------
 72°19'29.928"S 57°45'56.757"E

Name

ST_AsTWKB — Returns the geometry as TWKB, aka "Tiny Well-Known Binary"

Synopsis

bytea fsfuncST_AsTWKB( | g1, |
| decimaldigits_xy=0, |
| decimaldigits_z=0, |
| decimaldigits_m=0, |
| include_sizes=false, |
| include_bounding boxes=false); |

geometry g1;
integer decimaldigits_xy=0;
integer decimaldigits_z=0;
integer decimaldigits_m=0;
boolean include_sizes=false;
boolean include_bounding boxes=false;

bytea fsfuncST_AsTWKB( | geometries, |
| unique_ids, |
| decimaldigits_xy=0, |
| decimaldigits_z=0, |
| decimaldigits_m=0, |
| include_sizes=false, |
| include_bounding_boxes=false); |

geometry[] geometries;
bigint[] unique_ids;
integer decimaldigits_xy=0;
integer decimaldigits_z=0;
integer decimaldigits_m=0;
boolean include_sizes=false;
boolean include_bounding_boxes=false;

Description

Returns the geometry in TWKB (Tiny Well-Known Binary) format. TWKB is a compressed binary format with a focus on minimizing the size of the output.

The decimal digits parameters control how much precision is stored in the output. By default, values are rounded to the nearest unit before encoding. If you want to transfer more precision, increase the number. For example, a value of 1 implies that the first digit to the right of the decimal point will be preserved.

The sizes and bounding boxes parameters control whether optional information about the encoded length of the object and the bounds of the object are included in the output. By default they are not. Do not turn them on unless your client software has a use for them, as they just use up space (and saving space is the point of TWKB).

The array-input form of the function is used to convert a collection of geometries and unique identifiers into a TWKB collection that preserves the identifiers. This is useful for clients that expect to unpack a collection and then access further information about the objects inside. You can create the arrays using the array_agg function. The other parameters operate the same as for the simple form of the function.

Note

The format specification is available online at https://github.com/TWKB/Specification, and code for building a JavaScript client can be found at https://github.com/TWKB/twkb.js.

Availability: 2.2.0

Examples

SELECT ST_AsTWKB('LINESTRING(1 1,5 5)'::geometry);
                 st_astwkb
--------------------------------------------
\x02000202020808

To create an aggregate TWKB object including identifiers aggregate the desired geometries and objects first, using "array_agg()", then call the appropriate TWKB function.

SELECT ST_AsTWKB(array_agg(geom), array_agg(gid)) FROM mytable;
                 st_astwkb
--------------------------------------------
\x040402020400000202

See Also

ST_AsBinary, ST_AsEWKB, ST_AsEWKT, ST_GeomFromText

Name

ST_AsEncodedPolyline — Returns an Encoded Polyline from a LineString geometry.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_AsEncodedPolyline( | geom, |
| precision=5); |

geometry geom;
integer precision=5;

Description

Returns the geometry as an Encoded Polyline. This is a format very useful if you are using google maps

Availability: 2.2.0

Examples

Basic

SELECT ST_AsEncodedPolyline(GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-120.2 38.5,-120.95 40.7,-126.453 43.252)'));
--result--
|_p~iF~ps|U_ulLnnqC_mqNvxq`@

Use in conjunction with geography linestring and geography segmentize, and put on google maps

-- the SQL for Boston to San Francisco, segments every 100 KM
SELECT ST_AsEncodedPolyline(
	ST_Segmentize(
		ST_GeogFromText('LINESTRING(-71.0519 42.4935,-122.4483 37.64)'),
			100000)::geometry) As encodedFlightPath;

javascript will look something like this where $ variable you replace with query result

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?libraries=geometry"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
     flightPath = new google.maps.Polyline({
            path:  google.maps.geometry.encoding.decodePath("$encodedFlightPath"),
            map: map,
            strokeColor: '#0000CC',
            strokeOpacity: 1.0,
            strokeWeight: 4
        });
</script>

See Also

ST_LineFromEncodedPolyline, ST_Segmentize

Operators

Name

&& — Returns TRUE if A's 2D bounding box intersects B's 2D bounding box.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc&&( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

boolean fsfunc&&( | A, |
| B); |

geography A ;
geography B ;

Description

The && operator returns TRUE if the 2D bounding box of geometry A intersects the 2D bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Availability: 1.5.0 support for geography was introduced.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 && tbl2.column2 AS overlaps
FROM ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING(0 0, 3 3)'::geometry),
	(2, 'LINESTRING(0 1, 0 5)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
( VALUES
	(3, 'LINESTRING(1 2, 4 6)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | overlaps
---------+---------+----------
	   1 |       3 | t
	   2 |       3 | f
(2 rows)

See Also

|&>, &>, &<|, &<, ~, @

Name

&&& — Returns TRUE if A's n-D bounding box intersects B's n-D bounding box.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc&&&( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The &&& operator returns TRUE if the n-D bounding box of geometry A intersects the n-D bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Availability: 2.0.0

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples: 3D LineStrings

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 &&& tbl2.column2 AS overlaps_3d,
			            tbl1.column2 && tbl2.column2 AS overlaps_2d
FROM ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING Z(0 0 1, 3 3 2)'::geometry),
	(2, 'LINESTRING Z(1 2 0, 0 5 -1)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
( VALUES
	(3, 'LINESTRING Z(1 2 1, 4 6 1)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | overlaps_3d | overlaps_2d
---------+---------+-------------+-------------
       1 |       3 | t           | t
       2 |       3 | f           | t

Examples: 3M LineStrings

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 &&& tbl2.column2 AS overlaps_3zm,
			            tbl1.column2 && tbl2.column2 AS overlaps_2d
FROM ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING M(0 0 1, 3 3 2)'::geometry),
	(2, 'LINESTRING M(1 2 0, 0 5 -1)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
( VALUES
	(3, 'LINESTRING M(1 2 1, 4 6 1)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | overlaps_3zm | overlaps_2d
---------+---------+-------------+-------------
       1 |       3 | t           | t
       2 |       3 | f           | t

See Also

&&

Name

&< — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box overlaps or is to the left of B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc&<( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The &< operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry A overlaps or is to the left of the bounding box of geometry B, or more accurately, overlaps or is NOT to the right of the bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 &< tbl2.column2 AS overleft
FROM
  ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING(1 2, 4 6)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
  ( VALUES
	(2, 'LINESTRING(0 0, 3 3)'::geometry),
	(3, 'LINESTRING(0 1, 0 5)'::geometry),
	(4, 'LINESTRING(6 0, 6 1)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | overleft
---------+---------+----------
	   1 |       2 | f
	   1 |       3 | f
	   1 |       4 | t
(3 rows)

See Also

&&, |&>, &>, &<|

Name

&<| — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box overlaps or is below B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc&<|( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The &<| operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry A overlaps or is below of the bounding box of geometry B, or more accurately, overlaps or is NOT above the bounding box of geometry B.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 &<| tbl2.column2 AS overbelow
FROM
  ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING(6 0, 6 4)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
  ( VALUES
	(2, 'LINESTRING(0 0, 3 3)'::geometry),
	(3, 'LINESTRING(0 1, 0 5)'::geometry),
	(4, 'LINESTRING(1 2, 4 6)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | overbelow
---------+---------+-----------
	   1 |       2 | f
	   1 |       3 | t
	   1 |       4 | t
(3 rows)

See Also

&&, |&>, &>, &<

Name

&> — Returns TRUE if A' bounding box overlaps or is to the right of B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc&>( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The &> operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry A overlaps or is to the right of the bounding box of geometry B, or more accurately, overlaps or is NOT to the left of the bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 &> tbl2.column2 AS overright
FROM
  ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING(1 2, 4 6)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
  ( VALUES
	(2, 'LINESTRING(0 0, 3 3)'::geometry),
	(3, 'LINESTRING(0 1, 0 5)'::geometry),
	(4, 'LINESTRING(6 0, 6 1)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | overright
---------+---------+-----------
	   1 |       2 | t
	   1 |       3 | t
	   1 |       4 | f
(3 rows)

See Also

&&, |&>, &<|, &<

Name

<< — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is strictly to the left of B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc<<( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The << operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry A is strictly to the left of the bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 << tbl2.column2 AS left
FROM
  ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING (1 2, 1 5)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
  ( VALUES
	(2, 'LINESTRING (0 0, 4 3)'::geometry),
	(3, 'LINESTRING (6 0, 6 5)'::geometry),
	(4, 'LINESTRING (2 2, 5 6)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | left
---------+---------+------
	   1 |       2 | f
	   1 |       3 | t
	   1 |       4 | t
(3 rows)

See Also

>>, |>>, <<|

Name

<<| — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is strictly below B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc<<|( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The <<| operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry A is strictly below the bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 <<| tbl2.column2 AS below
FROM
  ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING (0 0, 4 3)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
  ( VALUES
	(2, 'LINESTRING (1 4, 1 7)'::geometry),
	(3, 'LINESTRING (6 1, 6 5)'::geometry),
	(4, 'LINESTRING (2 3, 5 6)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | below
---------+---------+-------
	   1 |       2 | t
	   1 |       3 | f
	   1 |       4 | f
(3 rows)

See Also

<<, >>, |>>

Name

= — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's. Uses double precision bounding box.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc=( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

boolean fsfunc=( | A, |
| B); |

geography A ;
geography B ;

Description

The = operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry/geography A is the same as the bounding box of geometry/geography B. PostgreSQL uses the =, <, and > operators defined for geometries to perform internal orderings and comparison of geometries (ie. in a GROUP BY or ORDER BY clause).

Warning

This is cause for a lot of confusion. When you compare geometryA = geometryB it will return true even when the geometries are clearly different IF their bounding boxes are the same. To check for true equality use ST_OrderingEquals or ST_Equals

Caution

This operand will NOT make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Changed: 2.0.0 , the bounding box of geometries was changed to use double precision instead of float4 precision of prior. The side effect of this is that in particular points in prior versions that were a little different may have returned true in prior versions and false in 2.0+ since their float4 boxes would be the same but there float8 (double precision), would be different.

Examples

SELECT 'LINESTRING(0 0, 0 1, 1 0)'::geometry = 'LINESTRING(1 1, 0 0)'::geometry;
 ?column?
----------
 t
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsText(column1)
FROM ( VALUES
	('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1)'::geometry),
	('LINESTRING(1 1, 0 0)'::geometry)) AS foo;
	  st_astext
---------------------
 LINESTRING(0 0,1 1)
 LINESTRING(1 1,0 0)
(2 rows)

-- Note: the GROUP BY uses the "=" to compare for geometry equivalency.
SELECT ST_AsText(column1)
FROM ( VALUES
	('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1)'::geometry),
	('LINESTRING(1 1, 0 0)'::geometry)) AS foo
GROUP BY column1;
	  st_astext
---------------------
 LINESTRING(0 0,1 1)
(1 row)

-- In versions prior to 2.0, this used to return true --
 SELECT ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1707296.37 4820536.77)') =
	ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1707296.27 4820536.87)') As pt_intersect;

--pt_intersect --
f

See Also

ST_Equals, ST_OrderingEquals

Name

>> — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is strictly to the right of B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc>>( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The >> operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry A is strictly to the right of the bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 >> tbl2.column2 AS right
FROM
  ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING (2 3, 5 6)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
  ( VALUES
	(2, 'LINESTRING (1 4, 1 7)'::geometry),
	(3, 'LINESTRING (6 1, 6 5)'::geometry),
	(4, 'LINESTRING (0 0, 4 3)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | right
---------+---------+-------
	   1 |       2 | t
	   1 |       3 | f
	   1 |       4 | f
(3 rows)

See Also

<<, |>>, <<|

Name

@ — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is contained by B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc@( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The @ operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry A is completely contained by the bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 @ tbl2.column2 AS contained
FROM
  ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING (1 1, 3 3)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
  ( VALUES
	(2, 'LINESTRING (0 0, 4 4)'::geometry),
	(3, 'LINESTRING (2 2, 4 4)'::geometry),
	(4, 'LINESTRING (1 1, 3 3)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | contained
---------+---------+-----------
	   1 |       2 | t
	   1 |       3 | f
	   1 |       4 | t
(3 rows)

See Also

~, &&

Name

|&> — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box overlaps or is above B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc|&>( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The |&> operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry A overlaps or is above the bounding box of geometry B, or more accurately, overlaps or is NOT below the bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 |&> tbl2.column2 AS overabove
FROM
  ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING(6 0, 6 4)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
  ( VALUES
	(2, 'LINESTRING(0 0, 3 3)'::geometry),
	(3, 'LINESTRING(0 1, 0 5)'::geometry),
	(4, 'LINESTRING(1 2, 4 6)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | overabove
---------+---------+-----------
	   1 |       2 | t
	   1 |       3 | f
	   1 |       4 | f
(3 rows)

See Also

&&, &>, &<|, &<

Name

|>> — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is strictly above B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc|>>( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The |>> operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry A is strictly to the right of the bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 |>> tbl2.column2 AS above
FROM
  ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING (1 4, 1 7)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
  ( VALUES
	(2, 'LINESTRING (0 0, 4 2)'::geometry),
	(3, 'LINESTRING (6 1, 6 5)'::geometry),
	(4, 'LINESTRING (2 3, 5 6)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | above
---------+---------+-------
	   1 |       2 | t
	   1 |       3 | f
	   1 |       4 | f
(3 rows)

See Also

<<, >>, <<|

Name

~ — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box contains B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc~( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The ~ operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry A completely contains the bounding box of geometry B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT tbl1.column1, tbl2.column1, tbl1.column2 ~ tbl2.column2 AS contains
FROM
  ( VALUES
	(1, 'LINESTRING (0 0, 3 3)'::geometry)) AS tbl1,
  ( VALUES
	(2, 'LINESTRING (0 0, 4 4)'::geometry),
	(3, 'LINESTRING (1 1, 2 2)'::geometry),
	(4, 'LINESTRING (0 0, 3 3)'::geometry)) AS tbl2;

 column1 | column1 | contains
---------+---------+----------
	   1 |       2 | f
	   1 |       3 | t
	   1 |       4 | t
(3 rows)

See Also

@, &&

Name

~= — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc~=( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The ~= operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of geometry/geography A is the same as the bounding box of geometry/geography B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Availability: 1.5.0 changed behavior

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Warning

This operator has changed behavior in PostGIS 1.5 from testing for actual geometric equality to only checking for bounding box equality. To complicate things it also depends on if you have done a hard or soft upgrade which behavior your database has. To find out which behavior your database has you can run the query below. To check for true equality use ST_OrderingEquals or ST_Equals and to check for bounding box equality =; operator is a safer option.

Examples

select 'LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1)'::geometry ~= 'LINESTRING(0 1, 1 0)'::geometry as equality;
 equality   |
-----------------+
          t    |

The above can be used to test if you have the new or old behavior of ~= operator.

See Also

ST_Equals, ST_OrderingEquals, =

Name

<-> — Returns the 2D distance between A and B.

Synopsis

double precision fsfunc<->( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

double precision fsfunc<->( | A, |
| B); |

geography A ;
geography B ;

Description

The <-> operator returns the 2D distance between two geometries. Used in the "ORDER BY" clause provides index-assisted nearest-neighbor result sets. For PostgreSQL below 9.5 only gives centroid distance of bounding boxes and for PostgreSQL 9.5+, does true KNN distance search giving true distance between geometries, and distance sphere for geographies.

Note

This operand will make use of 2D GiST indexes that may be available on the geometries. It is different from other operators that use spatial indexes in that the spatial index is only used when the operator is in the ORDER BY clause.

Note

Index only kicks in if one of the geometries is a constant (not in a subquery/cte). e.g. 'SRID=3005;POINT(1011102 450541)'::geometry instead of a.geom

Refer to OpenGeo workshop: Nearest-Neighbour Searching for real live example.

Enhanced: 2.2.0 -- True KNN ("K nearest neighbor") behavior for geometry and geography for PostgreSQL 9.5+. Note for geography KNN is based on sphere rather than spheroid. For PostgreSQL 9.4 and below, geography support is new but only supports centroid box.

Changed: 2.2.0 -- For PostgreSQL 9.5 users, old Hybrid syntax may be slower, so you'll want to get rid of that hack if you are running your code only on PostGIS 2.2+ 9.5+. See examples below.

Availability: 2.0.0 -- Weak KNN provides nearest neighbors based on geometry centroid distances instead of true distances. Exact results for points, inexact for all other types. Available for PostgreSQL 9.1+

Examples

SELECT ST_Distance(geom, 'SRID=3005;POINT(1011102 450541)'::geometry) as d,edabbr, vaabbr
FROM va2005
ORDER BY d limit 10;

        d         | edabbr | vaabbr
------------------+--------+--------
                0 | ALQ    | 128
 5541.57712511724 | ALQ    | 129A
 5579.67450712005 | ALQ    | 001
  6083.4207708641 | ALQ    | 131
  7691.2205404848 | ALQ    | 003
 7900.75451037313 | ALQ    | 122
 8694.20710669982 | ALQ    | 129B
 9564.24289057111 | ALQ    | 130
  12089.665931705 | ALQ    | 127
 18472.5531479404 | ALQ    | 002
(10 rows)

Then the KNN raw answer:

SELECT st_distance(geom, 'SRID=3005;POINT(1011102 450541)'::geometry) as d,edabbr, vaabbr
FROM va2005
ORDER BY geom <-> 'SRID=3005;POINT(1011102 450541)'::geometry limit 10;

        d         | edabbr | vaabbr
------------------+--------+--------
                0 | ALQ    | 128
 5541.57712511724 | ALQ    | 129A
 5579.67450712005 | ALQ    | 001
  6083.4207708641 | ALQ    | 131
  7691.2205404848 | ALQ    | 003
 7900.75451037313 | ALQ    | 122
 8694.20710669982 | ALQ    | 129B
 9564.24289057111 | ALQ    | 130
  12089.665931705 | ALQ    | 127
 18472.5531479404 | ALQ    | 002
(10 rows)

If you run "EXPLAIN ANALYZE" on the two queries you would see a performance improvement for the second.

For users running with PostgreSQL < 9.5, use a hybrid query to find the true nearest neighbors. First a CTE query using the index-assisted KNN, then an exact query to get correct ordering:

WITH index_query AS (
  SELECT ST_Distance(geom, 'SRID=3005;POINT(1011102 450541)'::geometry) as d,edabbr, vaabbr
  	FROM va2005
  ORDER BY geom <-> 'SRID=3005;POINT(1011102 450541)'::geometry LIMIT 100)
  SELECT *
  	FROM index_query
  ORDER BY d limit 10;

        d         | edabbr | vaabbr
------------------+--------+--------
                0 | ALQ    | 128
 5541.57712511724 | ALQ    | 129A
 5579.67450712005 | ALQ    | 001
  6083.4207708641 | ALQ    | 131
  7691.2205404848 | ALQ    | 003
 7900.75451037313 | ALQ    | 122
 8694.20710669982 | ALQ    | 129B
 9564.24289057111 | ALQ    | 130
  12089.665931705 | ALQ    | 127
 18472.5531479404 | ALQ    | 002
(10 rows)

See Also

ST_DWithin, ST_Distance, <#>

Name

|=| — Returns the distance between A and B trajectories at their closest point of approach.

Synopsis

double precision fsfunc|=|( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The |=| operator returns the 3D distance between two trajectories (See ST_IsValidTrajectory). This is the same as ST_DistanceCPA but as an operator it can be used for doing nearest neightbor searches using an N-dimensional index (requires PostgreSQL 9.5.0 or higher).

Note

This operand will make use of ND GiST indexes that may be available on the geometries. It is different from other operators that use spatial indexes in that the spatial index is only used when the operator is in the ORDER BY clause.

Note

Index only kicks in if one of the geometries is a constant (not in a subquery/cte). e.g. 'SRID=3005;LINESTRINGM(0 0 0,0 0 1)'::geometry instead of a.geom

Availability: 2.2.0. Index-supported only available for PostgreSQL 9.5+

Examples

-- Save a literal query trajectory in a psql variable...
\set qt 'ST_AddMeasure(ST_MakeLine(ST_MakePointM(-350,300,0),ST_MakePointM(-410,490,0)),10,20)'
-- Run the query !
SELECT track_id, dist FROM (
  SELECT track_id, ST_DistanceCPA(tr,:qt) dist
  FROM trajectories
  ORDER BY tr |=| :qt
  LIMIT 5
) foo;
 track_id        dist
----------+-------------------
      395 | 0.576496831518066
      380 |  5.06797130410151
      390 |  7.72262293958322
      385 |   9.8004461358071
      405 |  10.9534397988433
(5 rows)

See Also

ST_DistanceCPA, ST_ClosestPointOfApproach, ST_IsValidTrajectory

Name

<#> — Returns the 2D distance between A and B bounding boxes.

Synopsis

double precision fsfunc<#>( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The <#> operator returns distance between two floating point bounding boxes, possibly reading them from a spatial index (PostgreSQL 9.1+ required). Useful for doing nearest neighbor approximate distance ordering.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries. It is different from other operators that use spatial indexes in that the spatial index is only used when the operator is in the ORDER BY clause.

Note

Index only kicks in if one of the geometries is a constant e.g. ORDER BY (ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)') <#> geom) instead of g1.geom <#>.

Availability: 2.0.0 -- KNN only available for PostgreSQL 9.1+

Examples

SELECT *
FROM (
SELECT b.tlid, b.mtfcc,
	b.geom <#> ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(746149 2948672,745954 2948576,
		745787 2948499,745740 2948468,745712 2948438,
		745690 2948384,745677 2948319)',2249) As b_dist,
		ST_Distance(b.geom, ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(746149 2948672,745954 2948576,
		745787 2948499,745740 2948468,745712 2948438,
		745690 2948384,745677 2948319)',2249)) As act_dist
    FROM bos_roads As b
    ORDER BY b_dist, b.tlid
    LIMIT 100) As foo
    ORDER BY act_dist, tlid LIMIT 10;

   tlid    | mtfcc |      b_dist      |     act_dist
-----------+-------+------------------+------------------
  85732027 | S1400 |                0 |                0
  85732029 | S1400 |                0 |                0
  85732031 | S1400 |                0 |                0
  85734335 | S1400 |                0 |                0
  85736037 | S1400 |                0 |                0
 624683742 | S1400 |                0 | 128.528874268666
  85719343 | S1400 | 260.839270432962 | 260.839270432962
  85741826 | S1400 | 164.759294123275 | 260.839270432962
  85732032 | S1400 |           277.75 | 311.830282365264
  85735592 | S1400 |           222.25 | 311.830282365264
(10 rows)

See Also

ST_DWithin, ST_Distance, <->

Name

<<->> — Returns the n-D distance between the centroids of A and B bounding boxes.

Synopsis

double precision fsfunc<<->>( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The <<->> operator returns the n-D (euclidean) distance between the centroids of the bounding boxes of two geometries. Useful for doing nearest neighbor approximate distance ordering.

Note

This operand will make use of n-D GiST indexes that may be available on the geometries. It is different from other operators that use spatial indexes in that the spatial index is only used when the operator is in the ORDER BY clause.

Note

Index only kicks in if one of the geometries is a constant (not in a subquery/cte). e.g. 'SRID=3005;POINT(1011102 450541)'::geometry instead of a.geom

Availability: 2.2.0 -- KNN only available for PostgreSQL 9.1+

See Also

<<#>>, <->

Name

<<#>> — Returns the n-D distance between A and B bounding boxes.

Synopsis

double precision fsfunc<<#>>( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

The <<#>> operator returns distance between two floating point bounding boxes, possibly reading them from a spatial index (PostgreSQL 9.1+ required). Useful for doing nearest neighbor approximate distance ordering.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries. It is different from other operators that use spatial indexes in that the spatial index is only used when the operator is in the ORDER BY clause.

Note

Index only kicks in if one of the geometries is a constant e.g. ORDER BY (ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)') <<#>> geom) instead of g1.geom <<#>>.

Availability: 2.2.0 -- KNN only available for PostgreSQL 9.1+

See Also

<<->>, <#>

Spatial Relationships and Measurements

Name

ST_3DClosestPoint — Returns the 3-dimensional point on g1 that is closest to g2. This is the first point of the 3D shortest line.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_3DClosestPoint( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

Returns the 3-dimensional point on g1 that is closest to g2. This is the first point of the 3D shortest line. The 3D length of the 3D shortest line is the 3D distance.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Availability: 2.0.0

Changed: 2.2.0 - if 2 2D geometries are input, a 2D point is returned (instead of old behavior assuming 0 for missing Z). In case of 2D and 3D, Z is no longer assumed to be 0 for missing Z.

Examples

linestring and point -- both 3d and 2d closest point

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_3DClosestPoint(line,pt)) AS cp3d_line_pt,
		ST_AsEWKT(ST_ClosestPoint(line,pt)) As cp2d_line_pt
	FROM (SELECT 'POINT(100 100 30)'::geometry As pt,
			'LINESTRING (20 80 20, 98 190 1, 110 180 3, 50 75 1000)'::geometry As line
		) As foo;

 cp3d_line_pt                        						|               cp2d_line_pt
-----------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------
 POINT(54.6993798867619 128.935022917228 11.5475869506606) | POINT(73.0769230769231 115.384615384615)

linestring and multipoint -- both 3d and 2d closest point

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_3DClosestPoint(line,pt)) AS cp3d_line_pt,
		ST_AsEWKT(ST_ClosestPoint(line,pt)) As cp2d_line_pt
	FROM (SELECT 'MULTIPOINT(100 100 30, 50 74 1000)'::geometry As pt,
			'LINESTRING (20 80 20, 98 190 1, 110 180 3, 50 75 900)'::geometry As line
		) As foo;

                       cp3d_line_pt                        | cp2d_line_pt
-----------------------------------------------------------+--------------
 POINT(54.6993798867619 128.935022917228 11.5475869506606) | POINT(50 75)

Multilinestring and polygon both 3d and 2d closest point

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_3DClosestPoint(poly, mline)) As cp3d,
    ST_AsEWKT(ST_ClosestPoint(poly, mline)) As cp2d
        FROM (SELECT  ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYGON((175 150 5, 20 40 5, 35 45 5, 50 60 5, 100 100 5, 175 150 5))') As poly,
                ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTILINESTRING((175 155 2, 20 40 20, 50 60 -2, 125 100 1, 175 155 1),
                (1 10 2, 5 20 1))') As mline ) As foo;
                   cp3d                    |     cp2d
-------------------------------------------+--------------
 POINT(39.993580415989 54.1889925532825 5) | POINT(20 40)

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_ClosestPoint, ST_3DDistance, ST_3DShortestLine

Name

ST_3DDistance — For geometry type Returns the 3-dimensional cartesian minimum distance (based on spatial ref) between two geometries in projected units.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_3DDistance( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

For geometry type returns the 3-dimensional minimum cartesian distance between two geometries in projected units (spatial ref units).

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM ?

Description This method is also provided by SFCGAL backend.

Availability: 2.0.0

Changed: 2.2.0 - In case of 2D and 3D, Z is no longer assumed to be 0 for missing Z.

Examples

-- Geometry example - units in meters (SRID: 2163 US National Atlas Equal area) (3D point and line compared 2D point and line)
-- Note: currently no vertical datum support so Z is not transformed and assumed to be same units as final.
SELECT ST_3DDistance(
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;POINT(-72.1235 42.3521 4)'),2163),
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45 15, -72.123 42.1546 20)'),2163)
		) As dist_3d,
		ST_Distance(
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-72.1235 42.3521)',4326),2163),
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45, -72.123 42.1546)', 4326),2163)
		) As dist_2d;

     dist_3d      |     dist_2d
------------------+-----------------
 127.295059324629 | 126.66425605671

-- Multilinestring and polygon both 3d and 2d distance
-- Same example as 3D closest point example
SELECT ST_3DDistance(poly, mline) As dist3d,
    ST_Distance(poly, mline) As dist2d
        FROM (SELECT  ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYGON((175 150 5, 20 40 5, 35 45 5, 50 60 5, 100 100 5, 175 150 5))') As poly,
                ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTILINESTRING((175 155 2, 20 40 20, 50 60 -2, 125 100 1, 175 155 1),
                (1 10 2, 5 20 1))') As mline ) As foo;
      dist3d       | dist2d
-------------------+--------
 0.716635696066337 |      0

See Also

ST_Distance, ST_3DClosestPoint, ST_3DDWithin, ST_3DMaxDistance, ST_3DShortestLine, ST_Transform

Name

ST_3DDWithin — For 3d (z) geometry type Returns true if two geometries 3d distance is within number of units.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_3DDWithin( | g1, |
| g2, |
| distance_of_srid); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;
double precision distance_of_srid;

Description

For geometry type returns true if the 3d distance between two objects is within distance_of_srid specified projected units (spatial ref units).

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM ?

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

-- Geometry example - units in meters (SRID: 2163 US National Atlas Equal area) (3D point and line compared 2D point and line)
-- Note: currently no vertical datum support so Z is not transformed and assumed to be same units as final.
SELECT ST_3DDWithin(
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;POINT(-72.1235 42.3521 4)'),2163),
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45 15, -72.123 42.1546 20)'),2163),
			126.8
		) As within_dist_3d,
ST_DWithin(
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;POINT(-72.1235 42.3521 4)'),2163),
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45 15, -72.123 42.1546 20)'),2163),
			126.8
		) As within_dist_2d;

 within_dist_3d | within_dist_2d
----------------+----------------
 f              | t

See Also

ST_3DDistance, ST_Distance, ST_DWithin, ST_3DMaxDistance, ST_Transform

Name

ST_3DDFullyWithin — Returns true if all of the 3D geometries are within the specified distance of one another.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_3DDFullyWithin( | g1, |
| g2, |
| distance); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;
double precision distance;

Description

Returns true if the 3D geometries are fully within the specified distance of one another. The distance is specified in units defined by the spatial reference system of the geometries. For this function to make sense, the source geometries must both be of the same coordinate projection, having the same SRID.

Note

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries.

Availability: 2.0.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Examples

		-- This compares the difference between fully within and distance within as well
		-- as the distance fully within for the 2D footprint of the line/point vs. the 3d fully within
		SELECT ST_3DDFullyWithin(geom_a, geom_b, 10) as D3DFullyWithin10, ST_3DDWithin(geom_a, geom_b, 10) as D3DWithin10,
	ST_DFullyWithin(geom_a, geom_b, 20) as D2DFullyWithin20,
	ST_3DDFullyWithin(geom_a, geom_b, 20) as D3DFullyWithin20 from
		(select ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1 1 2)') as geom_a,
		ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 5 2, 2 7 20, 1 9 100, 14 12 3)') as geom_b) t1;
 d3dfullywithin10 | d3dwithin10 | d2dfullywithin20 | d3dfullywithin20
------------------+-------------+------------------+------------------
 f                | t           | t                | f

See Also

ST_3DMaxDistance, ST_3DDWithin, ST_DWithin, ST_DFullyWithin

Name

ST_3DIntersects — Returns TRUE if the Geometries "spatially intersect" in 3d - only for points, linestrings, polygons, polyhedral surface (area). With SFCGAL backend enabled also supports TINS

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_3DIntersects( | geomA, |
| geomB); |

geometry geomA ;
geometry geomB ;

Description

Overlaps, Touches, Within all imply spatial intersection. If any of the aforementioned returns true, then the geometries also spatially intersect. Disjoint implies false for spatial intersection.

Availability: 2.0.0

Note

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries.

Note

In order to take advantage of support for TINS, you need to enable the SFCGAL backend. This can be done at session time with: set postgis.backend = sfcgal; or at the database or system level. Database level can be done with ALTER DATABASE gisdb SET postgis.backend = sfcgal;.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Description This method is also provided by SFCGAL backend.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: ?

Geometry Examples

SELECT ST_3DIntersects(pt, line), ST_Intersects(pt,line)
	FROM (SELECT 'POINT(0 0 2)'::geometry As pt,
		'LINESTRING (0 0 1, 0 2 3 )'::geometry As line) As foo;
 st_3dintersects | st_intersects
-----------------+---------------
 f               | t
(1 row)

TIN Examples

set postgis.backend = sfcgal;
SELECT ST_3DIntersects('TIN(((0 0,1 0,0 1,0 0)))'::geometry, 'POINT(.1 .1)'::geometry);
 st_3dintersects
-----------------
 t

See Also

ST_Intersects

Name

ST_3DLongestLine — Returns the 3-dimensional longest line between two geometries

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_3DLongestLine( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

Returns the 3-dimensional longest line between two geometries. The function will only return the first longest line if more than one. The line returned will always start in g1 and end in g2. The 3D length of the line this function returns will always be the same as ST_3DMaxDistance returns for g1 and g2.

Availability: 2.0.0

Changed: 2.2.0 - if 2 2D geometries are input, a 2D point is returned (instead of old behavior assuming 0 for missing Z). In case of 2D and 3D, Z is no longer assumed to be 0 for missing Z.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Examples

linestring and point -- both 3d and 2d longest line

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_3DLongestLine(line,pt)) AS lol3d_line_pt,
		ST_AsEWKT(ST_LongestLine(line,pt)) As lol2d_line_pt
	FROM (SELECT 'POINT(100 100 30)'::geometry As pt,
			'LINESTRING (20 80 20, 98 190 1, 110 180 3, 50 75 1000)'::geometry As line
		) As foo;

           lol3d_line_pt           |       lol2d_line_pt
-----------------------------------+----------------------------
 LINESTRING(50 75 1000,100 100 30) | LINESTRING(98 190,100 100)

linestring and multipoint -- both 3d and 2d longest line

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_3DLongestLine(line,pt)) AS lol3d_line_pt,
		ST_AsEWKT(ST_LongestLine(line,pt)) As lol2d_line_pt
	FROM (SELECT 'MULTIPOINT(100 100 30, 50 74 1000)'::geometry As pt,
			'LINESTRING (20 80 20, 98 190 1, 110 180 3, 50 75 900)'::geometry As line
		) As foo;

          lol3d_line_pt          |      lol2d_line_pt
---------------------------------+--------------------------
 LINESTRING(98 190 1,50 74 1000) | LINESTRING(98 190,50 74)

Multilinestring and polygon both 3d and 2d longest line

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_3DLongestLine(poly, mline)) As lol3d,
    ST_AsEWKT(ST_LongestLine(poly, mline)) As lol2d
        FROM (SELECT  ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYGON((175 150 5, 20 40 5, 35 45 5, 50 60 5, 100 100 5, 175 150 5))') As poly,
                ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTILINESTRING((175 155 2, 20 40 20, 50 60 -2, 125 100 1, 175 155 1),
                (1 10 2, 5 20 1))') As mline ) As foo;
            lol3d             |          lol2d
------------------------------+--------------------------
 LINESTRING(175 150 5,1 10 2) | LINESTRING(175 150,1 10)

See Also

ST_3DClosestPoint, ST_3DDistance, ST_LongestLine, ST_3DShortestLine, ST_3DMaxDistance

Name

ST_3DMaxDistance — For geometry type Returns the 3-dimensional cartesian maximum distance (based on spatial ref) between two geometries in projected units.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_3DMaxDistance( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

For geometry type returns the 3-dimensional maximum cartesian distance between two geometries in projected units (spatial ref units).

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Availability: 2.0.0

Changed: 2.2.0 - In case of 2D and 3D, Z is no longer assumed to be 0 for missing Z.

Examples

-- Geometry example - units in meters (SRID: 2163 US National Atlas Equal area) (3D point and line compared 2D point and line)
-- Note: currently no vertical datum support so Z is not transformed and assumed to be same units as final.
SELECT ST_3DMaxDistance(
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;POINT(-72.1235 42.3521 10000)'),2163),
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45 15, -72.123 42.1546 20)'),2163)
		) As dist_3d,
		ST_MaxDistance(
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;POINT(-72.1235 42.3521 10000)'),2163),
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45 15, -72.123 42.1546 20)'),2163)
		) As dist_2d;

     dist_3d      |     dist_2d
------------------+------------------
 24383.7467488441 | 22247.8472107251

See Also

ST_Distance, ST_3DDWithin, ST_3DMaxDistance, ST_Transform

Name

ST_3DShortestLine — Returns the 3-dimensional shortest line between two geometries

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_3DShortestLine( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

Returns the 3-dimensional shortest line between two geometries. The function will only return the first shortest line if more than one, that the function finds. If g1 and g2 intersects in just one point the function will return a line with both start and end in that intersection-point. If g1 and g2 are intersecting with more than one point the function will return a line with start and end in the same point but it can be any of the intersecting points. The line returned will always start in g1 and end in g2. The 3D length of the line this function returns will always be the same as ST_3DDistance returns for g1 and g2.

Availability: 2.0.0

Changed: 2.2.0 - if 2 2D geometries are input, a 2D point is returned (instead of old behavior assuming 0 for missing Z). In case of 2D and 3D, Z is no longer assumed to be 0 for missing Z.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Examples

linestring and point -- both 3d and 2d shortest line

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_3DShortestLine(line,pt)) AS shl3d_line_pt,
		ST_AsEWKT(ST_ShortestLine(line,pt)) As shl2d_line_pt
	FROM (SELECT 'POINT(100 100 30)'::geometry As pt,
			'LINESTRING (20 80 20, 98 190 1, 110 180 3, 50 75 1000)'::geometry As line
		) As foo;

 shl3d_line_pt                        						                 |               shl2d_line_pt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(54.6993798867619 128.935022917228 11.5475869506606,100 100 30)  | LINESTRING(73.0769230769231 115.384615384615,100 100)

linestring and multipoint -- both 3d and 2d shortest line

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_3DShortestLine(line,pt)) AS shl3d_line_pt,
		ST_AsEWKT(ST_ShortestLine(line,pt)) As shl2d_line_pt
	FROM (SELECT 'MULTIPOINT(100 100 30, 50 74 1000)'::geometry As pt,
			'LINESTRING (20 80 20, 98 190 1, 110 180 3, 50 75 900)'::geometry As line
		) As foo;

                       shl3d_line_pt                                       | shl2d_line_pt
---------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------
 LINESTRING(54.6993798867619 128.935022917228 11.5475869506606,100 100 30) | LINESTRING(50 75,50 74)

Multilinestring and polygon both 3d and 2d shortest line

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_3DShortestLine(poly, mline)) As shl3d,
    ST_AsEWKT(ST_ShortestLine(poly, mline)) As shl2d
        FROM (SELECT  ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYGON((175 150 5, 20 40 5, 35 45 5, 50 60 5, 100 100 5, 175 150 5))') As poly,
                ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTILINESTRING((175 155 2, 20 40 20, 50 60 -2, 125 100 1, 175 155 1),
                (1 10 2, 5 20 1))') As mline ) As foo;
                   shl3d                                                                           |     shl2d
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------
 LINESTRING(39.993580415989 54.1889925532825 5,40.4078575708294 53.6052383805529 5.03423778139177) | LINESTRING(20 40,20 40)

See Also

ST_3DClosestPoint, ST_3DDistance, ST_LongestLine, ST_ShortestLine, ST_3DMaxDistance

Name

ST_Area — Returns the area of the surface if it is a Polygon or MultiPolygon. For geometry, a 2D Cartesian area is determined with units specified by the SRID. For geography, area is determined on a curved surface with units in square meters.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Area(
g1);

geometry g1;

float fsfuncST_Area( | geog, |
| use_spheroid=true); |

geography geog;
boolean use_spheroid=true;

Description

Returns the area of the geometry if it is a Polygon or MultiPolygon. Return the area measurement of an ST_Surface or ST_MultiSurface value. For geometry, a 2D Cartesian area is determined with units specified by the SRID. For geography, by default area is determined on a spheroid with units in square meters. To measure around the faster but less accurate sphere, use ST_Area(geog,false).

Enhanced: 2.0.0 - support for 2D polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

Enhanced: 2.2.0 - measurement on spheroid performed with GeographicLib for improved accuracy and robustness. Requires Proj >= 4.9.0 to take advantage of the new feature.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.1.2, 9.5.3

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Note

For polyhedral surfaces, only supports 2D polyhedral surfaces (not 2.5D). For 2.5D, may give a non-zero answer, but only for the faces that sit completely in XY plane.

Description This method is also provided by SFCGAL backend.

Examples

Return area in square feet for a plot of Massachusetts land and multiply by conversion to get square meters. Note this is in square feet because EPSG:2249 is Massachusetts State Plane Feet

SELECT ST_Area(the_geom) As sqft, ST_Area(the_geom)*POWER(0.3048,2) As sqm
		FROM (SELECT
		ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((743238 2967416,743238 2967450,
			743265 2967450,743265.625 2967416,743238 2967416))',2249) ) As foo(the_geom);
  sqft   |     sqm
---------+-------------
 928.625 | 86.27208552

Return area square feet and transform to Massachusetts state plane meters (EPSG:26986) to get square meters. Note this is in square feet because 2249 is Massachusetts State Plane Feet and transformed area is in square meters since EPSG:26986 is state plane Massachusetts meters

SELECT ST_Area(the_geom) As sqft, ST_Area(ST_Transform(the_geom,26986)) As sqm
		FROM (SELECT
		ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((743238 2967416,743238 2967450,
			743265 2967450,743265.625 2967416,743238 2967416))',2249) ) As foo(the_geom);
  sqft   |       sqm
---------+------------------
 928.625 | 86.2724304199219

Return area square feet and square meters using geography data type. Note that we transform to our geometry to geography (before you can do that make sure your geometry is in WGS 84 long lat 4326). Geography always measures in meters. This is just for demonstration to compare. Normally your table will be stored in geography data type already.

SELECT ST_Area(the_geog)/POWER(0.3048,2) As sqft_spheroid,  ST_Area(the_geog,false)/POWER(0.3048,2) As sqft_sphere, ST_Area(the_geog) As sqm_spheroid
		FROM (SELECT
		geography(
		ST_Transform(
			ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((743238 2967416,743238 2967450,743265 2967450,743265.625 2967416,743238 2967416))',
				2249
				) ,4326
			)
		)
	) As foo(the_geog);
  sqft_spheroid   |   sqft_sphere    |   sqm_spheroid
------------------+------------------+------------------
 928.684403538925 | 927.049336105925 | 86.2776042893529

 --if your data is in geography already
 SELECT ST_Area(the_geog)/POWER(0.3048,2) As  sqft, ST_Area(the_geog) As sqm
	FROM somegeogtable;

See Also

ST_GeomFromText, ST_GeographyFromText, ST_SetSRID, ST_Transform

Name

ST_Azimuth — Returns the north-based azimuth as the angle in radians measured clockwise from the vertical on pointA to pointB.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Azimuth( | pointA, |
| pointB); |

geometry pointA;
geometry pointB;

float fsfuncST_Azimuth( | pointA, |
| pointB); |

geography pointA;
geography pointB;

Description

Returns the azimuth in radians of the segment defined by the given point geometries, or NULL if the two points are coincident. The azimuth is angle is referenced from north, and is positive clockwise: North = 0; East = π/2; South = π; West = 3π/2.

For the geography type, the forward azimuth is solved as part of the inverse geodesic problem.

The azimuth is mathematical concept defined as the angle between a reference plane and a point, with angular units in radians. Units can be converted to degrees using a built-in PostgreSQL function degrees(), as shown in the example.

Availability: 1.1.0

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for geography was introduced.

Enhanced: 2.2.0 measurement on spheroid performed with GeographicLib for improved accuracy and robustness. Requires Proj >= 4.9.0 to take advantage of the new feature.

Azimuth is especially useful in conjunction with ST_Translate for shifting an object along its perpendicular axis. See upgis_lineshift Plpgsqlfunctions PostGIS wiki section for example of this.

Examples

Geometry Azimuth in degrees

SELECT degrees(ST_Azimuth(ST_Point(25, 45), ST_Point(75, 100))) AS degA_B,
	    degrees(ST_Azimuth(ST_Point(75, 100), ST_Point(25, 45))) AS degB_A;

      dega_b       |     degb_a
------------------+------------------
 42.2736890060937 | 222.273689006094

Green: the start Point(25,45) with its vertical. Yellow: degA_B as the path to travel (azimuth).

Green: the start Point(75,100) with its vertical. Yellow: degB_A as the path to travel (azimuth).

See Also

ST_Point, ST_Translate, ST_Project, PostgreSQL Math Functions

Name

ST_Centroid — Returns the geometric center of a geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Centroid(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Computes the geometric center of a geometry, or equivalently, the center of mass of the geometry as a POINT. For [MULTI]POINTs, this is computed as the arithmetic mean of the input coordinates. For [MULTI]LINESTRINGs, this is computed as the weighted length of each line segment. For [MULTI]POLYGONs, "weight" is thought in terms of area. If an empty geometry is supplied, an empty GEOMETRYCOLLECTION is returned. If NULL is supplied, NULL is returned.

The centroid is equal to the centroid of the set of component Geometries of highest dimension (since the lower-dimension geometries contribute zero "weight" to the centroid).

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.1.4, 9.5.5

Examples

In each of the following illustrations, the blue dot represents the centroid of the source geometry.

Centroid of a MULTIPOINT

Centroid of a LINESTRING

Centroid of a POLYGON

Centroid of a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Centroid('MULTIPOINT ( -1 0, -1 2, -1 3, -1 4, -1 7, 0 1, 0 3, 1 1, 2 0, 6 0, 7 8, 9 8, 10 6 )'));
				st_astext
------------------------------------------
 POINT(2.30769230769231 3.30769230769231)
(1 row)

See Also

ST_PointOnSurface

Name

ST_ClosestPoint — Returns the 2-dimensional point on g1 that is closest to g2. This is the first point of the shortest line.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ClosestPoint( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

Returns the 2-dimensional point on g1 that is closest to g2. This is the first point of the shortest line.

Note

If you have a 3D Geometry, you may prefer to use ST_3DClosestPoint.

Availability: 1.5.0

Examples

Closest between point and linestring is the point itself, but closest point between a linestring and point is the point on line string that is closest.

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_ClosestPoint(pt,line)) AS cp_pt_line,
	ST_AsText(ST_ClosestPoint(line,pt)) As cp_line_pt
FROM (SELECT 'POINT(100 100)'::geometry As pt,
		'LINESTRING (20 80, 98 190, 110 180, 50 75 )'::geometry As line
	) As foo;

   cp_pt_line   |                cp_line_pt
----------------+------------------------------------------
 POINT(100 100) | POINT(73.0769230769231 115.384615384615)

closest point on polygon A to polygon B

SELECT ST_AsText(
		ST_ClosestPoint(
			ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((175 150, 20 40, 50 60, 125 100, 175 150))'),
			ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(110 170)'), 20)
			)
		) As ptwkt;

                  ptwkt
------------------------------------------
 POINT(140.752120669087 125.695053378061)

See Also

ST_3DClosestPoint,ST_Distance, ST_LongestLine, ST_ShortestLine, ST_MaxDistance

Name

ST_ClusterIntersecting — Aggregate. Returns an array with the connected components of a set of geometries

Synopsis

geometry[] fsfuncST_ClusterIntersecting(
g);

geometry set g;

Description

ST_ClusterIntersecting is an aggregate function that returns an array of GeometryCollections, where each GeometryCollection represents an interconnected set of geometries.

Availability: 2.2.0 - requires GEOS

Examples

WITH testdata AS
  (SELECT unnest(ARRAY['LINESTRING (0 0, 1 1)'::geometry,
		       'LINESTRING (5 5, 4 4)'::geometry,
		       'LINESTRING (6 6, 7 7)'::geometry,
		       'LINESTRING (0 0, -1 -1)'::geometry,
		       'POLYGON ((0 0, 4 0, 4 4, 0 4, 0 0))'::geometry]) AS geom)

SELECT ST_AsText(unnest(ST_ClusterIntersecting(geom))) FROM testdata;

--result

st_astext
---------
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(LINESTRING(0 0,1 1),LINESTRING(5 5,4 4),LINESTRING(0 0,-1 -1),POLYGON((0 0,4 0,4 4,0 4,0 0)))
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(LINESTRING(6 6,7 7))

See Also

ST_ClusterWithin,

Name

ST_ClusterWithin — Aggregate. Returns an array of GeometryCollections, where each GeometryCollection represents a set of geometries separated by no more than the specified distance.

Synopsis

geometry[] fsfuncST_ClusterWithin( | g, |
| distance); |

geometry set g;
float8 distance;

Description

ST_ClusterWithin is an aggregate function that returns an array of GeometryCollections, where each GeometryCollection represents a set of geometries separated by no more than the specified distance. (Distances are Cartesian distances in the units of the SRID.)

Availability: 2.2.0 - requires GEOS

Examples

WITH testdata AS
  (SELECT unnest(ARRAY['LINESTRING (0 0, 1 1)'::geometry,
		       'LINESTRING (5 5, 4 4)'::geometry,
		       'LINESTRING (6 6, 7 7)'::geometry,
		       'LINESTRING (0 0, -1 -1)'::geometry,
		       'POLYGON ((0 0, 4 0, 4 4, 0 4, 0 0))'::geometry]) AS geom)

SELECT ST_AsText(unnest(ST_ClusterWithin(geom, 1.4))) FROM testdata;

--result

st_astext
---------
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(LINESTRING(0 0,1 1),LINESTRING(5 5,4 4),LINESTRING(0 0,-1 -1),POLYGON((0 0,4 0,4 4,0 4,0 0)))
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(LINESTRING(6 6,7 7))

See Also

ST_ClusterIntersecting,

Name

ST_Contains — Returns true if and only if no points of B lie in the exterior of A, and at least one point of the interior of B lies in the interior of A.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Contains( | geomA, |
| geomB); |

geometry geomA;
geometry geomB;

Description

Geometry A contains Geometry B if and only if no points of B lie in the exterior of A, and at least one point of the interior of B lies in the interior of A. An important subtlety of this definition is that A does not contain its boundary, but A does contain itself. Contrast that to ST_ContainsProperly where geometry A does not Contain Properly itself.

Returns TRUE if geometry B is completely inside geometry A. For this function to make sense, the source geometries must both be of the same coordinate projection, having the same SRID. ST_Contains is the inverse of ST_Within. So ST_Contains(A,B) implies ST_Within(B,A) except in the case of invalid geometries where the result is always false regardless or not defined.

Performed by the GEOS module

Important

Do not call with a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION as an argument

Important

Do not use this function with invalid geometries. You will get unexpected results.

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries. To avoid index use, use the function _ST_Contains.

NOTE: this is the "allowable" version that returns a boolean, not an integer.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.2 // s2.1.13.3 - same as within(geometry B, geometry A)

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.31

There are certain subtleties to ST_Contains and ST_Within that are not intuitively obvious. For details check out Subtleties of OGC Covers, Contains, Within

Examples

The ST_Contains predicate returns TRUE in all the following illustrations.

LINESTRING / MULTIPOINT

POLYGON / POINT

POLYGON / LINESTRING

POLYGON / POLYGON

The ST_Contains predicate returns FALSE in all the following illustrations.

POLYGON / MULTIPOINT

POLYGON / LINESTRING

-- A circle within a circle
SELECT ST_Contains(smallc, bigc) As smallcontainsbig,
	   ST_Contains(bigc,smallc) As bigcontainssmall,
	   ST_Contains(bigc, ST_Union(smallc, bigc)) as bigcontainsunion,
	   ST_Equals(bigc, ST_Union(smallc, bigc)) as bigisunion,
	   ST_Covers(bigc, ST_ExteriorRing(bigc)) As bigcoversexterior,
	   ST_Contains(bigc, ST_ExteriorRing(bigc)) As bigcontainsexterior
FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'), 10) As smallc,
			 ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'), 20) As bigc) As foo;

-- Result
  smallcontainsbig | bigcontainssmall | bigcontainsunion | bigisunion | bigcoversexterior | bigcontainsexterior
------------------+------------------+------------------+------------+-------------------+---------------------
 f                | t                | t                | t          | t        | f

-- Example demonstrating difference between contains and contains properly
SELECT ST_GeometryType(geomA) As geomtype, ST_Contains(geomA,geomA) AS acontainsa, ST_ContainsProperly(geomA, geomA) AS acontainspropa,
   ST_Contains(geomA, ST_Boundary(geomA)) As acontainsba, ST_ContainsProperly(geomA, ST_Boundary(geomA)) As acontainspropba
FROM (VALUES ( ST_Buffer(ST_Point(1,1), 5,1) ),
			 ( ST_MakeLine(ST_Point(1,1), ST_Point(-1,-1) ) ),
			 ( ST_Point(1,1) )
	  ) As foo(geomA);

  geomtype    | acontainsa | acontainspropa | acontainsba | acontainspropba
--------------+------------+----------------+-------------+-----------------
ST_Polygon    | t          | f              | f           | f
ST_LineString | t          | f              | f           | f
ST_Point      | t          | t              | f           | f

See Also

ST_Boundary, ST_ContainsProperly, ST_Covers, ST_CoveredBy, ST_Equals, ST_Within

Name

ST_ContainsProperly — Returns true if B intersects the interior of A but not the boundary (or exterior). A does not contain properly itself, but does contain itself.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_ContainsProperly( | geomA, |
| geomB); |

geometry geomA;
geometry geomB;

Description

Returns true if B intersects the interior of A but not the boundary (or exterior).

A does not contain properly itself, but does contain itself.

Every point of the other geometry is a point of this geometry's interior. The DE-9IM Intersection Matrix for the two geometries matches [T**FF*FF*] used in ST_Relate

Note

From JTS docs slightly reworded: The advantage to using this predicate over ST_Contains and ST_Intersects is that it can be computed efficiently, with no need to compute topology at individual points.

An example use case for this predicate is computing the intersections of a set of geometries with a large polygonal geometry. Since intersection is a fairly slow operation, it can be more efficient to use containsProperly to filter out test geometries which lie wholly inside the area. In these cases the intersection is known a priori to be exactly the original test geometry.

Availability: 1.4.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.1.0.

Important

Do not call with a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION as an argument

Important

Do not use this function with invalid geometries. You will get unexpected results.

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries. To avoid index use, use the function _ST_ContainsProperly.

Examples

	--a circle within a circle
	SELECT ST_ContainsProperly(smallc, bigc) As smallcontainspropbig,
	ST_ContainsProperly(bigc,smallc) As bigcontainspropsmall,
	ST_ContainsProperly(bigc, ST_Union(smallc, bigc)) as bigcontainspropunion,
	ST_Equals(bigc, ST_Union(smallc, bigc)) as bigisunion,
	ST_Covers(bigc, ST_ExteriorRing(bigc)) As bigcoversexterior,
	ST_ContainsProperly(bigc, ST_ExteriorRing(bigc)) As bigcontainsexterior
	FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'), 10) As smallc,
	ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'), 20) As bigc) As foo;
	--Result
  smallcontainspropbig | bigcontainspropsmall | bigcontainspropunion | bigisunion | bigcoversexterior | bigcontainsexterior
------------------+------------------+------------------+------------+-------------------+---------------------
 f                     | t                    | f                    | t          | t                 | f

 --example demonstrating difference between contains and contains properly
 SELECT ST_GeometryType(geomA) As geomtype, ST_Contains(geomA,geomA) AS acontainsa, ST_ContainsProperly(geomA, geomA) AS acontainspropa,
 ST_Contains(geomA, ST_Boundary(geomA)) As acontainsba, ST_ContainsProperly(geomA, ST_Boundary(geomA)) As acontainspropba
 FROM (VALUES ( ST_Buffer(ST_Point(1,1), 5,1) ),
		  ( ST_MakeLine(ST_Point(1,1), ST_Point(-1,-1) ) ),
		  ( ST_Point(1,1) )
	) As foo(geomA);

  geomtype    | acontainsa | acontainspropa | acontainsba | acontainspropba
--------------+------------+----------------+-------------+-----------------
ST_Polygon    | t          | f              | f           | f
ST_LineString | t          | f              | f           | f
ST_Point      | t          | t              | f           | f

See Also

ST_GeometryType, ST_Boundary, ST_Contains, ST_Covers, ST_CoveredBy, ST_Equals, ST_Relate, ST_Within

Name

ST_Covers — Returns 1 (TRUE) if no point in Geometry B is outside Geometry A

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Covers( | geomA, |
| geomB); |

geometry geomA;
geometry geomB;

boolean fsfuncST_Covers( | geogpolyA, |
| geogpointB); |

geography geogpolyA;
geography geogpointB;

Description

Returns 1 (TRUE) if no point in Geometry/Geography B is outside Geometry/Geography A

Performed by the GEOS module

Important

Do not call with a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION as an argument

Important

For geography only Polygon covers point is supported.

Important

Do not use this function with invalid geometries. You will get unexpected results.

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries. To avoid index use, use the function _ST_Covers.

Availability: 1.2.2 - requires GEOS >= 3.0

Availability: 1.5 - support for geography was introduced.

NOTE: this is the "allowable" version that returns a boolean, not an integer.

Not an OGC standard, but Oracle has it too.

There are certain subtleties to ST_Contains and ST_Within that are not intuitively obvious. For details check out Subtleties of OGC Covers, Contains, Within

Examples

Geometry example

	--a circle covering a circle
SELECT ST_Covers(smallc,smallc) As smallinsmall,
	ST_Covers(smallc, bigc) As smallcoversbig,
	ST_Covers(bigc, ST_ExteriorRing(bigc)) As bigcoversexterior,
	ST_Contains(bigc, ST_ExteriorRing(bigc)) As bigcontainsexterior
FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'), 10) As smallc,
	ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'), 20) As bigc) As foo;
	--Result
 smallinsmall | smallcoversbig | bigcoversexterior | bigcontainsexterior
--------------+----------------+-------------------+---------------------
 t            | f              | t                 | f
(1 row)

Geeography Example

-- a point with a 300 meter buffer compared to a point, a point and its 10 meter buffer
SELECT ST_Covers(geog_poly, geog_pt) As poly_covers_pt,
	ST_Covers(ST_Buffer(geog_pt,10), geog_pt) As buff_10m_covers_cent
	FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_GeogFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(-99.327 31.4821)'), 300) As geog_poly,
				ST_GeogFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(-99.33 31.483)') As geog_pt ) As foo;

 poly_covers_pt | buff_10m_covers_cent
----------------+------------------
 f              | t

See Also

ST_Contains, ST_CoveredBy, ST_Within

Name

ST_CoveredBy — Returns 1 (TRUE) if no point in Geometry/Geography A is outside Geometry/Geography B

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_CoveredBy( | geomA, |
| geomB); |

geometry geomA;
geometry geomB;

boolean fsfuncST_CoveredBy( | geogA, |
| geogB); |

geography geogA;
geography geogB;

Description

Returns 1 (TRUE) if no point in Geometry/Geography A is outside Geometry/Geography B

Performed by the GEOS module

Important

Do not call with a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION as an argument

Important

Do not use this function with invalid geometries. You will get unexpected results.

Availability: 1.2.2 - requires GEOS >= 3.0

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries. To avoid index use, use the function _ST_CoveredBy.

NOTE: this is the "allowable" version that returns a boolean, not an integer.

Not an OGC standard, but Oracle has it too.

There are certain subtleties to ST_Contains and ST_Within that are not intuitively obvious. For details check out Subtleties of OGC Covers, Contains, Within

Examples

	--a circle coveredby a circle
SELECT ST_CoveredBy(smallc,smallc) As smallinsmall,
	ST_CoveredBy(smallc, bigc) As smallcoveredbybig,
	ST_CoveredBy(ST_ExteriorRing(bigc), bigc) As exteriorcoveredbybig,
	ST_Within(ST_ExteriorRing(bigc),bigc) As exeriorwithinbig
FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'), 10) As smallc,
	ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'), 20) As bigc) As foo;
	--Result
 smallinsmall | smallcoveredbybig | exteriorcoveredbybig | exeriorwithinbig
--------------+-------------------+----------------------+------------------
 t            | t                 | t                    | f
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Contains, ST_Covers, ST_ExteriorRing, ST_Within

Name

ST_Crosses — Returns TRUE if the supplied geometries have some, but not all, interior points in common.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Crosses( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

ST_Crosses takes two geometry objects and returns TRUE if their intersection "spatially cross", that is, the geometries have some, but not all interior points in common. The intersection of the interiors of the geometries must not be the empty set and must have a dimensionality less than the maximum dimension of the two input geometries. Additionally, the intersection of the two geometries must not equal either of the source geometries. Otherwise, it returns FALSE.

In mathematical terms, this is expressed as:

TODO: Insert appropriate MathML markup here or use a gif. Simple HTML markup does not work well in both IE and Firefox.

The DE-9IM Intersection Matrix for the two geometries is:

T*T****** (for Point/Line, Point/Area, and Line/Area situations)

T*****T** (for Line/Point, Area/Point, and Area/Line situations)

0******** (for Line/Line situations)

For any other combination of dimensions this predicate returns false.

The OpenGIS Simple Features Specification defines this predicate only for Point/Line, Point/Area, Line/Line, and Line/Area situations. JTS / GEOS extends the definition to apply to Line/Point, Area/Point and Area/Line situations as well. This makes the relation symmetric.

Important

Do not call with a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION as an argument

Note

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.13.3

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.29

Examples

The following illustrations all return TRUE.

MULTIPOINT / LINESTRING

MULTIPOINT / POLYGON

LINESTRING / POLYGON

LINESTRING / LINESTRING

Consider a situation where a user has two tables: a table of roads and a table of highways.

CREATE TABLE roads (
  id serial NOT NULL,
  the_geom geometry,
  CONSTRAINT roads_pkey PRIMARY KEY (road_id)
);

CREATE TABLE highways (
  id serial NOT NULL,
  the_gem geometry,
  CONSTRAINT roads_pkey PRIMARY KEY (road_id)
);

To determine a list of roads that cross a highway, use a query similiar to:

SELECT roads.id
FROM roads, highways
WHERE ST_Crosses(roads.the_geom, highways.the_geom);

Name

ST_LineCrossingDirection — Given 2 linestrings, returns a number between -3 and 3 denoting what kind of crossing behavior. 0 is no crossing.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_LineCrossingDirection( | linestringA, |
| linestringB); |

geometry linestringA;
geometry linestringB;

Description

Given 2 linestrings, returns a number between -3 and 3 denoting what kind of crossing behavior. 0 is no crossing. This is only supported for LINESTRING

Definition of integer constants is as follows:

0: LINE NO CROSS

-1: LINE CROSS LEFT

1: LINE CROSS RIGHT

-2: LINE MULTICROSS END LEFT

2: LINE MULTICROSS END RIGHT

-3: LINE MULTICROSS END SAME FIRST LEFT

3: LINE MULTICROSS END SAME FIRST RIGHT

Availability: 1.4

Examples

Line 1 (green), Line 2 ball is start point, triangle are end points. Query below.

SELECT ST_LineCrossingDirection(foo.line1, foo.line2) As l1_cross_l2 ,
	  ST_LineCrossingDirection(foo.line2, foo.line1) As l2_cross_l1
FROM (
SELECT
 ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(25 169,89 114,40 70,86 43)') As line1,
 ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(171 154,20 140,71 74,161 53)') As line2
	) As foo;

 l1_cross_l2 | l2_cross_l1
-------------+-------------
           3 |          -3

Line 1 (green), Line 2 (blue) ball is start point, triangle are end points. Query below.

SELECT ST_LineCrossingDirection(foo.line1, foo.line2) As l1_cross_l2 ,
	  ST_LineCrossingDirection(foo.line2, foo.line1) As l2_cross_l1
FROM (
 SELECT
  ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(25 169,89 114,40 70,86 43)') As line1,
  ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING (171 154, 20 140, 71 74, 2.99 90.16)') As line2
) As foo;

 l1_cross_l2 | l2_cross_l1
-------------+-------------
           2 |          -2

Line 1 (green), Line 2 (blue) ball is start point, triangle are end points. Query below.

SELECT
	ST_LineCrossingDirection(foo.line1, foo.line2) As l1_cross_l2 ,
	ST_LineCrossingDirection(foo.line2, foo.line1) As l2_cross_l1
FROM (
 SELECT
  ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(25 169,89 114,40 70,86 43)') As line1,
  ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING (20 140, 71 74, 161 53)') As line2
  ) As foo;

 l1_cross_l2 | l2_cross_l1
-------------+-------------
          -1 |          1

Line 1 (green), Line 2 (blue) ball is start point, triangle are end points. Query below.

SELECT ST_LineCrossingDirection(foo.line1, foo.line2) As l1_cross_l2 ,
	  ST_LineCrossingDirection(foo.line2, foo.line1) As l2_cross_l1
FROM (SELECT
	ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(25 169,89 114,40 70,86 43)') As line1,
	ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(2.99 90.16,71 74,20 140,171 154)') As line2
	) As foo;

 l1_cross_l2 | l2_cross_l1
-------------+-------------
          -2 |          2

SELECT s1.gid, s2.gid, ST_LineCrossingDirection(s1.the_geom, s2.the_geom)
	FROM streets s1 CROSS JOIN streets s2 ON (s1.gid != s2.gid AND s1.the_geom && s2.the_geom )
WHERE ST_CrossingDirection(s1.the_geom, s2.the_geom) > 0;

See Also

ST_Crosses

Name

ST_Disjoint — Returns TRUE if the Geometries do not "spatially intersect" - if they do not share any space together.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Disjoint( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
geometry B ;

Description

Overlaps, Touches, Within all imply geometries are not spatially disjoint. If any of the aforementioned returns true, then the geometries are not spatially disjoint. Disjoint implies false for spatial intersection.

Important

Do not call with a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION as an argument

Performed by the GEOS module

Note

This function call does not use indexes

Note

NOTE: this is the "allowable" version that returns a boolean, not an integer.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.2 //s2.1.13.3 - a.Relate(b, 'FF*FF****')

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.26

Examples

SELECT ST_Disjoint('POINT(0 0)'::geometry, 'LINESTRING ( 2 0, 0 2 )'::geometry);
 st_disjoint
---------------
 t
(1 row)
SELECT ST_Disjoint('POINT(0 0)'::geometry, 'LINESTRING ( 0 0, 0 2 )'::geometry);
 st_disjoint
---------------
 f
(1 row)

See Also

ST_IntersectsST_Intersects

Name

ST_Distance — For geometry type Returns the 2D Cartesian distance between two geometries in projected units (based on spatial ref). For geography type defaults to return minimum geodesic distance between two geographies in meters.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Distance( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

float fsfuncST_Distance( | gg1, |
| gg2); |

geography gg1;
geography gg2;

float fsfuncST_Distance( | gg1, |
| gg2, |
| use_spheroid); |

geography gg1;
geography gg2;
boolean use_spheroid;

Description

For geometry type returns the minimum 2D Cartesian distance between two geometries in projected units (spatial ref units). For geography type defaults to return the minimum geodesic distance between two geographies in meters. If use_spheroid is false, a faster sphere calculation is used instead of a spheroid.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.23

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This method is also provided by SFCGAL backend.

Availability: 1.5.0 geography support was introduced in 1.5. Speed improvements for planar to better handle large or many vertex geometries

Enhanced: 2.1.0 improved speed for geography. See Making Geography faster for details.

Enhanced: 2.1.0 - support for curved geometries was introduced.

Enhanced: 2.2.0 - measurement on spheroid performed with GeographicLib for improved accuracy and robustness. Requires Proj >= 4.9.0 to take advantage of the new feature.

Basic Geometry Examples

--Geometry example - units in planar degrees 4326 is WGS 84 long lat unit=degrees
SELECT ST_Distance(
		ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-72.1235 42.3521)',4326),
		ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45, -72.123 42.1546)', 4326)
	);
st_distance
-----------------
0.00150567726382282

-- Geometry example - units in meters (SRID: 26986 Massachusetts state plane meters) (most accurate for Massachusetts)
SELECT ST_Distance(
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-72.1235 42.3521)',4326),26986),
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45, -72.123 42.1546)', 4326),26986)
		);
st_distance
-----------------
123.797937878454

-- Geometry example - units in meters (SRID: 2163 US National Atlas Equal area) (least accurate)
SELECT ST_Distance(
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-72.1235 42.3521)',4326),2163),
			ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45, -72.123 42.1546)', 4326),2163)
		);

st_distance
------------------
126.664256056812

Geography Examples

-- same as geometry example but note units in meters - use sphere for slightly faster less accurate
SELECT ST_Distance(gg1, gg2) As spheroid_dist, ST_Distance(gg1, gg2, false) As sphere_dist
FROM (SELECT
	ST_GeogFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(-72.1235 42.3521)') As gg1,
	ST_GeogFromText('SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45, -72.123 42.1546)') As gg2
	) As foo  ;

  spheroid_dist   |   sphere_dist
------------------+------------------
 123.802076746848 | 123.475736916397

See Also

ST_3DDistance, ST_DWithin, ST_DistanceSphere, ST_DistanceSpheroid, ST_MaxDistance, ST_Transform

Name

ST_HausdorffDistance — Returns the Hausdorff distance between two geometries. Basically a measure of how similar or dissimilar 2 geometries are. Units are in the units of the spatial reference system of the geometries.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_HausdorffDistance( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

float fsfuncST_HausdorffDistance( | g1, |
| g2, |
| densifyFrac); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;
float densifyFrac;

Description

Implements algorithm for computing a distance metric which can be thought of as the "Discrete Hausdorff Distance". This is the Hausdorff distance restricted to discrete points for one of the geometries. Wikipedia article on Hausdorff distance Martin Davis note on how Hausdorff Distance calculation was used to prove correctness of the CascadePolygonUnion approach.

When densifyFrac is specified, this function performs a segment densification before computing the discrete hausdorff distance. The densifyFrac parameter sets the fraction by which to densify each segment. Each segment will be split into a number of equal-length subsegments, whose fraction of the total length is closest to the given fraction.

Note

The current implementation supports only vertices as the discrete locations. This could be extended to allow an arbitrary density of points to be used.

Note

This algorithm is NOT equivalent to the standard Hausdorff distance. However, it computes an approximation that is correct for a large subset of useful cases. One important part of this subset is Linestrings that are roughly parallel to each other, and roughly equal in length. This is a useful metric for line matching.

Availability: 1.5.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.2.0

Examples

For each building, find the parcel that best represents it. First we require the parcel intersect with the geometry. DISTINCT ON guarantees we get each building listed only once, the ORDER BY .. ST_HausdorffDistance gives us a preference of parcel that is most similar to the building.

SELECT DISTINCT ON(buildings.gid) buildings.gid, parcels.parcel_id
   FROM buildings INNER JOIN parcels ON ST_Intersects(buildings.geom,parcels.geom)
     ORDER BY buildings.gid, ST_HausdorffDistance(buildings.geom, parcels.geom);

postgis=# SELECT ST_HausdorffDistance(
				'LINESTRING (0 0, 2 0)'::geometry,
				'MULTIPOINT (0 1, 1 0, 2 1)'::geometry);
 st_hausdorffdistance
 ----------------------
					 1
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT st_hausdorffdistance('LINESTRING (130 0, 0 0, 0 150)'::geometry, 'LINESTRING (10 10, 10 150, 130 10)'::geometry, 0.5);
 st_hausdorffdistance
 ----------------------
					70
(1 row)

Name

ST_MaxDistance — Returns the 2-dimensional largest distance between two geometries in projected units.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_MaxDistance( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

Note

Returns the 2-dimensional maximum distance between two geometries in projected units. If g1 and g2 is the same geometry the function will return the distance between the two vertices most far from each other in that geometry.

Availability: 1.5.0

Examples

Basic furthest distance the point is to any part of the line

postgis=# SELECT ST_MaxDistance('POINT(0 0)'::geometry, 'LINESTRING ( 2 0, 0 2 )'::geometry);
   st_maxdistance
-----------------
 2
(1 row)

postgis=# SELECT ST_MaxDistance('POINT(0 0)'::geometry, 'LINESTRING ( 2 2, 2 2 )'::geometry);
  st_maxdistance
------------------
 2.82842712474619
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Distance, ST_LongestLine, ST_DFullyWithin

Name

ST_DistanceSphere — Returns minimum distance in meters between two lon/lat geometries. Uses a spherical earth and radius derived from the spheroid defined by the SRID. Faster than ST_DistanceSpheroid ST_DistanceSpheroid, but less accurate. PostGIS versions prior to 1.5 only implemented for points.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_DistanceSphere( | geomlonlatA, |
| geomlonlatB); |

geometry geomlonlatA;
geometry geomlonlatB;

Description

Returns minimum distance in meters between two lon/lat points. Uses a spherical earth and radius derived from the spheroid defined by the SRID. Faster than ST_DistanceSpheroid, but less accurate. PostGIS Versions prior to 1.5 only implemented for points.

Availability: 1.5 - support for other geometry types besides points was introduced. Prior versions only work with points.

Changed: 2.2.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Distance_Sphere

Examples

SELECT round(CAST(ST_DistanceSphere(ST_Centroid(the_geom), ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-118 38)',4326)) As numeric),2) As dist_meters,
round(CAST(ST_Distance(ST_Transform(ST_Centroid(the_geom),32611),
		ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-118 38)', 4326),32611)) As numeric),2) As dist_utm11_meters,
round(CAST(ST_Distance(ST_Centroid(the_geom), ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-118 38)', 4326)) As numeric),5) As dist_degrees,
round(CAST(ST_Distance(ST_Transform(the_geom,32611),
		ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-118 38)', 4326),32611)) As numeric),2) As min_dist_line_point_meters
FROM
	(SELECT ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(-118.584 38.374,-118.583 38.5)', 4326) As the_geom) as foo;
	 dist_meters | dist_utm11_meters | dist_degrees | min_dist_line_point_meters
	-------------+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------
		70424.47 |          70438.00 |      0.72900 |                   65871.18

See Also

ST_Distance, ST_DistanceSpheroid

Name

ST_DistanceSpheroid — Returns the minimum distance between two lon/lat geometries given a particular spheroid. PostGIS versions prior to 1.5 only support points.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_DistanceSpheroid( | geomlonlatA, |
| geomlonlatB, |
| measurement_spheroid); |

geometry geomlonlatA;
geometry geomlonlatB;
spheroid measurement_spheroid;

Description

Returns minimum distance in meters between two lon/lat geometries given a particular spheroid. See the explanation of spheroids given for ST_LengthSpheroid. PostGIS version prior to 1.5 only support points.

Note

This function currently does not look at the SRID of a geometry and will always assume its represented in the coordinates of the passed in spheroid. Prior versions of this function only support points.

Availability: 1.5 - support for other geometry types besides points was introduced. Prior versions only work with points.

Changed: 2.2.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Distance_Spheroid

Examples

SELECT round(CAST(
		ST_DistanceSpheroid(ST_Centroid(the_geom), ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-118 38)',4326), 'SPHEROID["WGS 84",6378137,298.257223563]')
			As numeric),2) As dist_meters_spheroid,
		round(CAST(ST_DistanceSphere(ST_Centroid(the_geom), ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-118 38)',4326)) As numeric),2) As dist_meters_sphere,
round(CAST(ST_Distance(ST_Transform(ST_Centroid(the_geom),32611),
		ST_Transform(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-118 38)', 4326),32611)) As numeric),2) As dist_utm11_meters
FROM
	(SELECT ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(-118.584 38.374,-118.583 38.5)', 4326) As the_geom) as foo;
 dist_meters_spheroid | dist_meters_sphere | dist_utm11_meters
----------------------+--------------------+-------------------
			 70454.92 |           70424.47 |          70438.00

See Also

ST_Distance, ST_DistanceSphere

Name

ST_DFullyWithin — Returns true if all of the geometries are within the specified distance of one another

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_DFullyWithin( | g1, |
| g2, |
| distance); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;
double precision distance;

Description

Returns true if the geometries is fully within the specified distance of one another. The distance is specified in units defined by the spatial reference system of the geometries. For this function to make sense, the source geometries must both be of the same coordinate projection, having the same SRID.

Note

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries.

Availability: 1.5.0

Examples

postgis=# SELECT ST_DFullyWithin(geom_a, geom_b, 10) as DFullyWithin10, ST_DWithin(geom_a, geom_b, 10) as DWithin10, ST_DFullyWithin(geom_a, geom_b, 20) as DFullyWithin20 from
		(select ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 1)') as geom_a,ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 5, 2 7, 1 9, 14 12)') as geom_b) t1;

-----------------
 DFullyWithin10 | DWithin10 | DFullyWithin20 |
---------------+----------+---------------+
 f             | t        | t             |

See Also

ST_MaxDistance, ST_DWithin

Name

ST_DWithin — Returns true if the geometries are within the specified distance of one another. For geometry units are in those of spatial reference and For geography units are in meters and measurement is defaulted to use_spheroid=true (measure around spheroid), for faster check, use_spheroid=false to measure along sphere.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_DWithin( | g1, |
| g2, |
| distance_of_srid); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;
double precision distance_of_srid;

boolean fsfuncST_DWithin( | gg1, |
| gg2, |
| distance_meters); |

geography gg1;
geography gg2;
double precision distance_meters;

boolean fsfuncST_DWithin( | gg1, |
| gg2, |
| distance_meters, |
| use_spheroid); |

geography gg1;
geography gg2;
double precision distance_meters;
boolean use_spheroid;

Description

Returns true if the geometries are within the specified distance of one another.

For Geometries: The distance is specified in units defined by the spatial reference system of the geometries. For this function to make sense, the source geometries must both be of the same coordinate projection, having the same SRID.

For geography units are in meters and measurement is defaulted to use_spheroid=true, for faster check, use_spheroid=false to measure along sphere.

Note

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries.

Note

Prior to 1.3, ST_Expand was commonly used in conjunction with && and ST_Distance to achieve the same effect and in pre-1.3.4 this function was basically short-hand for that construct. From 1.3.4, ST_DWithin uses a more short-circuit distance function which should make it more efficient than prior versions for larger buffer regions.

Note

Use ST_3DDWithin if you have 3D geometries.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Availability: 1.5.0 support for geography was introduced

Enhanced: 2.1.0 improved speed for geography. See Making Geography faster for details.

Enhanced: 2.1.0 support for curved geometries was introduced.

Examples

--Find the nearest hospital to each school
--that is within 3000 units of the school.
-- We do an ST_DWithin search to utilize indexes to limit our search list
-- that the non-indexable ST_Distance needs to process
--If the units of the spatial reference is meters then units would be meters
SELECT DISTINCT ON (s.gid) s.gid, s.school_name, s.the_geom, h.hospital_name
	FROM schools s
		LEFT JOIN hospitals h ON ST_DWithin(s.the_geom, h.the_geom, 3000)
	ORDER BY s.gid, ST_Distance(s.the_geom, h.the_geom);

--The schools with no close hospitals
--Find all schools with no hospital within 3000 units
--away from the school.  Units is in units of spatial ref (e.g. meters, feet, degrees)
SELECT s.gid, s.school_name
	FROM schools s
		LEFT JOIN hospitals h ON ST_DWithin(s.the_geom, h.the_geom, 3000)
	WHERE h.gid IS NULL;

See Also

ST_Distance, ST_Expand

Name

ST_Equals — Returns true if the given geometries represent the same geometry. Directionality is ignored.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Equals( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A;
geometry B;

Description

Returns TRUE if the given Geometries are "spatially equal". Use this for a 'better' answer than '='. Note by spatially equal we mean ST_Within(A,B) = true and ST_Within(B,A) = true and also mean ordering of points can be different but represent the same geometry structure. To verify the order of points is consistent, use ST_OrderingEquals (it must be noted ST_OrderingEquals is a little more stringent than simply verifying order of points are the same).

Important

This function will return false if either geometry is invalid except in the case where they are binary equal.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.24

Changed: 2.2.0 Returns true even for invalid geometries if they are binary equal

Examples

SELECT ST_Equals(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 10 10)'),
		ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 5 5, 10 10)'));
 st_equals
-----------
 t
(1 row)

SELECT ST_Equals(ST_Reverse(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 10 10)')),
		ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 5 5, 10 10)'));
 st_equals
-----------
 t
(1 row)

See Also

ST_IsValid, ST_OrderingEquals, ST_Reverse, ST_Within

Name

ST_HasArc — Returns true if a geometry or geometry collection contains a circular string

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_HasArc(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns true if a geometry or geometry collection contains a circular string

Availability: 1.2.3?

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_HasArc(ST_Collect('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4, 5 6)', 'CIRCULARSTRING(1 1, 2 3, 4 5, 6 7, 5 6)'));
		st_hasarc
		--------
		t

See Also

ST_CurveToLine, ST_LineToCurve

Name

ST_Intersects — Returns TRUE if the Geometries/Geography "spatially intersect in 2D" - (share any portion of space) and FALSE if they don't (they are Disjoint). For geography -- tolerance is 0.00001 meters (so any points that close are considered to intersect)

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Intersects( | geomA, |
| geomB); |

geometry geomA ;
geometry geomB ;

boolean fsfuncST_Intersects( | geogA, |
| geogB); |

geography geogA ;
geography geogB ;

Description

If a geometry or geography shares any portion of space then they intersect. For geography -- tolerance is 0.00001 meters (so any points that are close are considered to intersect)

Overlaps, Touches, Within all imply spatial intersection. If any of the aforementioned returns true, then the geometries also spatially intersect. Disjoint implies false for spatial intersection.

Important

Do not call with a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION as an argument for geometry version. The geography version supports GEOMETRYCOLLECTION since its a thin wrapper around distance implementation.

Performed by the GEOS module (for geometry), geography is native

Availability: 1.5 support for geography was introduced.

Note

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries.

Note

For geography, this function has a distance tolerance of about 0.00001 meters and uses the sphere rather than spheroid calculation.

Note

NOTE: this is the "allowable" version that returns a boolean, not an integer.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.2 //s2.1.13.3 - ST_Intersects(g1, g2 ) --> Not (ST_Disjoint(g1, g2 ))

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.27

Description This method is also provided by SFCGAL backend.

Geometry Examples

SELECT ST_Intersects('POINT(0 0)'::geometry, 'LINESTRING ( 2 0, 0 2 )'::geometry);
 st_intersects
---------------
 f
(1 row)
SELECT ST_Intersects('POINT(0 0)'::geometry, 'LINESTRING ( 0 0, 0 2 )'::geometry);
 st_intersects
---------------
 t
(1 row)

Geography Examples

SELECT ST_Intersects(
		ST_GeographyFromText('SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-43.23456 72.4567,-43.23456 72.4568)'),
		ST_GeographyFromText('SRID=4326;POINT(-43.23456 72.4567772)')
		);

 st_intersects
---------------
t

See Also

ST_3DIntersects, ST_Disjoint

Name

ST_Length — Returns the 2D length of the geometry if it is a LineString or MultiLineString. geometry are in units of spatial reference and geography are in meters (default spheroid)

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Length(
a_2dlinestring);

geometry a_2dlinestring;

float fsfuncST_Length( | geog, |
| use_spheroid=true); |

geography geog;
boolean use_spheroid=true;

Description

For geometry: Returns the 2D Cartesian length of the geometry if it is a LineString, MultiLineString, ST_Curve, ST_MultiCurve. 0 is returned for areal geometries. For areal geometries use ST_Perimeter. For geometry types, units for length measures are specified by the spatial reference system of the geometry.

For geography types, the calculations are performed using the inverse geodesic problem, where length units are in meters. If PostGIS is compiled with PROJ version 4.8.0 or later, the spheroid is specified by the SRID, otherwise it is exclusive to WGS84. If use_spheroid=false, then calculations will approximate a sphere instead of a spheroid.

Currently for geometry this is an alias for ST_Length2D, but this may change to support higher dimensions.

Warning

Changed: 2.0.0 Breaking change -- in prior versions applying this to a MULTI/POLYGON of type geography would give you the perimeter of the POLYGON/MULTIPOLYGON. In 2.0.0 this was changed to return 0 to be in line with geometry behavior. Please use ST_Perimeter if you want the perimeter of a polygon

Note

For geography measurement defaults spheroid measurement. To use the faster less accurate sphere use ST_Length(gg,false);

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.5.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.2, 9.3.4

Availability: 1.5.0 geography support was introduced in 1.5.

Description This method is also provided by SFCGAL backend.

Geometry Examples

Return length in feet for line string. Note this is in feet because EPSG:2249 is Massachusetts State Plane Feet

SELECT ST_Length(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(743238 2967416,743238 2967450,743265 2967450,
743265.625 2967416,743238 2967416)',2249));
st_length
---------
 122.630744000095

--Transforming WGS 84 LineString to Massachusetts state plane meters
SELECT ST_Length(
	ST_Transform(
		ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45, -72.1240 42.45666, -72.123 42.1546)'),
		26986
	)
);
st_length
---------
34309.4563576191

Geography Examples

Return length of WGS 84 geography line

			-- default calculation is using a sphere rather than spheroid
SELECT ST_Length(the_geog) As length_spheroid,  ST_Length(the_geog,false) As length_sphere
FROM (SELECT ST_GeographyFromText(
'SRID=4326;LINESTRING(-72.1260 42.45, -72.1240 42.45666, -72.123 42.1546)') As the_geog)
 As foo;
 length_spheroid  |  length_sphere
------------------+------------------
 34310.5703627288 | 34346.2060960742

See Also

ST_GeographyFromText, ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_LengthSpheroid, ST_Perimeter, ST_Transform

Name

ST_Length2D — Returns the 2-dimensional length of the geometry if it is a linestring or multi-linestring. This is an alias for ST_Length

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Length2D(
a_2dlinestring);

geometry a_2dlinestring;

Description

Returns the 2-dimensional length of the geometry if it is a linestring or multi-linestring. This is an alias for ST_Length

See Also

ST_Length, ST_3DLength

Name

ST_3DLength — Returns the 3-dimensional or 2-dimensional length of the geometry if it is a linestring or multi-linestring.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_3DLength(
a_3dlinestring);

geometry a_3dlinestring;

Description

Returns the 3-dimensional or 2-dimensional length of the geometry if it is a linestring or multi-linestring. For 2-d lines it will just return the 2-d length (same as ST_Length and ST_Length2D)

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Length3D

Examples

Return length in feet for a 3D cable. Note this is in feet because EPSG:2249 is Massachusetts State Plane Feet

SELECT ST_3DLength(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(743238 2967416 1,743238 2967450 1,743265 2967450 3,
743265.625 2967416 3,743238 2967416 3)',2249));
ST_3DLength
-----------
122.704716741457

See Also

ST_Length, ST_Length2D

Name

ST_LengthSpheroid — Calculates the 2D or 3D length/perimeter of a geometry on an ellipsoid. This is useful if the coordinates of the geometry are in longitude/latitude and a length is desired without reprojection.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_LengthSpheroid( | a_geometry, |
| a_spheroid); |

geometry a_geometry;
spheroid a_spheroid;

Description

Calculates the length/perimeter of a geometry on an ellipsoid. This is useful if the coordinates of the geometry are in longitude/latitude and a length is desired without reprojection. The ellipsoid is a separate database type and can be constructed as follows:

SPHEROID[<NAME>,<SEMI-MAJOR AXIS>,<INVERSE FLATTENING>]

SPHEROID["GRS_1980",6378137,298.257222101]

Availability: 1.2.2

Changed: 2.2.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Length_Spheroid and used to have a ST_3DLength_Spheroid alias

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_LengthSpheroid( geometry_column,
			  'SPHEROID["GRS_1980",6378137,298.257222101]' )
			  FROM geometry_table;

SELECT ST_LengthSpheroid( the_geom, sph_m ) As tot_len,
ST_LengthSpheroid(ST_GeometryN(the_geom,1), sph_m) As len_line1,
ST_LengthSpheroid(ST_GeometryN(the_geom,2), sph_m) As len_line2
			  FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((-118.584 38.374,-118.583 38.5),
	(-71.05957 42.3589 , -71.061 43))') As the_geom,
CAST('SPHEROID["GRS_1980",6378137,298.257222101]' As spheroid) As sph_m)  as foo;
	tot_len      |    len_line1     |    len_line2
------------------+------------------+------------------
 85204.5207562955 | 13986.8725229309 | 71217.6482333646

 --3D
SELECT ST_LengthSpheroid( the_geom, sph_m ) As tot_len,
ST_LengthSpheroid(ST_GeometryN(the_geom,1), sph_m) As len_line1,
ST_LengthSpheroid(ST_GeometryN(the_geom,2), sph_m) As len_line2
			  FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTILINESTRING((-118.584 38.374 20,-118.583 38.5 30),
	(-71.05957 42.3589 75, -71.061 43 90))') As the_geom,
CAST('SPHEROID["GRS_1980",6378137,298.257222101]' As spheroid) As sph_m)  as foo;

	 tot_len      |    len_line1    |    len_line2
------------------+-----------------+------------------
 85204.5259107402 | 13986.876097711 | 71217.6498130292

See Also

ST_GeometryN, ST_Length

Name

ST_Length2D_Spheroid — Calculates the 2D length/perimeter of a geometry on an ellipsoid. This is useful if the coordinates of the geometry are in longitude/latitude and a length is desired without reprojection.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Length2D_Spheroid( | a_geometry, |
| a_spheroid); |

geometry a_geometry;
spheroid a_spheroid;

Description

Calculates the 2D length/perimeter of a geometry on an ellipsoid. This is useful if the coordinates of the geometry are in longitude/latitude and a length is desired without reprojection. The ellipsoid is a separate database type and can be constructed as follows:

SPHEROID[<NAME>,<SEMI-MAJOR AXIS>,<INVERSE FLATTENING>]

SPHEROID["GRS_1980",6378137,298.257222101]

Note

This is much like ST_LengthSpheroid except it will ignore the Z ordinate in calculations.

Examples

SELECT ST_Length2D_Spheroid( geometry_column,
			  'SPHEROID["GRS_1980",6378137,298.257222101]' )
			  FROM geometry_table;

SELECT ST_Length2D_Spheroid( the_geom, sph_m ) As tot_len,
ST_Length2D_Spheroid(ST_GeometryN(the_geom,1), sph_m) As len_line1,
ST_Length2D_Spheroid(ST_GeometryN(the_geom,2), sph_m) As len_line2
			  FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((-118.584 38.374,-118.583 38.5),
	(-71.05957 42.3589 , -71.061 43))') As the_geom,
CAST('SPHEROID["GRS_1980",6378137,298.257222101]' As spheroid) As sph_m)  as foo;
	tot_len      |    len_line1     |    len_line2
------------------+------------------+------------------
 85204.5207562955 | 13986.8725229309 | 71217.6482333646

 --3D Observe same answer
SELECT ST_Length2D_Spheroid( the_geom, sph_m ) As tot_len,
ST_Length2D_Spheroid(ST_GeometryN(the_geom,1), sph_m) As len_line1,
ST_Length2D_Spheroid(ST_GeometryN(the_geom,2), sph_m) As len_line2
			  FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTILINESTRING((-118.584 38.374 20,-118.583 38.5 30),
	(-71.05957 42.3589 75, -71.061 43 90))') As the_geom,
CAST('SPHEROID["GRS_1980",6378137,298.257222101]' As spheroid) As sph_m)  as foo;

	tot_len      |    len_line1     |    len_line2
------------------+------------------+------------------
 85204.5207562955 | 13986.8725229309 | 71217.6482333646

See Also

ST_GeometryN, ST_LengthSpheroid

Name

ST_LongestLine — Returns the 2-dimensional longest line points of two geometries. The function will only return the first longest line if more than one, that the function finds. The line returned will always start in g1 and end in g2. The length of the line this function returns will always be the same as st_maxdistance returns for g1 and g2.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LongestLine( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

Returns the 2-dimensional longest line between the points of two geometries.

Availability: 1.5.0

Examples

Longest line between point and line

SELECT ST_AsText(
	ST_LongestLine('POINT(100 100)'::geometry,
		'LINESTRING (20 80, 98 190, 110 180, 50 75 )'::geometry)
	) As lline;

   lline
-----------------
LINESTRING(100 100,98 190)

longest line between polygon and polygon

SELECT ST_AsText(
	ST_LongestLine(
		ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((175 150, 20 40,
			50 60, 125 100, 175 150))'),
		ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(110 170)'), 20)
		)
	) As llinewkt;

   lline
-----------------
LINESTRING(20 40,121.111404660392 186.629392246051)

longest straight distance to travel from one part of an elegant city to the other Note the max distance = to the length of the line.

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_LongestLine(c.the_geom, c.the_geom)) As llinewkt,
	ST_MaxDistance(c.the_geom,c.the_geom) As max_dist,
	ST_Length(ST_LongestLine(c.the_geom, c.the_geom)) As lenll
FROM (SELECT ST_BuildArea(ST_Collect(the_geom)) As the_geom
	FROM (SELECT ST_Translate(ST_SnapToGrid(ST_Buffer(ST_Point(50 ,generate_series(50,190, 50)
			),40, 'quad_segs=2'),1), x, 0)  As the_geom
			FROM generate_series(1,100,50) As x)  AS foo
) As c;

          llinewkt          |     max_dist     |      lenll
---------------------------+------------------+------------------
 LINESTRING(23 22,129 178) | 188.605408193933 | 188.605408193933

See Also

ST_MaxDistance, ST_ShortestLine, ST_LongestLine

Name

ST_OrderingEquals — Returns true if the given geometries represent the same geometry and points are in the same directional order.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_OrderingEquals( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A;
geometry B;

Description

ST_OrderingEquals compares two geometries and returns t (TRUE) if the geometries are equal and the coordinates are in the same order; otherwise it returns f (FALSE).

Note

This function is implemented as per the ArcSDE SQL specification rather than SQL-MM. http://edndoc.esri.com/arcsde/9.1/sql_api/sqlapi3.htm#ST_OrderingEquals

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.43

Examples

SELECT ST_OrderingEquals(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 10 10)'),
		ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 5 5, 10 10)'));
 st_orderingequals
-----------
 f
(1 row)

SELECT ST_OrderingEquals(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 10 10)'),
		ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 0 0, 10 10)'));
 st_orderingequals
-----------
 t
(1 row)

SELECT ST_OrderingEquals(ST_Reverse(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 10 10)')),
		ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(0 0, 0 0, 10 10)'));
 st_orderingequals
-----------
 f
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Equals, ST_Reverse

Name

ST_Overlaps — Returns TRUE if the Geometries share space, are of the same dimension, but are not completely contained by each other.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Overlaps( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A;
geometry B;

Description

Returns TRUE if the Geometries "spatially overlap". By that we mean they intersect, but one does not completely contain another.

Performed by the GEOS module

Note

Do not call with a GeometryCollection as an argument

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries. To avoid index use, use the function _ST_Overlaps.

NOTE: this is the "allowable" version that returns a boolean, not an integer.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.2 // s2.1.13.3

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.32

Examples

The following illustrations all return TRUE.

MULTIPOINT / MULTIPOINT

LINESTRING / LINESTRING

POLYGON / POLYGON

--a point on a line is contained by the line and is of a lower dimension, and therefore does not overlap the line
			nor crosses

SELECT ST_Overlaps(a,b) As a_overlap_b,
	ST_Crosses(a,b) As a_crosses_b,
		ST_Intersects(a, b) As a_intersects_b, ST_Contains(b,a) As b_contains_a
FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 0.5)') As a, ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 0, 1 1, 3 5)')  As b)
	As foo

a_overlap_b | a_crosses_b | a_intersects_b | b_contains_a
------------+-------------+----------------+--------------
f           | f           | t              | t

--a line that is partly contained by circle, but not fully is defined as intersecting and crossing,
-- but since of different dimension it does not overlap
SELECT ST_Overlaps(a,b) As a_overlap_b, ST_Crosses(a,b) As a_crosses_b,
	ST_Intersects(a, b) As a_intersects_b,
	ST_Contains(a,b) As a_contains_b
FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 0.5)'), 3)  As a, ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 0, 1 1, 3 5)')  As b)
	As foo;

 a_overlap_b | a_crosses_b | a_intersects_b | a_contains_b
-------------+-------------+----------------+--------------
 f           | t           | t              | f

 -- a 2-dimensional bent hot dog (aka buffered line string) that intersects a circle,
 --	but is not fully contained by the circle is defined as overlapping since they are of the same dimension,
--	but it does not cross, because the intersection of the 2 is of the same dimension
--	as the maximum dimension of the 2

SELECT ST_Overlaps(a,b) As a_overlap_b, ST_Crosses(a,b) As a_crosses_b, ST_Intersects(a, b) As a_intersects_b,
ST_Contains(b,a) As b_contains_a,
ST_Dimension(a) As dim_a, ST_Dimension(b) as dim_b, ST_Dimension(ST_Intersection(a,b)) As dima_intersection_b
FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 0.5)'), 3)  As a,
	ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 0, 1 1, 3 5)'),0.5)  As b)
	As foo;

 a_overlap_b | a_crosses_b | a_intersects_b | b_contains_a | dim_a | dim_b | dima_intersection_b
-------------+-------------+----------------+--------------+-------+-------+---------------------
 t           | f           | t              | f            |     2 |     2 |              2

See Also

ST_Contains, ST_Crosses, ST_Dimension, ST_Intersects

Name

ST_Perimeter — Return the length measurement of the boundary of an ST_Surface or ST_MultiSurface geometry or geography. (Polygon, MultiPolygon). geometry measurement is in units of spatial reference and geography is in meters.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Perimeter(
g1);

geometry g1;

float fsfuncST_Perimeter( | geog, |
| use_spheroid=true); |

geography geog;
boolean use_spheroid=true;

Description

Returns the 2D perimeter of the geometry/geography if it is a ST_Surface, ST_MultiSurface (Polygon, MultiPolygon). 0 is returned for non-areal geometries. For linear geometries use ST_Length. For geometry types, units for perimeter measures are specified by the spatial reference system of the geometry.

For geography types, the calculations are performed using the inverse geodesic problem, where perimeter units are in meters. If PostGIS is compiled with PROJ version 4.8.0 or later, the spheroid is specified by the SRID, otherwise it is exclusive to WGS84. If use_spheroid=false, then calculations will approximate a sphere instead of a spheroid.

Currently this is an alias for ST_Perimeter2D, but this may change to support higher dimensions.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.5.1

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.1.3, 9.5.4

Availability 2.0.0: Support for geography was introduced

Examples: Geometry

Return perimeter in feet for Polygon and MultiPolygon. Note this is in feet because EPSG:2249 is Massachusetts State Plane Feet

SELECT ST_Perimeter(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((743238 2967416,743238 2967450,743265 2967450,
743265.625 2967416,743238 2967416))', 2249));
st_perimeter
---------
 122.630744000095
(1 row)

SELECT ST_Perimeter(ST_GeomFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(((763104.471273676 2949418.44119003,
763104.477769673 2949418.42538203,
763104.189609677 2949418.22343004,763104.471273676 2949418.44119003)),
((763104.471273676 2949418.44119003,763095.804579742 2949436.33850239,
763086.132105649 2949451.46730207,763078.452329651 2949462.11549407,
763075.354136904 2949466.17407812,763064.362142565 2949477.64291974,
763059.953961626 2949481.28983009,762994.637609571 2949532.04103014,
762990.568508415 2949535.06640477,762986.710889563 2949539.61421415,
763117.237897679 2949709.50493431,763235.236617789 2949617.95619822,
763287.718121842 2949562.20592617,763111.553321674 2949423.91664605,
763104.471273676 2949418.44119003)))', 2249));
st_perimeter
---------
 845.227713366825
(1 row)

Examples: Geography

Return perimeter in meters and feet for Polygon and MultiPolygon. Note this is geography (WGS 84 long lat)

SELECT  ST_Perimeter(geog) As per_meters, ST_Perimeter(geog)/0.3048 As per_ft
FROM ST_GeogFromText('POLYGON((-71.1776848522251 42.3902896512902,-71.1776843766326 42.3903829478009,
-71.1775844305465 42.3903826677917,-71.1775825927231 42.3902893647987,-71.1776848522251 42.3902896512902))') As geog;

   per_meters    |      per_ft
-----------------+------------------
37.3790462565251 | 122.634666195949

-- MultiPolygon example --
SELECT  ST_Perimeter(geog) As per_meters, ST_Perimeter(geog,false) As per_sphere_meters,  ST_Perimeter(geog)/0.3048 As per_ft
FROM ST_GeogFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(((-71.1044543107478 42.340674480411,-71.1044542869917 42.3406744369506,
-71.1044553562977 42.340673886454,-71.1044543107478 42.340674480411)),
((-71.1044543107478 42.340674480411,-71.1044860600303 42.3407237015564,-71.1045215770124 42.3407653385914,
-71.1045498002983 42.3407946553165,-71.1045611902745 42.3408058316308,-71.1046016507427 42.340837442371,
-71.104617893173 42.3408475056957,-71.1048586153981 42.3409875993595,-71.1048736143677 42.3409959528211,
-71.1048878050242 42.3410084812078,-71.1044020965803 42.3414730072048,
-71.1039672113619 42.3412202916693,-71.1037740497748 42.3410666421308,
-71.1044280218456 42.3406894151355,-71.1044543107478 42.340674480411)))') As geog;

    per_meters    | per_sphere_meters |      per_ft
------------------+-------------------+------------------
 257.634283683311 |  257.412311446337 | 845.256836231335

See Also

ST_GeogFromText, ST_GeomFromText, ST_Length

Name

ST_Perimeter2D — Returns the 2-dimensional perimeter of the geometry, if it is a polygon or multi-polygon. This is currently an alias for ST_Perimeter.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Perimeter2D(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns the 2-dimensional perimeter of the geometry, if it is a polygon or multi-polygon.

Note

This is currently an alias for ST_Perimeter. In future versions ST_Perimeter may return the highest dimension perimeter for a geometry. This is still under consideration

See Also

ST_Perimeter

Name

ST_3DPerimeter — Returns the 3-dimensional perimeter of the geometry, if it is a polygon or multi-polygon.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_3DPerimeter(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns the 3-dimensional perimeter of the geometry, if it is a polygon or multi-polygon. If the geometry is 2-dimensional, then the 2-dimensional perimeter is returned.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Perimeter3D

Examples

Perimeter of a slightly elevated polygon in the air in Massachusetts state plane feet

SELECT ST_3DPerimeter(the_geom), ST_Perimeter2d(the_geom), ST_Perimeter(the_geom) FROM
			(SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=2249;POLYGON((743238 2967416 2,743238 2967450 1,
743265.625 2967416 1,743238 2967416 2))') As the_geom) As foo;

  ST_3DPerimeter  |  st_perimeter2d  |   st_perimeter
------------------+------------------+------------------
 105.465793597674 | 105.432997272188 | 105.432997272188

See Also

ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_Perimeter, ST_Perimeter2D

Name

ST_PointOnSurface — Returns a POINT guaranteed to lie on the surface.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_PointOnSurface(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

Returns a POINT guaranteed to intersect a surface.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s3.2.14.2 // s3.2.18.2

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.1.5, 9.5.6. According to the specs, ST_PointOnSurface works for surface geometries (POLYGONs, MULTIPOLYGONS, CURVED POLYGONS). So PostGIS seems to be extending what the spec allows here. Most databases Oracle,DB II, ESRI SDE seem to only support this function for surfaces. SQL Server 2008 like PostGIS supports for all common geometries.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_PointOnSurface('POINT(0 5)'::geometry));
 st_astext
------------
 POINT(0 5)
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_PointOnSurface('LINESTRING(0 5, 0 10)'::geometry));
 st_astext
------------
 POINT(0 5)
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_PointOnSurface('POLYGON((0 0, 0 5, 5 5, 5 0, 0 0))'::geometry));
   st_astext
----------------
 POINT(2.5 2.5)
(1 row)

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_PointOnSurface(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(0 5 1, 0 0 1, 0 10 2)')));
   st_asewkt
----------------
 POINT(0 0 1)
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Centroid, ST_PointInsideCircle

Name

ST_Project — Returns a POINT projected from a start point using a distance in meters and bearing (azimuth) in radians.

Synopsis

geography fsfuncST_Project( | g1, |
| distance, |
| azimuth); |

geography g1;
float distance;
float azimuth;

Description

Returns a POINT projected along a geodesic from a start point using an azimuth (bearing) measured in radians and distance measured in meters. This is also called a direct geodesic problem.

The azimuth is sometimes called the heading or the bearing in navigation. It is measured relative to true north (azimuth zero). East is azimuth 90 (π/2), south is azimuth 180 (π), west is azimuth 270 (3π/2).

The distance is given in meters.

Availability: 2.0.0

Example: Using degrees - projected point 100,000 meters and bearing 45 degrees

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Project('POINT(0 0)'::geography, 100000, radians(45.0)));

                 st_astext
--------------------------------------------
 POINT(0.635231029125537 0.639472334729198)
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Azimuth, ST_Distance, PostgreSQL Math Functions

Name

ST_Relate — Returns true if this Geometry is spatially related to anotherGeometry, by testing for intersections between the Interior, Boundary and Exterior of the two geometries as specified by the values in the intersectionMatrixPattern. If no intersectionMatrixPattern is passed in, then returns the maximum intersectionMatrixPattern that relates the 2 geometries.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Relate( | geomA, |
| geomB, |
| intersectionMatrixPattern); |

geometry geomA;
geometry geomB;
text intersectionMatrixPattern;

text fsfuncST_Relate( | geomA, |
| geomB); |

geometry geomA;
geometry geomB;

text fsfuncST_Relate( | geomA, |
| geomB, |
| BoundaryNodeRule); |

geometry geomA;
geometry geomB;
integer BoundaryNodeRule;

Description

Version 1: Takes geomA, geomB, intersectionMatrix and Returns 1 (TRUE) if this Geometry is spatially related to anotherGeometry, by testing for intersections between the Interior, Boundary and Exterior of the two geometries as specified by the values in the DE-9IM matrix pattern.

This is especially useful for testing compound checks of intersection, crosses, etc in one step.

Do not call with a GeometryCollection as an argument

Note

This is the "allowable" version that returns a boolean, not an integer. This is defined in OGC spec

Note

This DOES NOT automagically include an index call. The reason for that is some relationships are anti e.g. Disjoint. If you are using a relationship pattern that requires intersection, then include the && index call.

Version 2: Takes geomA and geomB and returns the the section called “Dimensionally Extended 9 Intersection Model (DE-9IM)”

Version 3: same as version 2, but allows to specify a boundary node rule (1:OGC/MOD2, 2:Endpoint, 3:MultivalentEndpoint, 4:MonovalentEndpoint)

Note

Do not call with a GeometryCollection as an argument

not in OGC spec, but implied. see s2.1.13.2

Performed by the GEOS module

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.2 // s2.1.13.3

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.25

Enhanced: 2.0.0 - added support for specifying boundary node rule (requires GEOS >= 3.0).

Examples

--Find all compounds that intersect and not touch a poly (interior intersects)
SELECT l.* , b.name As poly_name
	FROM polys As b
INNER JOIN compounds As l
ON (p.the_geom && b.the_geom
AND ST_Relate(l.the_geom, b.the_geom,'T********'));

SELECT ST_Relate(ST_GeometryFromText('POINT(1 2)'), ST_Buffer(ST_GeometryFromText('POINT(1 2)'),2));
st_relate
-----------
0FFFFF212

SELECT ST_Relate(ST_GeometryFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)'), ST_GeometryFromText('LINESTRING(5 6, 7 8)'));
st_relate
-----------
FF1FF0102

SELECT ST_Relate(ST_GeometryFromText('POINT(1 2)'), ST_Buffer(ST_GeometryFromText('POINT(1 2)'),2), '0FFFFF212');
st_relate
-----------
t

SELECT ST_Relate(ST_GeometryFromText('POINT(1 2)'), ST_Buffer(ST_GeometryFromText('POINT(1 2)'),2), '*FF*FF212');
st_relate
-----------
t

See Also

ST_Crosses, the section called “Dimensionally Extended 9 Intersection Model (DE-9IM)”, ST_Disjoint, ST_Intersects, ST_Touches

Name

ST_RelateMatch — Returns true if intersectionMattrixPattern1 implies intersectionMatrixPattern2

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_RelateMatch( | intersectionMatrix, |
| intersectionMatrixPattern); |

text intersectionMatrix;
text intersectionMatrixPattern;

Description

Takes intersectionMatrix and intersectionMatrixPattern and Returns true if the intersectionMatrix satisfies the intersectionMatrixPattern. For more information refer to the section called “Dimensionally Extended 9 Intersection Model (DE-9IM)”.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0.

Examples

SELECT ST_RelateMatch('101202FFF', 'TTTTTTFFF') ;
-- result --
t
--example of common intersection matrix patterns and example matrices
-- comparing relationships of involving one invalid geometry and ( a line and polygon that intersect at interior and boundary)
SELECT mat.name, pat.name, ST_RelateMatch(mat.val, pat.val) As satisfied
    FROM
        ( VALUES ('Equality', 'T1FF1FFF1'),
                ('Overlaps', 'T*T***T**'),
                ('Within', 'T*F**F***'),
                ('Disjoint', 'FF*FF****') As pat(name,val)
        CROSS JOIN
            (	VALUES ('Self intersections (invalid)', '111111111'),
                    ('IE2_BI1_BB0_BE1_EI1_EE2', 'FF2101102'),
                    ('IB1_IE1_BB0_BE0_EI2_EI1_EE2', 'F11F00212')
            ) As mat(name,val);

See Also

the section called “Dimensionally Extended 9 Intersection Model (DE-9IM)”, ST_Relate

Name

ST_ShortestLine — Returns the 2-dimensional shortest line between two geometries

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ShortestLine( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

Returns the 2-dimensional shortest line between two geometries. The function will only return the first shortest line if more than one, that the function finds. If g1 and g2 intersects in just one point the function will return a line with both start and end in that intersection-point. If g1 and g2 are intersecting with more than one point the function will return a line with start and end in the same point but it can be any of the intersecting points. The line returned will always start in g1 and end in g2. The length of the line this function returns will always be the same as ST_Distance returns for g1 and g2.

Availability: 1.5.0

Examples

Shortest line between point and linestring

SELECT ST_AsText(
	ST_ShortestLine('POINT(100 100)'::geometry,
		'LINESTRING (20 80, 98 190, 110 180, 50 75 )'::geometry)
	) As sline;

   sline
-----------------
LINESTRING(100 100,73.0769230769231 115.384615384615)

shortest line between polygon and polygon

SELECT ST_AsText(
		ST_ShortestLine(
			ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((175 150, 20 40, 50 60, 125 100, 175 150))'),
			ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(110 170)'), 20)
			)
		) As slinewkt;

 LINESTRING(140.752120669087 125.695053378061,121.111404660392 153.370607753949)

See Also

ST_ClosestPoint, ST_Distance, ST_LongestLine, ST_MaxDistance

Name

ST_Touches — Returns TRUE if the geometries have at least one point in common, but their interiors do not intersect.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Touches( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

Description

Returns TRUE if the only points in common between g1 and g2 lie in the union of the boundaries of g1 and g2. The ST_Touches relation applies to all Area/Area, Line/Line, Line/Area, Point/Area and Point/Line pairs of relationships, but not to the Point/Point pair.

In mathematical terms, this predicate is expressed as:

The allowable DE-9IM Intersection Matrices for the two geometries are:

FT*******

F**T*****

F***T****

Important

Do not call with a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION as an argument

Note

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries. To avoid using an index, use _ST_Touches instead.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.2 // s2.1.13.3

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.28

Examples

The ST_Touches predicate returns TRUE in all the following illustrations.

POLYGON / POLYGON

POLYGON / POLYGON

POLYGON / LINESTRING

LINESTRING / LINESTRING

LINESTRING / LINESTRING

POLYGON / POINT

SELECT ST_Touches('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1, 0 2)'::geometry, 'POINT(1 1)'::geometry);
 st_touches
------------
 f
(1 row)

SELECT ST_Touches('LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1, 0 2)'::geometry, 'POINT(0 2)'::geometry);
 st_touches
------------
 t
(1 row)

Name

ST_Within — Returns true if the geometry A is completely inside geometry B

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Within( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A;
geometry B;

Description

Returns TRUE if geometry A is completely inside geometry B. For this function to make sense, the source geometries must both be of the same coordinate projection, having the same SRID. It is a given that if ST_Within(A,B) is true and ST_Within(B,A) is true, then the two geometries are considered spatially equal.

Performed by the GEOS module

Important

Do not call with a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION as an argument

Important

Do not use this function with invalid geometries. You will get unexpected results.

This function call will automatically include a bounding box comparison that will make use of any indexes that are available on the geometries. To avoid index use, use the function _ST_Within.

NOTE: this is the "allowable" version that returns a boolean, not an integer.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.2 // s2.1.13.3 - a.Relate(b, 'T*F**F***')

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.30

Examples

--a circle within a circle
SELECT ST_Within(smallc,smallc) As smallinsmall,
	ST_Within(smallc, bigc) As smallinbig,
	ST_Within(bigc,smallc) As biginsmall,
	ST_Within(ST_Union(smallc, bigc), bigc) as unioninbig,
	ST_Within(bigc, ST_Union(smallc, bigc)) as biginunion,
	ST_Equals(bigc, ST_Union(smallc, bigc)) as bigisunion
FROM
(
SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(50 50)'), 20) As smallc,
	ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(50 50)'), 40) As bigc) As foo;
--Result
 smallinsmall | smallinbig | biginsmall | unioninbig | biginunion | bigisunion
--------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------
 t            | t          | f          | t          | t          | t
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Contains, ST_Equals, ST_IsValid

SFCGAL Functions

Abstract

SFCGAL is a C++ wrapper library around CGAL that provides advanced 2D and 3D functions. For robustness, geometry coordinates have an exact rational number representation.

Installation instructions of the library can be found on SFCGAL home page http://www.sfcgal.org. To load the functions create extension postgis_sfcgal.

Some SFCGAL functions replace standard ones (ST_Intersects, ST_Intersection, ST_Difference, ST_Union, ST_Area and ST_Distance), to switch between standard functions and SFCGAL function use:

SET postgis.backend = sfcgal;

and

SET postgis.backend = geos;

Name

postgis_sfcgal_version — Returns the version of SFCGAL in use

Synopsis

text fsfuncpostgis_sfcgal_version(
);

Description

Availability: 2.1.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Name

ST_Extrude — Extrude a surface to a related volume

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Extrude( | geom, |
| x, |
| y, |
| z); |

geometry geom;
float x;
float y;
float z;

Description

Availability: 2.1.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

3D images were generated using PostGIS ST_AsX3D and rendering in HTML using X3Dom HTML Javascript rendering library.

SELECT ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'),
  50, 'quad_segs=2'),0,0,30);

Original octagon formed from buffering point

ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=2'),0,0,30);

Hexagon extruded 30 units along Z produces a PolyhedralSurfaceZ

SELECT ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(50 50, 100 90, 95 150)')

Original linestring

SELECT ST_Extrude(
 ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(50 50, 100 90, 95 150)'),0,0,10));

LineString Extruded along Z produces a PolyhedralSurfaceZ

See Also

ST_AsX3D

Name

ST_StraightSkeleton — Compute a straight skeleton from a geometry

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_StraightSkeleton(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

Availability: 2.1.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT ST_StraightSkeleton(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON (( 190 190, 10 190, 10 10, 190 10, 190 20, 160 30, 60 30, 60 130, 190 140, 190 190 ))'));

Original polygon

Straight Skeleton of polygon

Name

ST_ApproximateMedialAxis — Compute the approximate medial axis of an areal geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ApproximateMedialAxis(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

Return an approximate medial axis for the areal input based on its straight skeleton. Uses an SFCGAL specific API when built against a capable version (1.2.0+). Otherwise the function is just a wrapper around ST_StraightSkeleton (slower case).

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT ST_ApproximateMedialAxis(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON (( 190 190, 10 190, 10 10, 190 10, 190 20, 160 30, 60 30, 60 130, 190 140, 190 190 ))'));

A polygon and its approximate medial axis

See Also

ST_StraightSkeleton

Name

ST_IsPlanar — Check if a surface is or not planar

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_IsPlanar(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

Availability: 2.2.0: This was documented in 2.1.0 but got accidentally left out in 2.1 release.

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Name

ST_Orientation — Determine surface orientation

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_Orientation(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

The function only applies to polygons. It returns -1 if the polygon is counterclockwise oriented and 1 if the polygon is clockwise oriented.

Availability: 2.1.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Name

ST_ForceLHR — Force LHR orientation

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ForceLHR(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

Availability: 2.1.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Name

ST_MinkowskiSum — Performs Minkowski sum

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MinkowskiSum( | geom1, |
| geom2); |

geometry geom1;
geometry geom2;

Description

This function performs a 2D minkowski sum of a point, line or polygon with a polygon.

A minkowski sum of two geometries A and B is the set of all points that are the sum of any point in A and B. Minkowski sums are often used in motion planning and computer-aided design. More details on Wikipedia Minkowski addition.

The first parameter can be any 2D geometry (point, linestring, polygon). If a 3D geometry is passed, it will be converted to 2D by forcing Z to 0, leading to possible cases of invalidity. The second parameter must be a 2D polygon.

Implementation utilizes CGAL 2D Minkowskisum.

Availability: 2.1.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Examples

Minkowski Sum of Linestring and circle polygon where Linestring cuts thru the circle

Before Summing

After summing

SELECT ST_MinkowskiSum(line, circle))
FROM (SELECT
    ST_MakeLine(ST_MakePoint(10, 10),ST_MakePoint(100, 100)) As line,
    ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(50 50)'), 30) As circle) As foo;

-- wkt --
MULTIPOLYGON(((30 59.9999999999999,30.5764415879031 54.1472903395161,32.2836140246614 48.5194970290472,35.0559116309237 43.3328930094119,38.7867965644036 38.7867965644035,43.332893009412 35.0559116309236,48.5194970290474 32.2836140246614,54.1472903395162 30.5764415879031,60.0000000000001 30,65.8527096604839 30.5764415879031,71.4805029709527 32.2836140246614,76.6671069905881 35.0559116309237,81.2132034355964 38.7867965644036,171.213203435596 128.786796564404,174.944088369076 133.332893009412,177.716385975339 138.519497029047,179.423558412097 144.147290339516,180 150,179.423558412097 155.852709660484,177.716385975339 161.480502970953,174.944088369076 166.667106990588,171.213203435596 171.213203435596,166.667106990588 174.944088369076,
161.480502970953 177.716385975339,155.852709660484 179.423558412097,150 180,144.147290339516 179.423558412097,138.519497029047 177.716385975339,133.332893009412 174.944088369076,128.786796564403 171.213203435596,38.7867965644035 81.2132034355963,35.0559116309236 76.667106990588,32.2836140246614 71.4805029709526,30.5764415879031 65.8527096604838,30 59.9999999999999)))

Minkowski Sum of a polygon and multipoint

Before Summing

After summing: polygon is duplicated and translated to position of points

SELECT ST_MinkowskiSum(mp, poly)
FROM (SELECT 'MULTIPOINT(25 50,70 25)'::geometry As mp,
   'POLYGON((130 150, 20 40, 50 60, 125 100, 130 150))'::geometry As poly
    ) As foo

-- wkt --
MULTIPOLYGON(
    ((70 115,100 135,175 175,225 225,70 115)),
    ((120 65,150 85,225 125,275 175,120 65))
    )

Name

ST_3DIntersection — Perform 3D intersection

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_3DIntersection( | geom1, |
| geom2); |

geometry geom1;
geometry geom2;

Description

Return a geometry that is the shared portion between geom1 and geom2.

Availability: 2.1.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

3D images were generated using PostGIS ST_AsX3D and rendering in HTML using X3Dom HTML Javascript rendering library.

SELECT ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=2'),0,0,30) AS geom1,
        ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(80 80)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=1'),0,0,30) AS geom2;

Original 3D geometries overlaid. geom2 is shown semi-transparent

SELECT ST_3DIntersection(geom1,geom2)
FROM ( SELECT ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=2'),0,0,30) AS geom1,
        ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(80 80)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=1'),0,0,30) AS geom2 ) As t;

Intersection of geom1 and geom2

3D linestrings and polygons

	SELECT ST_AsText(ST_3DIntersection(linestring, polygon)) As wkt
FROM  ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING Z (2 2 6,1.5 1.5 7,1 1 8,0.5 0.5 8,0 0 10)') AS linestring
 CROSS JOIN ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0 8, 0 1 8, 1 1 8, 1 0 8, 0 0 8))') AS polygon;

              wkt
--------------------------------
 LINESTRING Z (1 1 8,0.5 0.5 8)

Cube (closed Polyhedral Surface) and Polygon Z

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_3DIntersection(
		ST_GeomFromText('POLYHEDRALSURFACE Z( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
	((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
	((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
	((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )'),
	'POLYGON Z ((0 0 0, 0 0 0.5, 0 0.5 0.5, 0 0.5 0, 0 0 0))'::geometry))

TIN Z (((0 0 0,0 0 0.5,0 0.5 0.5,0 0 0)),((0 0.5 0,0 0 0,0 0.5 0.5,0 0.5 0)))

Intersection of 2 solids that result in volumetric intersection is also a solid (ST_Dimension returns 3)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_3DIntersection( ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer('POINT(10 20)'::geometry,10,1),0,0,30),
 ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer('POINT(10 20)'::geometry,10,1),2,0,10) ));

POLYHEDRALSURFACE Z (((13.3333333333333 13.3333333333333 10,20 20 0,20 20 10,13.3333333333333 13.3333333333333 10)),
 	((20 20 10,16.6666666666667 23.3333333333333 10,13.3333333333333 13.3333333333333 10,20 20 10)),
 	((20 20 0,16.6666666666667 23.3333333333333 10,20 20 10,20 20 0)),
 	((13.3333333333333 13.3333333333333 10,10 10 0,20 20 0,13.3333333333333 13.3333333333333 10)),
 	((16.6666666666667 23.3333333333333 10,12 28 10,13.3333333333333 13.3333333333333 10,16.6666666666667 23.3333333333333 10)),
 	((20 20 0,9.99999999999995 30 0,16.6666666666667 23.3333333333333 10,20 20 0)),
 	((10 10 0,9.99999999999995 30 0,20 20 0,10 10 0)),((13.3333333333333 13.3333333333333 10,12 12 10,10 10 0,13.3333333333333 13.3333333333333 10)),
 	((12 28 10,12 12 10,13.3333333333333 13.3333333333333 10,12 28 10)),
 	((16.6666666666667 23.3333333333333 10,9.99999999999995 30 0,12 28 10,16.6666666666667 23.3333333333333 10)),
 	((10 10 0,0 20 0,9.99999999999995 30 0,10 10 0)),
 	((12 12 10,11 11 10,10 10 0,12 12 10)),((12 28 10,11 11 10,12 12 10,12 28 10)),
 	((9.99999999999995 30 0,11 29 10,12 28 10,9.99999999999995 30 0)),((0 20 0,2 20 10,9.99999999999995 30 0,0 20 0)),
 	((10 10 0,2 20 10,0 20 0,10 10 0)),((11 11 10,2 20 10,10 10 0,11 11 10)),((12 28 10,11 29 10,11 11 10,12 28 10)),
 	((9.99999999999995 30 0,2 20 10,11 29 10,9.99999999999995 30 0)),((11 11 10,11 29 10,2 20 10,11 11 10)))

Name

ST_3DDifference — Perform 3D difference

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_3DDifference( | geom1, |
| geom2); |

geometry geom1;
geometry geom2;

Description

Returns that part of geom1 that is not part of geom2.

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

3D images were generated using PostGIS ST_AsX3D and rendering in HTML using X3Dom HTML Javascript rendering library.

SELECT ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=2'),0,0,30) AS geom1,
        ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(80 80)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=1'),0,0,30) AS geom2;

Original 3D geometries overlaid. geom2 is the part that will be removed.

SELECT ST_3DDifference(geom1,geom2)
FROM ( SELECT ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=2'),0,0,30) AS geom1,
        ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(80 80)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=1'),0,0,30) AS geom2 ) As t;

What's left after removing geom2

See Also

ST_Extrude, ST_AsX3D, ST_3DIntersection ST_3DUnion

Name

ST_3DUnion — Perform 3D union

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_3DUnion( | geom1, |
| geom2); |

geometry geom1;
geometry geom2;

Description

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

3D images were generated using PostGIS ST_AsX3D and rendering in HTML using X3Dom HTML Javascript rendering library.

SELECT ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=2'),0,0,30) AS geom1,
        ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(80 80)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=1'),0,0,30) AS geom2;

Original 3D geometries overlaid. geom2 is the one with transparency.

SELECT ST_3DUnion(geom1,geom2)
FROM ( SELECT ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=2'),0,0,30) AS geom1,
        ST_Extrude(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(80 80)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=1'),0,0,30) AS geom2 ) As t;

Union of geom1 and geom2

See Also

ST_Extrude, ST_AsX3D, ST_3DIntersection ST_3DDifference

Name

ST_3DArea — Computes area of 3D surface geometries. Will return 0 for solids.

Synopsis

floatfsfuncST_3DArea(
geom1);

geometry geom1;

Description

Availability: 2.1.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

Note: By default a PolyhedralSurface built from WKT is a surface geometry, not solid. It therefore has surface area. Once converted to a solid, no area.

SELECT ST_3DArea(geom) As cube_surface_area,
	ST_3DArea(ST_MakeSolid(geom)) As solid_surface_area
  FROM (SELECT 'POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
    ((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)),
    ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
    ((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
    ((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)),
    ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )'::geometry) As f(geom);

 cube_surface_area | solid_surface_area
-------------------+--------------------
                 6 |                  0

See Also

ST_Area, ST_MakeSolid, ST_IsSolid, ST_Area

Name

ST_Tesselate — Perform surface Tesselation of a polygon or polyhedralsurface and returns as a TIN or collection of TINS

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Tesselate(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

Takes as input a surface such a MULTI(POLYGON) or POLYHEDRALSURFACE and returns a TIN representation via the process of tesselation using triangles.

Availability: 2.1.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT ST_GeomFromText('POLYHEDRALSURFACE Z( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
		((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
		((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
		((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )');

Original Cube

SELECT ST_Tesselate(ST_GeomFromText('POLYHEDRALSURFACE Z( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
	((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
	((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
	((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )'));

ST_AsText output:

TIN Z (((0 0 0,0 0 1,0 1 1,0 0 0)),((0 1 0,0 0 0,0 1 1,0 1 0)),
	((0 0 0,0 1 0,1 1 0,0 0 0)),
	((1 0 0,0 0 0,1 1 0,1 0 0)),((0 0 1,1 0 0,1 0 1,0 0 1)),
	((0 0 1,0 0 0,1 0 0,0 0 1)),
	((1 1 0,1 1 1,1 0 1,1 1 0)),((1 0 0,1 1 0,1 0 1,1 0 0)),
	((0 1 0,0 1 1,1 1 1,0 1 0)),((1 1 0,0 1 0,1 1 1,1 1 0)),
	((0 1 1,1 0 1,1 1 1,0 1 1)),((0 1 1,0 0 1,1 0 1,0 1 1)))

Tesselated Cube with triangles colored

SELECT 'POLYGON (( 10 190, 10 70, 80 70, 80 130, 50 160, 120 160, 120 190, 10 190 ))'::geometry;

Original polygon

SELECT
	ST_Tesselate('POLYGON (( 10 190, 10 70, 80 70, 80 130, 50 160, 120 160, 120 190, 10 190 ))'::geometry);

ST_AsText output

TIN(((80 130,50 160,80 70,80 130)),((50 160,10 190,10 70,50 160)),
	 ((80 70,50 160,10 70,80 70)),((120 160,120 190,50 160,120 160)),
 ((120 190,10 190,50 160,120 190)))

Tesselated Polygon

Name

ST_Volume — Computes the volume of a 3D solid. If applied to surface (even closed) geometries will return 0.

Synopsis

float fsfuncST_Volume(
geom1);

geometry geom1;

Description

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Example

When closed surfaces are created with WKT, they are treated as areal rather than solid. To make them solid, you need to use ST_MakeSolid. Areal geometries have no volume. Here is an example to demonstrate.

SELECT ST_Volume(geom) As cube_surface_vol,
	ST_Volume(ST_MakeSolid(geom)) As solid_surface_vol
  FROM (SELECT 'POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
    ((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)),
    ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
    ((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
    ((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)),
    ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )'::geometry) As f(geom);

 cube_surface_vol | solid_surface_vol
------------------+-------------------
                0 |                 1

See Also

ST_3DArea, ST_MakeSolid, ST_IsSolid

Name

ST_MakeSolid — Cast the geometry into a solid. No check is performed. To obtain a valid solid, the input geometry must be a closed Polyhedral Surface or a closed TIN.

Synopsis

geometryfsfuncST_MakeSolid(
geom1);

geometry geom1;

Description

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Name

ST_IsSolid — Test if the geometry is a solid. No validity check is performed.

Synopsis

booleanfsfuncST_IsSolid(
geom1);

geometry geom1;

Description

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This method needs SFCGAL backend.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Geometry Processing

Name

ST_Buffer — (T) Returns a geometry covering all points within a given distance from the input geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Buffer( | g1, |
| radius_of_buffer); |

geometry g1;
float radius_of_buffer;

geometry fsfuncST_Buffer( | g1, |
| radius_of_buffer, |
| num_seg_quarter_circle); |

geometry g1;
float radius_of_buffer;
integer num_seg_quarter_circle;

geometry fsfuncST_Buffer( | g1, |
| radius_of_buffer, |
| buffer_style_parameters); |

geometry g1;
float radius_of_buffer;
text buffer_style_parameters;

geography fsfuncST_Buffer( | g1, |
| radius_of_buffer_in_meters); |

geography g1;
float radius_of_buffer_in_meters;

Description

Returns a geometry/geography that represents all points whose distance from this Geometry/geography is less than or equal to distance.

Geometry: Calculations are in the Spatial Reference System of the geometry. Introduced in 1.5 support for different end cap and mitre settings to control shape.

Note

Negative radii: For polygons, a negative radius can be used, which will shrink the polygon rather than expanding it.

Note

Geography: For geography this is really a thin wrapper around the geometry implementation. It first determines the best SRID that fits the bounding box of the geography object (favoring UTM, Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area (LAEA) north/south pole, and falling back on mercator in worst case scenario) and then buffers in that planar spatial ref and retransforms back to WGS84 geography.

Description For geography this may not behave as expected if object is sufficiently large that it falls between two UTM zones or crosses the dateline

Availability: 1.5 - ST_Buffer was enhanced to support different endcaps and join types. These are useful for example to convert road linestrings into polygon roads with flat or square edges instead of rounded edges. Thin wrapper for geography was added. - requires GEOS >= 3.2 to take advantage of advanced geometry functionality.

The optional third parameter (currently only applies to geometry) can either specify number of segments used to approximate a quarter circle (integer case, defaults to 8) or a list of blank-separated key=value pairs (string case) to tweak operations as follows:

'quad_segs=#' : number of segments used to approximate a quarter circle (defaults to 8).

'endcap=round|flat|square' : endcap style (defaults to "round", needs GEOS-3.2 or higher for a different value). 'butt' is also accepted as a synonym for 'flat'.

'join=round|mitre|bevel' : join style (defaults to "round", needs GEOS-3.2 or higher for a different value). 'miter' is also accepted as a synonym for 'mitre'.

'mitre_limit=#.#' : mitre ratio limit (only affects mitered join style). 'miter_limit' is also accepted as a synonym for 'mitre_limit'.

Units of radius are measured in units of the spatial reference system.

The inputs can be POINTS, MULTIPOINTS, LINESTRINGS, MULTILINESTRINGS, POLYGONS, MULTIPOLYGONS, and GeometryCollections.

Note

This function ignores the third dimension (z) and will always give a 2-d buffer even when presented with a 3d-geometry.

Performed by the GEOS module.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.3

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.17

Note

People often make the mistake of using this function to try to do radius searches. Creating a buffer to to a radius search is slow and pointless. Use ST_DWithin instead.

Examples

quad_segs=8 (default)

SELECT ST_Buffer(
 ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=8');

quad_segs=2 (lame)

SELECT ST_Buffer(
 ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'),
 50, 'quad_segs=2');

endcap=round join=round (default)

SELECT ST_Buffer(
 ST_GeomFromText(
  'LINESTRING(50 50,150 150,150 50)'
 ), 10, 'endcap=round join=round');

endcap=square

SELECT ST_Buffer(
 ST_GeomFromText(
  'LINESTRING(50 50,150 150,150 50)'
 ), 10, 'endcap=square join=round');

endcap=flat

SELECT ST_Buffer(
 ST_GeomFromText(
  'LINESTRING(50 50,150 150,150 50)'
 ), 10, 'endcap=flat join=round');

join=bevel

SELECT ST_Buffer(
 ST_GeomFromText(
  'LINESTRING(50 50,150 150,150 50)'
 ), 10, 'join=bevel');

join=mitre mitre_limit=5.0 (default mitre limit)

SELECT ST_Buffer(
 ST_GeomFromText(
  'LINESTRING(50 50,150 150,150 50)'
 ), 10, 'join=mitre mitre_limit=5.0');

join=mitre mitre_limit=1

SELECT ST_Buffer(
 ST_GeomFromText(
  'LINESTRING(50 50,150 150,150 50)'
 ), 10, 'join=mitre mitre_limit=1.0');

--A buffered point approximates a circle
-- A buffered point forcing approximation of (see diagram)
-- 2 points per circle is poly with 8 sides (see diagram)
SELECT ST_NPoints(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'), 50)) As promisingcircle_pcount,
ST_NPoints(ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'), 50, 2)) As lamecircle_pcount;

promisingcircle_pcount | lamecircle_pcount
------------------------+-------------------
			 33 |                9

--A lighter but lamer circle
-- only 2 points per quarter circle is an octagon
--Below is a 100 meter octagon
-- Note coordinates are in NAD 83 long lat which we transform
to Mass state plane meter and then buffer to get measurements in meters;
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Buffer(
ST_Transform(
ST_SetSRID(ST_MakePoint(-71.063526, 42.35785),4269), 26986)
,100,2)) As octagon;
----------------------
POLYGON((236057.59057465 900908.759918696,236028.301252769 900838.049240578,235
957.59057465 900808.759918696,235886.879896532 900838.049240578,235857.59057465
900908.759918696,235886.879896532 900979.470596815,235957.59057465 901008.759918
696,236028.301252769 900979.470596815,236057.59057465 900908.759918696))

See Also

ST_Collect, ST_DWithin, ST_SetSRID, ST_Transform, ST_Union

Name

ST_BuildArea — Creates an areal geometry formed by the constituent linework of given geometry

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_BuildArea(
A);

geometry A;

Description

Creates an areal geometry formed by the constituent linework of given geometry. The return type can be a Polygon or MultiPolygon, depending on input. If the input lineworks do not form polygons NULL is returned. The inputs can be LINESTRINGS, MULTILINESTRINGS, POLYGONS, MULTIPOLYGONS, and GeometryCollections.

This function will assume all inner geometries represent holes

Note

Input linework must be correctly noded for this function to work properly

Availability: 1.1.0 - requires GEOS >= 2.1.0.

Examples

This will create a donut

SELECT ST_BuildArea(ST_Collect(smallc,bigc))
FROM (SELECT
	ST_Buffer(
	  ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'), 25) As smallc,
	ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'), 50) As bigc) As foo;

This will create a gaping hole inside the circle with prongs sticking out

SELECT ST_BuildArea(ST_Collect(line,circle))
FROM (SELECT
	ST_Buffer(
		ST_MakeLine(ST_MakePoint(10, 10),ST_MakePoint(190, 190)),
				5)  As line,
	ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'), 50) As circle) As foo;

--this creates the same gaping hole
--but using linestrings instead of polygons
SELECT ST_BuildArea(
	ST_Collect(ST_ExteriorRing(line),ST_ExteriorRing(circle))
	)
FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer(
	ST_MakeLine(ST_MakePoint(10, 10),ST_MakePoint(190, 190))
		,5)  As line,
	ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'), 50) As circle) As foo;

See Also

ST_Node, ST_MakePolygon, ST_BdPolyFromText, ST_BdMPolyFromTextwrappers to this function with standard OGC interface

Name

ST_ClipByBox2D — Returns the portion of a geometry falling within a rectangle.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ClipByBox2D( | geom, |
| box); |

geometry geom;
box2d box;

Description

Clips a geometry by a 2D box in a fast but possibly dirty way. The output geometry is not guaranteed to be valid (self-intersections for a polygon may be introduced). Topologically invalid input geometries do not result in exceptions being thrown.

Performed by the GEOS module.

Note

Requires GEOS 3.5.0+

Availability: 2.2.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.5.0.

Examples

-- Rely on implicit cast from geometry to box2d for the second parameter
SELECT ST_ClipByBox2D(the_geom, ST_MakeEnvelope(0,0,10,10)) FROM mytab;

See Also

ST_Intersection, ST_MakeBox2D, ST_MakeEnvelope

Name

ST_Collect — Return a specified ST_Geometry value from a collection of other geometries.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Collect(
g1field);

geometry set g1field;

geometry fsfuncST_Collect( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

geometry fsfuncST_Collect(
g1_array);

geometry[] g1_array;

Description

Output type can be a MULTI* or a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION. Comes in 2 variants. Variant 1 collects 2 geometries. Variant 2 is an aggregate function that takes a set of geometries and collects them into a single ST_Geometry.

Aggregate version: This function returns a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION or a MULTI object from a set of geometries. The ST_Collect() function is an "aggregate" function in the terminology of PostgreSQL. That means that it operates on rows of data, in the same way the SUM() and AVG() functions do. For example, "SELECT ST_Collect(GEOM) FROM GEOMTABLE GROUP BY ATTRCOLUMN" will return a separate GEOMETRYCOLLECTION for each distinct value of ATTRCOLUMN.

Non-Aggregate version: This function returns a geometry being a collection of two input geometries. Output type can be a MULTI* or a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION.

Note

ST_Collect and ST_Union are often interchangeable. ST_Collect is in general orders of magnitude faster than ST_Union because it does not try to dissolve boundaries or validate that a constructed MultiPolgon doesn't have overlapping regions. It merely rolls up single geometries into MULTI and MULTI or mixed geometry types into Geometry Collections. Unfortunately geometry collections are not well-supported by GIS tools. To prevent ST_Collect from returning a Geometry Collection when collecting MULTI geometries, one can use the below trick that utilizes ST_Dump to expand the MULTIs out to singles and then regroup them.

Availability: 1.4.0 - ST_Collect(geomarray) was introduced. ST_Collect was enhanced to handle more geometries faster.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves This method supports Circular Strings and Curves, but will never return a MULTICURVE or MULTI as one would expect and PostGIS does not currently support those.

Examples

Aggregate example (http://postgis.refractions.net/pipermail/postgis-users/2008-June/020331.html)

SELECT stusps,
	   ST_Multi(ST_Collect(f.the_geom)) as singlegeom
	 FROM (SELECT stusps, (ST_Dump(the_geom)).geom As the_geom
				FROM
				somestatetable ) As f
GROUP BY stusps

Non-Aggregate example

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Collect(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'),
	ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-2 3)') ));

st_astext
----------
MULTIPOINT(1 2,-2 3)

--Collect 2 d points
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Collect(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'),
		ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)') ) );

st_astext
----------
MULTIPOINT(1 2,1 2)

--Collect 3d points
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Collect(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1 2 3)'),
		ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1 2 4)') ) );

		st_asewkt
-------------------------
 MULTIPOINT(1 2 3,1 2 4)

 --Example with curves
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Collect(ST_GeomFromText('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415,220227 150505,220227 150406)'),
ST_GeomFromText('CIRCULARSTRING(220227 150406,2220227 150407,220227 150406)')));
																st_astext
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415,220227 150505,220227 150406),
 CIRCULARSTRING(220227 150406,2220227 150407,220227 150406))

--New ST_Collect array construct
SELECT ST_Collect(ARRAY(SELECT the_geom FROM sometable));

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Collect(ARRAY[ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)'),
			ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(3 4, 4 5)')])) As wktcollect;

--wkt collect --
MULTILINESTRING((1 2,3 4),(3 4,4 5))

See Also

ST_Dump, ST_Union

Name

ST_ConcaveHull — The concave hull of a geometry represents a possibly concave geometry that encloses all geometries within the set. You can think of it as shrink wrapping.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ConcaveHull( | geomA, |
| target_percent, |
| allow_holes=false); |

geometry geomA;
float target_percent;
boolean allow_holes=false;

Description

The concave hull of a geometry represents a possibly concave geometry that encloses all geometries within the set. Defaults to false for allowing polygons with holes. The result is never higher than a single polygon.

The target_percent is the target percent of area of convex hull the PostGIS solution will try to approach before giving up or exiting. One can think of the concave hull as the geometry you get by vacuum sealing a set of geometries. The target_percent of 1 will give you the same answer as the convex hull. A target_percent between 0 and 0.99 will give you something that should have a smaller area than the convex hull. This is different from a convex hull which is more like wrapping a rubber band around the set of geometries.

It is usually used with MULTI and Geometry Collections. Although it is not an aggregate - you can use it in conjunction with ST_Collect or ST_Union to get the concave hull of a set of points/linestring/polygons ST_ConcaveHull(ST_Collect(somepointfield), 0.80).

It is much slower to compute than convex hull but encloses the geometry better and is also useful for image recognition.

Performed by the GEOS module

Note

Note - If you are using with points, linestrings, or geometry collections use ST_Collect. If you are using with polygons, use ST_Union since it may fail with invalid geometries.

Note

Note - The smaller you make the target percent, the longer it takes to process the concave hull and more likely to run into topological exceptions. Also the more floating points and number of points you accrue. First try a 0.99 which does a first hop, is usually very fast, sometimes as fast as computing the convex hull, and usually gives much better than 99% of shrink since it almost always overshoots. Second hope of 0.98 it slower, others get slower usually quadratically. To reduce precision and float points, use ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology or ST_SnapToGrid after ST_ConcaveHull. ST_SnapToGrid is a bit faster, but could result in invalid geometries where as ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology almost always preserves the validity of the geometry.

More real world examples and brief explanation of the technique are shown http://www.bostongis.com/postgis_concavehull.snippet

Also check out Simon Greener's article on demonstrating ConcaveHull introduced in Oracle 11G R2. http://www.spatialdbadvisor.com/oracle_spatial_tips_tricks/172/concave-hull-geometries-in-oracle-11gr2. The solution we get at 0.75 target percent of convex hull is similar to the shape Simon gets with Oracle SDO_CONCAVEHULL_BOUNDARY.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

--Get estimate of infected area based on point observations
SELECT d.disease_type,
	ST_ConcaveHull(ST_Collect(d.pnt_geom), 0.99) As geom
	FROM disease_obs As d
	GROUP BY d.disease_type;

ST_ConcaveHull of 2 polygons encased in target 100% shrink concave hull

-- geometries overlaid with concavehull
-- at target 100% shrink (this is the same as convex hull - since no shrink)
SELECT
	ST_ConcaveHull(
		ST_Union(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((175 150, 20 40,
			50 60, 125 100, 175 150))'),
		ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(110 170)'), 20)
		), 1)
	 As convexhull;

-- geometries overlaid with concavehull at target 90% of convex hull area

-- geometries overlaid with concavehull at target 90% shrink
SELECT
	ST_ConcaveHull(
		ST_Union(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((175 150, 20 40,
			50 60, 125 100, 175 150))'),
		ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(110 170)'), 20)
		), 0.9)
	 As target_90;

L Shape points overlaid with convex hull

-- this produces a table of 42 points that form an L shape
SELECT (ST_DumpPoints(ST_GeomFromText(
'MULTIPOINT(14 14,34 14,54 14,74 14,94 14,114 14,134 14,
150 14,154 14,154 6,134 6,114 6,94 6,74 6,54 6,34 6,
14 6,10 6,8 6,7 7,6 8,6 10,6 30,6 50,6 70,6 90,6 110,6 130,
6 150,6 170,6 190,6 194,14 194,14 174,14 154,14 134,14 114,
14 94,14 74,14 54,14 34,14 14)'))).geom
	INTO TABLE l_shape;

SELECT ST_ConvexHull(ST_Collect(geom))
FROM l_shape;

ST_ConcaveHull of L points at target 99% of convex hull

SELECT ST_ConcaveHull(ST_Collect(geom), 0.99)
	FROM l_shape;

Concave Hull of L points at target 80% convex hull area

	-- Concave Hull L shape points
	-- at target 80% of convexhull
	SELECT ST_ConcaveHull(ST_Collect(geom), 0.80)
	FROM l_shape;

multilinestring overlaid with Convex hull

multilinestring with overlaid with Concave hull of linestrings at 99% target -- first hop

SELECT ST_ConcaveHull(ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((106 164,30 112,74 70,82 112,130 94,
	130 62,122 40,156 32,162 76,172 88),
(132 178,134 148,128 136,96 128,132 108,150 130,
170 142,174 110,156 96,158 90,158 88),
(22 64,66 28,94 38,94 68,114 76,112 30,
132 10,168 18,178 34,186 52,184 74,190 100,
190 122,182 148,178 170,176 184,156 164,146 178,
132 186,92 182,56 158,36 150,62 150,76 128,88 118))'),0.99)

See Also

ST_Collect, ST_ConvexHull, ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology, ST_SnapToGrid

Name

ST_ConvexHull — The convex hull of a geometry represents the minimum convex geometry that encloses all geometries within the set.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ConvexHull(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

The convex hull of a geometry represents the minimum convex geometry that encloses all geometries within the set.

One can think of the convex hull as the geometry you get by wrapping an elastic band around a set of geometries. This is different from a concave hull which is analogous to shrink-wrapping your geometries.

It is usually used with MULTI and Geometry Collections. Although it is not an aggregate - you can use it in conjunction with ST_Collect to get the convex hull of a set of points. ST_ConvexHull(ST_Collect(somepointfield)).

It is often used to determine an affected area based on a set of point observations.

Performed by the GEOS module

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.3

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.16

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

--Get estimate of infected area based on point observations
SELECT d.disease_type,
	ST_ConvexHull(ST_Collect(d.the_geom)) As the_geom
	FROM disease_obs As d
	GROUP BY d.disease_type;

Convex Hull of a MultiLinestring and a MultiPoint seen together with the MultiLinestring and MultiPoint

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_ConvexHull(
	ST_Collect(
		ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((100 190,10 8),(150 10, 20 30))'),
			ST_GeomFromText('MULTIPOINT(50 5, 150 30, 50 10, 10 10)')
			)) );
---st_astext--
POLYGON((50 5,10 8,10 10,100 190,150 30,150 10,50 5))

See Also

ST_Collect, ST_ConcaveHull, ST_MinimumBoundingCircle

Name

ST_CurveToLine — Converts a CIRCULARSTRING/CURVEPOLYGON to a LINESTRING/POLYGON

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_CurveToLine(
curveGeom);

geometry curveGeom;

geometry fsfuncST_CurveToLine( | curveGeom, |
| segments_per_qtr_circle); |

geometry curveGeom;
integer segments_per_qtr_circle;

Description

Converst a CIRCULAR STRING to regular LINESTRING or CURVEPOLYGON to POLYGON. Useful for outputting to devices that can't support CIRCULARSTRING geometry types

Converts a given geometry to a linear geometry. Each curved geometry or segment is converted into a linear approximation using the default value of 32 segments per quarter circle

Availability: 1.2.2?

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.7

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_CurveToLine(ST_GeomFromText('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415,220227 150505,220227 150406)')));

--Result --
 LINESTRING(220268 150415,220269.95064912 150416.539364228,220271.823415575 150418.17258804,220273.613787707 150419.895736857,
 220275.317452352 150421.704659462,220276.930305234 150423.594998003,220278.448460847 150425.562198489,
 220279.868261823 150427.60152176,220281.186287736 150429.708054909,220282.399363347 150431.876723113,
 220283.50456625 150434.10230186,220284.499233914 150436.379429536,220285.380970099 150438.702620341,220286.147650624 150441.066277505,
 220286.797428488 150443.464706771,220287.328738321 150445.892130112,220287.740300149 150448.342699654,
 220288.031122486 150450.810511759,220288.200504713 150453.289621251,220288.248038775 150455.77405574,
 220288.173610157 150458.257830005,220287.977398166 150460.734960415,220287.659875492 150463.199479347,
 220287.221807076 150465.64544956,220286.664248262 150468.066978495,220285.988542259 150470.458232479,220285.196316903 150472.81345077,
 220284.289480732 150475.126959442,220283.270218395 150477.39318505,220282.140985384 150479.606668057,
 220280.90450212 150481.762075989,220279.5637474 150483.85421628,220278.12195122 150485.87804878,
 220276.582586992 150487.828697901,220274.949363179 150489.701464356,220273.226214362 150491.491836488,
 220271.417291757 150493.195501133,220269.526953216 150494.808354014,220267.559752731 150496.326509628,
 220265.520429459 150497.746310603,220263.41389631 150499.064336517,220261.245228106 150500.277412127,
 220259.019649359 150501.38261503,220256.742521683 150502.377282695,220254.419330878 150503.259018879,
 220252.055673714 150504.025699404,220249.657244448 150504.675477269,220247.229821107 150505.206787101,
 220244.779251566 150505.61834893,220242.311439461 150505.909171266,220239.832329968 150506.078553494,
 220237.347895479 150506.126087555,220234.864121215 150506.051658938,220232.386990804 150505.855446946,
 220229.922471872 150505.537924272,220227.47650166 150505.099855856,220225.054972724 150504.542297043,
 220222.663718741 150503.86659104,220220.308500449 150503.074365683,
 220217.994991777 150502.167529512,220215.72876617 150501.148267175,
 220213.515283163 150500.019034164,220211.35987523 150498.7825509,
 220209.267734939 150497.441796181,220207.243902439 150496,
 220205.293253319 150494.460635772,220203.420486864 150492.82741196,220201.630114732 150491.104263143,
 220199.926450087 150489.295340538,220198.313597205 150487.405001997,220196.795441592 150485.437801511,
 220195.375640616 150483.39847824,220194.057614703 150481.291945091,220192.844539092 150479.123276887,220191.739336189 150476.89769814,
 220190.744668525 150474.620570464,220189.86293234 150472.297379659,220189.096251815 150469.933722495,
 220188.446473951 150467.535293229,220187.915164118 150465.107869888,220187.50360229 150462.657300346,
 220187.212779953 150460.189488241,220187.043397726 150457.710378749,220186.995863664 150455.22594426,
 220187.070292282 150452.742169995,220187.266504273 150450.265039585,220187.584026947 150447.800520653,
 220188.022095363 150445.35455044,220188.579654177 150442.933021505,220189.25536018 150440.541767521,
 220190.047585536 150438.18654923,220190.954421707 150435.873040558,220191.973684044 150433.60681495,
 220193.102917055 150431.393331943,220194.339400319 150429.237924011,220195.680155039 150427.14578372,220197.12195122 150425.12195122,
 220198.661315447 150423.171302099,220200.29453926 150421.298535644,220202.017688077 150419.508163512,220203.826610682 150417.804498867,
 220205.716949223 150416.191645986,220207.684149708 150414.673490372,220209.72347298 150413.253689397,220211.830006129 150411.935663483,
 220213.998674333 150410.722587873,220216.22425308 150409.61738497,220218.501380756 150408.622717305,220220.824571561 150407.740981121,
 220223.188228725 150406.974300596,220225.586657991 150406.324522731,220227 150406)

--3d example
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_CurveToLine(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415 1,220227 150505 2,220227 150406 3)')));
Output
------
 LINESTRING(220268 150415 1,220269.95064912 150416.539364228 1.0181172856673,
 220271.823415575 150418.17258804 1.03623457133459,220273.613787707 150419.895736857 1.05435185700189,....AD INFINITUM ....
	220225.586657991 150406.324522731 1.32611114201132,220227 150406 3)

--use only 2 segments to approximate quarter circle
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_CurveToLine(ST_GeomFromText('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415,220227 150505,220227 150406)'),2));
st_astext
------------------------------
 LINESTRING(220268 150415,220287.740300149 150448.342699654,220278.12195122 150485.87804878,
 220244.779251566 150505.61834893,220207.243902439 150496,220187.50360229 150462.657300346,
 220197.12195122 150425.12195122,220227 150406)

See Also

ST_LineToCurve

Name

ST_DelaunayTriangles — Return a Delaunay triangulation around the given input points.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_DelaunayTriangles( | g1, |
| tolerance, |
| flags); |

geometry g1;
float tolerance;
int4 flags;

Description

Return a Delaunay triangulation around the vertices of the input geometry. Output is a COLLECTION of polygons (for flags=0) or a MULTILINESTRING (for flags=1) or TIN (for flags=2). The tolerance, if any, is used to snap input vertices togheter.

Availability: 2.1.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.4.0.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

2D Examples

Original polygons

-- our original geometry --
	ST_Union(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((175 150, 20 40,
			50 60, 125 100, 175 150))'),
		ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(110 170)'), 20)
		)

ST_DelaunayTriangles of 2 polygons: delaunay triangle polygons each triangle themed in different color

-- geometries overlaid multilinestring triangles
SELECT
	ST_DelaunayTriangles(
		ST_Union(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((175 150, 20 40,
			50 60, 125 100, 175 150))'),
		ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(110 170)'), 20)
		))
	 As  dtriag;

-- delaunay triangles as multilinestring

SELECT
	ST_DelaunayTriangles(
		ST_Union(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((175 150, 20 40,
			50 60, 125 100, 175 150))'),
		ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(110 170)'), 20)
		),0.001,1)
	 As  dtriag;

-- delaunay triangles of 45 points as 55 triangle polygons

-- this produces a table of 42 points that form an L shape
SELECT (ST_DumpPoints(ST_GeomFromText(
'MULTIPOINT(14 14,34 14,54 14,74 14,94 14,114 14,134 14,
150 14,154 14,154 6,134 6,114 6,94 6,74 6,54 6,34 6,
14 6,10 6,8 6,7 7,6 8,6 10,6 30,6 50,6 70,6 90,6 110,6 130,
6 150,6 170,6 190,6 194,14 194,14 174,14 154,14 134,14 114,
14 94,14 74,14 54,14 34,14 14)'))).geom
	INTO TABLE l_shape;
-- output as individual polygon triangles
SELECT ST_AsText((ST_Dump(geom)).geom) As wkt
FROM ( SELECT ST_DelaunayTriangles(ST_Collect(geom)) As geom
FROM l_shape) As foo;

---wkt ---
POLYGON((6 194,6 190,14 194,6 194))
POLYGON((14 194,6 190,14 174,14 194))
POLYGON((14 194,14 174,154 14,14 194))
POLYGON((154 14,14 174,14 154,154 14))
POLYGON((154 14,14 154,150 14,154 14))
POLYGON((154 14,150 14,154 6,154 14))
:
:

3D Examples

-- 3D multipoint --
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_DelaunayTriangles(ST_GeomFromText(
'MULTIPOINT Z(14 14 10,
150 14 100,34 6 25, 20 10 150)'))) As wkt;

-----wkt----
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION Z (POLYGON Z ((14 14 10,20 10 150,34 6 25,14 14 10))
 ,POLYGON Z ((14 14 10,34 6 25,150 14 100,14 14 10)))

See Also

ST_ConcaveHull, ST_Dump

Name

ST_Difference — Returns a geometry that represents that part of geometry A that does not intersect with geometry B.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Difference( | geomA, |
| geomB); |

geometry geomA;
geometry geomB;

Description

Returns a geometry that represents that part of geometry A that does not intersect with geometry B. One can think of this as GeometryA - ST_Intersection(A,B). If A is completely contained in B then an empty geometry collection is returned.

Note

Note - order matters. B - A will always return a portion of B

Performed by the GEOS module

Note

Do not call with a GeometryCollection as an argument

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.3

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.20

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index. However it seems to only consider x y when doing the difference and tacks back on the Z-Index

Examples

The original linestrings shown together.

The difference of the two linestrings

--Safe for 2d. This is same geometries as what is shown for st_symdifference
SELECT ST_AsText(
	ST_Difference(
			ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(50 100, 50 200)'),
			ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(50 50, 50 150)')
		)
	);

st_astext
---------
LINESTRING(50 150,50 200)

--When used in 3d doesn't quite do the right thing
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Difference(ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTIPOINT(-118.58 38.38 5,-118.60 38.329 6,-118.614 38.281 7)'), ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(-118.614 38.281 5)')));
st_asewkt
---------
MULTIPOINT(-118.6 38.329 6,-118.58 38.38 5)

See Also

ST_SymDifference

Name

ST_Dump — Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows, that make up a geometry g1.

Synopsis

geometry_dump[] fsfuncST_Dump(
g1);

geometry g1;

Description

This is a set-returning function (SRF). It returns a set of geometry_dump rows, formed by a geometry (geom) and an array of integers (path). When the input geometry is a simple type (POINT,LINESTRING,POLYGON) a single record will be returned with an empty path array and the input geometry as geom. When the input geometry is a collection or multi it will return a record for each of the collection components, and the path will express the position of the component inside the collection.

ST_Dump is useful for expanding geometries. It is the reverse of a GROUP BY in that it creates new rows. For example it can be use to expand MULTIPOLYGONS into POLYGONS.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Availability: PostGIS 1.0.0RC1. Requires PostgreSQL 7.3 or higher.

Note

Prior to 1.3.4, this function crashes if used with geometries that contain CURVES. This is fixed in 1.3.4+

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Standard Examples

SELECT sometable.field1, sometable.field1,
      (ST_Dump(sometable.the_geom)).geom AS the_geom
FROM sometable;

-- Break a compound curve into its constituent linestrings and circularstrings
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(a.geom), ST_HasArc(a.geom)
  FROM ( SELECT (ST_Dump(p_geom)).geom AS geom
         FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('COMPOUNDCURVE(CIRCULARSTRING(0 0, 1 1, 1 0),(1 0, 0 1))') AS p_geom) AS b
        ) AS a;
          st_asewkt          | st_hasarc
-----------------------------+----------
 CIRCULARSTRING(0 0,1 1,1 0) | t
 LINESTRING(1 0,0 1)         | f
(2 rows)

Polyhedral Surfaces, TIN and Triangle Examples

-- Polyhedral surface example
-- Break a Polyhedral surface into its faces
SELECT (a.p_geom).path[1] As path, ST_AsEWKT((a.p_geom).geom) As geom_ewkt
  FROM (SELECT ST_Dump(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE(
((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),  ((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)),  ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1))
)') ) AS p_geom )  AS a;

 path |                geom_ewkt
------+------------------------------------------
    1 | POLYGON((0 0 0,0 0 1,0 1 1,0 1 0,0 0 0))
    2 | POLYGON((0 0 0,0 1 0,1 1 0,1 0 0,0 0 0))
    3 | POLYGON((0 0 0,1 0 0,1 0 1,0 0 1,0 0 0))
    4 | POLYGON((1 1 0,1 1 1,1 0 1,1 0 0,1 1 0))
    5 | POLYGON((0 1 0,0 1 1,1 1 1,1 1 0,0 1 0))
    6 | POLYGON((0 0 1,1 0 1,1 1 1,0 1 1,0 0 1))

-- TIN --
SELECT (g.gdump).path, ST_AsEWKT((g.gdump).geom) as wkt
  FROM
    (SELECT
       ST_Dump( ST_GeomFromEWKT('TIN (((
                0 0 0,
                0 0 1,
                0 1 0,
                0 0 0
            )), ((
                0 0 0,
                0 1 0,
                1 1 0,
                0 0 0
            ))
            )') ) AS gdump
    ) AS g;
-- result --
 path |                 wkt
------+-------------------------------------
 {1}  | TRIANGLE((0 0 0,0 0 1,0 1 0,0 0 0))
 {2}  | TRIANGLE((0 0 0,0 1 0,1 1 0,0 0 0))

See Also

geometry_dump, the section called “PostGIS Geometry / Geography / Raster Dump Functions”, ST_Collect, ST_Collect, ST_GeometryN

Name

ST_DumpPoints — Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows of all points that make up a geometry.

Synopsis

geometry_dump[]fsfuncST_DumpPoints(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

This set-returning function (SRF) returns a set of geometry_dump rows formed by a geometry (geom) and an array of integers (path).

The geom component of geometry_dump are all the POINTs that make up the supplied geometry

The path component of geometry_dump (an integer[]) is an index reference enumerating the POINTs of the supplied geometry. For example, if a LINESTRING is supplied, a path of {i} is returned where i is the nth coordinate in the LINESTRING. If a POLYGON is supplied, a path of {i,j} is returned where i is the ring number (1 is outer; inner rings follow) and j enumerates the POINTs (again 1-based index).

Enhanced: 2.1.0 Faster speed. Reimplemented as native-C.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Availability: 1.5.0

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Classic Explode a Table of LineStrings into nodes

SELECT edge_id, (dp).path[1] As index, ST_AsText((dp).geom) As wktnode
FROM (SELECT 1 As edge_id
	, ST_DumpPoints(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4, 10 10)')) AS dp
     UNION ALL
     SELECT 2 As edge_id
	, ST_DumpPoints(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(3 5, 5 6, 9 10)')) AS dp
   ) As foo;
 edge_id | index |    wktnode
---------+-------+--------------
       1 |     1 | POINT(1 2)
       1 |     2 | POINT(3 4)
       1 |     3 | POINT(10 10)
       2 |     1 | POINT(3 5)
       2 |     2 | POINT(5 6)
       2 |     3 | POINT(9 10)

Standard Geometry Examples

SELECT path, ST_AsText(geom)
FROM (
  SELECT (ST_DumpPoints(g.geom)).*
  FROM
    (SELECT
       'GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(
          POINT ( 0 1 ),
          LINESTRING ( 0 3, 3 4 ),
          POLYGON (( 2 0, 2 3, 0 2, 2 0 )),
          POLYGON (( 3 0, 3 3, 6 3, 6 0, 3 0 ),
                   ( 5 1, 4 2, 5 2, 5 1 )),
          MULTIPOLYGON (
                  (( 0 5, 0 8, 4 8, 4 5, 0 5 ),
                   ( 1 6, 3 6, 2 7, 1 6 )),
                  (( 5 4, 5 8, 6 7, 5 4 ))
          )
        )'::geometry AS geom
    ) AS g
  ) j;

   path    | st_astext
-----------+------------
 {1,1}     | POINT(0 1)
 {2,1}     | POINT(0 3)
 {2,2}     | POINT(3 4)
 {3,1,1}   | POINT(2 0)
 {3,1,2}   | POINT(2 3)
 {3,1,3}   | POINT(0 2)
 {3,1,4}   | POINT(2 0)
 {4,1,1}   | POINT(3 0)
 {4,1,2}   | POINT(3 3)
 {4,1,3}   | POINT(6 3)
 {4,1,4}   | POINT(6 0)
 {4,1,5}   | POINT(3 0)
 {4,2,1}   | POINT(5 1)
 {4,2,2}   | POINT(4 2)
 {4,2,3}   | POINT(5 2)
 {4,2,4}   | POINT(5 1)
 {5,1,1,1} | POINT(0 5)
 {5,1,1,2} | POINT(0 8)
 {5,1,1,3} | POINT(4 8)
 {5,1,1,4} | POINT(4 5)
 {5,1,1,5} | POINT(0 5)
 {5,1,2,1} | POINT(1 6)
 {5,1,2,2} | POINT(3 6)
 {5,1,2,3} | POINT(2 7)
 {5,1,2,4} | POINT(1 6)
 {5,2,1,1} | POINT(5 4)
 {5,2,1,2} | POINT(5 8)
 {5,2,1,3} | POINT(6 7)
 {5,2,1,4} | POINT(5 4)
(29 rows)

Polyhedral Surfaces, TIN and Triangle Examples

-- Polyhedral surface cube --
SELECT (g.gdump).path, ST_AsEWKT((g.gdump).geom) as wkt
  FROM
    (SELECT
       ST_DumpPoints(ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYHEDRALSURFACE( ((0 0 0, 0 0 1, 0 1 1, 0 1 0, 0 0 0)),
((0 0 0, 0 1 0, 1 1 0, 1 0 0, 0 0 0)), ((0 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 0 1, 0 0 1, 0 0 0)),
((1 1 0, 1 1 1, 1 0 1, 1 0 0, 1 1 0)),
((0 1 0, 0 1 1, 1 1 1, 1 1 0, 0 1 0)), ((0 0 1, 1 0 1, 1 1 1, 0 1 1, 0 0 1)) )') ) AS gdump
    ) AS g;
-- result --
  path   |     wkt
---------+--------------
 {1,1,1} | POINT(0 0 0)
 {1,1,2} | POINT(0 0 1)
 {1,1,3} | POINT(0 1 1)
 {1,1,4} | POINT(0 1 0)
 {1,1,5} | POINT(0 0 0)
 {2,1,1} | POINT(0 0 0)
 {2,1,2} | POINT(0 1 0)
 {2,1,3} | POINT(1 1 0)
 {2,1,4} | POINT(1 0 0)
 {2,1,5} | POINT(0 0 0)
 {3,1,1} | POINT(0 0 0)
 {3,1,2} | POINT(1 0 0)
 {3,1,3} | POINT(1 0 1)
 {3,1,4} | POINT(0 0 1)
 {3,1,5} | POINT(0 0 0)
 {4,1,1} | POINT(1 1 0)
 {4,1,2} | POINT(1 1 1)
 {4,1,3} | POINT(1 0 1)
 {4,1,4} | POINT(1 0 0)
 {4,1,5} | POINT(1 1 0)
 {5,1,1} | POINT(0 1 0)
 {5,1,2} | POINT(0 1 1)
 {5,1,3} | POINT(1 1 1)
 {5,1,4} | POINT(1 1 0)
 {5,1,5} | POINT(0 1 0)
 {6,1,1} | POINT(0 0 1)
 {6,1,2} | POINT(1 0 1)
 {6,1,3} | POINT(1 1 1)
 {6,1,4} | POINT(0 1 1)
 {6,1,5} | POINT(0 0 1)
(30 rows)

-- Triangle --
SELECT (g.gdump).path, ST_AsText((g.gdump).geom) as wkt
  FROM
    (SELECT
       ST_DumpPoints( ST_GeomFromEWKT('TRIANGLE ((
                0 0,
                0 9,
                9 0,
                0 0
            ))') ) AS gdump
    ) AS g;
-- result --
 path |    wkt
------+------------
 {1}  | POINT(0 0)
 {2}  | POINT(0 9)
 {3}  | POINT(9 0)
 {4}  | POINT(0 0)

-- TIN --
SELECT (g.gdump).path, ST_AsEWKT((g.gdump).geom) as wkt
  FROM
    (SELECT
       ST_DumpPoints( ST_GeomFromEWKT('TIN (((
                0 0 0,
                0 0 1,
                0 1 0,
                0 0 0
            )), ((
                0 0 0,
                0 1 0,
                1 1 0,
                0 0 0
            ))
            )') ) AS gdump
    ) AS g;
-- result --
  path   |     wkt
---------+--------------
 {1,1,1} | POINT(0 0 0)
 {1,1,2} | POINT(0 0 1)
 {1,1,3} | POINT(0 1 0)
 {1,1,4} | POINT(0 0 0)
 {2,1,1} | POINT(0 0 0)
 {2,1,2} | POINT(0 1 0)
 {2,1,3} | POINT(1 1 0)
 {2,1,4} | POINT(0 0 0)
(8 rows)

See Also

geometry_dump, the section called “PostGIS Geometry / Geography / Raster Dump Functions”, ST_Dump, ST_DumpRings

Name

ST_DumpRings — Returns a set of geometry_dump rows, representing the exterior and interior rings of a polygon.

Synopsis

geometry_dump[] fsfuncST_DumpRings(
a_polygon);

geometry a_polygon;

Description

This is a set-returning function (SRF). It returns a set of geometry_dump rows, defined as an integer[] and a geometry, aliased "path" and "geom" respectively. The "path" field holds the polygon ring index containing a single integer: 0 for the shell, >0 for holes. The "geom" field contains the corresponding ring as a polygon.

Availability: PostGIS 1.1.3. Requires PostgreSQL 7.3 or higher.

Note

This only works for POLYGON geometries. It will not work for MULTIPOLYGONS

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT sometable.field1, sometable.field1,
	  (ST_DumpRings(sometable.the_geom)).geom As the_geom
FROM sometableOfpolys;

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(geom) As the_geom, path
	FROM ST_DumpRings(
		ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYGON((-8149064 5133092 1,-8149064 5132986 1,-8148996 5132839 1,-8148972 5132767 1,-8148958 5132508 1,-8148941 5132466 1,-8148924 5132394 1,
		-8148903 5132210 1,-8148930 5131967 1,-8148992 5131978 1,-8149237 5132093 1,-8149404 5132211 1,-8149647 5132310 1,-8149757 5132394 1,
		-8150305 5132788 1,-8149064 5133092 1),
		(-8149362 5132394 1,-8149446 5132501 1,-8149548 5132597 1,-8149695 5132675 1,-8149362 5132394 1))')
		)  as foo;
 path |                                            the_geom
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  {0} | POLYGON((-8149064 5133092 1,-8149064 5132986 1,-8148996 5132839 1,-8148972 5132767 1,-8148958 5132508 1,
	  |          -8148941 5132466 1,-8148924 5132394 1,
	  |          -8148903 5132210 1,-8148930 5131967 1,
	  |          -8148992 5131978 1,-8149237 5132093 1,
	  |          -8149404 5132211 1,-8149647 5132310 1,-8149757 5132394 1,-8150305 5132788 1,-8149064 5133092 1))
  {1} | POLYGON((-8149362 5132394 1,-8149446 5132501 1,
	  |          -8149548 5132597 1,-8149695 5132675 1,-8149362 5132394 1))

See Also

geometry_dump, the section called “PostGIS Geometry / Geography / Raster Dump Functions”, ST_Dump, ST_ExteriorRing, ST_InteriorRingN

Name

ST_FlipCoordinates — Returns a version of the given geometry with X and Y axis flipped. Useful for people who have built latitude/longitude features and need to fix them.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_FlipCoordinates(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

Returns a version of the given geometry with X and Y axis flipped.

Availability: 2.0.0

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports M coordinates.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Example

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_FlipCoordinates(GeomFromEWKT('POINT(1 2)')));
 st_asewkt
------------
POINT(2 1)

See Also

ST_SwapOrdinates

Name

ST_SwapOrdinates — Returns a version of the given geometry with given ordinate values swapped.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_SwapOrdinates( | geom, |
| ords); |

geometry geom;
cstring ords;

Description

Returns a version of the given geometry with given ordinates swapped.

The ords parameter is a 2-characters string naming the ordinates to swap. Valid names are: x,y,z and m.

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This function supports M coordinates.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Example

-- Scale M value by 2
SELECT ST_AsText(
  ST_SwapOrdinates(
    ST_Scale(
      ST_SwapOrdinates(g,'xm'),
      2, 1
    ),
  'xm')
) FROM ( SELECT 'POINT ZM (0 0 0 2)'::geometry g ) foo;
     st_astext
--------------------
 POINT ZM (0 0 0 4)

See Also

ST_FlipCoordinates

Name

ST_Intersection — (T) Returns a geometry that represents the shared portion of geomA and geomB.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Intersection( | geomA, |
| geomB); |

geometry geomA ;
geometry geomB ;

geography fsfuncST_Intersection( | geogA, |
| geogB); |

geography geogA ;
geography geogB ;

Description

Returns a geometry that represents the point set intersection of the Geometries.

In other words - that portion of geometry A and geometry B that is shared between the two geometries.

If the geometries do not share any space (are disjoint), then an empty geometry collection is returned.

ST_Intersection in conjunction with ST_Intersects is very useful for clipping geometries such as in bounding box, buffer, region queries where you only want to return that portion of a geometry that sits in a country or region of interest.

Note

Geography: For geography this is really a thin wrapper around the geometry implementation. It first determines the best SRID that fits the bounding box of the 2 geography objects (if geography objects are within one half zone UTM but not same UTM will pick one of those) (favoring UTM or Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area (LAEA) north/south pole, and falling back on mercator in worst case scenario) and then intersection in that best fit planar spatial ref and retransforms back to WGS84 geography.

Important

Do not call with a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION as an argument

Warning

If working with 3D geometries, you may want to use SFGCAL based ST_3DIntersection which does a proper 3D intersection for 3D geometries. Although this function works with Z-coordinate, it does an averaging of Z-Coordinate values when postgis.backend=geos. postgis.backend=sfcgal, it will return a 2D geometry regardless ignoring the Z-Coordinate. Refer to postgis.backend for details.

Performed by the GEOS module

Description This method is also provided by SFCGAL backend.

Availability: 1.5 support for geography data type was introduced.

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.3

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.18

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Intersection('POINT(0 0)'::geometry, 'LINESTRING ( 2 0, 0 2 )'::geometry));
 st_astext
---------------
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION EMPTY
(1 row)
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Intersection('POINT(0 0)'::geometry, 'LINESTRING ( 0 0, 0 2 )'::geometry));
 st_astext
---------------
POINT(0 0)
(1 row)

---Clip all lines (trails) by country (here we assume country geom are POLYGON or MULTIPOLYGONS)
-- NOTE: we are only keeping intersections that result in a LINESTRING or MULTILINESTRING because we don't
-- care about trails that just share a point
-- the dump is needed to expand a geometry collection into individual single MULT* parts
-- the below is fairly generic and will work for polys, etc. by just changing the where clause
SELECT clipped.gid, clipped.f_name, clipped_geom
FROM (SELECT trails.gid, trails.f_name, (ST_Dump(ST_Intersection(country.the_geom, trails.the_geom))).geom As clipped_geom
FROM country
	INNER JOIN trails
	ON ST_Intersects(country.the_geom, trails.the_geom))  As clipped
	WHERE ST_Dimension(clipped.clipped_geom) = 1 ;

--For polys e.g. polygon landmarks, you can also use the sometimes faster hack that buffering anything by 0.0
-- except a polygon results in an empty geometry collection
--(so a geometry collection containing polys, lines and points)
-- buffered by 0.0 would only leave the polygons and dissolve the collection shell
SELECT poly.gid,  ST_Multi(ST_Buffer(
				ST_Intersection(country.the_geom, poly.the_geom),
				0.0)
				) As clipped_geom
FROM country
	INNER JOIN poly
	ON ST_Intersects(country.the_geom, poly.the_geom)
	WHERE Not ST_IsEmpty(ST_Buffer(ST_Intersection(country.the_geom, poly.the_geom),0.0));

Examples: 2.5Dish

Geos is the default backend if not set. Note this is not a true intersection, compare to the same example using ST_3DIntersection.

set postgis.backend=geos;
select ST_AsText(ST_Intersection(linestring, polygon)) As wkt
from  ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING Z (2 2 6,1.5 1.5 7,1 1 8,0.5 0.5 8,0 0 10)') AS linestring
 CROSS JOIN ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0 8, 0 1 8, 1 1 8, 1 0 8, 0 0 8))') AS polygon;

               st_astext
---------------------------------------
 LINESTRING Z (1 1 8,0.5 0.5 8,0 0 10)

If your PostGIS is compiled with sfcgal support, have option of using sfcgal, but note if basically cases down both geometries to 2D before doing intersection and returns the ST_Force2D equivalent result which is a 2D geometry

set postgis.backend=sfcgal;
select ST_AsText(ST_Intersection(linestring, polygon)) As wkt
from  ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING Z (2 2 6,1.5 1.5 7,1 1 8,0.5 0.5 8,0 0 10)') AS linestring
 CROSS JOIN ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((0 0 8, 0 1 8, 1 1 8, 1 0 8, 0 0 8))') AS polygon;

                     wkt
----------------------------------------------
 MULTILINESTRING((0.5 0.5,0 0),(1 1,0.5 0.5))

See Also

ST_3DIntersection, ST_Difference, ST_Dimension, ST_Dump, ST_Force2D, ST_SymDifference, ST_Intersects, ST_Multi

Name

ST_LineToCurve — Converts a LINESTRING/POLYGON to a CIRCULARSTRING, CURVEPOLYGON

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LineToCurve(
geomANoncircular);

geometry geomANoncircular;

Description

Converts plain LINESTRING/POLYGONS to CIRCULAR STRINGs and Curved Polygons. Note much fewer points are needed to describe the curved equivalent.

Availability: 1.2.2?

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples: 2D

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_LineToCurve(foo.the_geom)) As curvedastext,ST_AsText(foo.the_geom) As non_curvedastext
	FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer('POINT(1 3)'::geometry, 3) As the_geom) As foo;

curvedatext                                                            non_curvedastext
--------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------
CURVEPOLYGON(CIRCULARSTRING(4 3,3.12132034355964 0.878679656440359, | POLYGON((4 3,3.94235584120969 2.41472903395162,3.77163859753386 1.85194970290473,
1 0,-1.12132034355965 5.12132034355963,4 3))                        |  3.49440883690764 1.33328930094119,3.12132034355964 0.878679656440359,
                                                                    |  2.66671069905881 0.505591163092366,2.14805029709527 0.228361402466141,
                                                                    |  1.58527096604839 0.0576441587903094,1 0,
                                                                    |  0.414729033951621 0.0576441587903077,-0.148050297095264 0.228361402466137,
                                                                    |  -0.666710699058802 0.505591163092361,-1.12132034355964 0.878679656440353,
                                                                    |  -1.49440883690763 1.33328930094119,-1.77163859753386 1.85194970290472
                                                                    |  --ETC-- ,3.94235584120969 3.58527096604839,4 3))
--3D example
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_LineToCurve(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 3 4 8, 5 6 4, 7 8 4, 9 10 4)')));

			 st_asewkt
------------------------------------
 CIRCULARSTRING(1 2 3,5 6 4,9 10 4)

See Also

ST_CurveToLine

Name

ST_MakeValid — Attempts to make an invalid geometry valid without losing vertices.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MakeValid(
input);

geometry input;

Description

The function attempts to create a valid representation of a given invalid geometry without losing any of the input vertices. Already-valid geometries are returned without further intervention.

Supported inputs are: POINTS, MULTIPOINTS, LINESTRINGS, MULTILINESTRINGS, POLYGONS, MULTIPOLYGONS and GEOMETRYCOLLECTIONS containing any mix of them.

In case of full or partial dimensional collapses, the output geometry may be a collection of lower-to-equal dimension geometries or a geometry of lower dimension.

Single polygons may become multi-geometries in case of self-intersections.

Availability: 2.0.0, requires GEOS-3.3.0

Enhanced: 2.0.1, speed improvements requires GEOS-3.3.4

Enhanced: 2.1.0 added support for GEOMETRYCOLLECTION and MULTIPOINT.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

See Also

ST_IsValid ST_CollectionExtract

Name

ST_MemUnion — Same as ST_Union, only memory-friendly (uses less memory and more processor time).

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MemUnion(
geomfield);

geometry set geomfield;

Description

Some useful description here.

Note

Same as ST_Union, only memory-friendly (uses less memory and more processor time). This aggregate function works by unioning the geometries one at a time to previous result as opposed to ST_Union aggregate which first creates an array and then unions

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

See ST_Union

See Also

ST_Union

Name

ST_MinimumBoundingCircle — Returns the smallest circle polygon that can fully contain a geometry. Default uses 48 segments per quarter circle.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_MinimumBoundingCircle( | geomA, |
| num_segs_per_qt_circ=48); |

geometry geomA;
integer num_segs_per_qt_circ=48;

Description

Returns the smallest circle polygon that can fully contain a geometry.

Note

The circle is approximated by a polygon with a default of 48 segments per quarter circle. This number can be increased with little performance penalty to obtain a more accurate result.

It is often used with MULTI and Geometry Collections. Although it is not an aggregate - you can use it in conjunction with ST_Collect to get the minimum bounding circle of a set of geometries. ST_MinimumBoundingCircle(ST_Collect(somepointfield)).

The ratio of the area of a polygon divided by the area of its Minimum Bounding Circle is often referred to as the Roeck test.

Availability: 1.4.0 - requires GEOS

Examples

SELECT d.disease_type,
	ST_MinimumBoundingCircle(ST_Collect(d.the_geom)) As the_geom
	FROM disease_obs As d
	GROUP BY d.disease_type;

Minimum bounding circle of a point and linestring. Using 8 segs to approximate a quarter circle

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_MinimumBoundingCircle(
		ST_Collect(
			ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(55 75,125 150)'),
				ST_Point(20, 80)), 8
				)) As wktmbc;
wktmbc
-----------
POLYGON((135.59714732062 115,134.384753327498 102.690357210921,130.79416296937 90.8537670908995,124.963360620072 79.9451031602111,117.116420743937 70.3835792560632,107.554896839789 62.5366393799277,96.6462329091006 56.70583703063,84.8096427890789 53.115246672502,72.5000000000001 51.9028526793802,60.1903572109213 53.1152466725019,48.3537670908996 56.7058370306299,37.4451031602112 62.5366393799276,27.8835792560632 70.383579256063,20.0366393799278 79.9451031602109,14.20583703063 90.8537670908993,10.615246672502 102.690357210921,9.40285267938019 115,10.6152466725019 127.309642789079,14.2058370306299 139.1462329091,20.0366393799275 150.054896839789,27.883579256063 159.616420743937,
37.4451031602108 167.463360620072,48.3537670908992 173.29416296937,60.190357210921 176.884753327498,
72.4999999999998 178.09714732062,84.8096427890786 176.884753327498,96.6462329091003 173.29416296937,107.554896839789 167.463360620072,
117.116420743937 159.616420743937,124.963360620072 150.054896839789,130.79416296937 139.146232909101,134.384753327498 127.309642789079,135.59714732062 115))

See Also

ST_Collect, ST_ConvexHull

Name

ST_Polygonize — Aggregate. Creates a GeometryCollection containing possible polygons formed from the constituent linework of a set of geometries.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Polygonize(
geomfield);

geometry set geomfield;

geometry fsfuncST_Polygonize(
geom_array);

geometry[] geom_array;

Description

Creates a GeometryCollection containing possible polygons formed from the constituent linework of a set of geometries.

Note

Geometry Collections are often difficult to deal with with third party tools, so use ST_Polygonize in conjunction with ST_Dump to dump the polygons out into individual polygons.

Note

Input linework must be correctly noded for this function to work properly

Availability: 1.0.0RC1 - requires GEOS >= 2.1.0.

Examples: Polygonizing single linestrings

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Polygonize(the_geom_4269)) As geomtextrep
FROM (SELECT the_geom_4269 FROM ma.suffolk_edges ORDER BY tlid LIMIT 45) As foo;

geomtextrep
-------------------------------------
 SRID=4269;GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POLYGON((-71.040878 42.285678,-71.040943 42.2856,-71.04096 42.285752,-71.040878 42.285678)),
 POLYGON((-71.17166 42.353675,-71.172026 42.354044,-71.17239 42.354358,-71.171794 42.354971,-71.170511 42.354855,
 -71.17112 42.354238,-71.17166 42.353675)))
(1 row)

--Use ST_Dump to dump out the polygonize geoms into individual polygons
SELECT ST_AsEWKT((ST_Dump(foofoo.polycoll)).geom) As geomtextrep
FROM (SELECT ST_Polygonize(the_geom_4269) As polycoll
	FROM (SELECT the_geom_4269 FROM ma.suffolk_edges
		ORDER BY tlid LIMIT 45) As foo) As foofoo;

geomtextrep
------------------------
 SRID=4269;POLYGON((-71.040878 42.285678,-71.040943 42.2856,-71.04096 42.285752,
-71.040878 42.285678))
 SRID=4269;POLYGON((-71.17166 42.353675,-71.172026 42.354044,-71.17239 42.354358
,-71.171794 42.354971,-71.170511 42.354855,-71.17112 42.354238,-71.17166 42.353675))
(2 rows)

See Also

ST_Node, ST_Dump

Name

ST_Node — Node a set of linestrings.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Node(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

Fully node a set of linestrings using the least possible number of nodes while preserving all of the input ones.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0.

Note

Due to a bug in GEOS up to 3.3.1 this function fails to node self-intersecting lines. This is fixed with GEOS 3.3.2 or higher.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(
		ST_Node('LINESTRINGZ(0 0 0, 10 10 10, 0 10 5, 10 0 3)'::geometry)
	) As  output;
output
-----------
MULTILINESTRING((0 0 0,5 5 4.5),(5 5 4.5,10 10 10,0 10 5,5 5 4.5),(5 5 4.5,10 0 3))

See Also

ST_UnaryUnion

Name

ST_OffsetCurve — Return an offset line at a given distance and side from an input line. Useful for computing parallel lines about a center line

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_OffsetCurve( | line, |
| signed_distance, |
| style_parameters=''); |

geometry line;
float signed_distance;
text style_parameters='';

Description

Return an offset line at a given distance and side from an input line. All points of the returned geometries are not further than the given distance from the input geometry.

For positive distance the offset will be at the left side of the input line and retain the same direction. For a negative distance it'll be at the right side and in the opposite direction.

Availability: 2.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.2, improved with GEOS >= 3.3

The optional third parameter allows specifying a list of blank-separated key=value pairs to tweak operations as follows:

'quad_segs=#' : number of segments used to approximate a quarter circle (defaults to 8).

'join=round|mitre|bevel' : join style (defaults to "round"). 'miter' is also accepted as a synonym for 'mitre'.

'mitre_limit=#.#' : mitre ratio limit (only affects mitred join style). 'miter_limit' is also accepted as a synonym for 'mitre_limit'.

Units of distance are measured in units of the spatial reference system.

The inputs can only be LINESTRINGS.

Performed by the GEOS module.

Note

This function ignores the third dimension (z) and will always give a 2-d result even when presented with a 3d-geometry.

Examples

Compute an open buffer around roads

SELECT ST_Union(
 ST_OffsetCurve(f.the_geom,  f.width/2, 'quad_segs=4 join=round'),
 ST_OffsetCurve(f.the_geom, -f.width/2, 'quad_segs=4 join=round')
) as track
FROM someroadstable;

15, 'quad_segs=4 join=round' original line and its offset 15 units.

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_OffsetCurve(ST_GeomFromText(
'LINESTRING(164 16,144 16,124 16,104 16,84 16,64 16,
	44 16,24 16,20 16,18 16,17 17,
	16 18,16 20,16 40,16 60,16 80,16 100,
	16 120,16 140,16 160,16 180,16 195)'),
	15, 'quad_segs=4 join=round'));
--output --
LINESTRING(164 1,18 1,12.2597485145237 2.1418070123307,
	7.39339828220179 5.39339828220179,
	5.39339828220179 7.39339828220179,
	2.14180701233067 12.2597485145237,1 18,1 195)

-15, 'quad_segs=4 join=round' original line and its offset -15 units

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_OffsetCurve(geom,
	-15, 'quad_segs=4 join=round')) As notsocurvy
	FROM ST_GeomFromText(
'LINESTRING(164 16,144 16,124 16,104 16,84 16,64 16,
	44 16,24 16,20 16,18 16,17 17,
	16 18,16 20,16 40,16 60,16 80,16 100,
	16 120,16 140,16 160,16 180,16 195)') As geom;
-- notsocurvy --
LINESTRING(31 195,31 31,164 31)

double-offset to get more curvy, note the first reverses direction, so -30 + 15 = -15

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_OffsetCurve(ST_OffsetCurve(geom,
	-30, 'quad_segs=4 join=round'), -15, 'quad_segs=4 join=round')) As morecurvy
	FROM ST_GeomFromText(
'LINESTRING(164 16,144 16,124 16,104 16,84 16,64 16,
	44 16,24 16,20 16,18 16,17 17,
	16 18,16 20,16 40,16 60,16 80,16 100,
	16 120,16 140,16 160,16 180,16 195)') As geom;
-- morecurvy --
LINESTRING(164 31,46 31,40.2597485145236 32.1418070123307,
35.3933982822018 35.3933982822018,
32.1418070123307 40.2597485145237,31 46,31 195)

double-offset to get more curvy,combined with regular offset 15 to get parallel lines. Overlaid with original.

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Collect(
	ST_OffsetCurve(geom, 15, 'quad_segs=4 join=round'),
	ST_OffsetCurve(ST_OffsetCurve(geom,
	-30, 'quad_segs=4 join=round'), -15, 'quad_segs=4 join=round')
	)
) As parallel_curves
	FROM ST_GeomFromText(
'LINESTRING(164 16,144 16,124 16,104 16,84 16,64 16,
	44 16,24 16,20 16,18 16,17 17,
	16 18,16 20,16 40,16 60,16 80,16 100,
	16 120,16 140,16 160,16 180,16 195)') As geom;
-- parallel curves  --
MULTILINESTRING((164 1,18 1,12.2597485145237 2.1418070123307,
7.39339828220179 5.39339828220179,5.39339828220179 7.39339828220179,
2.14180701233067 12.2597485145237,1 18,1 195),
(164 31,46 31,40.2597485145236 32.1418070123307,35.3933982822018 35.3933982822018,
32.1418070123307 40.2597485145237,31 46,31 195))

15, 'quad_segs=4 join=bevel' shown with original line

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_OffsetCurve(ST_GeomFromText(
'LINESTRING(164 16,144 16,124 16,104 16,84 16,64 16,
	44 16,24 16,20 16,18 16,17 17,
	16 18,16 20,16 40,16 60,16 80,16 100,
	16 120,16 140,16 160,16 180,16 195)'),
		15, 'quad_segs=4 join=bevel'));
-- output --
LINESTRING(164 1,18 1,7.39339828220179 5.39339828220179,
	5.39339828220179 7.39339828220179,1 18,1 195)

15,-15 collected, join=mitre mitre_limit=2.1

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Collect(
	ST_OffsetCurve(geom, 15, 'quad_segs=4 join=mitre mitre_limit=2.2'),
	ST_OffsetCurve(geom, -15, 'quad_segs=4 join=mitre mitre_limit=2.2')
	) )
	FROM ST_GeomFromText(
'LINESTRING(164 16,144 16,124 16,104 16,84 16,64 16,
	44 16,24 16,20 16,18 16,17 17,
	16 18,16 20,16 40,16 60,16 80,16 100,
	16 120,16 140,16 160,16 180,16 195)') As geom;
-- output --
MULTILINESTRING((164 1,11.7867965644036 1,1 11.7867965644036,1 195),
	(31 195,31 31,164 31))

See Also

ST_Buffer

Name

ST_RemoveRepeatedPoints — Returns a version of the given geometry with duplicated points removed.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_RemoveRepeatedPoints( | geom, |
| tolerance); |

geometry geom;
float8 tolerance;

Description

Returns a version of the given geometry with duplicated points removed. Will actually do something only with (multi)lines, (multi)polygons and multipoints but you can safely call it with any kind of geometry. Since simplification occurs on a object-by-object basis you can also feed a GeometryCollection to this function.

If the tolerance parameter is provided, vertices within the tolerance of one another will be considered the "same" for the purposes of removal.

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

See Also

ST_Simplify

Name

ST_SharedPaths — Returns a collection containing paths shared by the two input linestrings/multilinestrings.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_SharedPaths( | lineal1, |
| lineal2); |

geometry lineal1;
geometry lineal2;

Description

Returns a collection containing paths shared by the two input geometries. Those going in the same direction are in the first element of the collection, those going in the opposite direction are in the second element. The paths themselves are given in the direction of the first geometry.

Availability: 2.0.0 requires GEOS >= 3.3.0.

Examples: Finding shared paths

A multilinestring and a linestring

The shared path of multilinestring and linestring overlaid with original geometries.

 SELECT ST_AsText(
  ST_SharedPaths(
    ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((26 125,26 200,126 200,126 125,26 125),
 	   (51 150,101 150,76 175,51 150))'),
 	ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(151 100,126 156.25,126 125,90 161, 76 175)')
 	)
  ) As wkt

                                wkt
-------------------------------------------------------------
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(MULTILINESTRING((126 156.25,126 125),
 (101 150,90 161),(90 161,76 175)),MULTILINESTRING EMPTY)

-- same example but linestring orientation flipped
SELECT ST_AsText(
  ST_SharedPaths(
   ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(76 175,90 161,126 125,126 156.25,151 100)'),
   ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((26 125,26 200,126 200,126 125,26 125),
 	   (51 150,101 150,76 175,51 150))')
 	)
  ) As wkt

                                wkt
-------------------------------------------------------------
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(MULTILINESTRING EMPTY,
MULTILINESTRING((76 175,90 161),(90 161,101 150),(126 125,126 156.25)))

See Also

ST_Dump, ST_GeometryN, ST_NumGeometries

Name

ST_ShiftLongitude — Reads every point/vertex in every component of every feature in a geometry, and if the longitude coordinate is <0, adds 360 to it. The result would be a 0-360 version of the data to be plotted in a 180 centric map

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_ShiftLongitude(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Reads every point/vertex in every component of every feature in a geometry, and if the longitude coordinate is <0, adds 360 to it. The result would be a 0-360 version of the data to be plotted in a 180 centric map

Note

This is only useful for data in long lat e.g. 4326 (WGS 84 long lat)

Description Pre-1.3.4 bug prevented this from working for MULTIPOINT. 1.3.4+ works with MULTIPOINT as well.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TIN was introduced.

NOTE: this function was renamed from "ST_Shift_Longitude" in 2.2.0

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

--3d points
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_ShiftLongitude(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;POINT(-118.58 38.38 10)'))) As geomA,
	ST_AsEWKT(ST_ShiftLongitude(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=4326;POINT(241.42 38.38 10)'))) As geomb
geomA							  geomB
----------						  -----------
SRID=4326;POINT(241.42 38.38 10) SRID=4326;POINT(-118.58 38.38 10)

--regular line string
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_ShiftLongitude(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(-118.58 38.38, -118.20 38.45)')))

st_astext
----------
LINESTRING(241.42 38.38,241.8 38.45)

See Also

ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_GeomFromText, ST_AsEWKT

Name

ST_Simplify — Returns a "simplified" version of the given geometry using the Douglas-Peucker algorithm.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Simplify( | geomA, |
| tolerance, |
| preserveCollapsed); |

geometry geomA;
float tolerance;
boolean preserveCollapsed;

Description

Returns a "simplified" version of the given geometry using the Douglas-Peucker algorithm. Will actually do something only with (multi)lines and (multi)polygons but you can safely call it with any kind of geometry. Since simplification occurs on a object-by-object basis you can also feed a GeometryCollection to this function.

The "preserve collapsed" flag will retain objects that would otherwise be too small given the tolerance. For example, a 1m long line simplified with a 10m tolerance. If the preserve flag is given, the line will not disappear. This flag is useful for rendering engines, to avoid having large numbers of very small objects disappear from a map leaving surprising gaps.

Note

Note that returned geometry might lose its simplicity (see ST_IsSimple)

Note

Note topology may not be preserved and may result in invalid geometries. Use (see ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology) to preserve topology.

Availability: 1.2.2

Examples

A circle simplified too much becomes a triangle, medium an octagon,

SELECT ST_Npoints(the_geom) As np_before, ST_NPoints(ST_Simplify(the_geom,0.1)) As np01_notbadcircle, ST_NPoints(ST_Simplify(the_geom,0.5)) As np05_notquitecircle,
ST_NPoints(ST_Simplify(the_geom,1)) As np1_octagon, ST_NPoints(ST_Simplify(the_geom,10)) As np10_triangle,
(ST_Simplify(the_geom,100) is null) As  np100_geometrygoesaway
FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer('POINT(1 3)', 10,12) As the_geom) As foo;
-result
 np_before | np01_notbadcircle | np05_notquitecircle | np1_octagon | np10_triangle | np100_geometrygoesaway
-----------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------+---------------+------------------------
		49 |                33 |                  17 |           9 |             4 | t

See Also

ST_IsSimple, ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology, Topology ST_Simplify

Name

ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology — Returns a "simplified" version of the given geometry using the Douglas-Peucker algorithm. Will avoid creating derived geometries (polygons in particular) that are invalid.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_SimplifyPreserveTopology( | geomA, |
| tolerance); |

geometry geomA;
float tolerance;

Description

Returns a "simplified" version of the given geometry using the Douglas-Peucker algorithm. Will avoid creating derived geometries (polygons in particular) that are invalid. Will actually do something only with (multi)lines and (multi)polygons but you can safely call it with any kind of geometry. Since simplification occurs on a object-by-object basis you can also feed a GeometryCollection to this function.

Performed by the GEOS module.

Note

Requires GEOS 3.0.0+

Availability: 1.3.3

Examples

Same example as Simplify, but we see Preserve Topology prevents oversimplification. The circle can at most become a square.

SELECT ST_Npoints(the_geom) As np_before, ST_NPoints(ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology(the_geom,0.1)) As np01_notbadcircle, ST_NPoints(ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology(the_geom,0.5)) As np05_notquitecircle,
ST_NPoints(ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology(the_geom,1)) As np1_octagon, ST_NPoints(ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology(the_geom,10)) As np10_square,
ST_NPoints(ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology(the_geom,100)) As  np100_stillsquare
FROM (SELECT ST_Buffer('POINT(1 3)', 10,12) As the_geom) As foo;

--result--
 np_before | np01_notbadcircle | np05_notquitecircle | np1_octagon | np10_square | np100_stillsquare
-----------+-------------------+---------------------+-------------+---------------+-------------------
		49 |                33 |                  17 |           9 |             5 |                 5

See Also

ST_Simplify

Name

ST_SimplifyVW — Returns a "simplified" version of the given geometry using the Visvalingam-Whyatt algorithm

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_SimplifyVW( | geomA, |
| tolerance); |

geometry geomA;
float tolerance;

Description

Returns a "simplified" version of the given geometry using the Visvalingam-Whyatt algorithm. Will actually do something only with (multi)lines and (multi)polygons but you can safely call it with any kind of geometry. Since simplification occurs on a object-by-object basis you can also feed a GeometryCollection to this function.

Note

Note that returned geometry might lose its simplicity (see ST_IsSimple)

Note

Note topology may not be preserved and may result in invalid geometries. Use (see ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology) to preserve topology.

Note

This function handles 3D and the third dimension will affect the result.

Availability: 2.2.0

Examples

A LineString is simplified with a minimum area threshold of 30.

select ST_AsText(ST_SimplifyVW(geom,30)) simplified
FROM (SELECT  'LINESTRING(5 2, 3 8, 6 20, 7 25, 10 10)'::geometry geom) As foo;
-result
 simplified
-----------+-------------------+
LINESTRING(5 2,7 25,10 10)

See Also

ST_SetEffectiveArea, ST_Simplify, ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology, Topology ST_Simplify

Name

ST_SetEffectiveArea — Sets the effective area for each vertex, storing the value in the M ordinate. A simplified geometry can then be generated by filtering on the M ordinate.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_SetEffectiveArea( | geomA, |
| threshold = 0, |
| set_area = 1); |

geometry geomA;
float threshold = 0;
integer set_area = 1;

Description

Sets the effective area for each vertex, using the Visvalingam-Whyatt algorithm. The effective area is stored as the M-value of the vertex. If the optional "theshold" parameter is used, a simplified geometry will be returned, containing only vertices with an effective area greater than or equal to the threshold value.

This function can be used for server-side simplification when a threshold is specified. Another option is to use a threshold value of zero. In this case, the full geometry will be returned with effective areas as M-values, which can be used by the client to simplify very quickly.

Will actually do something only with (multi)lines and (multi)polygons but you can safely call it with any kind of geometry. Since simplification occurs on a object-by-object basis you can also feed a GeometryCollection to this function.

Note

Note that returned geometry might lose its simplicity (see ST_IsSimple)

Note

Note topology may not be preserved and may result in invalid geometries. Use (see ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology) to preserve topology.

Note

The output geometry will lose all previous information in the M-values

Note

This function handles 3D and the third dimension will affect the effective area

Availability: 2.2.0

Examples

Calculating the effective area of a LineString. Because we use a threshold value of zero, all vertices in the input geometry are returned.

select ST_AsText(ST_SetEffectiveArea(geom)) all_pts, ST_AsText(ST_SetEffectiveArea(geom,30) ) thrshld_30
FROM (SELECT  'LINESTRING(5 2, 3 8, 6 20, 7 25, 10 10)'::geometry geom) As foo;
-result
 all_pts | thrshld_30
-----------+-------------------+
LINESTRING M (5 2 3.40282346638529e+38,3 8 29,6 20 1.5,7 25 49.5,10 10 3.40282346638529e+38) | LINESTRING M (5 2 3.40282346638529e+38,7 25 49.5,10 10 3.40282346638529e+38)

See Also

ST_SimplifyVW

Name

ST_Split — Returns a collection of geometries resulting by splitting a geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Split( | input, |
| blade); |

geometry input;
geometry blade;

Description

The function supports splitting a line by (multi)point, (multi)line or (multi)polygon boundary, a (multi)polygon by line. The returned geometry is always a collection.

Think of this function as the opposite of ST_Union. Theoretically applying ST_Union to the elements of the returned collection should always yield the original geometry.

Availability: 2.0.0

Changed: 2.2.0 support for splitting a line by a multiline, a multipoint or (multi)polygon boundary was introduced.

Note

To improve the robustness of ST_Split it may be convenient to ST_Snap the input to the blade in advance using a very low tolerance. Otherwise the internally used coordinate grid may cause tolerance problems, where coordinates of input and blade do not fall onto each other and the input is not being split correctly (see #2192).

Note

When a (multi)polygon is passed as as the blade, its linear component (the boundary) is used for cutting the input.

Examples

Polygon Cut by Line

Before Split

After split

-- this creates a geometry collection consisting of the 2 halves of the polygon
-- this is similar to the example we demonstrated in ST_BuildArea
SELECT ST_Split(circle, line)
FROM (SELECT
    ST_MakeLine(ST_MakePoint(10, 10),ST_MakePoint(190, 190)) As line,
    ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'), 50) As circle) As foo;

-- result --
 GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POLYGON((150 90,149.039264020162 80.2454838991936,146.193976625564 70.8658283817455,..), POLYGON(..)))

-- To convert to individual polygons, you can use ST_Dump or ST_GeometryN
SELECT ST_AsText((ST_Dump(ST_Split(circle, line))).geom) As wkt
FROM (SELECT
    ST_MakeLine(ST_MakePoint(10, 10),ST_MakePoint(190, 190)) As line,
    ST_Buffer(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(100 90)'), 50) As circle) As foo;

-- result --
wkt
---------------
POLYGON((150 90,149.039264020162 80.2454838991936,..))
POLYGON((60.1371179574584 60.1371179574584,58.4265193848728 62.2214883490198,53.8060233744357 ..))

Multilinestring Cut by point

Before Split

After split

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Split(mline, pt)) As wktcut
        FROM (SELECT
    ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((10 10, 190 190), (15 15, 30 30, 100 90))') As mline,
    ST_Point(30,30) As pt) As foo;

wktcut
------
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(
    LINESTRING(10 10,30 30),
    LINESTRING(30 30,190 190),
    LINESTRING(15 15,30 30),
    LINESTRING(30 30,100 90)
)

See Also

ST_AsText, ST_BuildArea, ST_Dump, ST_GeometryN, ST_Union, ST_Subdivide

Name

ST_SymDifference — Returns a geometry that represents the portions of A and B that do not intersect. It is called a symmetric difference because ST_SymDifference(A,B) = ST_SymDifference(B,A).

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_SymDifference( | geomA, |
| geomB); |

geometry geomA;
geometry geomB;

Description

Returns a geometry that represents the portions of A and B that do not intersect. It is called a symmetric difference because ST_SymDifference(A,B) = ST_SymDifference(B,A). One can think of this as ST_Union(geomA,geomB) - ST_Intersection(A,B).

Performed by the GEOS module

Note

Do not call with a GeometryCollection as an argument

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.3

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.21

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index. However it seems to only consider x y when doing the difference and tacks back on the Z-Index

Examples

The original linestrings shown together

The symmetric difference of the two linestrings

--Safe for 2d - symmetric difference of 2 linestrings
SELECT ST_AsText(
	ST_SymDifference(
		ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(50 100, 50 200)'),
		ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(50 50, 50 150)')
	)
);

st_astext
---------
MULTILINESTRING((50 150,50 200),(50 50,50 100))

--When used in 3d doesn't quite do the right thing
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_SymDifference(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 1, 1 4 2)'),
	ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 1 3, 1 3 4)')))

st_astext
------------
MULTILINESTRING((1 3 2.75,1 4 2),(1 1 3,1 2 2.25))

See Also

ST_Difference, ST_Intersection, ST_Union

Name

ST_Subdivide — Returns a set of geometry where no geometry in the set has more than the specified number of vertices.

Synopsis

setof geometry fsfuncST_Subdivide( | geom, |
| max_vertices=256); |

geometry geom;
integer max_vertices=256;

Description

Turns a single geometry into a set in which each element has fewer than the maximum allowed number of vertices. Useful for converting excessively large polygons and other objects into small portions that fit within the database page size. Uses the same envelope clipping as ST_ClipByBox2D does, recursively subdividing the input geometry until all portions have less than the maximum vertex count. Minimum vertice count allowed is 8 and if you try to specify lower than 8, it will throw an error.

Clipping performed by the GEOS module.

Note

Requires GEOS 3.5.0+

Availability: 2.2.0 requires GEOS >= 3.5.0.

Examples

-- Create a new subdivided table suitable for joining to the original
CREATE TABLE subdivided_geoms AS
SELECT pkey, ST_Subdivide(geom) AS geom
FROM original_geoms;

Subdivide max 10 vertices

SELECT row_number() OVER() As rn, ST_AsText(geom) As wkt
FROM ( SELECT ST_SubDivide('POLYGON((132 10,119 23,85 35,68 29,66 28,49 42,32 56,22 64,32 110,40 119,36 150,
57 158,75 171,92 182,114 184,132 186,146 178,176 184,179 162,184 141,190 122,
190 100,185 79,186 56,186 52,178 34,168 18,147 13,132 10))'::geometry,10))  As f(geom);

rn |                          wkt
---+---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 | POLYGON((22 64,29.3913043478263 98.000000000001,106.000000000001 98.00000000001,
        106.000000000001 27.5882352941173,85 35,68 29,66 28,49 42,32 56,22 64))
 2 | POLYGON((29.3913043478263 98.000000000001,32 110,40 119,36 150,57 158,
        75 11,92 182,106.000000000001 183.272727272727,106.000000000001 98.000000000001,
        29.913043478263 98.000000000001))
 3 | POLYGON((106.000000000001 27.5882352941173,106.000000000001 98.00000000000,
 189.52380952381 98.000000000001,185 79,186 56,186 52,178 34,168 18,147 13,
 132 0,119 23,106.000000000001 27.5882352941173))
 4 | POLYGON((106.000000000001 98.000000000001,106.000000000001 183.27272727272,
    114 184,132 186,146 178,176 184,179 162,184 141,190 122,190 100,189.5238095238
 98.000000000001,106.000000000001 98.000000000001))

Useful in conjunction with ST_Segmentize to create additional vertices that can then be used for splitting

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_SubDivide(ST_Segmentize('LINESTRING(0 0, 100 100, 150 150)'::geometry,10),8));

LINESTRING(0 0,7.07106781186547 7.07106781186547,14.1421356237309 14.1421356237309,21.2132034355964 21.2132034355964,28.2842712474619 28.2842712474619,35.3553390593274 35.3553390593274,37.499999999998 37.499999999998)
LINESTRING(37.499999999998 37.499999999998,42.4264068711929 42.4264068711929,49.4974746830583 49.4974746830583,56.5685424949238 56.5685424949238,63.6396103067893 63.6396103067893,70.7106781186548 70.7106781186548,74.999999999998 74.999999999998)
LINESTRING(74.999999999998 74.999999999998,77.7817459305202 77.7817459305202,84.8528137423857 84.8528137423857,91.9238815542512 91.9238815542512,98.9949493661167 98.9949493661167,100 100,107.071067811865 107.071067811865,112.499999999998 112.499999999998)
LINESTRING(112.499999999998 112.499999999998,114.142135623731 114.142135623731,121.213203435596 121.213203435596,128.284271247462 128.284271247462,135.355339059327 135.355339059327,142.426406871193 142.426406871193,149.497474683058 149.497474683058,149.999999999998 149.999999999998)

See Also

ST_AsText, ST_ClipByBox2D, ST_Segmentize, ST_Split

Name

ST_Union — Returns a geometry that represents the point set union of the Geometries.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Union(
g1field);

geometry set g1field;

geometry fsfuncST_Union( | g1, |
| g2); |

geometry g1;
geometry g2;

geometry fsfuncST_Union(
g1_array);

geometry[] g1_array;

Description

Output type can be a MULTI*, single geometry, or Geometry Collection. Comes in 2 variants. Variant 1 unions 2 geometries resulting in a new geometry with no intersecting regions. Variant 2 is an aggregate function that takes a set of geometries and unions them into a single ST_Geometry resulting in no intersecting regions.

Aggregate version: This function returns a MULTI geometry or NON-MULTI geometry from a set of geometries. The ST_Union() function is an "aggregate" function in the terminology of PostgreSQL. That means that it operates on rows of data, in the same way the SUM() and AVG() functions do and like most aggregates, it also ignores NULL geometries.

Non-Aggregate version: This function returns a geometry being a union of two input geometries. Output type can be a MULTI*, NON-MULTI or GEOMETRYCOLLECTION. If any are NULL, then NULL is returned.

Note

ST_Collect and ST_Union are often interchangeable. ST_Union is in general orders of magnitude slower than ST_Collect because it tries to dissolve boundaries and reorder geometries to ensure that a constructed Multi* doesn't have intersecting regions.

Performed by the GEOS module.

NOTE: this function was formerly called GeomUnion(), which was renamed from "Union" because UNION is an SQL reserved word.

Availability: 1.4.0 - ST_Union was enhanced. ST_Union(geomarray) was introduced and also faster aggregate collection in PostgreSQL. If you are using GEOS 3.1.0+ ST_Union will use the faster Cascaded Union algorithm described in http://blog.cleverelephant.ca/2009/01/must-faster-unions-in-postgis-14.html

Description This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.1.3

Note

Aggregate version is not explicitly defined in OGC SPEC.

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.19 the z-index (elevation) when polygons are involved.

Examples

Aggregate example

SELECT stusps,
	   ST_Multi(ST_Union(f.the_geom)) as singlegeom
	 FROM sometable As f
GROUP BY stusps

Non-Aggregate example

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Union(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'),
	ST_GeomFromText('POINT(-2 3)') ) )

st_astext
----------
MULTIPOINT(-2 3,1 2)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Union(ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)'),
		ST_GeomFromText('POINT(1 2)') ) );
st_astext
----------
POINT(1 2)

--3d example - sort of supports 3d (and with mixed dimensions!)
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(st_union(the_geom))
FROM
(SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYGON((-7 4.2,-7.1 4.2,-7.1 4.3,
-7 4.2))') as the_geom
UNION ALL
SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(5 5 5)') as the_geom
UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(-2 3 1)') as the_geom
UNION ALL
SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(5 5 5, 10 10 10)') as the_geom ) as foo;

st_asewkt
---------
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-2 3 1),LINESTRING(5 5 5,10 10 10),POLYGON((-7 4.2 5,-7.1 4.2 5,-7.1 4.3 5,-7 4.2 5)));

--3d example not mixing dimensions
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(st_union(the_geom))
FROM
(SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('POLYGON((-7 4.2 2,-7.1 4.2 3,-7.1 4.3 2,
-7 4.2 2))') as the_geom
UNION ALL
SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(5 5 5)') as the_geom
UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(-2 3 1)') as the_geom
UNION ALL
SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(5 5 5, 10 10 10)') as the_geom ) as foo;

st_asewkt
---------
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(-2 3 1),LINESTRING(5 5 5,10 10 10),POLYGON((-7 4.2 2,-7.1 4.2 3,-7.1 4.3 2,-7 4.2 2)))

--Examples using new Array construct
SELECT ST_Union(ARRAY(SELECT the_geom FROM sometable));

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Union(ARRAY[ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)'),
			ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(3 4, 4 5)')])) As wktunion;

--wktunion---
MULTILINESTRING((3 4,4 5),(1 2,3 4))

See Also

ST_Collect ST_UnaryUnion

Name

ST_UnaryUnion — Like ST_Union, but working at the geometry component level.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_UnaryUnion(
geom);

geometry geom;

Description

Unlike ST_Union, ST_UnaryUnion does dissolve boundaries between components of a multipolygon (invalid) and does perform union between the components of a geometrycollection. Each components of the input geometry is assumed to be valid, so you won't get a valid multipolygon out of a bow-tie polygon (invalid).

You may use this function to node a set of linestrings. You may mix ST_UnaryUnion with ST_Collect to fine-tune how many geometries at once you want to dissolve to be nice on both memory size and CPU time, finding the balance between ST_Union and ST_MemUnion.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0.

See Also

ST_Union, ST_MemUnion, ST_Collect, ST_Node

Linear Referencing

Name

ST_LineInterpolatePoint — Returns a point interpolated along a line. Second argument is a float8 between 0 and 1 representing fraction of total length of linestring the point has to be located.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LineInterpolatePoint( | a_linestring, |
| a_fraction); |

geometry a_linestring;
float8 a_fraction;

Description

Returns a point interpolated along a line. First argument must be a LINESTRING. Second argument is a float8 between 0 and 1 representing fraction of total linestring length the point has to be located.

See ST_LineLocatePoint for computing the line location nearest to a Point.

Note

Since release 1.1.1 this function also interpolates M and Z values (when present), while prior releases set them to 0.0.

Availability: 0.8.2, Z and M supported added in 1.1.1

Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Line_Interpolate_Point.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

A linestring with the interpolated point at 20% position (0.20)

--Return point 20% along 2d line
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_LineInterpolatePoint(the_line, 0.20))
	FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(25 50, 100 125, 150 190)') as the_line) As foo;
   st_asewkt
----------------
 POINT(51.5974135047432 76.5974135047432)

--Return point mid-way of 3d line
SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_LineInterpolatePoint(the_line, 0.5))
	FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 4 5 6, 6 7 8)') as the_line) As foo;

	st_asewkt
--------------------
 POINT(3.5 4.5 5.5)

--find closest point on a line to a point or other geometry
 SELECT ST_AsText(ST_LineInterpolatePoint(foo.the_line, ST_LineLocatePoint(foo.the_line, ST_GeomFromText('POINT(4 3)'))))
FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 4 5, 6 7)') As the_line) As foo;
   st_astext
----------------
 POINT(3 4)

See Also

ST_AsText, ST_AsEWKT, ST_Length, ST_LineLocatePoint

Name

ST_LineLocatePoint — Returns a float between 0 and 1 representing the location of the closest point on LineString to the given Point, as a fraction of total 2d line length.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_LineLocatePoint( | a_linestring, |
| a_point); |

geometry a_linestring;
geometry a_point;

Description

Returns a float between 0 and 1 representing the location of the closest point on LineString to the given Point, as a fraction of total 2d line length.

You can use the returned location to extract a Point (ST_LineInterpolatePoint) or a substring (ST_LineSubstring).

This is useful for approximating numbers of addresses

Availability: 1.1.0

Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Line_Locate_Point.

Examples

--Rough approximation of finding the street number of a point along the street
--Note the whole foo thing is just to generate dummy data that looks
--like house centroids and street
--We use ST_DWithin to exclude
--houses too far away from the street to be considered on the street
SELECT ST_AsText(house_loc) As as_text_house_loc,
	startstreet_num +
		CAST( (endstreet_num - startstreet_num)
			* ST_LineLocatePoint(street_line, house_loc) As integer) As street_num
FROM
(SELECT ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)') As street_line,
	ST_MakePoint(x*1.01,y*1.03) As house_loc, 10 As startstreet_num,
		20 As endstreet_num
FROM generate_series(1,3) x CROSS JOIN generate_series(2,4) As y)
As foo
WHERE ST_DWithin(street_line, house_loc, 0.2);

 as_text_house_loc | street_num
-------------------+------------
 POINT(1.01 2.06)  |         10
 POINT(2.02 3.09)  |         15
 POINT(3.03 4.12)  |         20

 --find closest point on a line to a point or other geometry
 SELECT ST_AsText(ST_LineInterpolatePoint(foo.the_line, ST_LineLocatePoint(foo.the_line, ST_GeomFromText('POINT(4 3)'))))
FROM (SELECT ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 4 5, 6 7)') As the_line) As foo;
   st_astext
----------------
 POINT(3 4)

See Also

ST_DWithin, ST_Length2D, ST_LineInterpolatePoint, ST_LineSubstring

Name

ST_LineSubstring — Return a linestring being a substring of the input one starting and ending at the given fractions of total 2d length. Second and third arguments are float8 values between 0 and 1.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LineSubstring( | a_linestring, |
| startfraction, |
| endfraction); |

geometry a_linestring;
float8 startfraction;
float8 endfraction;

Description

Return a linestring being a substring of the input one starting and ending at the given fractions of total 2d length. Second and third arguments are float8 values between 0 and 1. This only works with LINESTRINGs. To use with contiguous MULTILINESTRINGs use in conjunction with ST_LineMerge.

If 'start' and 'end' have the same value this is equivalent to ST_LineInterpolatePoint.

See ST_LineLocatePoint for computing the line location nearest to a Point.

Note

Since release 1.1.1 this function also interpolates M and Z values (when present), while prior releases set them to unspecified values.

Availability: 1.1.0, Z and M supported added in 1.1.1

Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Line_Substring.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

A linestring seen with 1/3 midrange overlaid (0.333, 0.666)

--Return the approximate 1/3 mid-range part of a linestring
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Line_SubString(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(25 50, 100 125, 150 190)'), 0.333, 0.666));

										   st_astext
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINESTRING(69.2846934853974 94.2846934853974,100 125,111.700356260683 140.210463138888)

--The below example simulates a while loop in
--SQL using PostgreSQL generate_series() to cut all
--linestrings in a table to 100 unit segments
-- of which no segment is longer than 100 units
-- units are measured in the SRID units of measurement
-- It also assumes all geometries are LINESTRING or contiguous MULTILINESTRING
--and no geometry is longer than 100 units*10000
--for better performance you can reduce the 10000
--to match max number of segments you expect

SELECT field1, field2, ST_LineSubstring(the_geom, 100.00*n/length,
  CASE
	WHEN 100.00*(n+1) < length THEN 100.00*(n+1)/length
	ELSE 1
  END) As the_geom
FROM
  (SELECT sometable.field1, sometable.field2,
  ST_LineMerge(sometable.the_geom) AS the_geom,
  ST_Length(sometable.the_geom) As length
  FROM sometable
  ) AS t
CROSS JOIN generate_series(0,10000) AS n
WHERE n*100.00/length < 1;

See Also

ST_Length, ST_LineInterpolatePoint, ST_LineMerge

Name

ST_LocateAlong — Return a derived geometry collection value with elements that match the specified measure. Polygonal elements are not supported.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LocateAlong( | ageom_with_measure, |
| a_measure, |
| offset); |

geometry ageom_with_measure;
float8 a_measure;
float8 offset;

Description

Return a derived geometry collection value with elements that match the specified measure. Polygonal elements are not supported.

If an offset is provided, the resultant will be offset to the left or right of the input line by the specified number of units. A positive offset will be to the left, and a negative one to the right.

Semantic is specified by: ISO/IEC CD 13249-3:200x(E) - Text for Continuation CD Editing Meeting

Availability: 1.1.0 by old name ST_Locate_Along_Measure.

Changed: 2.0.0 in prior versions this used to be called ST_Locate_Along_Measure. The old name has been deprecated and will be removed in the future but is still available.

Note

Use this function only for geometries with an M component

Description This function supports M coordinates.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(the_geom)
		FROM
		(SELECT ST_LocateAlong(
			ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRINGM((1 2 3, 3 4 2, 9 4 3),
		(1 2 3, 5 4 5))'),3) As the_geom) As foo;

						 st_asewkt
-----------------------------------------------------------
 MULTIPOINT M (1 2 3)

--Geometry collections are difficult animals so dump them
--to make them more digestable
SELECT ST_AsText((ST_Dump(the_geom)).geom)
	FROM
	(SELECT ST_LocateAlong(
			ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRINGM((1 2 3, 3 4 2, 9 4 3),
	(1 2 3, 5 4 5))'),3) As the_geom) As foo;

   st_asewkt
---------------
 POINTM(1 2 3)
 POINTM(9 4 3)
 POINTM(1 2 3)

See Also

ST_Dump, ST_LocateBetween

Name

ST_LocateBetween — Return a derived geometry collection value with elements that match the specified range of measures inclusively. Polygonal elements are not supported.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LocateBetween( | geomA, |
| measure_start, |
| measure_end, |
| offset); |

geometry geomA;
float8 measure_start;
float8 measure_end;
float8 offset;

Description

Return a derived geometry collection value with elements that match the specified range of measures inclusively. Polygonal elements are not supported.

Semantic is specified by: ISO/IEC CD 13249-3:200x(E) - Text for Continuation CD Editing Meeting

Availability: 1.1.0 by old name ST_Locate_Between_Measures.

Changed: 2.0.0 - in prior versions this used to be called ST_Locate_Between_Measures. The old name has been deprecated and will be removed in the future but is still available for backward compatibility.

Description This function supports M coordinates.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(the_geom)
		FROM
		(SELECT ST_LocateBetween(
			ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING M ((1 2 3, 3 4 2, 9 4 3),
		(1 2 3, 5 4 5))'),1.5, 3) As the_geom) As foo;

							 st_asewkt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 GEOMETRYCOLLECTION M (LINESTRING M (1 2 3,3 4 2,9 4 3),POINT M (1 2 3))

--Geometry collections are difficult animals so dump them
--to make them more digestable
SELECT ST_AsText((ST_Dump(the_geom)).geom)
		FROM
		(SELECT ST_LocateBetween(
			ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING M ((1 2 3, 3 4 2, 9 4 3),
		(1 2 3, 5 4 5))'),1.5, 3) As the_geom) As foo;

		   st_asewkt
--------------------------------
 LINESTRING M (1 2 3,3 4 2,9 4 3)
 POINT M (1 2 3)

See Also

ST_Dump, ST_LocateAlong

Name

ST_LocateBetweenElevations — Return a derived geometry (collection) value with elements that intersect the specified range of elevations inclusively. Only 3D, 4D LINESTRINGS and MULTILINESTRINGS are supported.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_LocateBetweenElevations( | geom_mline, |
| elevation_start, |
| elevation_end); |

geometry geom_mline;
float8 elevation_start;
float8 elevation_end;

Description

Return a derived geometry (collection) value with elements that intersect the specified range of elevations inclusively. Only 3D, 3DM LINESTRINGS and MULTILINESTRINGS are supported.

Availability: 1.4.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_LocateBetweenElevations(
			ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 4 5 6)'),2,4)) As ewelev;
								   ewelev
----------------------------------------------------------------
	MULTILINESTRING((1 2 3,2 3 4))

SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_LocateBetweenElevations(
			ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 6, 4 5 -1, 7 8 9)'),6,9)) As ewelev;

				ewelev
----------------------------------------------------------------
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(1 2 6),LINESTRING(6.1 7.1 6,7 8 9))

--Geometry collections are difficult animals so dump them
--to make them more digestable
SELECT ST_AsEWKT((ST_Dump(the_geom)).geom)
		FROM
		(SELECT ST_LocateBetweenElevations(
			ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 6, 4 5 -1, 7 8 9)'),6,9) As the_geom) As foo;

		   st_asewkt
--------------------------------
POINT(1 2 6)
LINESTRING(6.1 7.1 6,7 8 9)

See Also

ST_Dump

Name

ST_InterpolatePoint — Return the value of the measure dimension of a geometry at the point closed to the provided point.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_InterpolatePoint( | line, |
| point); |

geometry line;
geometry point;

Description

Return the value of the measure dimension of a geometry at the point closed to the provided point.

Availability: 2.0.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_InterpolatePoint('LINESTRING M (0 0 0, 10 0 20)', 'POINT(5 5)');
 st_interpolatepoint
 ---------------------
			            10

See Also

ST_AddMeasure, ST_LocateAlong, ST_LocateBetween

Name

ST_AddMeasure — Return a derived geometry with measure elements linearly interpolated between the start and end points.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_AddMeasure( | geom_mline, |
| measure_start, |
| measure_end); |

geometry geom_mline;
float8 measure_start;
float8 measure_end;

Description

Return a derived geometry with measure elements linearly interpolated between the start and end points. If the geometry has no measure dimension, one is added. If the geometry has a measure dimension, it is over-written with new values. Only LINESTRINGS and MULTILINESTRINGS are supported.

Availability: 1.5.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_AddMeasure(
ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 0, 2 0, 4 0)'),1,4)) As ewelev;
           ewelev
--------------------------------
 LINESTRINGM(1 0 1,2 0 2,4 0 4)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_AddMeasure(
ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 0 4, 2 0 4, 4 0 4)'),10,40)) As ewelev;
                 ewelev
----------------------------------------
 LINESTRING(1 0 4 10,2 0 4 20,4 0 4 40)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_AddMeasure(
ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRINGM(1 0 4, 2 0 4, 4 0 4)'),10,40)) As ewelev;
                 ewelev
----------------------------------------
 LINESTRINGM(1 0 10,2 0 20,4 0 40)

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_AddMeasure(
ST_GeomFromEWKT('MULTILINESTRINGM((1 0 4, 2 0 4, 4 0 4),(1 0 4, 2 0 4, 4 0 4))'),10,70)) As ewelev;
                             ewelev
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 MULTILINESTRINGM((1 0 10,2 0 20,4 0 40),(1 0 40,2 0 50,4 0 70))

Temporal Support

Name

ST_IsValidTrajectory — Returns true if the geometry is a valid trajectory.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_IsValidTrajectory(
line);

geometry line;

Description

Tell if a geometry encodes a valid trajectory. Valid trajectories are encoded as LINESTRING with M value growing from each vertex to the next.

Valid trajectories are expected as input to some spatio-temporal queries like ST_ClosestPointOfApproach

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

-- A valid trajectory
SELECT ST_IsValidTrajectory(ST_MakeLine(
  ST_MakePointM(0,0,1),
  ST_MakePointM(0,1,2))
);
 t

-- An invalid trajectory
SELECT ST_IsValidTrajectory(ST_MakeLine(ST_MakePointM(0,0,1), ST_MakePointM(0,1,0)));
NOTICE:  Measure of vertex 1 (0) not bigger than measure of vertex 0 (1)
 st_isvalidtrajectory
----------------------
 f

See Also

ST_ClosestPointOfApproach

Name

ST_ClosestPointOfApproach — Returns the measure at which points interpolated along two lines are closest.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_ClosestPointOfApproach( | track1, |
| track2); |

geometry track1;
geometry track2;

Description

Returns the smallest measure at which point interpolated along the given lines are at the smallest distance. Inputs must be valid trajectories as checked by ST_IsValidTrajectory. Null is returned if the trajectories do not overlap on the M range.

See ST_LocateAlong for getting the actual points at the given measure.

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

-- Return the time in which two objects moving between 10:00 and 11:00
-- are closest to each other and their distance at that point
WITH inp AS ( SELECT
  ST_AddMeasure('LINESTRING Z (0 0 0, 10 0 5)'::geometry,
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 10:00'::timestamptz),
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 11:00'::timestamptz)
  ) a,
  ST_AddMeasure('LINESTRING Z (0 2 10, 12 1 2)'::geometry,
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 10:00'::timestamptz),
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 11:00'::timestamptz)
  ) b
), cpa AS (
  SELECT ST_ClosestPointOfApproach(a,b) m FROM inp
), points AS (
  SELECT ST_Force3DZ(ST_GeometryN(ST_LocateAlong(a,m),1)) pa,
         ST_Force3DZ(ST_GeometryN(ST_LocateAlong(b,m),1)) pb
  FROM inp, cpa
)
SELECT to_timestamp(m) t,
       ST_Distance(pa,pb) distance
FROM points, cpa;

               t               |     distance
-------------------------------+------------------
 2015-05-26 10:45:31.034483+02 | 1.96036833151395

See Also

ST_IsValidTrajectory, ST_DistanceCPA, ST_LocateAlong, ST_AddMeasure

Name

ST_DistanceCPA — Returns the distance between closest points of approach in two trajectories.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_DistanceCPA( | track1, |
| track2); |

geometry track1;
geometry track2;

Description

Returns the minimum distance two moving objects have ever been each-other. Inputs must be valid trajectories as checked by ST_IsValidTrajectory. Null is returned if the trajectories do not overlap on the M range.

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

-- Return the minimum distance of two objects moving between 10:00 and 11:00
WITH inp AS ( SELECT
  ST_AddMeasure('LINESTRING Z (0 0 0, 10 0 5)'::geometry,
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 10:00'::timestamptz),
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 11:00'::timestamptz)
  ) a,
  ST_AddMeasure('LINESTRING Z (0 2 10, 12 1 2)'::geometry,
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 10:00'::timestamptz),
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 11:00'::timestamptz)
  ) b
)
SELECT ST_DistanceCPA(a,b) distance FROM inp;

     distance
------------------
 1.96036833151395

See Also

ST_IsValidTrajectory, ST_ClosestPointOfApproach, ST_AddMeasure, |=|

Name

ST_CPAWithin — Returns true if the trajectories' closest points of approach are within the specified distance.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_CPAWithin( | track1, |
| track2, |
| maxdist); |

geometry track1;
geometry track2;
float8 maxdist;

Description

Checks whether two moving objects have ever been within the specified max distance.

Inputs must be valid trajectories as checked by ST_IsValidTrajectory. False is returned if the trajectories do not overlap on the M range.

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

WITH inp AS ( SELECT
  ST_AddMeasure('LINESTRING Z (0 0 0, 10 0 5)'::geometry,
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 10:00'::timestamptz),
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 11:00'::timestamptz)
  ) a,
  ST_AddMeasure('LINESTRING Z (0 2 10, 12 1 2)'::geometry,
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 10:00'::timestamptz),
    extract(epoch from '2015-05-26 11:00'::timestamptz)
  ) b
)
SELECT ST_CPAWithin(a,b,2), ST_DistanceCPA(a,b) distance FROM inp;

 st_cpawithin |     distance
--------------+------------------
 t            | 1.96521473776207

See Also

ST_IsValidTrajectory, ST_ClosestPointOfApproach, ST_DistanceCPA, |=|

Long Transactions Support

This module and associated pl/pgsql functions have been implemented to provide long locking support required by Web Feature Service specification.

Note

Users must use serializable transaction level otherwise locking mechanism would break.

Name

AddAuth — Add an authorization token to be used in current transaction.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncAddAuth(
auth_token);

text auth_token;

Description

Add an authorization token to be used in current transaction.

Creates/adds to a temp table called temp_lock_have_table the current transaction identifier and authorization token key.

Availability: 1.1.3

Examples

		SELECT LockRow('towns', '353', 'priscilla');
		BEGIN TRANSACTION;
			SELECT AddAuth('joey');
			UPDATE towns SET the_geom = ST_Translate(the_geom,2,2) WHERE gid = 353;
		COMMIT;

		---Error--
		ERROR:  UPDATE where "gid" = '353' requires authorization 'priscilla'

See Also

LockRow

Name

CheckAuth — Creates trigger on a table to prevent/allow updates and deletes of rows based on authorization token.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncCheckAuth( | a_schema_name, |
| a_table_name, |
| a_key_column_name); |

text a_schema_name;
text a_table_name;
text a_key_column_name;

integer fsfuncCheckAuth( | a_table_name, |
| a_key_column_name); |

text a_table_name;
text a_key_column_name;

Description

Creates trigger on a table to prevent/allow updates and deletes of rows based on authorization token. Identify rows using <rowid_col> column.

If a_schema_name is not passed in, then searches for table in current schema.

Note

If an authorization trigger already exists on this table function errors.

If Transaction support is not enabled, function throws an exception.

Availability: 1.1.3

Examples

			SELECT CheckAuth('public', 'towns', 'gid');
			result
			------
			0

See Also

EnableLongTransactions

Name

DisableLongTransactions — Disable long transaction support. This function removes the long transaction support metadata tables, and drops all triggers attached to lock-checked tables.

Synopsis

text fsfuncDisableLongTransactions(
);

;

Description

Disable long transaction support. This function removes the long transaction support metadata tables, and drops all triggers attached to lock-checked tables.

Drops meta table called authorization_table and a view called authorized_tables and all triggers called checkauthtrigger

Availability: 1.1.3

Examples

SELECT DisableLongTransactions();
--result--
Long transactions support disabled

See Also

EnableLongTransactions

Name

EnableLongTransactions — Enable long transaction support. This function creates the required metadata tables, needs to be called once before using the other functions in this section. Calling it twice is harmless.

Synopsis

text fsfuncEnableLongTransactions(
);

;

Description

Enable long transaction support. This function creates the required metadata tables, needs to be called once before using the other functions in this section. Calling it twice is harmless.

Creates a meta table called authorization_table and a view called authorized_tables

Availability: 1.1.3

Examples

SELECT EnableLongTransactions();
--result--
Long transactions support enabled

See Also

DisableLongTransactions

Name

LockRow — Set lock/authorization for specific row in table

Synopsis

integer fsfuncLockRow( | a_schema_name, |
| a_table_name, |
| a_row_key, |
| an_auth_token, |
| expire_dt); |

text a_schema_name;
text a_table_name;
text a_row_key;
text an_auth_token;
timestamp expire_dt;

integer fsfuncLockRow( | a_table_name, |
| a_row_key, |
| an_auth_token, |
| expire_dt); |

text a_table_name;
text a_row_key;
text an_auth_token;
timestamp expire_dt;

integer fsfuncLockRow( | a_table_name, |
| a_row_key, |
| an_auth_token); |

text a_table_name;
text a_row_key;
text an_auth_token;

Description

Set lock/authorization for specific row in table <authid> is a text value, <expires> is a timestamp defaulting to now()+1hour. Returns 1 if lock has been assigned, 0 otherwise (already locked by other auth)

Availability: 1.1.3

Examples

SELECT LockRow('public', 'towns', '2', 'joey');
LockRow
-------
1

--Joey has already locked the record and Priscilla is out of luck
SELECT LockRow('public', 'towns', '2', 'priscilla');
LockRow
-------
0

See Also

UnlockRows

Name

UnlockRows — Remove all locks held by specified authorization id. Returns the number of locks released.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncUnlockRows(
auth_token);

text auth_token;

Description

Remove all locks held by specified authorization id. Returns the number of locks released.

Availability: 1.1.3

Examples

		SELECT LockRow('towns', '353', 'priscilla');
		SELECT LockRow('towns', '2', 'priscilla');
		SELECT UnLockRows('priscilla');
		UnLockRows
		------------
		2

See Also

LockRow

Miscellaneous Functions

Name

ST_Accum — Aggregate. Constructs an array of geometries.

Synopsis

geometry[] fsfuncST_Accum(
geomfield);

geometry set geomfield;

Description

Aggregate. Constructs an array of geometries.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT (ST_Accum(the_geom)) As all_em, ST_AsText((ST_Accum(the_geom))[1]) As grabone,
(ST_Accum(the_geom))[2:4] as grab_rest
			FROM (SELECT ST_MakePoint(a*CAST(random()*10 As integer), a*CAST(random()*10 As integer), a*CAST(random()*10 As integer)) As the_geom
				FROM generate_series(1,4) a) As foo;

all_em|grabone   | grab_rest

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 {0101000080000000000000144000000000000024400000000000001040:
 0101000080000000000
00018400000000000002C400000000000003040:
0101000080000000000000354000000000000038400000000000001840:
010100008000000000000040400000000000003C400000000000003040} |
 POINT(5 10) | {010100008000000000000018400000000000002C400000000000003040:
 0101000080000000000000354000000000000038400000000000001840:
 010100008000000000000040400000000000003C400000000000003040}
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Collect

Name

Box2D — Returns a BOX2D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

Synopsis

box2d fsfuncBox2D(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns a BOX2D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT Box2D(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4, 5 6)'));
	box2d
	---------
	BOX(1 2,5 6)

	SELECT Box2D(ST_GeomFromText('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415,220227 150505,220227 150406)'));
	box2d
	--------
	BOX(220186.984375 150406,220288.25 150506.140625)

See Also

Box3D, ST_GeomFromText

Name

Box3D — Returns a BOX3D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

Synopsis

box3d fsfuncBox3D(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns a BOX3D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

SELECT Box3D(ST_GeomFromEWKT('LINESTRING(1 2 3, 3 4 5, 5 6 5)'));
	Box3d
	---------
	BOX3D(1 2 3,5 6 5)

	SELECT Box3D(ST_GeomFromEWKT('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415 1,220227 150505 1,220227 150406 1)'));
	Box3d
	--------
	BOX3D(220227 150406 1,220268 150415 1)

See Also

Box2D, ST_GeomFromEWKT

Name

ST_EstimatedExtent — Return the 'estimated' extent of the given spatial table. The estimated is taken from the geometry column's statistics. The current schema will be used if not specified.

Synopsis

box2d fsfuncST_EstimatedExtent( | schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| geocolumn_name); |

text schema_name;
text table_name;
text geocolumn_name;

box2d fsfuncST_EstimatedExtent( | table_name, |
| geocolumn_name); |

text table_name;
text geocolumn_name;

Description

Return the 'estimated' extent of the given spatial table. The estimated is taken from the geometry column's statistics. The current schema will be used if not specified.

For PostgreSQL>=8.0.0 statistics are gathered by VACUUM ANALYZE and resulting extent will be about 95% of the real one.

Note

In absence of statistics (empty table or no ANALYZE called) this function returns NULL. Prior to version 1.5.4 an exception was thrown instead.

For PostgreSQL<8.0.0 statistics are gathered by update_geometry_stats() and resulting extent will be exact.

Availability: 1.0.0

Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Estimated_Extent.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT ST_EstimatedExtent('ny', 'edges', 'the_geom');
--result--
BOX(-8877653 4912316,-8010225.5 5589284)

SELECT ST_EstimatedExtent('feature_poly', 'the_geom');
--result--
BOX(-124.659652709961 24.6830825805664,-67.7798080444336 49.0012092590332)

See Also

ST_Extent

Name

ST_Expand — Returns bounding box expanded in all directions from the bounding box of the input geometry. Uses double-precision

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Expand( | g1, |
| units_to_expand); |

geometry g1;
float units_to_expand;

box2d fsfuncST_Expand( | g1, |
| units_to_expand); |

box2d g1;
float units_to_expand;

box3d fsfuncST_Expand( | g1, |
| units_to_expand); |

box3d g1;
float units_to_expand;

Description

This function returns a bounding box expanded in all directions from the bounding box of the input geometry, by an amount specified in the second argument. Uses double-precision. Very useful for distance() queries, or bounding box queries to add an index filter to the query.

There are 3 variants of this. The one that takes a geometry will return a POLYGON geometry representation of the bounding box and is the most commonly used variant.

ST_Expand is similar in concept to ST_Buffer except while buffer expands the geometry in all directions, ST_Expand expands the bounding box an x,y,z unit amount.

Units are in the units of the spatial reference system in use denoted by the SRID

Note

Pre 1.3, ST_Expand was used in conjunction with distance to do indexable queries. Something of the form the_geom && ST_Expand('POINT(10 20)', 10) AND ST_Distance(the_geom, 'POINT(10 20)') < 10 Post 1.2, this was replaced with the easier ST_DWithin construct.

Note

Availability: 1.5.0 behavior changed to output double precision instead of float4 coordinates.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

Note

Examples below use US National Atlas Equal Area (SRID=2163) which is a meter projection

--10 meter expanded box around bbox of a linestring
SELECT CAST(ST_Expand(ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(2312980 110676,2312923 110701,2312892 110714)', 2163),10) As box2d);
					 st_expand
------------------------------------
 BOX(2312882 110666,2312990 110724)

--10 meter expanded 3d box of a 3d box
SELECT ST_Expand(CAST('BOX3D(778783 2951741 1,794875 2970042.61545891 10)' As box3d),10)
							  st_expand
-----------------------------------------------------
 BOX3D(778773 2951731 -9,794885 2970052.61545891 20)

 --10 meter geometry astext rep of a expand box around a point geometry
 SELECT ST_AsEWKT(ST_Expand(ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=2163;POINT(2312980 110676)'),10));
											st_asewkt
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 SRID=2163;POLYGON((2312970 110666,2312970 110686,2312990 110686,2312990 110666,2312970 110666))

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_Buffer, ST_DWithin, ST_GeomFromEWKT, ST_GeomFromText, ST_SRID

Name

ST_Extent — an aggregate function that returns the bounding box that bounds rows of geometries.

Synopsis

box2d fsfuncST_Extent(
geomfield);

geometry set geomfield;

Description

ST_Extent returns a bounding box that encloses a set of geometries. The ST_Extent function is an "aggregate" function in the terminology of SQL. That means that it operates on lists of data, in the same way the SUM() and AVG() functions do.

Since it returns a bounding box, the spatial Units are in the units of the spatial reference system in use denoted by the SRID

ST_Extent is similar in concept to Oracle Spatial/Locator's SDO_AGGR_MBR

Note

Since ST_Extent returns a bounding box, the SRID meta-data is lost. Use ST_SetSRID to force it back into a geometry with SRID meta data. The coordinates are in the units of the spatial ref of the orginal geometries.

Note

ST_Extent will return boxes with only an x and y component even with (x,y,z) coordinate geometries. To maintain x,y,z use ST_3DExtent instead.

Note

Availability: 1.4.0

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

Note

Examples below use Massachusetts State Plane ft (SRID=2249)

SELECT ST_Extent(the_geom) as bextent FROM sometable;
					 st_bextent
------------------------------------
BOX(739651.875 2908247.25,794875.8125 2970042.75)

--Return extent of each category of geometries
SELECT ST_Extent(the_geom) as bextent
FROM sometable
GROUP BY category ORDER BY category;

					  bextent                       |         name
----------------------------------------------------+----------------
 BOX(778783.5625 2951741.25,794875.8125 2970042.75) | A
 BOX(751315.8125 2919164.75,765202.6875 2935417.25) | B
 BOX(739651.875 2917394.75,756688.375 2935866)      | C

 --Force back into a geometry
 -- and render the extended text representation of that geometry
SELECT ST_SetSRID(ST_Extent(the_geom),2249) as bextent FROM sometable;

				bextent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 SRID=2249;POLYGON((739651.875 2908247.25,739651.875 2970042.75,794875.8125 2970042.75,
 794875.8125 2908247.25,739651.875 2908247.25))

See Also

ST_AsEWKT, ST_3DExtent, ST_SetSRID, ST_SRID

Name

ST_3DExtent — an aggregate function that returns the box3D bounding box that bounds rows of geometries.

Synopsis

box3d fsfuncST_3DExtent(
geomfield);

geometry set geomfield;

Description

ST_3DExtent returns a box3d (includes Z coordinate) bounding box that encloses a set of geometries. The ST_3DExtent function is an "aggregate" function in the terminology of SQL. That means that it operates on lists of data, in the same way the SUM() and AVG() functions do.

Since it returns a bounding box, the spatial Units are in the units of the spatial reference system in use denoted by the SRID

Note

Since ST_3DExtent returns a bounding box, the SRID meta-data is lost. Use ST_SetSRID to force it back into a geometry with SRID meta data. The coordinates are in the units of the spatial ref of the orginal geometries.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Extent3D

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Examples

SELECT ST_3DExtent(foo.the_geom) As b3extent
FROM (SELECT ST_MakePoint(x,y,z) As the_geom
	FROM generate_series(1,3) As x
		CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,2) As y
		CROSS JOIN generate_series(0,2) As Z) As foo;
	  b3extent
--------------------
 BOX3D(1 1 0,3 2 2)

--Get the extent of various elevated circular strings
SELECT ST_3DExtent(foo.the_geom) As b3extent
FROM (SELECT ST_Translate(ST_Force_3DZ(ST_LineToCurve(ST_Buffer(ST_MakePoint(x,y),1))),0,0,z) As the_geom
	FROM generate_series(1,3) As x
		CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,2) As y
		CROSS JOIN generate_series(0,2) As Z) As foo;

	b3extent
--------------------
 BOX3D(1 0 0,4 2 2)

See Also

ST_Extent, ST_Force3DZ

Name

Find_SRID — The syntax is find_srid(a_db_schema, a_table, a_column) and the function returns the integer SRID of the specified column by searching through the GEOMETRY_COLUMNS table.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncFind_SRID( | a_schema_name, |
| a_table_name, |
| a_geomfield_name); |

varchar a_schema_name;
varchar a_table_name;
varchar a_geomfield_name;

Description

The syntax is find_srid(<db/schema>, <table>, <column>) and the function returns the integer SRID of the specified column by searching through the GEOMETRY_COLUMNS table. If the geometry column has not been properly added with the AddGeometryColumns() function, this function will not work either.

Examples

 SELECT Find_SRID('public', 'tiger_us_state_2007', 'the_geom_4269');
find_srid
----------
4269

See Also

ST_SRID

Name

ST_MemSize — Returns the amount of space (in bytes) the geometry takes.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_MemSize(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns the amount of space (in bytes) the geometry takes.

This is a nice compliment to PostgreSQL built in functions pg_column_size, pg_size_pretty, pg_relation_size, pg_total_relation_size.

Note

pg_relation_size which gives the byte size of a table may return byte size lower than ST_MemSize. This is because pg_relation_size does not add toasted table contribution and large geometries are stored in TOAST tables.

pg_total_relation_size - includes, the table, the toasted tables, and the indexes.

pg_column_size returns how much space a geometry would take in a column considering compression, so may be lower than ST_MemSize

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Description This function supports Polyhedral surfaces.

Description This function supports Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network Surfaces (TIN).

Changed: 2.2.0 name changed to ST_MemSize to follow naming convention. In prior versions this function was called ST_Mem_Size, old name deprecated though still available.

Examples

--Return how much byte space Boston takes up  in our Mass data set
SELECT pg_size_pretty(SUM(ST_MemSize(the_geom))) as totgeomsum,
pg_size_pretty(SUM(CASE WHEN town = 'BOSTON' THEN ST_MemSize(the_geom) ELSE 0 END)) As bossum,
CAST(SUM(CASE WHEN town = 'BOSTON' THEN ST_MemSize(the_geom) ELSE 0 END)*1.00 /
		SUM(ST_MemSize(the_geom))*100 As numeric(10,2)) As perbos
FROM towns;

totgeomsum	bossum	perbos
----------	------	------
1522 kB		30 kB	1.99

SELECT ST_MemSize(ST_GeomFromText('CIRCULARSTRING(220268 150415,220227 150505,220227 150406)'));

---
73

--What percentage of our table is taken up by just the geometry
SELECT pg_total_relation_size('public.neighborhoods') As fulltable_size, sum(ST_MemSize(the_geom)) As geomsize,
sum(ST_MemSize(the_geom))*1.00/pg_total_relation_size('public.neighborhoods')*100 As pergeom
FROM neighborhoods;
fulltable_size geomsize  pergeom
------------------------------------------------
262144         96238	 36.71188354492187500000

See Also

Name

ST_PointInsideCircle — Is the point geometry insert circle defined by center_x, center_y, radius

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_PointInsideCircle( | a_point, |
| center_x, |
| center_y, |
| radius); |

geometry a_point;
float center_x;
float center_y;
float radius;

Description

The syntax for this functions is ST_PointInsideCircle(<geometry>,<circle_center_x>,<circle_center_y>,<radius>). Returns the true if the geometry is a point and is inside the circle. Returns false otherwise.

Note

This only works for points as the name suggests

Availability: 1.2

Changed: 2.2.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Point_Inside_Circle

Examples

SELECT ST_PointInsideCircle(ST_Point(1,2), 0.5, 2, 3);
 st_pointinsidecircle
------------------------
 t

See Also

ST_DWithin

Exceptional Functions

These functions are rarely used functions that should only be used if your data is corrupted in someway. They are used for troubleshooting corruption and also fixing things that should under normal circumstances, never happen.

Name

PostGIS_AddBBox — Add bounding box to the geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncPostGIS_AddBBox(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Add bounding box to the geometry. This would make bounding box based queries faster, but will increase the size of the geometry.

Note

Bounding boxes are automatically added to geometries so in general this is not needed unless the generated bounding box somehow becomes corrupted or you have an old install that is lacking bounding boxes. Then you need to drop the old and readd.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

UPDATE sometable
 SET the_geom =  PostGIS_AddBBox(the_geom)
 WHERE PostGIS_HasBBox(the_geom) = false;

See Also

PostGIS_DropBBox, PostGIS_HasBBox

Name

PostGIS_DropBBox — Drop the bounding box cache from the geometry.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncPostGIS_DropBBox(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Drop the bounding box cache from the geometry. This reduces geometry size, but makes bounding-box based queries slower. It is also used to drop a corrupt bounding box. A tale-tell sign of a corrupt cached bounding box is when your ST_Intersects and other relation queries leave out geometries that rightfully should return true.

Note

Bounding boxes are automatically added to geometries and improve speed of queries so in general this is not needed unless the generated bounding box somehow becomes corrupted or you have an old install that is lacking bounding boxes. Then you need to drop the old and readd. This kind of corruption has been observed in 8.3-8.3.6 series whereby cached bboxes were not always recalculated when a geometry changed and upgrading to a newer version without a dump reload will not correct already corrupted boxes. So one can manually correct using below and readd the bbox or do a dump reload.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

--This example drops bounding boxes where the cached box is not correct
			--The force to ST_AsBinary before applying Box2D forces a recalculation of the box, and Box2D applied to the table geometry always
			-- returns the cached bounding box.
			UPDATE sometable
 SET the_geom =  PostGIS_DropBBox(the_geom)
 WHERE Not (Box2D(ST_AsBinary(the_geom)) = Box2D(the_geom));

	UPDATE sometable
 SET the_geom =  PostGIS_AddBBox(the_geom)
 WHERE Not PostGIS_HasBBOX(the_geom);

See Also

PostGIS_AddBBox, PostGIS_HasBBox, Box2D

Name

PostGIS_HasBBox — Returns TRUE if the bbox of this geometry is cached, FALSE otherwise.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncPostGIS_HasBBox(
geomA);

geometry geomA;

Description

Returns TRUE if the bbox of this geometry is cached, FALSE otherwise. Use PostGIS_AddBBox and PostGIS_DropBBox to control caching.

Description This method supports Circular Strings and Curves

Examples

SELECT the_geom
FROM sometable WHERE PostGIS_HasBBox(the_geom) = false;

See Also

PostGIS_AddBBox, PostGIS_DropBBox

Chapter 9. Raster Reference

The functions given below are the ones which a user of PostGIS Raster is likely to need and which are currently available in PostGIS Raster. There are other functions which are required support functions to the raster objects which are not of use to a general user.

raster is a new PostGIS type for storing and analyzing raster data.

For loading rasters from raster files please refer to the section called “Loading and Creating Rasters”

For the examples in this reference we will be using a raster table of dummy rasters - Formed with the following code

CREATE TABLE dummy_rast(rid integer, rast raster);
INSERT INTO dummy_rast(rid, rast)
VALUES (1,
('01' -- little endian (uint8 ndr)
||
'0000' -- version (uint16 0)
||
'0000' -- nBands (uint16 0)
||
'0000000000000040' -- scaleX (float64 2)
||
'0000000000000840' -- scaleY (float64 3)
||
'000000000000E03F' -- ipX (float64 0.5)
||
'000000000000E03F' -- ipY (float64 0.5)
||
'0000000000000000' -- skewX (float64 0)
||
'0000000000000000' -- skewY (float64 0)
||
'00000000' -- SRID (int32 0)
||
'0A00' -- width (uint16 10)
||
'1400' -- height (uint16 20)
)::raster
),
-- Raster: 5 x 5 pixels, 3 bands, PT_8BUI pixel type, NODATA = 0
(2,  ('01000003009A9999999999A93F9A9999999999A9BF000000E02B274A' ||
'41000000007719564100000000000000000000000000000000FFFFFFFF050005000400FDFEFDFEFEFDFEFEFDF9FAFEF' ||
'EFCF9FBFDFEFEFDFCFAFEFEFE04004E627AADD16076B4F9FE6370A9F5FE59637AB0E54F58617087040046566487A1506CA2E3FA5A6CAFFBFE4D566DA4CB3E454C5665')::raster);

Raster Support Data types

Abstract

This section lists the PostgreSQL data types specifically created to support raster functionality.

Raster Management

Name

AddRasterConstraints — Adds raster constraints to a loaded raster table for a specific column that constrains spatial ref, scaling, blocksize, alignment, bands, band type and a flag to denote if raster column is regularly blocked. The table must be loaded with data for the constraints to be inferred. Returns true of the constraint setting was accomplished and if issues a notice.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncAddRasterConstraints( | rasttable, |
| rastcolumn, |
| srid, |
| scale_x, |
| scale_y, |
| blocksize_x, |
| blocksize_y, |
| same_alignment, |
| regular_blocking, |
| num_bands=true, |
| pixel_types=true, |
| nodata_values=true, |
| out_db=true, |
| extent=true); |

name rasttable;
name rastcolumn;
boolean srid;
boolean scale_x;
boolean scale_y;
boolean blocksize_x;
boolean blocksize_y;
boolean same_alignment;
boolean regular_blocking;
boolean num_bands=true ;
boolean pixel_types=true ;
boolean nodata_values=true ;
boolean out_db=true ;
boolean extent=true ;

boolean fsfuncAddRasterConstraints( | rasttable, |
| rastcolumn, |
| VARIADIC constraints); |

name rasttable;
name rastcolumn;
text[] VARIADIC constraints;

boolean fsfuncAddRasterConstraints( | rastschema, |
| rasttable, |
| rastcolumn, |
| VARIADIC constraints); |

name rastschema;
name rasttable;
name rastcolumn;
text[] VARIADIC constraints;

boolean fsfuncAddRasterConstraints( | rastschema, |
| rasttable, |
| rastcolumn, |
| srid=true, |
| scale_x=true, |
| scale_y=true, |
| blocksize_x=true, |
| blocksize_y=true, |
| same_alignment=true, |
| regular_blocking=false, |
| num_bands=true, |
| pixel_types=true, |
| nodata_values=true, |
| out_db=true, |
| extent=true); |

name rastschema;
name rasttable;
name rastcolumn;
boolean srid=true;
boolean scale_x=true;
boolean scale_y=true;
boolean blocksize_x=true;
boolean blocksize_y=true;
boolean same_alignment=true;
boolean regular_blocking=false;
boolean num_bands=true;
boolean pixel_types=true;
boolean nodata_values=true ;
boolean out_db=true ;
boolean extent=true ;

Description

Generates constraints on a raster column that are used to display information in the raster_columns raster catalog. The rastschema is the name of the table schema the table resides in. The srid must be an integer value reference to an entry in the SPATIAL_REF_SYS table.

raster2pgsql loader uses this function to register raster tables

Valid constraint names to pass in: refer to the section called “Raster Columns Catalog” for more details.

blocksize sets both X and Y blocksize

blocksize_x sets X tile (width in pixels of each tile)

blocksize_y sets Y tile (height in pixels of each tile)

extent computes extent of whole table and applys constraint all rasters must be within that extent

num_bands number of bands

pixel_types reads array of pixel types for each band ensure all band n have same pixel type

regular_blocking sets spatially unique (no two rasters can be spatially the same) and coverage tile (raster is aligned to a coverage) constraints

same_alignment ensures they all have same alignment meaning any two tiles you compare will return true for. Refer to ST_SameAlignment

srid ensures all have same srid

More -- any listed as inputs into the above functions

Note

This function infers the constraints from the data already present in the table. As such for it to work, you must create the raster column first and then load it with data.

Note

If you need to load more data in your tables after you have already applied constraints, you may want to run the DropRasterConstraints if the extent of your data has changed.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples: Apply all possible constraints on column based on data

CREATE TABLE myrasters(rid SERIAL primary key, rast raster);
INSERT INTO myrasters(rast)
SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1000, 1000, 0.3, -0.3, 2, 2, 0, 0,4326), 1, '8BSI'::text, -129, NULL);

SELECT AddRasterConstraints('myrasters'::name, 'rast'::name);

-- verify if registered correctly in the raster_columns view --
SELECT srid, scale_x, scale_y, blocksize_x, blocksize_y, num_bands, pixel_types, nodata_values
	FROM raster_columns
	WHERE r_table_name = 'myrasters';

 srid | scale_x | scale_y | blocksize_x | blocksize_y | num_bands | pixel_types| nodata_values
------+---------+---------+-------------+-------------+-----------+-------------+---------------
 4326 |       2 |       2 |        1000 |        1000 |         1 | {8BSI}      | {0}

Examples: Apply single constraint

CREATE TABLE public.myrasters2(rid SERIAL primary key, rast raster);
INSERT INTO myrasters2(rast)
SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1000, 1000, 0.3, -0.3, 2, 2, 0, 0,4326), 1, '8BSI'::text, -129, NULL);

SELECT AddRasterConstraints('public'::name, 'myrasters2'::name, 'rast'::name,'regular_blocking', 'blocksize');
-- get notice--
NOTICE:  Adding regular blocking constraint
NOTICE:  Adding blocksize-X constraint
NOTICE:  Adding blocksize-Y constraint

See Also

the section called “Raster Columns Catalog”, ST_AddBand, ST_MakeEmptyRaster, DropRasterConstraints, ST_BandPixelType, ST_SRID

Name

DropRasterConstraints — Drops PostGIS raster constraints that refer to a raster table column. Useful if you need to reload data or update your raster column data.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncDropRasterConstraints( | rasttable, |
| rastcolumn, |
| srid, |
| scale_x, |
| scale_y, |
| blocksize_x, |
| blocksize_y, |
| same_alignment, |
| regular_blocking, |
| num_bands=true, |
| pixel_types=true, |
| nodata_values=true, |
| out_db=true, |
| extent=true); |

name rasttable;
name rastcolumn;
boolean srid;
boolean scale_x;
boolean scale_y;
boolean blocksize_x;
boolean blocksize_y;
boolean same_alignment;
boolean regular_blocking;
boolean num_bands=true;
boolean pixel_types=true;
boolean nodata_values=true;
boolean out_db=true ;
boolean extent=true;

boolean fsfuncDropRasterConstraints( | rastschema, |
| rasttable, |
| rastcolumn, |
| srid=true, |
| scale_x=true, |
| scale_y=true, |
| blocksize_x=true, |
| blocksize_y=true, |
| same_alignment=true, |
| regular_blocking=false, |
| num_bands=true, |
| pixel_types=true, |
| nodata_values=true, |
| out_db=true, |
| extent=true); |

name rastschema;
name rasttable;
name rastcolumn;
boolean srid=true;
boolean scale_x=true;
boolean scale_y=true;
boolean blocksize_x=true;
boolean blocksize_y=true;
boolean same_alignment=true;
boolean regular_blocking=false;
boolean num_bands=true;
boolean pixel_types=true;
boolean nodata_values=true;
boolean out_db=true ;
boolean extent=true;

boolean fsfuncDropRasterConstraints( | rastschema, |
| rasttable, |
| rastcolumn, |
| constraints); |

name rastschema;
name rasttable;
name rastcolumn;
text[] constraints;

Description

Drops PostGIS raster constraints that refer to a raster table column that were added by AddRasterConstraints. Useful if you need to load more data or update your raster column data. You do not need to do this if you want to get rid of a raster table or a raster column.

To drop a raster table use the standard

DROP TABLE mytable

To drop just a raster column and leave the rest of the table, use standard SQL

ALTER TABLE mytable DROP COLUMN rast

the table will disappear from the raster_columns catalog if the column or table is dropped. However if only the constraints are dropped, the raster column will still be listed in the raster_columns catalog, but there will be no other information about it aside from the column name and table.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

SELECT DropRasterConstraints ('myrasters','rast');
----RESULT output ---
t

-- verify change in raster_columns --
SELECT srid, scale_x, scale_y, blocksize_x, blocksize_y, num_bands, pixel_types, nodata_values
	FROM raster_columns
	WHERE r_table_name = 'myrasters';

 srid | scale_x | scale_y | blocksize_x | blocksize_y | num_bands | pixel_types| nodata_values
------+---------+---------+-------------+-------------+-----------+-------------+---------------
    0 |         |         |             |             |           |             |

See Also

AddRasterConstraints

Name

AddOverviewConstraints — Tag a raster column as being an overview of another.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncAddOverviewConstraints( | ovschema, |
| ovtable, |
| ovcolumn, |
| refschema, |
| reftable, |
| refcolumn, |
| ovfactor); |

name ovschema;
name ovtable;
name ovcolumn;
name refschema;
name reftable;
name refcolumn;
int ovfactor;

boolean fsfuncAddOverviewConstraints( | ovtable, |
| ovcolumn, |
| reftable, |
| refcolumn, |
| ovfactor); |

name ovtable;
name ovcolumn;
name reftable;
name refcolumn;
int ovfactor;

Description

Adds constraints on a raster column that are used to display information in the raster_overviews raster catalog.

The ovfactor parameter represents the scale multiplier in the overview column: higher overview factors have lower resolution.

When the ovschema and refschema parameters are omitted, the first table found scanning the search_path will be used.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

CREATE TABLE res1 AS SELECT
ST_AddBand(
  ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1000, 1000, 0, 0, 2),
  1, '8BSI'::text, -129, NULL
) r1;

CREATE TABLE res2 AS SELECT
ST_AddBand(
  ST_MakeEmptyRaster(500, 500, 0, 0, 4),
  1, '8BSI'::text, -129, NULL
) r2;

SELECT AddOverviewConstraints('res2', 'r2', 'res1', 'r1', 2);

-- verify if registered correctly in the raster_overviews view --
SELECT o_table_name ot, o_raster_column oc,
       r_table_name rt, r_raster_column rc,
       overview_factor f
FROM raster_overviews WHERE o_table_name = 'res2';
  ot  | oc |  rt  | rc | f
------+----+------+----+---
 res2 | r2 | res1 | r1 | 2
(1 row)

See Also

the section called “Raster Overviews”, DropOverviewConstraints, ST_CreateOverview, AddRasterConstraints

Name

DropOverviewConstraints — Untag a raster column from being an overview of another.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncDropOverviewConstraints( | ovschema, |
| ovtable, |
| ovcolumn); |

name ovschema;
name ovtable;
name ovcolumn;

boolean fsfuncDropOverviewConstraints( | ovtable, |
| ovcolumn); |

name ovtable;
name ovcolumn;

Description

Remove from a raster column the constraints used to show it as being an overview of another in the raster_overviews raster catalog.

When the ovschema parameter is omitted, the first table found scanning the search_path will be used.

Availability: 2.0.0

See Also

the section called “Raster Overviews”, AddOverviewConstraints, DropRasterConstraints

Name

PostGIS_GDAL_Version — Reports the version of the GDAL library in use by PostGIS.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_GDAL_Version(
);

;

Description

Reports the version of the GDAL library in use by PostGIS. Will also check and report if GDAL can find its data files.

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_GDAL_Version();
       postgis_gdal_version
-----------------------------------
 GDAL 1.11dev, released 2013/04/13

See Also

postgis.gdal_datapath

Name

PostGIS_Raster_Lib_Build_Date — Reports full raster library build date.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_Raster_Lib_Build_Date(
);

;

Description

Reports raster build date

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_Raster_Lib_Build_Date();
postgis_raster_lib_build_date
-----------------------------
2010-04-28 21:15:10

See Also

PostGIS_Raster_Lib_Version

Name

PostGIS_Raster_Lib_Version — Reports full raster version and build configuration infos.

Synopsis

text fsfuncPostGIS_Raster_Lib_Version(
);

;

Description

Reports full raster version and build configuration infos.

Examples

SELECT PostGIS_Raster_Lib_Version();
postgis_raster_lib_version
-----------------------------
 2.0.0

See Also

PostGIS_Lib_Version

Name

ST_GDALDrivers — Returns a list of raster formats supported by your lib gdal. These are the formats you can output your raster using ST_AsGDALRaster.

Synopsis

setof record fsfuncST_GDALDrivers( | OUT idx, |
| OUT short_name, |
| OUT long_name, |
| OUT create_options); |

integer OUT idx;
text OUT short_name;
text OUT long_name;
text OUT create_options;

Description

Returns a list of raster formats short_name,long_name and creator options of each format supported by your lib gdal. Use the short_name as input in the format parameter of ST_AsGDALRaster. Options vary depending on what drivers your libgdal was compiled with. create_options returns an xml formatted set of CreationOptionList/Option consisting of name and optional type, description and set of VALUE for each creator option for the specific driver.

Changed: 2.0.6, 2.1.3 - by default no drivers are enabled, unless GUC or Environment variable gdal_enabled_drivers is set.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0.

Examples: List of Drivers

SET postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers = 'ENABLE_ALL';
SELECT short_name, long_name
FROM st_gdaldrivers()
ORDER BY short_name;
   short_name    |              long_name
-----------------+--------------------------------------
 AAIGrid         | Arc/Info ASCII Grid
 ARG             | Azavea Raster Grid format
 DTED            | DTED Elevation Raster
 EHdr            | ESRI .hdr Labelled
 FIT             | FIT Image
 GIF             | Graphics Interchange Format (.gif)
 GPKG            | GeoPackage
 GS7BG           | Golden Software 7 Binary Grid (.grd)
 GSAG            | Golden Software ASCII Grid (.grd)
 GSBG            | Golden Software Binary Grid (.grd)
 GTiff           | GeoTIFF
 HF2             | HF2/HFZ heightfield raster
 HFA             | Erdas Imagine Images (.img)
 ILWIS           | ILWIS Raster Map
 INGR            | Intergraph Raster
 JPEG            | JPEG JFIF
 KMLSUPEROVERLAY | Kml Super Overlay
 LCP             | FARSITE v.4 Landscape File (.lcp)
 MFF             | Vexcel MFF Raster
 NITF            | National Imagery Transmission Format
 PNG             | Portable Network Graphics
 R               | R Object Data Store
 RST             | Idrisi Raster A.1
 SAGA            | SAGA GIS Binary Grid (.sdat)
 SRTMHGT         | SRTMHGT File Format
 USGSDEM         | USGS Optional ASCII DEM (and CDED)
 VRT             | Virtual Raster
 WMS             | OGC Web Map Service
 XPM             | X11 PixMap Format
 XYZ             | ASCII Gridded XYZ
 ZMap            | ZMap Plus Grid
(31 rows)

Example: List of options for each driver

-- Output the create options XML column of JPEG as a table  --
-- Note you can use these creator options in ST_AsGDALRaster options argument
SELECT (xpath('@name', g.opt))[1]::text As oname,
       (xpath('@type', g.opt))[1]::text As otype,
       (xpath('@description', g.opt))[1]::text As descrip
FROM (SELECT unnest(xpath('/CreationOptionList/Option', create_options::xml)) As opt
FROM  st_gdaldrivers()
WHERE short_name = 'JPEG') As g;

       oname        |  otype  |      descrip
--------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------------
 PROGRESSIVE        | boolean | whether to generate a progressive JPEG
 QUALITY            | int     | good=100, bad=0, default=75
 WORLDFILE          | boolean | whether to geneate a worldfile
 INTERNAL_MASK      | boolean | whether to generate a validity mask
 COMMENT            | string  | Comment
 SOURCE_ICC_PROFILE | string  | ICC profile encoded in Base64
 EXIF_THUMBNAIL     | boolean | whether to generate an EXIF thumbnail(overview).
                                By default its max dimension will be 128
 THUMBNAIL_WIDTH    | int     | Forced thumbnail width
 THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT   | int     | Forced thumbnail height
(9 rows)

-- raw xml output for creator options for GeoTiff --
SELECT create_options
FROM st_gdaldrivers()
WHERE short_name = 'GTiff';

<CreationOptionList>
    <Option name="COMPRESS" type="string-select">
        <Value>NONE</Value>
        <Value>LZW</Value>
        <Value>PACKBITS</Value>
        <Value>JPEG</Value>
        <Value>CCITTRLE</Value>
        <Value>CCITTFAX3</Value>
        <Value>CCITTFAX4</Value>
        <Value>DEFLATE</Value>
    </Option>
    <Option name="PREDICTOR" type="int" description="Predictor Type"/>
    <Option name="JPEG_QUALITY" type="int" description="JPEG quality 1-100" default="75"/>
    <Option name="ZLEVEL" type="int" description="DEFLATE compression level 1-9" default="6"/>
    <Option name="NBITS" type="int" description="BITS for sub-byte files (1-7), sub-uint16 (9-15), sub-uint32 (17-31)"/>
    <Option name="INTERLEAVE" type="string-select" default="PIXEL">
        <Value>BAND</Value>
        <Value>PIXEL</Value>
    </Option>
    <Option name="TILED" type="boolean" description="Switch to tiled format"/>
    <Option name="TFW" type="boolean" description="Write out world file"/>
    <Option name="RPB" type="boolean" description="Write out .RPB (RPC) file"/>
    <Option name="BLOCKXSIZE" type="int" description="Tile Width"/>
    <Option name="BLOCKYSIZE" type="int" description="Tile/Strip Height"/>
    <Option name="PHOTOMETRIC" type="string-select">
        <Value>MINISBLACK</Value>
        <Value>MINISWHITE</Value>
        <Value>PALETTE</Value>
        <Value>RGB</Value>
        <Value>CMYK</Value>
        <Value>YCBCR</Value>
        <Value>CIELAB</Value>
        <Value>ICCLAB</Value>
        <Value>ITULAB</Value>
    </Option>
    <Option name="SPARSE_OK" type="boolean" description="Can newly created files have missing blocks?" default="FALSE"/>
    <Option name="ALPHA" type="boolean" description="Mark first extrasample as being alpha"/>
    <Option name="PROFILE" type="string-select" default="GDALGeoTIFF">
        <Value>GDALGeoTIFF</Value>
        <Value>GeoTIFF</Value>
        <Value>BASELINE</Value>
    </Option>
    <Option name="PIXELTYPE" type="string-select">
        <Value>DEFAULT</Value>
        <Value>SIGNEDBYTE</Value>
    </Option>
    <Option name="BIGTIFF" type="string-select" description="Force creation of BigTIFF file">
        <Value>YES</Value>
        <Value>NO</Value>
        <Value>IF_NEEDED</Value>
        <Value>IF_SAFER</Value>
    </Option>
    <Option name="ENDIANNESS" type="string-select" default="NATIVE" description="Force endianness of created file. For DEBUG purpose mostly">
        <Value>NATIVE</Value>
        <Value>INVERTED</Value>
        <Value>LITTLE</Value>
        <Value>BIG</Value>
    </Option>
    <Option name="COPY_SRC_OVERVIEWS" type="boolean" default="NO" description="Force copy of overviews of source dataset (CreateCopy())"/>
</CreationOptionList>

-- Output the create options XML column for GTiff as a table  --
SELECT (xpath('@name', g.opt))[1]::text As oname,
       (xpath('@type', g.opt))[1]::text As otype,
       (xpath('@description', g.opt))[1]::text As descrip,
       array_to_string(xpath('Value/text()', g.opt),', ') As vals
FROM (SELECT unnest(xpath('/CreationOptionList/Option', create_options::xml)) As opt
FROM  st_gdaldrivers()
WHERE short_name = 'GTiff') As g;

       oname        |     otype     |                               descrip                                |                                   vals
--------------------+---------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 COMPRESS           | string-select |                                                                      | NONE, LZW, PACKBITS, JPEG, CCITTRLE, CCITTFAX3, CCITTFAX4, DEFLATE
 PREDICTOR          | int           | Predictor Type                                                       |
 JPEG_QUALITY       | int           | JPEG quality 1-100                                                   |
 ZLEVEL             | int           | DEFLATE compression level 1-9                                        |
 NBITS              | int           | BITS for sub-byte files (1-7), sub-uint16 (9-15), sub-uint32 (17-31) |
 INTERLEAVE         | string-select |                                                                      | BAND, PIXEL
 TILED              | boolean       | Switch to tiled format                                               |
 TFW                | boolean       | Write out world file                                                 |
 RPB                | boolean       | Write out .RPB (RPC) file                                            |
 BLOCKXSIZE         | int           | Tile Width                                                           |
 BLOCKYSIZE         | int           | Tile/Strip Height                                                    |
 PHOTOMETRIC        | string-select |                                                                      | MINISBLACK, MINISWHITE, PALETTE, RGB, CMYK, YCBCR, CIELAB, ICCLAB, ITULAB
 SPARSE_OK          | boolean       | Can newly created files have missing blocks?                         |
 ALPHA              | boolean       | Mark first extrasample as being alpha                                |
 PROFILE            | string-select |                                                                      | GDALGeoTIFF, GeoTIFF, BASELINE
 PIXELTYPE          | string-select |                                                                      | DEFAULT, SIGNEDBYTE
 BIGTIFF            | string-select | Force creation of BigTIFF file                                       | YES, NO, IF_NEEDED, IF_SAFER
 ENDIANNESS         | string-select | Force endianness of created file. For DEBUG purpose mostly           | NATIVE, INVERTED, LITTLE, BIG
 COPY_SRC_OVERVIEWS | boolean       | Force copy of overviews of source dataset (CreateCopy())             |
(19 rows)

See Also

ST_AsGDALRaster, ST_SRID, postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers

Name

UpdateRasterSRID — Change the SRID of all rasters in the user-specified column and table.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncUpdateRasterSRID( | schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| column_name, |
| new_srid); |

name schema_name;
name table_name;
name column_name;
integer new_srid;

raster fsfuncUpdateRasterSRID( | table_name, |
| column_name, |
| new_srid); |

name table_name;
name column_name;
integer new_srid;

Description

Change the SRID of all rasters in the user-specified column and table. The function will drop all appropriate column constraints (extent, alignment and SRID) before changing the SRID of the specified column's rasters.

Note

The data (band pixel values) of the rasters are not touched by this function. Only the raster's metadata is changed.

Availability: 2.1.0

See Also

UpdateGeometrySRID

Name

ST_CreateOverview — Create an reduced resolution version of a given raster coverage.

Synopsis

regclass fsfuncST_CreateOverview( | tab, |
| col, |
| factor, |
| algo='NearestNeighbor'); |

regclass tab;
name col;
int factor;
text algo='NearestNeighbor';

Description

Create an overview table with resampled tiles from the source table. Output tiles will have the same size of input tiles and cover the same spatial extent with a lower resolution (pixel size will be 1/factor of the original in both directions).

The overview table will be made available in the raster_overviews catalog and will have raster constraints enforced.

Algorithm options are: 'NearestNeighbor', 'Bilinear', 'Cubic', 'CubicSpline', and 'Lanczos'. Refer to: GDAL Warp resampling methods for more details.

Availability: 2.2.0

See Also

ST_Retile, AddOverviewConstraints, AddRasterConstraints, the section called “Raster Overviews”

Raster Constructors

Name

ST_AddBand — Returns a raster with the new band(s) of given type added with given initial value in the given index location. If no index is specified, the band is added to the end.

Synopsis

(1) raster fsfuncST_AddBand( | rast, |
| addbandargset); |

raster rast;
addbandarg[] addbandargset;

(2) raster fsfuncST_AddBand( | rast, |
| index, |
| pixeltype, |
| initialvalue=0, |
| nodataval=NULL); |

raster rast;
integer index;
text pixeltype;
double precision initialvalue=0;
double precision nodataval=NULL;

(3) raster fsfuncST_AddBand( | rast, |
| pixeltype, |
| initialvalue=0, |
| nodataval=NULL); |

raster rast;
text pixeltype;
double precision initialvalue=0;
double precision nodataval=NULL;

(4) raster fsfuncST_AddBand( | torast, |
| fromrast, |
| fromband=1, |
| torastindex=at_end); |

raster torast;
raster fromrast;
integer fromband=1;
integer torastindex=at_end;

(5) raster fsfuncST_AddBand( | torast, |
| fromrasts, |
| fromband=1, |
| torastindex=at_end); |

raster torast;
raster[] fromrasts;
integer fromband=1;
integer torastindex=at_end;

(6) raster fsfuncST_AddBand( | rast, |
| index, |
| outdbfile, |
| outdbindex, |
| nodataval=NULL); |

raster rast;
integer index;
text outdbfile;
integer[] outdbindex;
double precision nodataval=NULL;

(7) raster fsfuncST_AddBand( | rast, |
| outdbfile, |
| outdbindex, |
| index=at_end, |
| nodataval=NULL); |

raster rast;
text outdbfile;
integer[] outdbindex;
integer index=at_end;
double precision nodataval=NULL;

Description

Returns a raster with a new band added in given position (index), of given type, of given initial value, and of given nodata value. If no index is specified, the band is added to the end. If no fromband is specified, band 1 is assumed. Pixel type is a string representation of one of the pixel types specified in ST_BandPixelType. If an existing index is specified all subsequent bands >= that index are incremented by 1. If an initial value greater than the max of the pixel type is specified, then the initial value is set to the highest value allowed by the pixel type.

For the variant that takes an array of addbandarg (Variant 1), a specific addbandarg's index value is relative to the raster at the time when the band described by that addbandarg is being added to the raster. See the Multiple New Bands example below.

For the variant that takes an array of rasters (Variant 5), if torast is NULL then the fromband band of each raster in the array is accumulated into a new raster.

For the variants that take outdbfile (Variants 6 and 7), the value must include the full path to the raster file. The file must also be accessible to the postgres server process.

Enhanced: 2.1.0 support for addbandarg added.

Enhanced: 2.1.0 support for new out-db bands added.

Examples: Single New Band

-- Add another band of type 8 bit unsigned integer with pixels initialized to 200
UPDATE dummy_rast
    SET rast = ST_AddBand(rast,'8BUI'::text,200)
WHERE rid = 1;

-- Create an empty raster 100x100 units, with upper left  right at 0, add 2 bands (band 1 is 0/1 boolean bit switch, band2 allows values 0-15)
-- uses addbandargs
INSERT INTO dummy_rast(rid,rast)
    VALUES(10, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(100, 100, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
	ARRAY[
		ROW(1, '1BB'::text, 0, NULL),
		ROW(2, '4BUI'::text, 0, NULL)
			]::addbandarg[]
     )
    );

-- output meta data of raster bands to verify all is right --
SELECT  (bmd).*
FROM (SELECT ST_BandMetaData(rast,generate_series(1,2)) As bmd
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 10) AS foo;
 --result --
 pixeltype | nodatavalue | isoutdb | path
-----------+----------------+-------------+---------+------
 1BB       |             | f       |
 4BUI      |             | f       |

-- output meta data of raster -
SELECT  (rmd).width, (rmd).height, (rmd).numbands
FROM (SELECT ST_MetaData(rast) As rmd
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 10) AS foo;
-- result --
 upperleftx | upperlefty | width | height | scalex | scaley | skewx | skewy | srid | numbands
------------+------------+-------+--------+------------+------------+-------+-------+------+----------
          0 |          0 |   100 |    100 |      1 |     -1 |     0 |     0 |   0 |        2

Examples: Multiple New Bands

SELECT
	*
FROM ST_BandMetadata(
	ST_AddBand(
		ST_MakeEmptyRaster(10, 10, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
		ARRAY[
			ROW(NULL, '8BUI', 255, 0),
			ROW(NULL, '16BUI', 1, 2),
			ROW(2, '32BUI', 100, 12),
			ROW(2, '32BF', 3.14, -1)
		]::addbandarg[]
	),
	ARRAY[]::integer[]
);

 bandnum | pixeltype | nodatavalue | isoutdb | path
---------+-----------+-------------+---------+------
       1 | 8BUI      |           0 | f       |
       2 | 32BF      |          -1 | f       |
       3 | 32BUI     |          12 | f       |
       4 | 16BUI     |           2 | f       |

-- Aggregate the 1st band of a table of like rasters into a single raster
-- with as many bands as there are test_types and as many rows (new rasters) as there are mice
-- NOTE: The ORDER BY test_type is only supported in PostgreSQL 9.0+
-- for 8.4 and below it usually works to order your data in a subselect (but not guaranteed)
-- The resulting raster will have a band for each test_type alphabetical by test_type
-- For mouse lovers: No mice were harmed in this exercise
SELECT
	mouse,
	ST_AddBand(NULL, array_agg(rast ORDER BY test_type), 1) As rast
FROM mice_studies
GROUP BY mouse;

Examples: New Out-db band

SELECT
	*
FROM ST_BandMetadata(
	ST_AddBand(
		ST_MakeEmptyRaster(10, 10, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
		'/home/raster/mytestraster.tif'::text, NULL::int[]
	),
	ARRAY[]::integer[]
);

 bandnum | pixeltype | nodatavalue | isoutdb | path
---------+-----------+-------------+---------+------
       1 | 8BUI      |             | t       | /home/raster/mytestraster.tif
       2 | 8BUI      |             | t       | /home/raster/mytestraster.tif
       3 | 8BUI      |             | t       | /home/raster/mytestraster.tif

See Also

ST_BandMetaData, ST_BandPixelType, ST_MakeEmptyRaster, ST_MetaData, ST_NumBands, ST_Reclass

Name

ST_AsRaster — Converts a PostGIS geometry to a PostGIS raster.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_AsRaster( | geom, |
| ref, |
| pixeltype, |
| value=1, |
| nodataval=0, |
| touched=false); |

geometry geom;
raster ref;
text pixeltype;
double precision value=1;
double precision nodataval=0;
boolean touched=false;

raster fsfuncST_AsRaster( | geom, |
| ref, |
| pixeltype=ARRAY['8BUI'], |
| value=ARRAY[1], |
| nodataval=ARRAY[0], |
| touched=false); |

geometry geom;
raster ref;
text[] pixeltype=ARRAY['8BUI'];
double precision[] value=ARRAY[1];
double precision[] nodataval=ARRAY[0];
boolean touched=false;

raster fsfuncST_AsRaster( | geom, |
| scalex, |
| scaley, |
| gridx, |
| gridy, |
| pixeltype, |
| value=1, |
| nodataval=0, |
| skewx=0, |
| skewy=0, |
| touched=false); |

geometry geom;
double precision scalex;
double precision scaley;
double precision gridx;
double precision gridy;
text pixeltype;
double precision value=1;
double precision nodataval=0;
double precision skewx=0;
double precision skewy=0;
boolean touched=false;

raster fsfuncST_AsRaster( | geom, |
| scalex, |
| scaley, |
| gridx=NULL, |
| gridy=NULL, |
| pixeltype=ARRAY['8BUI'], |
| value=ARRAY[1], |
| nodataval=ARRAY[0], |
| skewx=0, |
| skewy=0, |
| touched=false); |

geometry geom;
double precision scalex;
double precision scaley;
double precision gridx=NULL;
double precision gridy=NULL;
text[] pixeltype=ARRAY['8BUI'];
double precision[] value=ARRAY[1];
double precision[] nodataval=ARRAY[0];
double precision skewx=0;
double precision skewy=0;
boolean touched=false;

raster fsfuncST_AsRaster( | geom, |
| scalex, |
| scaley, |
| pixeltype, |
| value=1, |
| nodataval=0, |
| upperleftx=NULL, |
| upperlefty=NULL, |
| skewx=0, |
| skewy=0, |
| touched=false); |

geometry geom;
double precision scalex;
double precision scaley;
text pixeltype;
double precision value=1;
double precision nodataval=0;
double precision upperleftx=NULL;
double precision upperlefty=NULL;
double precision skewx=0;
double precision skewy=0;
boolean touched=false;

raster fsfuncST_AsRaster( | geom, |
| scalex, |
| scaley, |
| pixeltype, |
| value=ARRAY[1], |
| nodataval=ARRAY[0], |
| upperleftx=NULL, |
| upperlefty=NULL, |
| skewx=0, |
| skewy=0, |
| touched=false); |

geometry geom;
double precision scalex;
double precision scaley;
text[] pixeltype;
double precision[] value=ARRAY[1];
double precision[] nodataval=ARRAY[0];
double precision upperleftx=NULL;
double precision upperlefty=NULL;
double precision skewx=0;
double precision skewy=0;
boolean touched=false;

raster fsfuncST_AsRaster( | geom, |
| width, |
| height, |
| gridx, |
| gridy, |
| pixeltype, |
| value=1, |
| nodataval=0, |
| skewx=0, |
| skewy=0, |
| touched=false); |

geometry geom;
integer width;
integer height;
double precision gridx;
double precision gridy;
text pixeltype;
double precision value=1;
double precision nodataval=0;
double precision skewx=0;
double precision skewy=0;
boolean touched=false;

raster fsfuncST_AsRaster( | geom, |
| width, |
| height, |
| gridx=NULL, |
| gridy=NULL, |
| pixeltype=ARRAY['8BUI'], |
| value=ARRAY[1], |
| nodataval=ARRAY[0], |
| skewx=0, |
| skewy=0, |
| touched=false); |

geometry geom;
integer width;
integer height;
double precision gridx=NULL;
double precision gridy=NULL;
text[] pixeltype=ARRAY['8BUI'];
double precision[] value=ARRAY[1];
double precision[] nodataval=ARRAY[0];
double precision skewx=0;
double precision skewy=0;
boolean touched=false;

raster fsfuncST_AsRaster( | geom, |
| width, |
| height, |
| pixeltype, |
| value=1, |
| nodataval=0, |
| upperleftx=NULL, |
| upperlefty=NULL, |
| skewx=0, |
| skewy=0, |
| touched=false); |

geometry geom;
integer width;
integer height;
text pixeltype;
double precision value=1;
double precision nodataval=0;
double precision upperleftx=NULL;
double precision upperlefty=NULL;
double precision skewx=0;
double precision skewy=0;
boolean touched=false;

raster fsfuncST_AsRaster( | geom, |
| width, |
| height, |
| pixeltype, |
| value=ARRAY[1], |
| nodataval=ARRAY[0], |
| upperleftx=NULL, |
| upperlefty=NULL, |
| skewx=0, |
| skewy=0, |
| touched=false); |

geometry geom;
integer width;
integer height;
text[] pixeltype;
double precision[] value=ARRAY[1];
double precision[] nodataval=ARRAY[0];
double precision upperleftx=NULL;
double precision upperlefty=NULL;
double precision skewx=0;
double precision skewy=0;
boolean touched=false;

Description

Converts a PostGIS geometry to a PostGIS raster. The many variants offers three groups of possibilities for setting the alignment and pixelsize of the resulting raster.

The first group, composed of the two first variants, produce a raster having the same alignment (scalex, scaley, gridx and gridy), pixel type and nodata value as the provided reference raster. You generally pass this reference raster by joining the table containing the geometry with the table containing the reference raster.

The second group, composed of four variants, let you set the dimensions of the raster by providing the parameters of a pixel size (scalex & scaley and skewx & skewy). The width & height of the resulting raster will be adjusted to fit the extent of the geometry. In most cases, you must cast integer scalex & scaley arguments to double precision so that PostgreSQL choose the right variant.

The third group, composed of four variants, let you fix the dimensions of the raster by providing the dimensions of the raster (width & height). The parameters of the pixel size (scalex & scaley and skewx & skewy) of the resulting raster will be adjusted to fit the extent of the geometry.

The two first variants of each of those two last groups let you specify the alignment with an arbitrary corner of the alignment grid (gridx & gridy) and the two last variants takes the upper left corner (upperleftx & upperlefty).

Each group of variant allows producing a one band raster or a multiple bands raster. To produce a multiple bands raster, you must provide an array of pixel types (pixeltype[]), an array of initial values (value) and an array of nodata values (nodataval). If not provided pixeltyped defaults to 8BUI, values to 1 and nodataval to 0.

The output raster will be in the same spatial reference as the source geometry. The only exception is for variants with a reference raster. In this case the resulting raster will get the same SRID as the reference raster.

The optional touched parameter defaults to false and maps to the GDAL ALL_TOUCHED rasterization option, which determines if pixels touched by lines or polygons will be burned. Not just those on the line render path, or whose center point is within the polygon.

This is particularly useful for rendering jpegs and pngs of geometries directly from the database when using in combination with ST_AsPNG and other ST_AsGDALRaster family of functions.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0.

Note

Not yet capable of rendering complex geometry types such as curves, TINS, and PolyhedralSurfaces, but should be able too once GDAL can.

Examples: Output geometries as PNG files

black circle

-- this will output a black circle taking up 150 x 150 pixels --
SELECT ST_AsPNG(ST_AsRaster(ST_Buffer(ST_Point(1,5),10),150, 150, '2BUI'));

example from buffer rendered with just PostGIS

-- the bands map to RGB bands - the value (118,154,118) - teal  --
SELECT ST_AsPNG(
	ST_AsRaster(
		ST_Buffer(
			ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(50 50,150 150,150 50)'), 10,'join=bevel'),
			200,200,ARRAY['8BUI', '8BUI', '8BUI'], ARRAY[118,154,118], ARRAY[0,0,0]));

See Also

ST_BandPixelType, ST_Buffer, ST_GDALDrivers, ST_AsGDALRaster, ST_AsPNG, ST_AsJPEG, ST_SRID

Name

ST_Band — Returns one or more bands of an existing raster as a new raster. Useful for building new rasters from existing rasters.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_Band( | rast, |
| nbands = ARRAY[1]); |

raster rast;
integer[] nbands = ARRAY[1];

raster fsfuncST_Band( | rast, |
| nband); |

raster rast;
integer nband;

raster fsfuncST_Band( | rast, |
| nbands, |
| delimiter=,); |

raster rast;
text nbands;
character delimiter=,;

Description

Returns one or more bands of an existing raster as a new raster. Useful for building new rasters from existing rasters or export of only selected bands of a raster or rearranging the order of bands in a raster. If no band is specified, band 1 is assumed. Used as a helper function in various functions such as for deleting a band.

Warning

For the nbands as text variant of function, the default delimiter is , which means you can ask for '1,2,3' and if you wanted to use a different delimeter you would do ST_Band(rast, '1@2@3', '@'). For asking for multiple bands, we strongly suggest you use the array form of this function e.g. ST_Band(rast, '{1,2,3}'::int[]); since the text list of bands form may be removed in future versions of PostGIS.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

-- Make 2 new rasters: 1 containing band 1 of dummy, second containing band 2 of dummy and then reclassified as a 2BUI
SELECT ST_NumBands(rast1) As numb1, ST_BandPixelType(rast1) As pix1,
 ST_NumBands(rast2) As numb2,  ST_BandPixelType(rast2) As pix2
FROM (
    SELECT ST_Band(rast) As rast1, ST_Reclass(ST_Band(rast,3), '100-200):1, [200-254:2', '2BUI') As rast2
        FROM dummy_rast
        WHERE rid = 2) As foo;

 numb1 | pix1 | numb2 | pix2
-------+------+-------+------
     1 | 8BUI |     1 | 2BUI

-- Return bands 2 and 3. Using array cast syntax
SELECT ST_NumBands(ST_Band(rast, '{2,3}'::int[])) As num_bands
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

num_bands
----------
2

-- Return bands 2 and 3. Use array to define bands
SELECT ST_NumBands(ST_Band(rast, ARRAY[2,3])) As num_bands
    FROM dummy_rast
WHERE rid=2;

original (column rast)

dupe_band

sing_band

--Make a new raster with 2nd band of original and 1st band repeated twice,
and another with just the third band
SELECT rast, ST_Band(rast, ARRAY[2,1,1]) As dupe_band,
	ST_Band(rast, 3) As sing_band
FROM samples.than_chunked
WHERE rid=35;

See Also

ST_AddBand, ST_NumBands, ST_Reclass, Chapter 9, Raster Reference

Name

ST_MakeEmptyRaster — Returns an empty raster (having no bands) of given dimensions (width & height), upperleft X and Y, pixel size and rotation (scalex, scaley, skewx & skewy) and reference system (srid). If a raster is passed in, returns a new raster with the same size, alignment and SRID. If srid is left out, the spatial ref is set to unknown (0).

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_MakeEmptyRaster(
rast);

raster rast;

raster fsfuncST_MakeEmptyRaster( | width, |
| height, |
| upperleftx, |
| upperlefty, |
| scalex, |
| scaley, |
| skewx, |
| skewy, |
| srid=unknown); |

integer width;
integer height;
float8 upperleftx;
float8 upperlefty;
float8 scalex;
float8 scaley;
float8 skewx;
float8 skewy;
integer srid=unknown;

raster fsfuncST_MakeEmptyRaster( | width, |
| height, |
| upperleftx, |
| upperlefty, |
| pixelsize); |

integer width;
integer height;
float8 upperleftx;
float8 upperlefty;
float8 pixelsize;

Description

Returns an empty raster (having no band) of given dimensions (width & height) and georeferenced in spatial (or world) coordinates with upper left X (upperleftx), upper left Y (upperlefty), pixel size and rotation (scalex, scaley, skewx & skewy) and reference system (srid).

The last version use a single parameter to specify the pixel size (pixelsize). scalex is set to this argument and scaley is set to the negative value of this argument. skewx and skewy are set to 0.

If an existing raster is passed in, it returns a new raster with the same meta data settings (without the bands).

If no srid is specified it defaults to 0. After you create an empty raster you probably want to add bands to it and maybe edit it. Refer to ST_AddBand to define bands and ST_SetValue to set initial pixel values.

Examples

INSERT INTO dummy_rast(rid,rast)
VALUES(3, ST_MakeEmptyRaster( 100, 100, 0.0005, 0.0005, 1, 1, 0, 0, 4326) );

--use an existing raster as template for new raster
INSERT INTO dummy_rast(rid,rast)
SELECT 4, ST_MakeEmptyRaster(rast)
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 3;

-- output meta data of rasters we just added
SELECT rid, (md).*
FROM (SELECT rid, ST_MetaData(rast) As md
	FROM dummy_rast
	WHERE rid IN(3,4)) As foo;

-- output --
 rid | upperleftx | upperlefty | width | height | scalex | scaley | skewx | skewy | srid | numbands
-----+------------+------------+-------+--------+------------+------------+-------+-------+------+----------
   3 |     0.0005 |     0.0005 |   100 |    100 |          1 |          1 |    0  |     0 | 4326 |        0
   4 |     0.0005 |     0.0005 |   100 |    100 |          1 |          1 |    0  |     0 | 4326 |        0

See Also

ST_AddBand, ST_MetaData, ST_ScaleX, ST_ScaleY, ST_SetValue, ST_SkewX, , ST_SkewY

Name

ST_Tile — Returns a set of rasters resulting from the split of the input raster based upon the desired dimensions of the output rasters.

Synopsis

setof raster fsfuncST_Tile( | rast, |
| nband, |
| width, |
| height, |
| padwithnodata=FALSE, |
| nodataval=NULL); |

raster rast;
int[] nband;
integer width;
integer height;
boolean padwithnodata=FALSE;
double precision nodataval=NULL;

setof raster fsfuncST_Tile( | rast, |
| nband, |
| width, |
| height, |
| padwithnodata=FALSE, |
| nodataval=NULL); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
integer width;
integer height;
boolean padwithnodata=FALSE;
double precision nodataval=NULL;

setof raster fsfuncST_Tile( | rast, |
| width, |
| height, |
| padwithnodata=FALSE, |
| nodataval=NULL); |

raster rast;
integer width;
integer height;
boolean padwithnodata=FALSE;
double precision nodataval=NULL;

Description

Returns a set of rasters resulting from the split of the input raster based upon the desired dimensions of the output rasters.

If padwithnodata = FALSE, edge tiles on the right and bottom sides of the raster may have different dimensions than the rest of the tiles. If padwithnodata = TRUE, all tiles will have the same dimensions with the possibility that edge tiles being padded with NODATA values. If raster band(s) do not have NODATA value(s) specified, one can be specified by setting nodataval.

Note

If a specified band of the input raster is out-of-db, the corresponding band in the output rasters will also be out-of-db.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 1, 0), 2, '8BUI', 10, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 3, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 2, 0), 2, '8BUI', 20, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 6, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 3, 0), 2, '8BUI', 30, 0) AS rast UNION ALL

	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, -3, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 4, 0), 2, '8BUI', 40, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 3, -3, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 5, 0), 2, '8BUI', 50, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 6, -3, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 6, 0), 2, '8BUI', 60, 0) AS rast UNION ALL

	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, -6, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 7, 0), 2, '8BUI', 70, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 3, -6, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 8, 0), 2, '8BUI', 80, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 6, -6, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 9, 0), 2, '8BUI', 90, 0) AS rast
), bar AS (
	SELECT ST_Union(rast) AS rast FROM foo
), baz AS (
	SELECT ST_Tile(rast, 3, 3, TRUE) AS rast FROM bar
)
SELECT
	ST_DumpValues(rast)
FROM baz;

              st_dumpvalues
------------------------------------------
 (1,"{{1,1,1},{1,1,1},{1,1,1}}")
 (2,"{{10,10,10},{10,10,10},{10,10,10}}")
 (1,"{{2,2,2},{2,2,2},{2,2,2}}")
 (2,"{{20,20,20},{20,20,20},{20,20,20}}")
 (1,"{{3,3,3},{3,3,3},{3,3,3}}")
 (2,"{{30,30,30},{30,30,30},{30,30,30}}")
 (1,"{{4,4,4},{4,4,4},{4,4,4}}")
 (2,"{{40,40,40},{40,40,40},{40,40,40}}")
 (1,"{{5,5,5},{5,5,5},{5,5,5}}")
 (2,"{{50,50,50},{50,50,50},{50,50,50}}")
 (1,"{{6,6,6},{6,6,6},{6,6,6}}")
 (2,"{{60,60,60},{60,60,60},{60,60,60}}")
 (1,"{{7,7,7},{7,7,7},{7,7,7}}")
 (2,"{{70,70,70},{70,70,70},{70,70,70}}")
 (1,"{{8,8,8},{8,8,8},{8,8,8}}")
 (2,"{{80,80,80},{80,80,80},{80,80,80}}")
 (1,"{{9,9,9},{9,9,9},{9,9,9}}")
 (2,"{{90,90,90},{90,90,90},{90,90,90}}")
(18 rows)

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 1, 0), 2, '8BUI', 10, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 3, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 2, 0), 2, '8BUI', 20, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 6, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 3, 0), 2, '8BUI', 30, 0) AS rast UNION ALL

	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, -3, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 4, 0), 2, '8BUI', 40, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 3, -3, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 5, 0), 2, '8BUI', 50, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 6, -3, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 6, 0), 2, '8BUI', 60, 0) AS rast UNION ALL

	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, -6, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 7, 0), 2, '8BUI', 70, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 3, -6, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 8, 0), 2, '8BUI', 80, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 6, -6, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 9, 0), 2, '8BUI', 90, 0) AS rast
), bar AS (
	SELECT ST_Union(rast) AS rast FROM foo
), baz AS (
	SELECT ST_Tile(rast, 3, 3, 2) AS rast FROM bar
)
SELECT
	ST_DumpValues(rast)
FROM baz;

              st_dumpvalues
------------------------------------------
 (1,"{{10,10,10},{10,10,10},{10,10,10}}")
 (1,"{{20,20,20},{20,20,20},{20,20,20}}")
 (1,"{{30,30,30},{30,30,30},{30,30,30}}")
 (1,"{{40,40,40},{40,40,40},{40,40,40}}")
 (1,"{{50,50,50},{50,50,50},{50,50,50}}")
 (1,"{{60,60,60},{60,60,60},{60,60,60}}")
 (1,"{{70,70,70},{70,70,70},{70,70,70}}")
 (1,"{{80,80,80},{80,80,80},{80,80,80}}")
 (1,"{{90,90,90},{90,90,90},{90,90,90}}")
(9 rows)

See Also

ST_Union, ST_Retile

Name

ST_Retile — Return a set of configured tiles from an arbitrarily tiled raster coverage.

Synopsis

SETOF raster fsfuncST_Retile( | tab, |
| col, |
| ext, |
| sfx, |
| sfy, |
| tw, |
| th, |
| algo='NearestNeighbor'); |

regclass tab;
name col;
geometry ext;
float8 sfx;
float8 sfy;
int tw;
int th;
text algo='NearestNeighbor';

Description

Return a set of tiles having the specified scale (sfx, sfy) and max size (tw, th) and covering the specified extent (ext) with data coming from the specified raster coverage (tab, col).

Algorithm options are: 'NearestNeighbor', 'Bilinear', 'Cubic', 'CubicSpline', and 'Lanczos'. Refer to: GDAL Warp resampling methods for more details.

Availability: 2.2.0

See Also

ST_CreateOverview

Name

ST_FromGDALRaster — Returns a raster from a supported GDAL raster file.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_FromGDALRaster( | gdaldata, |
| srid=NULL); |

bytea gdaldata;
integer srid=NULL;

Description

Returns a raster from a supported GDAL raster file. gdaldata is of type bytea and should be the contents of the GDAL raster file.

If srid is NULL, the function will try to automatically assign the SRID from the GDAL raster. If srid is provided, the value provided will override any automatically assigned SRID.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT ST_AsPNG(ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, 0, 0, 0.1, -0.1, 0, 0, 4326), 1, '8BUI', 1, 0), 2, '8BUI', 2, 0), 3, '8BUI', 3, 0)) AS png
),
bar AS (
	SELECT 1 AS rid, ST_FromGDALRaster(png) AS rast FROM foo
	UNION ALL
	SELECT 2 AS rid, ST_FromGDALRaster(png, 3310) AS rast FROM foo
)
SELECT
	rid,
	ST_Metadata(rast) AS metadata,
	ST_SummaryStats(rast, 1) AS stats1,
	ST_SummaryStats(rast, 2) AS stats2,
	ST_SummaryStats(rast, 3) AS stats3
FROM bar
ORDER BY rid;

 rid |         metadata          |    stats1     |    stats2     |     stats3
-----+---------------------------+---------------+---------------+----------------
   1 | (0,0,2,2,1,-1,0,0,0,3)    | (4,4,1,0,1,1) | (4,8,2,0,2,2) | (4,12,3,0,3,3)
   2 | (0,0,2,2,1,-1,0,0,3310,3) | (4,4,1,0,1,1) | (4,8,2,0,2,2) | (4,12,3,0,3,3)
(2 rows)

See Also

ST_AsGDALRaster

Raster Accessors

Name

ST_GeoReference — Returns the georeference meta data in GDAL or ESRI format as commonly seen in a world file. Default is GDAL.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_GeoReference( | rast, |
| format=GDAL); |

raster rast;
text format=GDAL;

Description

Returns the georeference meta data including carriage return in GDAL or ESRI format as commonly seen in a world file. Default is GDAL if no type specified. type is string 'GDAL' or 'ESRI'.

Difference between format representations is as follows:

GDAL:

scalex
skewy
skewx
scaley
upperleftx
upperlefty

ESRI:

scalex
skewy
skewx
scaley
upperleftx + scalex*0.5
upperlefty + scaley*0.5

Examples

SELECT ST_GeoReference(rast, 'ESRI') As esri_ref, ST_GeoReference(rast, 'GDAL') As gdal_ref
 FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=1;

   esri_ref   |   gdal_ref
--------------+--------------
 2.0000000000 | 2.0000000000
 0.0000000000 : 0.0000000000
 0.0000000000 : 0.0000000000
 3.0000000000 : 3.0000000000
 1.5000000000 : 0.5000000000
 2.0000000000 : 0.5000000000

See Also

ST_SetGeoReference, ST_ScaleX, ST_ScaleY

Name

ST_Height — Returns the height of the raster in pixels.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_Height(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the height of the raster.

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_Height(rast) As rastheight
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid | rastheight
-----+------------
   1 |         20
   2 |          5

See Also

ST_Width

Name

ST_IsEmpty — Returns true if the raster is empty (width = 0 and height = 0). Otherwise, returns false.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_IsEmpty(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns true if the raster is empty (width = 0 and height = 0). Otherwise, returns false.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

SELECT ST_IsEmpty(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(100, 100, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0))
st_isempty |
-----------+
f          |

SELECT ST_IsEmpty(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0))
st_isempty |
-----------+
t          |

See Also

ST_HasNoBand

Name

ST_MemSize — Returns the amount of space (in bytes) the raster takes.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_MemSize(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the amount of space (in bytes) the raster takes.

This is a nice compliment to PostgreSQL built in functions pg_column_size, pg_size_pretty, pg_relation_size, pg_total_relation_size.

Note

pg_relation_size which gives the byte size of a table may return byte size lower than ST_MemSize. This is because pg_relation_size does not add toasted table contribution and large geometries are stored in TOAST tables. pg_column_size might return lower because it returns the compressed size.

pg_total_relation_size - includes, the table, the toasted tables, and the indexes.

Availability: 2.2.0

Examples

		SELECT ST_MemSize(ST_AsRaster(ST_Buffer(ST_Point(1,5),10,1000),150, 150, '8BUI')) As rast_mem;

		rast_mem
		--------
		22568

See Also

Name

ST_MetaData — Returns basic meta data about a raster object such as pixel size, rotation (skew), upper, lower left, etc.

Synopsis

record fsfuncST_MetaData(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns basic meta data about a raster object such as pixel size, rotation (skew), upper, lower left, etc. Columns returned: upperleftx | upperlefty | width | height | scalex | scaley | skewx | skewy | srid | numbands

Examples

SELECT rid, (foo.md).*
 FROM (SELECT rid, ST_MetaData(rast) As md
FROM dummy_rast) As foo;

 rid | upperleftx | upperlefty | width | height | scalex | scaley | skewx | skewy | srid | numbands
 ----+------------+------------+-------+--------+--------+-----------+-------+-------+------+-------
   1 |        0.5 |        0.5 |    10 |     20 |      2 |      3 |		0 |     0 |    0 |        0
   2 | 3427927.75 |    5793244 |     5 |      5 |   0.05 |  -0.05 |		0 |     0 |    0 |        3

See Also

ST_BandMetaData, ST_NumBands

Name

ST_NumBands — Returns the number of bands in the raster object.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_NumBands(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the number of bands in the raster object.

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_NumBands(rast) As numbands
FROM dummy_rast;

rid | numbands
----+----------
  1 |        0
  2 |        3

See Also

ST_Value

Name

ST_PixelHeight — Returns the pixel height in geometric units of the spatial reference system.

Synopsis

double precision fsfuncST_PixelHeight(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the height of a pixel in geometric units of the spatial reference system. In the common case where there is no skew, the pixel height is just the scale ratio between geometric coordinates and raster pixels.

Refer to ST_PixelWidth for a diagrammatic visualization of the relationship.

Examples: Rasters with no skew

SELECT ST_Height(rast) As rastheight, ST_PixelHeight(rast) As pixheight,
 ST_ScaleX(rast) As scalex, ST_ScaleY(rast) As scaley, ST_SkewX(rast) As skewx,
        ST_SkewY(rast) As skewy
FROM dummy_rast;

 rastheight | pixheight | scalex | scaley | skewx | skewy
------------+-----------+--------+--------+-------+----------
         20 |         3 |      2 |      3 |     0 |        0
          5 |      0.05 |   0.05 |  -0.05 |     0 |        0

Examples: Rasters with skew different than 0

SELECT ST_Height(rast) As rastheight, ST_PixelHeight(rast) As pixheight,
 ST_ScaleX(rast) As scalex, ST_ScaleY(rast) As scaley, ST_SkewX(rast) As skewx,
        ST_SkewY(rast) As skewy
FROM (SELECT ST_SetSKew(rast,0.5,0.5) As rast
        FROM dummy_rast) As skewed;

rastheight |     pixheight     | scalex | scaley | skewx | skewy
-----------+-------------------+--------+--------+-------+----------
        20 |  3.04138126514911 |      2 |      3 |   0.5 |      0.5
         5 | 0.502493781056044 |   0.05 |  -0.05 |   0.5 |      0.5

See Also

ST_PixelWidth, ST_ScaleX, ST_ScaleY, ST_SkewX, ST_SkewY

Name

ST_PixelWidth — Returns the pixel width in geometric units of the spatial reference system.

Synopsis

double precision fsfuncST_PixelWidth(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the width of a pixel in geometric units of the spatial reference system. In the common case where there is no skew, the pixel width is just the scale ratio between geometric coordinates and raster pixels.

The following diagram demonstrates the relationship:

Pixel Width: Pixel size in the i direction

Pixel Height: Pixel size in the j direction

Examples: Rasters with no skew

SELECT ST_Width(rast) As rastwidth, ST_PixelWidth(rast) As pixwidth,
	ST_ScaleX(rast) As scalex, ST_ScaleY(rast) As scaley, ST_SkewX(rast) As skewx,
	ST_SkewY(rast) As skewy
	FROM dummy_rast;

	rastwidth | pixwidth | scalex | scaley | skewx | skewy
	-----------+----------+--------+--------+-------+----------
	10 |        2 |      2 |      3 |     0 |        0
	 5 |     0.05 |   0.05 |  -0.05 |     0 |        0

Examples: Rasters with skew different than 0

SELECT ST_Width(rast) As rastwidth, ST_PixelWidth(rast) As pixwidth,
	ST_ScaleX(rast) As scalex, ST_ScaleY(rast) As scaley, ST_SkewX(rast) As skewx,
	ST_SkewY(rast) As skewy
	FROM (SELECT ST_SetSkew(rast,0.5,0.5) As rast
	FROM dummy_rast) As skewed;

	rastwidth |     pixwidth      | scalex | scaley | skewx | skewy
	-----------+-------------------+--------+--------+-------+----------
	10 |  2.06155281280883 |      2 |      3 |   0.5 |      0.5
	 5 | 0.502493781056044 |   0.05 |  -0.05 |   0.5 |      0.5

See Also

ST_PixelHeight, ST_ScaleX, ST_ScaleY, ST_SkewX, ST_SkewY

Name

ST_ScaleX — Returns the X component of the pixel width in units of coordinate reference system.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_ScaleX(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the X component of the pixel width in units of coordinate reference system. Refer to World File for more details.

Changed: 2.0.0. In WKTRaster versions this was called ST_PixelSizeX.

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_ScaleX(rast) As rastpixwidth
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid | rastpixwidth
-----+--------------
   1 |            2
   2 |         0.05

See Also

ST_Width

Name

ST_ScaleY — Returns the Y component of the pixel height in units of coordinate reference system.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_ScaleY(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the Y component of the pixel height in units of coordinate reference system. May be negative. Refer to World File for more details.

Changed: 2.0.0. In WKTRaster versions this was called ST_PixelSizeY.

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_ScaleY(rast) As rastpixheight
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid | rastpixheight
-----+---------------
   1 |             3
   2 |         -0.05

See Also

ST_Height

Name

ST_RasterToWorldCoord — Returns the raster's upper left corner as geometric X and Y (longitude and latitude) given a column and row. Column and row starts at 1.

Synopsis

record fsfuncST_RasterToWorldCoord( | rast, |
| xcolumn, |
| yrow); |

raster rast;
integer xcolumn;
integer yrow;

Description

Returns the upper left corner as geometric X and Y (longitude and latitude) given a column and row. Returned X and Y are in geometric units of the georeferenced raster. Numbering of column and row starts at 1 but if either parameter is passed a zero, a negative number or a number greater than the respective dimension of the raster, it will return coordinates outside of the raster assuming the raster's grid is applicable outside the raster's bounds.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

-- non-skewed raster
SELECT
	rid,
	(ST_RasterToWorldCoord(rast,1, 1)).*,
	(ST_RasterToWorldCoord(rast,2, 2)).*
FROM dummy_rast

 rid | longitude  | latitude | longitude |  latitude
-----+------------+----------+-----------+------------
   1 |        0.5 |      0.5 |       2.5 |        3.5
   2 | 3427927.75 |  5793244 | 3427927.8 | 5793243.95

-- skewed raster
SELECT
	rid,
	(ST_RasterToWorldCoord(rast, 1, 1)).*,
	(ST_RasterToWorldCoord(rast, 2, 3)).*
FROM (
	SELECT
		rid,
		ST_SetSkew(rast, 100.5, 0) As rast
	FROM dummy_rast
) As foo

 rid | longitude  | latitude | longitude | latitude
-----+------------+----------+-----------+-----------
   1 |        0.5 |      0.5 |     203.5 |       6.5
   2 | 3427927.75 |  5793244 | 3428128.8 | 5793243.9

See Also

ST_RasterToWorldCoordX, ST_RasterToWorldCoordY, ST_SetSkew

Name

ST_RasterToWorldCoordX — Returns the geometric X coordinate upper left of a raster, column and row. Numbering of columns and rows starts at 1.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_RasterToWorldCoordX( | rast, |
| xcolumn); |

raster rast;
integer xcolumn;

float8 fsfuncST_RasterToWorldCoordX( | rast, |
| xcolumn, |
| yrow); |

raster rast;
integer xcolumn;
integer yrow;

Description

Returns the upper left X coordinate of a raster column row in geometric units of the georeferenced raster. Numbering of columns and rows starts at 1 but if you pass in a negative number or number higher than number of columns in raster, it will give you coordinates outside of the raster file to left or right with the assumption that the skew and pixel sizes are same as selected raster.

Note

For non-skewed rasters, providing the X column is sufficient. For skewed rasters, the georeferenced coordinate is a function of the ST_ScaleX and ST_SkewX and row and column. An error will be raised if you give just the X column for a skewed raster.

Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, this was called ST_Raster2WorldCoordX

Examples

-- non-skewed raster providing column is sufficient
SELECT rid, ST_RasterToWorldCoordX(rast,1) As x1coord,
	ST_RasterToWorldCoordX(rast,2) As x2coord,
	ST_ScaleX(rast) As pixelx
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid |  x1coord   |  x2coord  | pixelx
-----+------------+-----------+--------
   1 |        0.5 |       2.5 |      2
   2 | 3427927.75 | 3427927.8 |   0.05

-- for fun lets skew it
SELECT rid, ST_RasterToWorldCoordX(rast, 1, 1) As x1coord,
	ST_RasterToWorldCoordX(rast, 2, 3) As x2coord,
	ST_ScaleX(rast) As pixelx
FROM (SELECT rid, ST_SetSkew(rast, 100.5, 0) As rast FROM dummy_rast) As foo;

 rid |  x1coord   |  x2coord  | pixelx
-----+------------+-----------+--------
   1 |        0.5 |     203.5 |      2
   2 | 3427927.75 | 3428128.8 |   0.05

See Also

ST_ScaleX, ST_RasterToWorldCoordY, ST_SetSkew, ST_SkewX

Name

ST_RasterToWorldCoordY — Returns the geometric Y coordinate upper left corner of a raster, column and row. Numbering of columns and rows starts at 1.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_RasterToWorldCoordY( | rast, |
| yrow); |

raster rast;
integer yrow;

float8 fsfuncST_RasterToWorldCoordY( | rast, |
| xcolumn, |
| yrow); |

raster rast;
integer xcolumn;
integer yrow;

Description

Returns the upper left Y coordinate of a raster column row in geometric units of the georeferenced raster. Numbering of columns and rows starts at 1 but if you pass in a negative number or number higher than number of columns/rows in raster, it will give you coordinates outside of the raster file to left or right with the assumption that the skew and pixel sizes are same as selected raster tile.

Note

For non-skewed rasters, providing the Y column is sufficient. For skewed rasters, the georeferenced coordinate is a function of the ST_ScaleY and ST_SkewY and row and column. An error will be raised if you give just the Y row for a skewed raster.

Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, this was called ST_Raster2WorldCoordY

Examples

-- non-skewed raster providing row is sufficient
SELECT rid, ST_RasterToWorldCoordY(rast,1) As y1coord,
	ST_RasterToWorldCoordY(rast,3) As y2coord,
	ST_ScaleY(rast) As pixely
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid | y1coord |  y2coord  | pixely
-----+---------+-----------+--------
   1 |     0.5 |       6.5 |      3
   2 | 5793244 | 5793243.9 |  -0.05

-- for fun lets skew it
SELECT rid, ST_RasterToWorldCoordY(rast,1,1) As y1coord,
	ST_RasterToWorldCoordY(rast,2,3) As y2coord,
	ST_ScaleY(rast) As pixely
FROM (SELECT rid, ST_SetSkew(rast,0,100.5) As rast FROM dummy_rast) As foo;

 rid | y1coord |  y2coord  | pixely
-----+---------+-----------+--------
   1 |     0.5 |       107 |      3
   2 | 5793244 | 5793344.4 |  -0.05

See Also

ST_ScaleY, ST_RasterToWorldCoordX, ST_SetSkew, ST_SkewY

Name

ST_Rotation — Returns the rotation of the raster in radian.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_Rotation(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the uniform rotation of the raster in radian. If a raster does not have uniform rotation, NaN is returned. Refer to World File for more details.

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_Rotation(ST_SetScale(ST_SetSkew(rast, sqrt(2)), sqrt(2))) as rot FROM dummy_rast;

 rid |        rot
-----+-------------------
   1 | 0.785398163397448
   2 | 0.785398163397448

See Also

ST_SetRotation, ST_SetScale, ST_SetSkew

Name

ST_SkewX — Returns the georeference X skew (or rotation parameter).

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_SkewX(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the georeference X skew (or rotation parameter). Refer to World File for more details.

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_SkewX(rast) As skewx, ST_SkewY(rast) As skewy,
    ST_GeoReference(rast) as georef
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid | skewx | skewy |       georef
-----+-------+-------+--------------------
   1 |     0 |     0 | 2.0000000000
                     : 0.0000000000
                     : 0.0000000000
                     : 3.0000000000
                     : 0.5000000000
                     : 0.5000000000
                     :
   2 |     0 |     0 | 0.0500000000
                     : 0.0000000000
                     : 0.0000000000
                     : -0.0500000000
                     : 3427927.7500000000
                     : 5793244.0000000000

See Also

ST_GeoReference, ST_SkewY, ST_SetSkew

Name

ST_SkewY — Returns the georeference Y skew (or rotation parameter).

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_SkewY(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the georeference Y skew (or rotation parameter). Refer to World File for more details.

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_SkewX(rast) As skewx, ST_SkewY(rast) As skewy,
    ST_GeoReference(rast) as georef
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid | skewx | skewy |       georef
-----+-------+-------+--------------------
   1 |     0 |     0 | 2.0000000000
                     : 0.0000000000
                     : 0.0000000000
                     : 3.0000000000
                     : 0.5000000000
                     : 0.5000000000
                     :
   2 |     0 |     0 | 0.0500000000
                     : 0.0000000000
                     : 0.0000000000
                     : -0.0500000000
                     : 3427927.7500000000
                     : 5793244.0000000000

See Also

ST_GeoReference, ST_SkewX, ST_SetSkew

Name

ST_SRID — Returns the spatial reference identifier of the raster as defined in spatial_ref_sys table.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_SRID(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the spatial reference identifier of the raster object as defined in the spatial_ref_sys table.

Note

From PostGIS 2.0+ the srid of a non-georeferenced raster/geometry is 0 instead of the prior -1.

Examples

SELECT ST_SRID(rast) As srid
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=1;

srid
----------------
0

See Also

the section called “The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems”, ST_SRID

Name

ST_Summary — Returns a text summary of the contents of the raster.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_Summary(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns a text summary of the contents of the raster.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT ST_Summary(
	ST_AddBand(
		ST_AddBand(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(10, 10, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0)
				, 1, '8BUI', 1, 0
			)
			, 2, '32BF', 0, -9999
		)
		, 3, '16BSI', 0, NULL
	)
);

                            st_summary
------------------------------------------------------------------
 Raster of 10x10 pixels has 3 bands and extent of BOX(0 -10,10 0)+
     band 1 of pixtype 8BUI is in-db with NODATA value of 0      +
     band 2 of pixtype 32BF is in-db with NODATA value of -9999  +
     band 3 of pixtype 16BSI is in-db with no NODATA value
(1 row)

See Also

ST_MetaData, ST_BandMetaData, ST_Summary ST_Extent

Name

ST_UpperLeftX — Returns the upper left X coordinate of raster in projected spatial ref.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_UpperLeftX(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the upper left X coordinate of raster in projected spatial ref.

Examples

SELECt rid, ST_UpperLeftX(rast) As ulx
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid |    ulx
-----+------------
   1 |        0.5
   2 | 3427927.75

See Also

ST_UpperLeftY, ST_GeoReference, Box3D

Name

ST_UpperLeftY — Returns the upper left Y coordinate of raster in projected spatial ref.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_UpperLeftY(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the upper left Y coordinate of raster in projected spatial ref.

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_UpperLeftY(rast) As uly
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid |   uly
-----+---------
   1 |     0.5
   2 | 5793244

See Also

ST_UpperLeftX, ST_GeoReference, Box3D

Name

ST_Width — Returns the width of the raster in pixels.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_Width(
rast);

raster rast;

Description

Returns the width of the raster in pixels.

Examples

SELECT ST_Width(rast) As rastwidth
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=1;

rastwidth
----------------
10

See Also

ST_Height

Name

ST_WorldToRasterCoord — Returns the upper left corner as column and row given geometric X and Y (longitude and latitude) or a point geometry expressed in the spatial reference coordinate system of the raster.

Synopsis

record fsfuncST_WorldToRasterCoord( | rast, |
| pt); |

raster rast;
geometry pt;

record fsfuncST_WorldToRasterCoord( | rast, |
| longitude, |
| latitude); |

raster rast;
double precision longitude;
double precision latitude;

Description

Returns the upper left corner as column and row given geometric X and Y (longitude and latitude) or a point geometry. This function works regardless of whether or not the geometric X and Y or point geometry is outside the extent of the raster. Geometric X and Y must be expressed in the spatial reference coordinate system of the raster.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT
	rid,
	(ST_WorldToRasterCoord(rast,3427927.8,20.5)).*,
	(ST_WorldToRasterCoord(rast,ST_GeomFromText('POINT(3427927.8 20.5)',ST_SRID(rast)))).*
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid | columnx |   rowy    | columnx |   rowy
-----+---------+-----------+---------+-----------
   1 | 1713964 |         7 | 1713964 |         7
   2 |       2 | 115864471 |       2 | 115864471

See Also

ST_WorldToRasterCoordX, ST_WorldToRasterCoordY, ST_RasterToWorldCoordX, ST_RasterToWorldCoordY, ST_SRID

Name

ST_WorldToRasterCoordX — Returns the column in the raster of the point geometry (pt) or a X and Y world coordinate (xw, yw) represented in world spatial reference system of raster.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_WorldToRasterCoordX( | rast, |
| pt); |

raster rast;
geometry pt;

integer fsfuncST_WorldToRasterCoordX( | rast, |
| xw); |

raster rast;
double precision xw;

integer fsfuncST_WorldToRasterCoordX( | rast, |
| xw, |
| yw); |

raster rast;
double precision xw;
double precision yw;

Description

Returns the column in the raster of the point geometry (pt) or a X and Y world coordinate (xw, yw). A point, or (both xw and yw world coordinates are required if a raster is skewed). If a raster is not skewed then xw is sufficient. World coordinates are in the spatial reference coordinate system of the raster.

Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, this was called ST_World2RasterCoordX

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_WorldToRasterCoordX(rast,3427927.8) As xcoord,
		ST_WorldToRasterCoordX(rast,3427927.8,20.5) As xcoord_xwyw,
		ST_WorldToRasterCoordX(rast,ST_GeomFromText('POINT(3427927.8 20.5)',ST_SRID(rast))) As ptxcoord
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid | xcoord  |  xcoord_xwyw   | ptxcoord
-----+---------+---------+----------
   1 | 1713964 | 1713964 |  1713964
   2 |       1 |       1 |        1

See Also

ST_RasterToWorldCoordX, ST_RasterToWorldCoordY, ST_SRID

Name

ST_WorldToRasterCoordY — Returns the row in the raster of the point geometry (pt) or a X and Y world coordinate (xw, yw) represented in world spatial reference system of raster.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_WorldToRasterCoordY( | rast, |
| pt); |

raster rast;
geometry pt;

integer fsfuncST_WorldToRasterCoordY( | rast, |
| xw); |

raster rast;
double precision xw;

integer fsfuncST_WorldToRasterCoordY( | rast, |
| xw, |
| yw); |

raster rast;
double precision xw;
double precision yw;

Description

Returns the row in the raster of the point geometry (pt) or a X and Y world coordinate (xw, yw). A point, or (both xw and yw world coordinates are required if a raster is skewed). If a raster is not skewed then xw is sufficient. World coordinates are in the spatial reference coordinate system of the raster.

Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, this was called ST_World2RasterCoordY

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_WorldToRasterCoordY(rast,20.5) As ycoord,
		ST_WorldToRasterCoordY(rast,3427927.8,20.5) As ycoord_xwyw,
		ST_WorldToRasterCoordY(rast,ST_GeomFromText('POINT(3427927.8 20.5)',ST_SRID(rast))) As ptycoord
FROM dummy_rast;

 rid |  ycoord   | ycoord_xwyw | ptycoord
-----+-----------+-------------+-----------
   1 |         7 |           7 |         7
   2 | 115864471 |   115864471 | 115864471

See Also

ST_RasterToWorldCoordX, ST_RasterToWorldCoordY, ST_SRID

Raster Band Accessors

Name

ST_BandMetaData — Returns basic meta data for a specific raster band. band num 1 is assumed if none-specified.

Synopsis

record fsfuncST_BandMetaData( | rast, |
| bandnum=1); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum=1;

Description

Returns basic meta data about a raster band. Columns returned pixeltype | nodatavalue | isoutdb | path.

Note

If raster contains no bands then an error is thrown.

Note

If band has no NODATA value, nodatavalue will be NULL.

Examples

SELECT rid, (foo.md).*
 FROM (SELECT rid, ST_BandMetaData(rast,1) As md
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2) As foo;

 rid | pixeltype | nodatavalue | isoutdb | path
-----+-----------+----------------+-------------+---------+------
   2 | 8BUI      |           0 | f       |

See Also

ST_MetaData, ST_BandPixelType

Name

ST_BandNoDataValue — Returns the value in a given band that represents no data. If no band num 1 is assumed.

Synopsis

double precision fsfuncST_BandNoDataValue( | rast, |
| bandnum=1); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum=1;

Description

Returns the value that represents no data for the band

Examples

SELECT ST_BandNoDataValue(rast,1) As bnval1,
    ST_BandNoDataValue(rast,2) As bnval2, ST_BandNoDataValue(rast,3) As bnval3
FROM dummy_rast
WHERE rid = 2;

 bnval1 | bnval2 | bnval3
--------+--------+--------
      0 |      0 |      0

See Also

ST_NumBands

Name

ST_BandIsNoData — Returns true if the band is filled with only nodata values.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_BandIsNoData( | rast, |
| band, |
| forceChecking=true); |

raster rast;
integer band;
boolean forceChecking=true;

boolean fsfuncST_BandIsNoData( | rast, |
| forceChecking=true); |

raster rast;
boolean forceChecking=true;

Description

Returns true if the band is filled with only nodata values. Band 1 is assumed if not specified. If the last argument is TRUE, the entire band is checked pixel by pixel. Otherwise, the function simply returns the value of the isnodata flag for the band. The default value for this parameter is FALSE, if not specified.

Availability: 2.0.0

Note

If the flag is dirty (this is, the result is different using TRUE as last parameter and not using it) you should update the raster to set this flag to true, by using ST_SetBandIsNodata(), or ST_SetBandNodataValue() with TRUE as last argument. See ST_SetBandIsNoData.

Examples

-- Create dummy table with one raster column
create table dummy_rast (rid integer, rast raster);

-- Add raster with two bands, one pixel/band. In the first band, nodatavalue = pixel value = 3.
-- In the second band, nodatavalue = 13, pixel value = 4
insert into dummy_rast values(1,
(
'01' -- little endian (uint8 ndr)
||
'0000' -- version (uint16 0)
||
'0200' -- nBands (uint16 0)
||
'17263529ED684A3F' -- scaleX (float64 0.000805965234044584)
||
'F9253529ED684ABF' -- scaleY (float64 -0.00080596523404458)
||
'1C9F33CE69E352C0' -- ipX (float64 -75.5533328537098)
||
'718F0E9A27A44840' -- ipY (float64 49.2824585505576)
||
'ED50EB853EC32B3F' -- skewX (float64 0.000211812383858707)
||
'7550EB853EC32B3F' -- skewY (float64 0.000211812383858704)
||
'E6100000' -- SRID (int32 4326)
||
'0100' -- width (uint16 1)
||
'0100' -- height (uint16 1)
||
'6' -- hasnodatavalue and isnodata value set to true.
||
'2' -- first band type (4BUI)
||
'03' -- novalue==3
||
'03' -- pixel(0,0)==3 (same that nodata)
||
'0' -- hasnodatavalue set to false
||
'5' -- second band type (16BSI)
||
'0D00' -- novalue==13
||
'0400' -- pixel(0,0)==4
)::raster
);

select st_bandisnodata(rast, 1) from dummy_rast where rid = 1; -- Expected true
select st_bandisnodata(rast, 2) from dummy_rast where rid = 1; -- Expected false

See Also

ST_BandNoDataValue, ST_NumBands, ST_SetBandNoDataValue, ST_SetBandIsNoData

Name

ST_BandPath — Returns system file path to a band stored in file system. If no bandnum specified, 1 is assumed.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_BandPath( | rast, |
| bandnum=1); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum=1;

Description

Returns system file path to a band. Throws an error if called with an in db band.

Examples

See Also

Name

ST_BandPixelType — Returns the type of pixel for given band. If no bandnum specified, 1 is assumed.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_BandPixelType( | rast, |
| bandnum=1); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum=1;

Description

Returns the value that represents no data for the band

There are 11 pixel types. Pixel Types supported are as follows:

1BB - 1-bit boolean

2BUI - 2-bit unsigned integer

4BUI - 4-bit unsigned integer

8BSI - 8-bit signed integer

8BUI - 8-bit unsigned integer

16BSI - 16-bit signed integer

16BUI - 16-bit unsigned integer

32BSI - 32-bit signed integer

32BUI - 32-bit unsigned integer

32BF - 32-bit float

64BF - 64-bit float

Examples

SELECT ST_BandPixelType(rast,1) As btype1,
    ST_BandPixelType(rast,2) As btype2, ST_BandPixelType(rast,3) As btype3
FROM dummy_rast
WHERE rid = 2;

 btype1 | btype2 | btype3
--------+--------+--------
 8BUI   | 8BUI   | 8BUI

See Also

ST_NumBands

Name

ST_HasNoBand — Returns true if there is no band with given band number. If no band number is specified, then band number 1 is assumed.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_HasNoBand( | rast, |
| bandnum=1); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum=1;

Description

Returns true if there is no band with given band number. If no band number is specified, then band number 1 is assumed.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

SELECT rid, ST_HasNoBand(rast) As hb1, ST_HasNoBand(rast,2) as hb2,
ST_HasNoBand(rast,4) as hb4, ST_NumBands(rast) As numbands
FROM dummy_rast;

rid | hb1 | hb2 | hb4 | numbands
-----+-----+-----+-----+----------
1 | t   | t   | t   |        0
2 | f   | f   | t   |        3

See Also

ST_NumBands

Raster Pixel Accessors and Setters

Name

ST_PixelAsPolygon — Returns the polygon geometry that bounds the pixel for a particular row and column.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_PixelAsPolygon( | rast, |
| columnx, |
| rowy); |

raster rast;
integer columnx;
integer rowy;

Description

Returns the polygon geometry that bounds the pixel for a particular row and column.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

-- get raster pixel polygon
SELECT i,j, ST_AsText(ST_PixelAsPolygon(foo.rast, i,j)) As b1pgeom
FROM dummy_rast As foo
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,2) As i
	CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,1) As j
WHERE rid=2;

 i | j |                                                    b1pgeom
---+---+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 | 1 | POLYGON((3427927.75 5793244,3427927.8 5793244,3427927.8 5793243.95,...
 2 | 1 | POLYGON((3427927.8 5793244,3427927.85 5793244,3427927.85 5793243.95, ..

See Also

ST_DumpAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPoint, ST_PixelAsPoints, ST_PixelAsCentroid, ST_PixelAsCentroids, ST_Intersection, ST_AsText

Name

ST_PixelAsPolygons — Returns the polygon geometry that bounds every pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel.

Synopsis

setof record fsfuncST_PixelAsPolygons( | rast, |
| band=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=TRUE); |

raster rast;
integer band=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=TRUE;

Description

Returns the polygon geometry that bounds every pixel of a raster band along with the value (double precision), the X and the Y raster coordinates (integers) of each pixel.

Note

ST_PixelAsPolygons returns one polygon geometry for every pixel. This is different than ST_DumpAsPolygons where each geometry represents one or more pixels with the same pixel value.

Note

When exclude_nodata_value = TRUE, only those pixels whose values are not NODATA are returned as polygons.

Availability: 2.0.0

Enhanced: 2.1.0 exclude_nodata_value optional argument was added.

Changed: 2.1.1 Changed behavior of exclude_nodata_value.

Examples

-- get raster pixel polygon
SELECT (gv).x, (gv).y, (gv).val, ST_AsText((gv).geom) geom
FROM (SELECT ST_PixelAsPolygons(
                 ST_SetValue(ST_SetValue(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, 0, 0, 0.001, -0.001, 0.001, 0.001, 4269),
                                                    '8BUI'::text, 1, 0),
                                         2, 2, 10),
                             1, 1, NULL)
) gv
) foo;

 x | y | val |                geom
---+---+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 | 1 |     | POLYGON((0 0,0.001 0.001,0.002 0,0.001 -0.001,0 0))
 1 | 2 |   1 | POLYGON((0.001 -0.001,0.002 0,0.003 -0.001,0.002 -0.002,0.001 -0.001))
 2 | 1 |   1 | POLYGON((0.001 0.001,0.002 0.002,0.003 0.001,0.002 0,0.001 0.001))
 2 | 2 |  10 | POLYGON((0.002 0,0.003 0.001,0.004 0,0.003 -0.001,0.002 0))

See Also

ST_DumpAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPolygon, ST_PixelAsPoint, ST_PixelAsPoints, ST_PixelAsCentroid, ST_PixelAsCentroids, ST_AsText

Name

ST_PixelAsPoint — Returns a point geometry of the pixel's upper-left corner.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_PixelAsPoint( | rast, |
| columnx, |
| rowy); |

raster rast;
integer columnx;
integer rowy;

Description

Returns a point geometry of the pixel's upper-left corner.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_PixelAsPoint(rast, 1, 1)) FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 1;

   st_astext
----------------
 POINT(0.5 0.5)

See Also

ST_DumpAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPolygon, ST_PixelAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPoints, ST_PixelAsCentroid, ST_PixelAsCentroids

Name

ST_PixelAsPoints — Returns a point geometry for each pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel. The coordinates of the point geometry are of the pixel's upper-left corner.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_PixelAsPoints( | rast, |
| band=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=TRUE); |

raster rast;
integer band=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=TRUE;

Description

Returns a point geometry for each pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel. The coordinates of the point geometry are of the pixel's upper-left corner.

Note

When exclude_nodata_value = TRUE, only those pixels whose values are not NODATA are returned as points.

Availability: 2.1.0

Changed: 2.1.1 Changed behavior of exclude_nodata_value.

Examples

SELECT x, y, val, ST_AsText(geom) FROM (SELECT (ST_PixelAsPoints(rast, 1)).* FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 2) foo;

 x | y | val |          st_astext
---+---+-----+------------------------------
 1 | 1 | 253 | POINT(3427927.75 5793244)
 2 | 1 | 254 | POINT(3427927.8 5793244)
 3 | 1 | 253 | POINT(3427927.85 5793244)
 4 | 1 | 254 | POINT(3427927.9 5793244)
 5 | 1 | 254 | POINT(3427927.95 5793244)
 1 | 2 | 253 | POINT(3427927.75 5793243.95)
 2 | 2 | 254 | POINT(3427927.8 5793243.95)
 3 | 2 | 254 | POINT(3427927.85 5793243.95)
 4 | 2 | 253 | POINT(3427927.9 5793243.95)
 5 | 2 | 249 | POINT(3427927.95 5793243.95)
 1 | 3 | 250 | POINT(3427927.75 5793243.9)
 2 | 3 | 254 | POINT(3427927.8 5793243.9)
 3 | 3 | 254 | POINT(3427927.85 5793243.9)
 4 | 3 | 252 | POINT(3427927.9 5793243.9)
 5 | 3 | 249 | POINT(3427927.95 5793243.9)
 1 | 4 | 251 | POINT(3427927.75 5793243.85)
 2 | 4 | 253 | POINT(3427927.8 5793243.85)
 3 | 4 | 254 | POINT(3427927.85 5793243.85)
 4 | 4 | 254 | POINT(3427927.9 5793243.85)
 5 | 4 | 253 | POINT(3427927.95 5793243.85)
 1 | 5 | 252 | POINT(3427927.75 5793243.8)
 2 | 5 | 250 | POINT(3427927.8 5793243.8)
 3 | 5 | 254 | POINT(3427927.85 5793243.8)
 4 | 5 | 254 | POINT(3427927.9 5793243.8)
 5 | 5 | 254 | POINT(3427927.95 5793243.8)

See Also

ST_DumpAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPolygon, ST_PixelAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPoint, ST_PixelAsCentroid, ST_PixelAsCentroids

Name

ST_PixelAsCentroid — Returns the centroid (point geometry) of the area represented by a pixel.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_PixelAsCentroid( | rast, |
| x, |
| y); |

raster rast;
integer x;
integer y;

Description

Returns the centroid (point geometry) of the area represented by a pixel.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_PixelAsCentroid(rast, 1, 1)) FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 1;

  st_astext
--------------
 POINT(1.5 2)

See Also

ST_DumpAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPolygon, ST_PixelAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPoint, ST_PixelAsPoints, ST_PixelAsCentroids

Name

ST_PixelAsCentroids — Returns the centroid (point geometry) for each pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel. The point geometry is the centroid of the area represented by a pixel.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_PixelAsCentroids( | rast, |
| band=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=TRUE); |

raster rast;
integer band=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=TRUE;

Description

Returns the centroid (point geometry) for each pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel. The point geometry is the centroid of the area represented by a pixel.

Note

When exclude_nodata_value = TRUE, only those pixels whose values are not NODATA are returned as points.

Availability: 2.1.0

Changed: 2.1.1 Changed behavior of exclude_nodata_value.

Examples

SELECT x, y, val, ST_AsText(geom) FROM (SELECT (ST_PixelAsCentroids(rast, 1)).* FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 2) foo;
 x | y | val |           st_astext
---+---+-----+--------------------------------
 1 | 1 | 253 | POINT(3427927.775 5793243.975)
 2 | 1 | 254 | POINT(3427927.825 5793243.975)
 3 | 1 | 253 | POINT(3427927.875 5793243.975)
 4 | 1 | 254 | POINT(3427927.925 5793243.975)
 5 | 1 | 254 | POINT(3427927.975 5793243.975)
 1 | 2 | 253 | POINT(3427927.775 5793243.925)
 2 | 2 | 254 | POINT(3427927.825 5793243.925)
 3 | 2 | 254 | POINT(3427927.875 5793243.925)
 4 | 2 | 253 | POINT(3427927.925 5793243.925)
 5 | 2 | 249 | POINT(3427927.975 5793243.925)
 1 | 3 | 250 | POINT(3427927.775 5793243.875)
 2 | 3 | 254 | POINT(3427927.825 5793243.875)
 3 | 3 | 254 | POINT(3427927.875 5793243.875)
 4 | 3 | 252 | POINT(3427927.925 5793243.875)
 5 | 3 | 249 | POINT(3427927.975 5793243.875)
 1 | 4 | 251 | POINT(3427927.775 5793243.825)
 2 | 4 | 253 | POINT(3427927.825 5793243.825)
 3 | 4 | 254 | POINT(3427927.875 5793243.825)
 4 | 4 | 254 | POINT(3427927.925 5793243.825)
 5 | 4 | 253 | POINT(3427927.975 5793243.825)
 1 | 5 | 252 | POINT(3427927.775 5793243.775)
 2 | 5 | 250 | POINT(3427927.825 5793243.775)
 3 | 5 | 254 | POINT(3427927.875 5793243.775)
 4 | 5 | 254 | POINT(3427927.925 5793243.775)
 5 | 5 | 254 | POINT(3427927.975 5793243.775)

See Also

ST_DumpAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPolygon, ST_PixelAsPolygons, ST_PixelAsPoint, ST_PixelAsPoints, ST_PixelAsCentroid

Name

ST_Value — Returns the value of a given band in a given columnx, rowy pixel or at a particular geometric point. Band numbers start at 1 and assumed to be 1 if not specified. If exclude_nodata_value is set to false, then all pixels include nodata pixels are considered to intersect and return value. If exclude_nodata_value is not passed in then reads it from metadata of raster.

Synopsis

double precision fsfuncST_Value( | rast, |
| pt, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
geometry pt;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

double precision fsfuncST_Value( | rast, |
| band, |
| pt, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
integer band;
geometry pt;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

double precision fsfuncST_Value( | rast, |
| x, |
| y, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
integer x;
integer y;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

double precision fsfuncST_Value( | rast, |
| band, |
| x, |
| y, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
integer band;
integer x;
integer y;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

Description

Returns the value of a given band in a given columnx, rowy pixel or at a given geometry point. Band numbers start at 1 and band is assumed to be 1 if not specified. If exclude_nodata_value is set to true, then only non nodata pixels are considered. If exclude_nodata_value is set to false, then all pixels are considered.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 exclude_nodata_value optional argument was added.

Examples

-- get raster values at particular postgis geometry points
-- the srid of your geometry should be same as for your raster
SELECT rid, ST_Value(rast, foo.pt_geom) As b1pval, ST_Value(rast, 2, foo.pt_geom) As b2pval
FROM dummy_rast CROSS JOIN (SELECT ST_SetSRID(ST_Point(3427927.77, 5793243.76), 0) As pt_geom) As foo
WHERE rid=2;

 rid | b1pval | b2pval
-----+--------+--------
   2 |    252 |     79

-- general fictitious example using a real table
SELECT rid, ST_Value(rast, 3, sometable.geom) As b3pval
FROM sometable
WHERE ST_Intersects(rast,sometable.geom);

SELECT rid, ST_Value(rast, 1, 1, 1) As b1pval,
    ST_Value(rast, 2, 1, 1) As b2pval, ST_Value(rast, 3, 1, 1) As b3pval
FROM dummy_rast
WHERE rid=2;

 rid | b1pval | b2pval | b3pval
-----+--------+--------+--------
   2 |    253 |     78 |     70

--- Get all values in bands 1,2,3 of each pixel --
SELECT x, y, ST_Value(rast, 1, x, y) As b1val,
	ST_Value(rast, 2, x, y) As b2val, ST_Value(rast, 3, x, y) As b3val
FROM dummy_rast CROSS JOIN
generate_series(1, 1000) As x CROSS JOIN generate_series(1, 1000) As y
WHERE rid =  2 AND x <= ST_Width(rast) AND y <= ST_Height(rast);

 x | y | b1val | b2val | b3val
---+---+-------+-------+-------
 1 | 1 |   253 |    78 |    70
 1 | 2 |   253 |    96 |    80
 1 | 3 |   250 |    99 |    90
 1 | 4 |   251 |    89 |    77
 1 | 5 |   252 |    79 |    62
 2 | 1 |   254 |    98 |    86
 2 | 2 |   254 |   118 |   108
 :
 :

--- Get all values in bands 1,2,3 of each pixel same as above but returning the upper left point point of each pixel --
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_SetSRID(
	ST_Point(ST_UpperLeftX(rast) + ST_ScaleX(rast)*x,
		ST_UpperLeftY(rast) + ST_ScaleY(rast)*y),
		ST_SRID(rast))) As uplpt
    , ST_Value(rast, 1, x, y) As b1val,
	ST_Value(rast, 2, x, y) As b2val, ST_Value(rast, 3, x, y) As b3val
FROM dummy_rast CROSS JOIN
generate_series(1,1000) As x CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,1000) As y
WHERE rid =  2 AND x <= ST_Width(rast) AND y <= ST_Height(rast);

            uplpt            | b1val | b2val | b3val
-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------
 POINT(3427929.25 5793245.5) |   253 |    78 |    70
 POINT(3427929.25 5793247)   |   253 |    96 |    80
 POINT(3427929.25 5793248.5) |   250 |    99 |    90
:

--- Get a polygon formed by union of all pixels
	that fall in a particular value range and intersect particular polygon --
SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Union(pixpolyg)) As shadow
FROM (SELECT ST_Translate(ST_MakeEnvelope(
		ST_UpperLeftX(rast), ST_UpperLeftY(rast),
			ST_UpperLeftX(rast) + ST_ScaleX(rast),
			ST_UpperLeftY(rast) + ST_ScaleY(rast), 0
			), ST_ScaleX(rast)*x, ST_ScaleY(rast)*y
		) As pixpolyg, ST_Value(rast, 2, x, y) As b2val
	FROM dummy_rast CROSS JOIN
generate_series(1,1000) As x CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,1000) As y
WHERE rid =  2
	AND x <= ST_Width(rast) AND y <= ST_Height(rast)) As foo
WHERE
	ST_Intersects(
		pixpolyg,
		ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((3427928 5793244,3427927.75 5793243.75,3427928 5793243.75,3427928 5793244))',0)
		) AND b2val != 254;

		shadow
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 MULTIPOLYGON(((3427928 5793243.9,3427928 5793243.85,3427927.95 5793243.85,3427927.95 5793243.9,
 3427927.95 5793243.95,3427928 5793243.95,3427928.05 5793243.95,3427928.05 5793243.9,3427928 5793243.9)),((3427927.95 5793243.9,3427927.95 579324
3.85,3427927.9 5793243.85,3427927.85 5793243.85,3427927.85 5793243.9,3427927.9 5793243.9,3427927.9 5793243.95,
3427927.95 5793243.95,3427927.95 5793243.9)),((3427927.85 5793243.75,3427927.85 5793243.7,3427927.8 5793243.7,3427927.8 5793243.75
,3427927.8 5793243.8,3427927.8 5793243.85,3427927.85 5793243.85,3427927.85 5793243.8,3427927.85 5793243.75)),
((3427928.05 5793243.75,3427928.05 5793243.7,3427928 5793243.7,3427927.95 5793243.7,3427927.95 5793243.75,3427927.95 5793243.8,3427
927.95 5793243.85,3427928 5793243.85,3427928 5793243.8,3427928.05 5793243.8,
3427928.05 5793243.75)),((3427927.95 5793243.75,3427927.95 5793243.7,3427927.9 5793243.7,3427927.85 5793243.7,
3427927.85 5793243.75,3427927.85 5793243.8,3427927.85 5793243.85,3427927.9 5793243.85,
3427927.95 5793243.85,3427927.95 5793243.8,3427927.95 5793243.75)))

--- Checking all the pixels of a large raster tile can take a long time.
--- You can dramatically improve speed at some lose of precision by orders of magnitude
--  by sampling pixels using the step optional parameter of generate_series.
--  This next example does the same as previous but by checking 1 for every 4 (2x2) pixels and putting in the last checked
--  putting in the checked pixel as the value for subsequent 4

SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Union(pixpolyg)) As shadow
FROM (SELECT ST_Translate(ST_MakeEnvelope(
		ST_UpperLeftX(rast), ST_UpperLeftY(rast),
			ST_UpperLeftX(rast) + ST_ScaleX(rast)*2,
			ST_UpperLeftY(rast) + ST_ScaleY(rast)*2, 0
			), ST_ScaleX(rast)*x, ST_ScaleY(rast)*y
		) As pixpolyg, ST_Value(rast, 2, x, y) As b2val
	FROM dummy_rast CROSS JOIN
generate_series(1,1000,2) As x CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,1000,2) As y
WHERE rid =  2
	AND x <= ST_Width(rast)  AND y <= ST_Height(rast)  ) As foo
WHERE
	ST_Intersects(
		pixpolyg,
		ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((3427928 5793244,3427927.75 5793243.75,3427928 5793243.75,3427928 5793244))',0)
		) AND b2val != 254;

		shadow
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 MULTIPOLYGON(((3427927.9 5793243.85,3427927.8 5793243.85,3427927.8 5793243.95,
 3427927.9 5793243.95,3427928 5793243.95,3427928.1 5793243.95,3427928.1 5793243.85,3427928 5793243.85,3427927.9 5793243.85)),
 ((3427927.9 5793243.65,3427927.8 5793243.65,3427927.8 5793243.75,3427927.8 5793243.85,3427927.9 5793243.85,
 3427928 5793243.85,3427928 5793243.75,3427928.1 5793243.75,3427928.1 5793243.65,3427928 5793243.65,3427927.9 5793243.65)))

See Also

ST_SetValue, ST_DumpAsPolygons, ST_NumBands, ST_PixelAsPolygon, ST_ScaleX, ST_ScaleY, ST_UpperLeftX, ST_UpperLeftY, ST_SRID, ST_AsText, ST_Point, ST_MakeEnvelope, ST_Intersects, ST_Intersection

Name

ST_NearestValue — Returns the nearest non-NODATA value of a given band's pixel specified by a columnx and rowy or a geometric point expressed in the same spatial reference coordinate system as the raster.

Synopsis

double precision fsfuncST_NearestValue( | rast, |
| bandnum, |
| pt, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum;
geometry pt;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

double precision fsfuncST_NearestValue( | rast, |
| pt, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
geometry pt;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

double precision fsfuncST_NearestValue( | rast, |
| bandnum, |
| columnx, |
| rowy, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum;
integer columnx;
integer rowy;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

double precision fsfuncST_NearestValue( | rast, |
| columnx, |
| rowy, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
integer columnx;
integer rowy;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

Description

Returns the nearest non-NODATA value of a given band in a given columnx, rowy pixel or at a specific geometric point. If the columnx, rowy pixel or the pixel at the specified geometric point is NODATA, the function will find the nearest pixel to the columnx, rowy pixel or geometric point whose value is not NODATA.

Band numbers start at 1 and bandnum is assumed to be 1 if not specified. If exclude_nodata_value is set to false, then all pixels include nodata pixels are considered to intersect and return value. If exclude_nodata_value is not passed in then reads it from metadata of raster.

Availability: 2.1.0

Note

ST_NearestValue is a drop-in replacement for ST_Value.

Examples

-- pixel 2x2 has value
SELECT
	ST_Value(rast, 2, 2) AS value,
	ST_NearestValue(rast, 2, 2) AS nearestvalue
FROM (
	SELECT
		ST_SetValue(
			ST_SetValue(
				ST_SetValue(
					ST_SetValue(
						ST_SetValue(
							ST_AddBand(
								ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, -2, 2, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
								'8BUI'::text, 1, 0
							),
							1, 1, 0.
						),
						2, 3, 0.
					),
					3, 5, 0.
				),
				4, 2, 0.
			),
			5, 4, 0.
		) AS rast
) AS foo

 value | nearestvalue
-------+--------------
     1 |            1

-- pixel 2x3 is NODATA
SELECT
	ST_Value(rast, 2, 3) AS value,
	ST_NearestValue(rast, 2, 3) AS nearestvalue
FROM (
	SELECT
		ST_SetValue(
			ST_SetValue(
				ST_SetValue(
					ST_SetValue(
						ST_SetValue(
							ST_AddBand(
								ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, -2, 2, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
								'8BUI'::text, 1, 0
							),
							1, 1, 0.
						),
						2, 3, 0.
					),
					3, 5, 0.
				),
				4, 2, 0.
			),
			5, 4, 0.
		) AS rast
) AS foo

 value | nearestvalue
-------+--------------
       |            1

See Also

ST_Neighborhood, ST_Value

Name

ST_Neighborhood — Returns a 2-D double precision array of the non-NODATA values around a given band's pixel specified by either a columnX and rowY or a geometric point expressed in the same spatial reference coordinate system as the raster.

Synopsis

double precision[][] fsfuncST_Neighborhood( | rast, |
| bandnum, |
| columnX, |
| rowY, |
| distanceX, |
| distanceY, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum;
integer columnX;
integer rowY;
integer distanceX;
integer distanceY;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

double precision[][] fsfuncST_Neighborhood( | rast, |
| columnX, |
| rowY, |
| distanceX, |
| distanceY, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
integer columnX;
integer rowY;
integer distanceX;
integer distanceY;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

double precision[][] fsfuncST_Neighborhood( | rast, |
| bandnum, |
| pt, |
| distanceX, |
| distanceY, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum;
geometry pt;
integer distanceX;
integer distanceY;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

double precision[][] fsfuncST_Neighborhood( | rast, |
| pt, |
| distanceX, |
| distanceY, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
geometry pt;
integer distanceX;
integer distanceY;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

Description

Returns a 2-D double precision array of the non-NODATA values around a given band's pixel specified by either a columnX and rowY or a geometric point expressed in the same spatial reference coordinate system as the raster. The distanceX and distanceY parameters define the number of pixels around the specified pixel in the X and Y axes, e.g. I want all values within 3 pixel distance along the X axis and 2 pixel distance along the Y axis around my pixel of interest. The center value of the 2-D array will be the value at the pixel specified by the columnX and rowY or the geometric point.

Band numbers start at 1 and bandnum is assumed to be 1 if not specified. If exclude_nodata_value is set to false, then all pixels include nodata pixels are considered to intersect and return value. If exclude_nodata_value is not passed in then reads it from metadata of raster.

Note

The number of elements along each axis of the returning 2-D array is 2 * (distanceX|distanceY) + 1. So for a distanceX and distanceY of 1, the returning array will be 3x3.

Note

The 2-D array output can be passed to any of the raster processing builtin functions, e.g. ST_Min4ma, ST_Sum4ma, ST_Mean4ma.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

-- pixel 2x2 has value
SELECT
	ST_Neighborhood(rast, 2, 2, 1, 1)
FROM (
	SELECT
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, -2, 2, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
				'8BUI'::text, 1, 0
			),
			1, 1, 1, ARRAY[
				[0, 1, 1, 1, 1],
				[1, 1, 1, 0, 1],
				[1, 0, 1, 1, 1],
				[1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
				[1, 1, 0, 1, 1]
			]::double precision[],
			1
		) AS rast
) AS foo

         st_neighborhood
---------------------------------
 {{NULL,1,1},{1,1,NULL},{1,1,1}}

-- pixel 2x3 is NODATA
SELECT
	ST_Neighborhood(rast, 2, 3, 1, 1)
FROM (
	SELECT
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, -2, 2, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
				'8BUI'::text, 1, 0
			),
			1, 1, 1, ARRAY[
				[0, 1, 1, 1, 1],
				[1, 1, 1, 0, 1],
				[1, 0, 1, 1, 1],
				[1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
				[1, 1, 0, 1, 1]
			]::double precision[],
			1
		) AS rast
) AS foo

       st_neighborhood
------------------------------
 {{1,1,1},{1,NULL,1},{1,1,1}}

-- pixel 3x3 has value
-- exclude_nodata_value = FALSE
SELECT
	ST_Neighborhood(rast, 3, 3, 1, 1, false)
FROM (
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, -2, 2, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
				'8BUI'::text, 1, 0
			),
			1, 1, 1, ARRAY[
				[0, 1, 1, 1, 1],
				[1, 1, 1, 0, 1],
				[1, 0, 1, 1, 1],
				[1, 1, 1, 1, 0],
				[1, 1, 0, 1, 1]
			]::double precision[],
			1
		) AS rast
) AS foo

      st_neighborhood
---------------------------
 {{1,0,1},{1,1,1},{0,1,1}}

See Also

ST_NearestValue, ST_Min4ma, ST_Max4ma, ST_Sum4ma, ST_Mean4ma, ST_Range4ma, ST_Distinct4ma, ST_StdDev4ma

Name

ST_SetValue — Returns modified raster resulting from setting the value of a given band in a given columnx, rowy pixel or the pixels that intersect a particular geometry. Band numbers start at 1 and assumed to be 1 if not specified.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_SetValue( | rast, |
| bandnum, |
| geom, |
| newvalue); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum;
geometry geom;
double precision newvalue;

raster fsfuncST_SetValue( | rast, |
| geom, |
| newvalue); |

raster rast;
geometry geom;
double precision newvalue;

raster fsfuncST_SetValue( | rast, |
| bandnum, |
| columnx, |
| rowy, |
| newvalue); |

raster rast;
integer bandnum;
integer columnx;
integer rowy;
double precision newvalue;

raster fsfuncST_SetValue( | rast, |
| columnx, |
| rowy, |
| newvalue); |

raster rast;
integer columnx;
integer rowy;
double precision newvalue;

Description

Returns modified raster resulting from setting the specified pixels' values to new value for the designed band given the raster's row and column or a geometry. If no band is specified, then band 1 is assumed.

Enhanced: 2.1.0 Geometry variant of ST_SetValue() now supports any geometry type, not just point. The geometry variant is a wrapper around the geomval[] variant of ST_SetValues()

Examples

				-- Geometry example
SELECT (foo.geomval).val, ST_AsText(ST_Union((foo.geomval).geom))
FROM (SELECT ST_DumpAsPolygons(
		ST_SetValue(rast,1,
				ST_Point(3427927.75, 5793243.95),
				50)
			) As geomval
FROM dummy_rast
where rid = 2) As foo
WHERE (foo.geomval).val < 250
GROUP BY (foo.geomval).val;

 val |                                                     st_astext
-----+-------------------------------------------------------------------
  50 | POLYGON((3427927.75 5793244,3427927.75 5793243.95,3427927.8 579324 ...
 249 | POLYGON((3427927.95 5793243.95,3427927.95 5793243.85,3427928 57932 ...

-- Store the changed raster --
	UPDATE dummy_rast SET rast = ST_SetValue(rast,1, ST_Point(3427927.75, 5793243.95),100)
		WHERE rid = 2   ;

See Also

ST_Value, ST_DumpAsPolygons

Name

ST_SetValues — Returns modified raster resulting from setting the values of a given band.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_SetValues( | rast, |
| nband, |
| columnx, |
| rowy, |
| newvalueset, |
| noset=NULL, |
| keepnodata=FALSE); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
integer columnx;
integer rowy;
double precision[][] newvalueset;
boolean[][] noset=NULL;
boolean keepnodata=FALSE;

raster fsfuncST_SetValues( | rast, |
| nband, |
| columnx, |
| rowy, |
| newvalueset, |
| nosetvalue, |
| keepnodata=FALSE); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
integer columnx;
integer rowy;
double precision[][] newvalueset;
double precision nosetvalue;
boolean keepnodata=FALSE;

raster fsfuncST_SetValues( | rast, |
| nband, |
| columnx, |
| rowy, |
| width, |
| height, |
| newvalue, |
| keepnodata=FALSE); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
integer columnx;
integer rowy;
integer width;
integer height;
double precision newvalue;
boolean keepnodata=FALSE;

raster fsfuncST_SetValues( | rast, |
| columnx, |
| rowy, |
| width, |
| height, |
| newvalue, |
| keepnodata=FALSE); |

raster rast;
integer columnx;
integer rowy;
integer width;
integer height;
double precision newvalue;
boolean keepnodata=FALSE;

raster fsfuncST_SetValues( | rast, |
| nband, |
| geomvalset, |
| keepnodata=FALSE); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
geomval[] geomvalset;
boolean keepnodata=FALSE;

Description

Returns modified raster resulting from setting specified pixels to new value(s) for the designated band.

If keepnodata is TRUE, those pixels whose values are NODATA will not be set with the corresponding value in newvalueset.

For Variant 1, the specific pixels to be set are determined by the columnx, rowy pixel coordinates and the dimensions of the newvalueset array. noset can be used to prevent pixels with values present in newvalueset from being set (due to PostgreSQL not permitting ragged/jagged arrays). See example Variant 1.

Variant 2 is like Variant 1 but with a simple double precision nosetvalue instead of a boolean noset array. Elements in newvalueset with the nosetvalue value with be skipped. See example Variant 2.

For Variant 3, the specific pixels to be set are determined by the columnx, rowy pixel coordinates, width and height. See example Variant 3.

Variant 4 is the same as Variant 3 with the exception that it assumes that the first band's pixels of rast will be set.

For Variant 5, an array of geomval is used to determine the specific pixels to be set. If all the geometries in the array are of type POINT or MULTIPOINT, the function uses a shortcut where the longitude and latitude of each point is used to set a pixel directly. Otherwise, the geometries are converted to rasters and then iterated through in one pass. See example Variant 5.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples: Variant 1

/*
The ST_SetValues() does the following...

+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 1 | 1 | 1 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |    =>    | 1 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 1 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
*/
SELECT
	(poly).x,
	(poly).y,
	(poly).val
FROM (
SELECT
	ST_PixelAsPolygons(
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
				1, '8BUI', 1, 0
			),
			1, 2, 2, ARRAY[[9, 9], [9, 9]]::double precision[][]
		)
	) AS poly
) foo
ORDER BY 1, 2;

 x | y | val
---+---+-----
 1 | 1 |   1
 1 | 2 |   1
 1 | 3 |   1
 2 | 1 |   1
 2 | 2 |   9
 2 | 3 |   9
 3 | 1 |   1
 3 | 2 |   9
 3 | 3 |   9

/*
The ST_SetValues() does the following...

+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 9 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |    =>    | 9 |   | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 9 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
*/
SELECT
	(poly).x,
	(poly).y,
	(poly).val
FROM (
SELECT
	ST_PixelAsPolygons(
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
				1, '8BUI', 1, 0
			),
			1, 1, 1, ARRAY[[9, 9, 9], [9, NULL, 9], [9, 9, 9]]::double precision[][]
		)
	) AS poly
) foo
ORDER BY 1, 2;

 x | y | val
---+---+-----
 1 | 1 |   9
 1 | 2 |   9
 1 | 3 |   9
 2 | 1 |   9
 2 | 2 |
 2 | 3 |   9
 3 | 1 |   9
 3 | 2 |   9
 3 | 3 |   9

/*
The ST_SetValues() does the following...

+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 9 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |    =>    | 1 |   | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 9 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
*/
SELECT
	(poly).x,
	(poly).y,
	(poly).val
FROM (
SELECT
	ST_PixelAsPolygons(
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
				1, '8BUI', 1, 0
			),
			1, 1, 1,
				ARRAY[[9, 9, 9], [9, NULL, 9], [9, 9, 9]]::double precision[][],
				ARRAY[[false], [true]]::boolean[][]
		)
	) AS poly
) foo
ORDER BY 1, 2;

 x | y | val
---+---+-----
 1 | 1 |   9
 1 | 2 |   1
 1 | 3 |   9
 2 | 1 |   9
 2 | 2 |
 2 | 3 |   9
 3 | 1 |   9
 3 | 2 |   9
 3 | 3 |   9

/*
The ST_SetValues() does the following...

+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
|   | 1 | 1 |          |   | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |    =>    | 1 |   | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 9 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
*/
SELECT
	(poly).x,
	(poly).y,
	(poly).val
FROM (
SELECT
	ST_PixelAsPolygons(
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_SetValue(
				ST_AddBand(
					ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
					1, '8BUI', 1, 0
				),
				1, 1, 1, NULL
			),
			1, 1, 1,
				ARRAY[[9, 9, 9], [9, NULL, 9], [9, 9, 9]]::double precision[][],
				ARRAY[[false], [true]]::boolean[][],
				TRUE
		)
	) AS poly
) foo
ORDER BY 1, 2;

 x | y | val
---+---+-----
 1 | 1 |
 1 | 2 |   1
 1 | 3 |   9
 2 | 1 |   9
 2 | 2 |
 2 | 3 |   9
 3 | 1 |   9
 3 | 2 |   9
 3 | 3 |   9

Examples: Variant 2

/*
The ST_SetValues() does the following...

+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 1 | 1 | 1 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |    =>    | 1 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 1 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
*/
SELECT
	(poly).x,
	(poly).y,
	(poly).val
FROM (
SELECT
	ST_PixelAsPolygons(
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
				1, '8BUI', 1, 0
			),
			1, 1, 1, ARRAY[[-1, -1, -1], [-1, 9, 9], [-1, 9, 9]]::double precision[][], -1
		)
	) AS poly
) foo
ORDER BY 1, 2;

 x | y | val
---+---+-----
 1 | 1 |   1
 1 | 2 |   1
 1 | 3 |   1
 2 | 1 |   1
 2 | 2 |   9
 2 | 3 |   9
 3 | 1 |   1
 3 | 2 |   9
 3 | 3 |   9

/*
This example is like the previous one.  Instead of nosetvalue = -1, nosetvalue = NULL

The ST_SetValues() does the following...

+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 1 | 1 | 1 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |    =>    | 1 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 1 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
*/
SELECT
	(poly).x,
	(poly).y,
	(poly).val
FROM (
SELECT
	ST_PixelAsPolygons(
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
				1, '8BUI', 1, 0
			),
			1, 1, 1, ARRAY[[NULL, NULL, NULL], [NULL, 9, 9], [NULL, 9, 9]]::double precision[][], NULL::double precision
		)
	) AS poly
) foo
ORDER BY 1, 2;

 x | y | val
---+---+-----
 1 | 1 |   1
 1 | 2 |   1
 1 | 3 |   1
 2 | 1 |   1
 2 | 2 |   9
 2 | 3 |   9
 3 | 1 |   1
 3 | 2 |   9
 3 | 3 |   9

Examples: Variant 3

/*
The ST_SetValues() does the following...

+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 1 | 1 | 1 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |    =>    | 1 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 1 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
*/
SELECT
	(poly).x,
	(poly).y,
	(poly).val
FROM (
SELECT
	ST_PixelAsPolygons(
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_AddBand(
				ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
				1, '8BUI', 1, 0
			),
			1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 9
		)
	) AS poly
) foo
ORDER BY 1, 2;

 x | y | val
---+---+-----
 1 | 1 |   1
 1 | 2 |   1
 1 | 3 |   1
 2 | 1 |   1
 2 | 2 |   9
 2 | 3 |   9
 3 | 1 |   1
 3 | 2 |   9
 3 | 3 |   9

/*
The ST_SetValues() does the following...

+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 1 | 1 | 1 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 |   | 1 |    =>    | 1 |   | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
| 1 | 1 | 1 |          | 1 | 9 | 9 |
+ - + - + - +          + - + - + - +
*/
SELECT
	(poly).x,
	(poly).y,
	(poly).val
FROM (
SELECT
	ST_PixelAsPolygons(
		ST_SetValues(
			ST_SetValue(
				ST_AddBand(
					ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
					1, '8BUI', 1, 0
				),
				1, 2, 2, NULL
			),
			1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 9, TRUE
		)
	) AS poly
) foo
ORDER BY 1, 2;

 x | y | val
---+---+-----
 1 | 1 |   1
 1 | 2 |   1
 1 | 3 |   1
 2 | 1 |   1
 2 | 2 |
 2 | 3 |   9
 3 | 1 |   1
 3 | 2 |   9
 3 | 3 |   9

Examples: Variant 5

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT 1 AS rid, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 0, 0) AS rast
), bar AS (
	SELECT 1 AS gid, 'SRID=0;POINT(2.5 -2.5)'::geometry geom UNION ALL
	SELECT 2 AS gid, 'SRID=0;POLYGON((1 -1, 4 -1, 4 -4, 1 -4, 1 -1))'::geometry geom UNION ALL
	SELECT 3 AS gid, 'SRID=0;POLYGON((0 0, 5 0, 5 -1, 1 -1, 1 -4, 0 -4, 0 0))'::geometry geom UNION ALL
	SELECT 4 AS gid, 'SRID=0;MULTIPOINT(0 0, 4 4, 4 -4)'::geometry
)
SELECT
	rid, gid, ST_DumpValues(ST_SetValue(rast, 1, geom, gid))
FROM foo t1
CROSS JOIN bar t2
ORDER BY rid, gid;

 rid | gid |                                                                st_dumpvalues
-----+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 |   1 | (1,"{{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,1,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL}}")
   1 |   2 | (1,"{{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,2,2,2,NULL},{NULL,2,2,2,NULL},{NULL,2,2,2,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL}}")
   1 |   3 | (1,"{{3,3,3,3,3},{3,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{3,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{3,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL}}")
   1 |   4 | (1,"{{4,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,4}}")
(4 rows)

The following shows that geomvals later in the array can overwrite prior geomvals

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT 1 AS rid, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 0, 0) AS rast
), bar AS (
	SELECT 1 AS gid, 'SRID=0;POINT(2.5 -2.5)'::geometry geom UNION ALL
	SELECT 2 AS gid, 'SRID=0;POLYGON((1 -1, 4 -1, 4 -4, 1 -4, 1 -1))'::geometry geom UNION ALL
	SELECT 3 AS gid, 'SRID=0;POLYGON((0 0, 5 0, 5 -1, 1 -1, 1 -4, 0 -4, 0 0))'::geometry geom UNION ALL
	SELECT 4 AS gid, 'SRID=0;MULTIPOINT(0 0, 4 4, 4 -4)'::geometry
)
SELECT
	t1.rid, t2.gid, t3.gid, ST_DumpValues(ST_SetValues(rast, 1, ARRAY[ROW(t2.geom, t2.gid), ROW(t3.geom, t3.gid)]::geomval[]))
FROM foo t1
CROSS JOIN bar t2
CROSS JOIN bar t3
WHERE t2.gid = 1
	AND t3.gid = 2
ORDER BY t1.rid, t2.gid, t3.gid;

 rid | gid | gid |                                                    st_dumpvalues
-----+-----+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 |   1 |   2 | (1,"{{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,2,2,2,NULL},{NULL,2,2,2,NULL},{NULL,2,2,2,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL}}")
(1 row)

This example is the opposite of the prior example

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT 1 AS rid, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 0, 0) AS rast
), bar AS (
	SELECT 1 AS gid, 'SRID=0;POINT(2.5 -2.5)'::geometry geom UNION ALL
	SELECT 2 AS gid, 'SRID=0;POLYGON((1 -1, 4 -1, 4 -4, 1 -4, 1 -1))'::geometry geom UNION ALL
	SELECT 3 AS gid, 'SRID=0;POLYGON((0 0, 5 0, 5 -1, 1 -1, 1 -4, 0 -4, 0 0))'::geometry geom UNION ALL
	SELECT 4 AS gid, 'SRID=0;MULTIPOINT(0 0, 4 4, 4 -4)'::geometry
)
SELECT
	t1.rid, t2.gid, t3.gid, ST_DumpValues(ST_SetValues(rast, 1, ARRAY[ROW(t2.geom, t2.gid), ROW(t3.geom, t3.gid)]::geomval[]))
FROM foo t1
CROSS JOIN bar t2
CROSS JOIN bar t3
WHERE t2.gid = 2
	AND t3.gid = 1
ORDER BY t1.rid, t2.gid, t3.gid;

 rid | gid | gid |                                                    st_dumpvalues
-----+-----+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 |   2 |   1 | (1,"{{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,2,2,2,NULL},{NULL,2,1,2,NULL},{NULL,2,2,2,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL}}")
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Value, ST_SetValue, ST_PixelAsPolygons

Name

ST_DumpValues — Get the values of the specified band as a 2-dimension array.

Synopsis

setof record fsfuncST_DumpValues( | rast, |
| nband=NULL, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast ;
integer[] nband=NULL ;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true ;

double precision[][] fsfuncST_DumpValues( | rast, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast ;
integer nband ;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true ;

Description

Get the values of the specified band as a 2-dimension array (first index is row, second is column). If nband is NULL or not provided, all raster bands are processed.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 1, 0), 2, '32BF', 3, -9999), 3, '16BSI', 0, 0) AS rast
)
SELECT
	(ST_DumpValues(rast)).*
FROM foo;

 nband |                       valarray
-------+------------------------------------------------------
     1 | {{1,1,1},{1,1,1},{1,1,1}}
     2 | {{3,3,3},{3,3,3},{3,3,3}}
     3 | {{NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL}}
(3 rows)

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 1, 0), 2, '32BF', 3, -9999), 3, '16BSI', 0, 0) AS rast
)
SELECT
	(ST_DumpValues(rast, ARRAY[3, 1])).*
FROM foo;

 nband |                       valarray
-------+------------------------------------------------------
     3 | {{NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL},{NULL,NULL,NULL}}
     1 | {{1,1,1},{1,1,1},{1,1,1}}
(2 rows)

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT ST_SetValue(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(3, 3, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0), 1, '8BUI', 1, 0), 1, 2, 5) AS rast
)
SELECT
	(ST_DumpValues(rast, 1))[2][1]
FROM foo;

 st_dumpvalues
---------------
             5
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Value, ST_SetValue, ST_SetValues

Name

ST_PixelOfValue — Get the columnx, rowy coordinates of the pixel whose value equals the search value.

Synopsis

setof record fsfuncST_PixelOfValue( | rast, |
| nband, |
| search, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast ;
integer nband ;
double precision[] search ;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true ;

setof record fsfuncST_PixelOfValue( | rast, |
| search, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast ;
double precision[] search ;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true ;

setof record fsfuncST_PixelOfValue( | rast, |
| nband, |
| search, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast ;
integer nband ;
double precision search ;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true ;

setof record fsfuncST_PixelOfValue( | rast, |
| search, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast ;
double precision search ;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true ;

Description

Get the columnx, rowy coordinates of the pixel whose value equals the search value. If no band is specified, then band 1 is assumed.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT
	(pixels).*
FROM (
	SELECT
		ST_PixelOfValue(
			ST_SetValue(
				ST_SetValue(
					ST_SetValue(
						ST_SetValue(
							ST_SetValue(
								ST_AddBand(
									ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, -2, 2, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0),
									'8BUI'::text, 1, 0
								),
								1, 1, 0
							),
							2, 3, 0
						),
						3, 5, 0
					),
					4, 2, 0
				),
				5, 4, 255
			)
		, 1, ARRAY[1, 255]) AS pixels
) AS foo

 val | x | y
-----+---+---
   1 | 1 | 2
   1 | 1 | 3
   1 | 1 | 4
   1 | 1 | 5
   1 | 2 | 1
   1 | 2 | 2
   1 | 2 | 4
   1 | 2 | 5
   1 | 3 | 1
   1 | 3 | 2
   1 | 3 | 3
   1 | 3 | 4
   1 | 4 | 1
   1 | 4 | 3
   1 | 4 | 4
   1 | 4 | 5
   1 | 5 | 1
   1 | 5 | 2
   1 | 5 | 3
 255 | 5 | 4
   1 | 5 | 5

Raster Editors

Name

ST_SetGeoReference — Set Georeference 6 georeference parameters in a single call. Numbers should be separated by white space. Accepts inputs in GDAL or ESRI format. Default is GDAL.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_SetGeoReference( | rast, |
| georefcoords, |
| format=GDAL); |

raster rast;
text georefcoords;
text format=GDAL;

raster fsfuncST_SetGeoReference( | rast, |
| upperleftx, |
| upperlefty, |
| scalex, |
| scaley, |
| skewx, |
| skewy); |

raster rast;
double precision upperleftx;
double precision upperlefty;
double precision scalex;
double precision scaley;
double precision skewx;
double precision skewy;

Description

Set Georeference 6 georeference parameters in a single call. Accepts inputs in 'GDAL' or 'ESRI' format. Default is GDAL. If 6 coordinates are not provided will return null.

Difference between format representations is as follows:

GDAL:

scalex skewy skewx scaley upperleftx upperlefty

ESRI:

scalex skewy skewx scaley upperleftx + scalex*0.5 upperlefty + scaley*0.5

Note

If the raster has out-db bands, changing the georeference may result in incorrect access of the band's externally stored data.

Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of ST_SetGeoReference(raster, double precision, ...) variant

Examples

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT ST_MakeEmptyRaster(5, 5, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0) AS rast
)
SELECT
	0 AS rid, (ST_Metadata(rast)).*
FROM foo
UNION ALL
SELECT
	1, (ST_Metadata(ST_SetGeoReference(rast, '10 0 0 -10 0.1 0.1', 'GDAL'))).*
FROM foo
UNION ALL
SELECT
	2, (ST_Metadata(ST_SetGeoReference(rast, '10 0 0 -10 5.1 -4.9', 'ESRI'))).*
FROM foo
UNION ALL
SELECT
	3, (ST_Metadata(ST_SetGeoReference(rast, 1, 1, 10, -10, 0.001, 0.001))).*
FROM foo

 rid |     upperleftx     |     upperlefty     | width | height | scalex | scaley | skewx | skewy | srid | numbands
-----+--------------------+--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+-------+-------+------+----------
   0 |                  0 |                  0 |     5 |      5 |      1 |     -1 |     0 |     0 |    0 |        0
   1 |                0.1 |                0.1 |     5 |      5 |     10 |    -10 |     0 |     0 |    0 |        0
   2 | 0.0999999999999996 | 0.0999999999999996 |     5 |      5 |     10 |    -10 |     0 |     0 |    0 |        0
   3 |                  1 |                  1 |     5 |      5 |     10 |    -10 | 0.001 | 0.001 |    0 |        0

See Also

ST_GeoReference, ST_ScaleX, ST_ScaleY, ST_UpperLeftX, ST_UpperLeftY

Name

ST_SetRotation — Set the rotation of the raster in radian.

Synopsis

float8 fsfuncST_SetRotation( | rast, |
| rotation); |

raster rast;
float8 rotation;

Description

Uniformly rotate the raster. Rotation is in radian. Refer to World File for more details.

Examples

SELECT
  ST_ScaleX(rast1), ST_ScaleY(rast1), ST_SkewX(rast1), ST_SkewY(rast1),
  ST_ScaleX(rast2), ST_ScaleY(rast2), ST_SkewX(rast2), ST_SkewY(rast2)
FROM (
  SELECT ST_SetRotation(rast, 15) AS rast1, rast as rast2 FROM dummy_rast
) AS foo;
      st_scalex      |      st_scaley      |      st_skewx      |      st_skewy      | st_scalex | st_scaley | st_skewx | st_skewy
---------------------+---------------------+--------------------+--------------------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------
   -1.51937582571764 |   -2.27906373857646 |   1.95086352047135 |   1.30057568031423 |         2 |         3 |        0 |        0
 -0.0379843956429411 | -0.0379843956429411 | 0.0325143920078558 | 0.0325143920078558 |      0.05 |     -0.05 |        0 |        0

See Also

ST_Rotation, ST_ScaleX, ST_ScaleY, ST_SkewX, ST_SkewY

Name

ST_SetScale — Sets the X and Y size of pixels in units of coordinate reference system. Number units/pixel width/height.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_SetScale( | rast, |
| xy); |

raster rast;
float8 xy;

raster fsfuncST_SetScale( | rast, |
| x, |
| y); |

raster rast;
float8 x;
float8 y;

Description

Sets the X and Y size of pixels in units of coordinate reference system. Number units/pixel width/height. If only one unit passed in, assumed X and Y are the same number.

Note

ST_SetScale is different from ST_Rescale in that ST_SetScale do not resample the raster to match the raster extent. It only changes the metadata (or georeference) of the raster to correct an originally mis-specified scaling. ST_Rescale results in a raster having different width and height computed to fit the geographic extent of the input raster. ST_SetScale do not modify the width, nor the height of the raster.

Changed: 2.0.0 In WKTRaster versions this was called ST_SetPixelSize. This was changed in 2.0.0.

Examples

UPDATE dummy_rast
	SET rast = ST_SetScale(rast, 1.5)
WHERE rid = 2;

SELECT ST_ScaleX(rast) As pixx, ST_ScaleY(rast) As pixy, Box3D(rast) As newbox
FROM dummy_rast
WHERE rid = 2;

 pixx | pixy |                    newbox
------+------+----------------------------------------------
  1.5 |  1.5 | BOX(3427927.75 5793244 0, 3427935.25 5793251.5 0)

UPDATE dummy_rast
	SET rast = ST_SetScale(rast, 1.5, 0.55)
WHERE rid = 2;

SELECT ST_ScaleX(rast) As pixx, ST_ScaleY(rast) As pixy, Box3D(rast) As newbox
FROM dummy_rast
WHERE rid = 2;

 pixx | pixy |                   newbox
------+------+--------------------------------------------
  1.5 | 0.55 | BOX(3427927.75 5793244 0,3427935.25 5793247 0)

See Also

ST_ScaleX, ST_ScaleY, Box3D

Name

ST_SetSkew — Sets the georeference X and Y skew (or rotation parameter). If only one is passed in, sets X and Y to the same value.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_SetSkew( | rast, |
| skewxy); |

raster rast;
float8 skewxy;

raster fsfuncST_SetSkew( | rast, |
| skewx, |
| skewy); |

raster rast;
float8 skewx;
float8 skewy;

Description

Sets the georeference X and Y skew (or rotation parameter). If only one is passed in, sets X and Y to the same value. Refer to World File for more details.

Examples

-- Example 1
UPDATE dummy_rast SET rast = ST_SetSkew(rast,1,2) WHERE rid = 1;
SELECT rid, ST_SkewX(rast) As skewx, ST_SkewY(rast) As skewy,
    ST_GeoReference(rast) as georef
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 1;

rid | skewx | skewy |    georef
----+-------+-------+--------------
  1 |     1 |     2 | 2.0000000000
                    : 2.0000000000
                    : 1.0000000000
                    : 3.0000000000
                    : 0.5000000000
                    : 0.5000000000

-- Example 2 set both to same number:
UPDATE dummy_rast SET rast = ST_SetSkew(rast,0) WHERE rid = 1;
SELECT rid, ST_SkewX(rast) As skewx, ST_SkewY(rast) As skewy,
    ST_GeoReference(rast) as georef
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 1;

 rid | skewx | skewy |    georef
-----+-------+-------+--------------
   1 |     0 |     0 | 2.0000000000
                     : 0.0000000000
                     : 0.0000000000
                     : 3.0000000000
                     : 0.5000000000
                     : 0.5000000000

See Also

ST_GeoReference, ST_SetGeoReference, ST_SkewX, ST_SkewY

Name

ST_SetSRID — Sets the SRID of a raster to a particular integer srid defined in the spatial_ref_sys table.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_SetSRID( | rast, |
| srid); |

raster rast;
integer srid;

Description

Sets the SRID on a raster to a particular integer value.

Note

This function does not transform the raster in any way - it simply sets meta data defining the spatial ref of the coordinate reference system that it's currently in. Useful for transformations later.

See Also

the section called “The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems”, ST_SRID

Name

ST_SetUpperLeft — Sets the value of the upper left corner of the pixel to projected X and Y coordinates.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_SetUpperLeft( | rast, |
| x, |
| y); |

raster rast;
double precision x;
double precision y;

Description

Set the value of the upper left corner of raster to the projected X coordinates

Examples

SELECT ST_SetUpperLeft(rast,-71.01,42.37)
FROM dummy_rast
WHERE rid = 2;

See Also

ST_UpperLeftX, ST_UpperLeftY

Name

ST_Resample — Resample a raster using a specified resampling algorithm, new dimensions, an arbitrary grid corner and a set of raster georeferencing attributes defined or borrowed from another raster.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_Resample( | rast, |
| width, |
| height, |
| gridx=NULL, |
| gridy=NULL, |
| skewx=0, |
| skewy=0, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbour, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
integer width;
integer height;
double precision gridx=NULL;
double precision gridy=NULL;
double precision skewx=0;
double precision skewy=0;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbour;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

raster fsfuncST_Resample( | rast, |
| scalex=0, |
| scaley=0, |
| gridx=NULL, |
| gridy=NULL, |
| skewx=0, |
| skewy=0, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbor, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
double precision scalex=0;
double precision scaley=0;
double precision gridx=NULL;
double precision gridy=NULL;
double precision skewx=0;
double precision skewy=0;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbor;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

raster fsfuncST_Resample( | rast, |
| ref, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbour, |
| maxerr=0.125, |
| usescale=true); |

raster rast;
raster ref;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbour;
double precision maxerr=0.125;
boolean usescale=true;

raster fsfuncST_Resample( | rast, |
| ref, |
| usescale, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbour, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
raster ref;
boolean usescale;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbour;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

Description

Resample a raster using a specified resampling algorithm, new dimensions (width & height), a grid corner (gridx & gridy) and a set of raster georeferencing attributes (scalex, scaley, skewx & skewy) defined or borrowed from another raster. If using a reference raster, the two rasters must have the same SRID.

New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (English or American spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. Default is NearestNeighbor which is the fastest but produce the worst interpolation.

A maxerror percent of 0.125 is used if no maxerr is specified.

Note

Refer to: GDAL Warp resampling methods for more details.

Availability: 2.0.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+

Changed: 2.1.0 Parameter srid removed. Variants with a reference raster no longer applies the reference raster's SRID. Use ST_Transform() to reproject raster. Works on rasters with no SRID.

Examples

SELECT
	ST_Width(orig) AS orig_width,
	ST_Width(reduce_100) AS new_width
FROM (
	SELECT
		rast AS orig,
		ST_Resample(rast,100,100) AS reduce_100
	FROM aerials.boston
	WHERE ST_Intersects(rast,
		ST_Transform(
			ST_MakeEnvelope(-71.128, 42.2392,-71.1277, 42.2397, 4326),26986)
	)
	LIMIT 1
) AS foo;

 orig_width | new_width
------------+-------------
        200 |         100

See Also

ST_Rescale, ST_Resize, ST_Transform

Name

ST_Rescale — Resample a raster by adjusting only its scale (or pixel size). New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. Default is NearestNeighbor.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_Rescale( | rast, |
| scalexy, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbour, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
double precision scalexy;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbour;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

raster fsfuncST_Rescale( | rast, |
| scalex, |
| scaley, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbour, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
double precision scalex;
double precision scaley;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbour;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

Description

Resample a raster by adjusting only its scale (or pixel size). New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. The default is NearestNeighbor which is the fastest but results in the worst interpolation.

scalex and scaley define the new pixel size. scaley must often be negative to get well oriented raster.

When the new scalex or scaley is not a divisor of the raster width or height, the extent of the resulting raster is expanded to encompass the extent of the provided raster. If you want to be sure to retain exact input extent see ST_Resize

A maxerror percent of 0.125 is used if no maxerr is specified.

Note

Refer to: GDAL Warp resampling methods for more details.

Note

ST_Rescale is different from ST_SetScale in that ST_SetScale do not resample the raster to match the raster extent. ST_SetScale only changes the metadata (or georeference) of the raster to correct an originally mis-specified scaling. ST_Rescale results in a raster having different width and height computed to fit the geographic extent of the input raster. ST_SetScale do not modify the width, nor the height of the raster.

Availability: 2.0.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+

Changed: 2.1.0 Works on rasters with no SRID

Examples

A simple example rescaling a raster from a pixel size of 0.001 degree to a pixel size of 0.0015 degree.

-- the original raster pixel size
SELECT ST_PixelWidth(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(100, 100, 0, 0, 0.001, -0.001, 0, 0, 4269), '8BUI'::text, 1, 0)) width

   width
----------
0.001

-- the rescaled raster raster pixel size
SELECT ST_PixelWidth(ST_Rescale(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(100, 100, 0, 0, 0.001, -0.001, 0, 0, 4269), '8BUI'::text, 1, 0), 0.0015)) width

   width
----------
0.0015

See Also

ST_Resize, ST_Resample, ST_SetScale, ST_ScaleX, ST_ScaleY, ST_Transform

Name

ST_Reskew — Resample a raster by adjusting only its skew (or rotation parameters). New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. Default is NearestNeighbor.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_Reskew( | rast, |
| skewxy, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbour, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
double precision skewxy;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbour;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

raster fsfuncST_Reskew( | rast, |
| skewx, |
| skewy, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbour, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
double precision skewx;
double precision skewy;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbour;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

Description

Resample a raster by adjusting only its skew (or rotation parameters). New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. The default is NearestNeighbor which is the fastest but results in the worst interpolation.

skewx and skewy define the new skew.

The extent of the new raster will encompass the extent of the provided raster.

A maxerror percent of 0.125 if no maxerr is specified.

Note

Refer to: GDAL Warp resampling methods for more details.

Note

ST_Reskew is different from ST_SetSkew in that ST_SetSkew do not resample the raster to match the raster extent. ST_SetSkew only changes the metadata (or georeference) of the raster to correct an originally mis-specified skew. ST_Reskew results in a raster having different width and height computed to fit the geographic extent of the input raster. ST_SetSkew do not modify the width, nor the height of the raster.

Availability: 2.0.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+

Changed: 2.1.0 Works on rasters with no SRID

Examples

A simple example reskewing a raster from a skew of 0.0 to a skew of 0.0015.

-- the original raster non-rotated
SELECT ST_Rotation(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(100, 100, 0, 0, 0.001, -0.001, 0, 0, 4269), '8BUI'::text, 1, 0));

-- result
0

-- the reskewed raster raster rotation
SELECT ST_Rotation(ST_Reskew(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(100, 100, 0, 0, 0.001, -0.001, 0, 0, 4269), '8BUI'::text, 1, 0), 0.0015));

-- result
-0.982793723247329

See Also

ST_Resample, ST_Rescale, ST_SetSkew, ST_SetRotation, ST_SkewX, ST_SkewY, ST_Transform

Name

ST_SnapToGrid — Resample a raster by snapping it to a grid. New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. Default is NearestNeighbor.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_SnapToGrid( | rast, |
| gridx, |
| gridy, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbour, |
| maxerr=0.125, |
| scalex=DEFAULT 0, |
| scaley=DEFAULT 0); |

raster rast;
double precision gridx;
double precision gridy;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbour;
double precision maxerr=0.125;
double precision scalex=DEFAULT 0;
double precision scaley=DEFAULT 0;

raster fsfuncST_SnapToGrid( | rast, |
| gridx, |
| gridy, |
| scalex, |
| scaley, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbour, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
double precision gridx;
double precision gridy;
double precision scalex;
double precision scaley;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbour;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

raster fsfuncST_SnapToGrid( | rast, |
| gridx, |
| gridy, |
| scalexy, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbour, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
double precision gridx;
double precision gridy;
double precision scalexy;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbour;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

Description

Resample a raster by snapping it to a grid defined by an arbitrary pixel corner (gridx & gridy) and optionally a pixel size (scalex & scaley). New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. The default is NearestNeighbor which is the fastest but results in the worst interpolation.

gridx and gridy define any arbitrary pixel corner of the new grid. This is not necessarily the upper left corner of the new raster and it does not have to be inside or on the edge of the new raster extent.

You can optionnal define the pixel size of the new grid with scalex and scaley.

The extent of the new raster will encompass the extent of the provided raster.

A maxerror percent of 0.125 if no maxerr is specified.

Note

Refer to: GDAL Warp resampling methods for more details.

Note

Use ST_Resample if you need more control over the grid parameters.

Availability: 2.0.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+

Changed: 2.1.0 Works on rasters with no SRID

Examples

A simple example snapping a raster to a slightly different grid.

-- the original raster upper left X
SELECT ST_UpperLeftX(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(10, 10, 0, 0, 0.001, -0.001, 0, 0, 4269), '8BUI'::text, 1, 0));
-- result
0

-- the upper left of raster after snapping
SELECT ST_UpperLeftX(ST_SnapToGrid(ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(10, 10, 0, 0, 0.001, -0.001, 0, 0, 4269), '8BUI'::text, 1, 0), 0.0002, 0.0002));

--result
-0.0008

See Also

ST_Resample, ST_Rescale, ST_UpperLeftX, ST_UpperLeftY

Name

ST_Resize — Resize a raster to a new width/height

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_Resize( | rast, |
| width, |
| height, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbor, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
integer width;
integer height;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbor;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

raster fsfuncST_Resize( | rast, |
| percentwidth, |
| percentheight, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbor, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
double precision percentwidth;
double precision percentheight;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbor;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

raster fsfuncST_Resize( | rast, |
| width, |
| height, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbor, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
text width;
text height;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbor;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

Description

Resize a raster to a new width/height. The new width/height can be specified in exact number of pixels or a percentage of the raster's width/height. The extent of the the new raster will be the same as the extent of the provided raster.

New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. The default is NearestNeighbor which is the fastest but results in the worst interpolation.

Variant 1 expects the actual width/height of the output raster.

Variant 2 expects decimal values between zero (0) and one (1) indicating the percentage of the input raster's width/height.

Variant 3 takes either the actual width/height of the output raster or a textual percentage ("20%") indicating the percentage of the input raster's width/height.

Availability: 2.1.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+

Examples

WITH foo AS(
SELECT
	1 AS rid,
	ST_Resize(
		ST_AddBand(
			ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1000, 1000, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0)
			, 1, '8BUI', 255, 0
		)
	, '50%', '500') AS rast
UNION ALL
SELECT
	2 AS rid,
	ST_Resize(
		ST_AddBand(
			ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1000, 1000, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0)
			, 1, '8BUI', 255, 0
		)
	, 500, 100) AS rast
UNION ALL
SELECT
	3 AS rid,
	ST_Resize(
		ST_AddBand(
			ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1000, 1000, 0, 0, 1, -1, 0, 0, 0)
			, 1, '8BUI', 255, 0
		)
	, 0.25, 0.9) AS rast
), bar AS (
	SELECT rid, ST_Metadata(rast) AS meta, rast FROM foo
)
SELECT rid, (meta).* FROM bar

 rid | upperleftx | upperlefty | width | height | scalex | scaley | skewx | skewy | srid | numbands
-----+------------+------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+-------+-------+------+----------
   1 |          0 |          0 |   500 |    500 |      1 |     -1 |     0 |     0 |    0 |        1
   2 |          0 |          0 |   500 |    100 |      1 |     -1 |     0 |     0 |    0 |        1
   3 |          0 |          0 |   250 |    900 |      1 |     -1 |     0 |     0 |    0 |        1
(3 rows)

See Also

ST_Resample, ST_Rescale, ST_Reskew, ST_SnapToGrid

Name

ST_Transform — Reprojects a raster in a known spatial reference system to another known spatial reference system using specified resampling algorithm. Options are NearestNeighbor, Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline, Lanczos defaulting to NearestNeighbor.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_Transform( | rast, |
| srid, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbor, |
| maxerr=0.125, |
| scalex, |
| scaley); |

raster rast;
integer srid;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbor;
double precision maxerr=0.125;
double precision scalex;
double precision scaley;

raster fsfuncST_Transform( | rast, |
| srid, |
| scalex, |
| scaley, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbor, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
integer srid;
double precision scalex;
double precision scaley;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbor;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

raster fsfuncST_Transform( | rast, |
| alignto, |
| algorithm=NearestNeighbor, |
| maxerr=0.125); |

raster rast;
raster alignto;
text algorithm=NearestNeighbor;
double precision maxerr=0.125;

Description

Reprojects a raster in a known spatial reference system to another known spatial reference system using specified pixel warping algorithm. Uses 'NearestNeighbor' if no algorithm is specified and maxerror percent of 0.125 if no maxerr is specified.

Algorithm options are: 'NearestNeighbor', 'Bilinear', 'Cubic', 'CubicSpline', and 'Lanczos'. Refer to: GDAL Warp resampling methods for more details.

ST_Transform is often confused with ST_SetSRID(). ST_Transform actually changes the coordinates of a raster (and resamples the pixel values) from one spatial reference system to another, while ST_SetSRID() simply changes the SRID identifier of the raster.

Unlike the other variants, Variant 3 requires a reference raster as alignto. The transformed raster will be transformed to the spatial reference system (SRID) of the reference raster and be aligned (ST_SameAlignment = TRUE) to the reference raster.

Note

If you find your transformation support is not working right, you may need to set the environment variable PROJSO to the .so or .dll projection library your PostGIS is using. This just needs to have the name of the file. So for example on windows, you would in Control Panel -> System -> Environment Variables add a system variable called PROJSO and set it to libproj.dll (if you are using proj 4.6.1). You'll have to restart your PostgreSQL service/daemon after this change.

Availability: 2.0.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+

Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of ST_Transform(rast, alignto) variant

Examples

SELECT ST_Width(mass_stm) As w_before, ST_Width(wgs_84) As w_after,
  ST_Height(mass_stm) As h_before, ST_Height(wgs_84) As h_after
	FROM
	( SELECT rast As mass_stm, ST_Transform(rast,4326) As wgs_84
  ,  ST_Transform(rast,4326, 'Bilinear') AS wgs_84_bilin
		FROM aerials.o_2_boston
			WHERE ST_Intersects(rast,
				ST_Transform(ST_MakeEnvelope(-71.128, 42.2392,-71.1277, 42.2397, 4326),26986) )
		LIMIT 1) As foo;

 w_before | w_after | h_before | h_after
----------+---------+----------+---------
      200 |     228 |      200 |     170

original mass state plane meters (mass_stm)

After transform to wgs 84 long lat (wgs_84)

After transform to wgs 84 long lat with bilinear algorithm instead of NN default (wgs_84_bilin)

Examples: Variant 3

The following shows the difference between using ST_Transform(raster, srid) and ST_Transform(raster, alignto)

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT 0 AS rid, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, -500000, 600000, 100, -100, 0, 0, 2163), 1, '16BUI', 1, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT 1, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, -499800, 600000, 100, -100, 0, 0, 2163), 1, '16BUI', 2, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT 2, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, -499600, 600000, 100, -100, 0, 0, 2163), 1, '16BUI', 3, 0) AS rast UNION ALL

	SELECT 3, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, -500000, 599800, 100, -100, 0, 0, 2163), 1, '16BUI', 10, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT 4, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, -499800, 599800, 100, -100, 0, 0, 2163), 1, '16BUI', 20, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT 5, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, -499600, 599800, 100, -100, 0, 0, 2163), 1, '16BUI', 30, 0) AS rast UNION ALL

	SELECT 6, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, -500000, 599600, 100, -100, 0, 0, 2163), 1, '16BUI', 100, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT 7, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, -499800, 599600, 100, -100, 0, 0, 2163), 1, '16BUI', 200, 0) AS rast UNION ALL
	SELECT 8, ST_AddBand(ST_MakeEmptyRaster(2, 2, -499600, 599600, 100, -100, 0, 0, 2163), 1, '16BUI', 300, 0) AS rast
), bar AS (
	SELECT
		ST_Transform(rast, 4269) AS alignto
	FROM foo
	LIMIT 1
), baz AS (
	SELECT
		rid,
		rast,
		ST_Transform(rast, 4269) AS not_aligned,
		ST_Transform(rast, alignto) AS aligned
	FROM foo
	CROSS JOIN bar
)
SELECT
	ST_SameAlignment(rast) AS rast,
	ST_SameAlignment(not_aligned) AS not_aligned,
	ST_SameAlignment(aligned) AS aligned
FROM baz

 rast | not_aligned | aligned
------+-------------+---------
 t    | f           | t

See Also

ST_Transform, ST_SetSRID

Raster Band Editors

Name

ST_SetBandNoDataValue — Sets the value for the given band that represents no data. Band 1 is assumed if no band is specified. To mark a band as having no nodata value, set the nodata value = NULL.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_SetBandNoDataValue( | rast, |
| nodatavalue); |

raster rast;
double precision nodatavalue;

raster fsfuncST_SetBandNoDataValue( | rast, |
| band, |
| nodatavalue, |
| forcechecking=false); |

raster rast;
integer band;
double precision nodatavalue;
boolean forcechecking=false;

Description

Sets the value that represents no data for the band. Band 1 is assumed if not specified. This will affect results from ST_Polygon, ST_DumpAsPolygons, and the ST_PixelAs...() functions.

Examples

-- change just first band no data value
UPDATE dummy_rast
	SET rast = ST_SetBandNoDataValue(rast,1, 254)
WHERE rid = 2;

-- change no data band value of bands 1,2,3
UPDATE dummy_rast
	SET rast =
		ST_SetBandNoDataValue(
			ST_SetBandNoDataValue(
				ST_SetBandNoDataValue(
					rast,1, 254)
				,2,99),
				3,108)
		WHERE rid = 2;

-- wipe out the nodata value this will ensure all pixels are considered for all processing functions
UPDATE dummy_rast
	SET rast = ST_SetBandNoDataValue(rast,1, NULL)
WHERE rid = 2;

See Also

ST_BandNoDataValue, ST_NumBands

Name

ST_SetBandIsNoData — Sets the isnodata flag of the band to TRUE.

Synopsis

raster fsfuncST_SetBandIsNoData( | rast, |
| band=1); |

raster rast;
integer band=1;

Description

Sets the isnodata flag for the band to true. Band 1 is assumed if not specified. This function should be called only when the flag is considered dirty. That is, when the result calling ST_BandIsNoData is different using TRUE as last argument and without using it

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

-- Create dummy table with one raster column
create table dummy_rast (rid integer, rast raster);

-- Add raster with two bands, one pixel/band. In the first band, nodatavalue = pixel value = 3.
-- In the second band, nodatavalue = 13, pixel value = 4
insert into dummy_rast values(1,
(
'01' -- little endian (uint8 ndr)
||
'0000' -- version (uint16 0)
||
'0200' -- nBands (uint16 0)
||
'17263529ED684A3F' -- scaleX (float64 0.000805965234044584)
||
'F9253529ED684ABF' -- scaleY (float64 -0.00080596523404458)
||
'1C9F33CE69E352C0' -- ipX (float64 -75.5533328537098)
||
'718F0E9A27A44840' -- ipY (float64 49.2824585505576)
||
'ED50EB853EC32B3F' -- skewX (float64 0.000211812383858707)
||
'7550EB853EC32B3F' -- skewY (float64 0.000211812383858704)
||
'E6100000' -- SRID (int32 4326)
||
'0100' -- width (uint16 1)
||
'0100' -- height (uint16 1)
||
'4' -- hasnodatavalue set to true, isnodata value set to false (when it should be true)
||
'2' -- first band type (4BUI)
||
'03' -- novalue==3
||
'03' -- pixel(0,0)==3 (same that nodata)
||
'0' -- hasnodatavalue set to false
||
'5' -- second band type (16BSI)
||
'0D00' -- novalue==13
||
'0400' -- pixel(0,0)==4
)::raster
);

select st_bandisnodata(rast, 1) from dummy_rast where rid = 1; -- Expected false
select st_bandisnodata(rast, 1, TRUE) from dummy_rast where rid = 1; -- Expected true

-- The isnodata flag is dirty. We are going to set it to true
update dummy_rast set rast = st_setbandisnodata(rast, 1) where rid = 1;

select st_bandisnodata(rast, 1) from dummy_rast where rid = 1; -- Expected true

See Also

ST_BandNoDataValue, ST_NumBands, ST_SetBandNoDataValue, ST_BandIsNoData

Raster Band Statistics and Analytics

Name

ST_Count — Returns the number of pixels in a given band of a raster or raster coverage. If no band is specified defaults to band 1. If exclude_nodata_value is set to true, will only count pixels that are not equal to the nodata value.

Synopsis

bigint fsfuncST_Count( | rast, |
| nband=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

raster rast;
integer nband=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

bigint fsfuncST_Count( | rast, |
| exclude_nodata_value); |

raster rast;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;

bigint fsfuncST_Count( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

bigint fsfuncST_Count( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| exclude_nodata_value); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;

Description

Returns the number of pixels in a given band of a raster or raster coverage. If no band is specified nband defaults to 1.

Note

If exclude_nodata_value is set to true, will only count pixels with value not equal to the nodata value of the raster. Set exclude_nodata_value to false to get count all pixels

Availability: 2.0.0

Warning

The ST_Count(rastertable, rastercolumn, ...) variants are deprecated as of 2.2.0. Use ST_CountAgg instead.

Examples

--example will count all pixels not 249 and one will count all pixels.  --
SELECT rid, ST_Count(ST_SetBandNoDataValue(rast,249)) As exclude_nodata,
        ST_Count(ST_SetBandNoDataValue(rast,249),false) As include_nodata
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

rid | exclude_nodata | include_nodata
-----+----------------+----------------
   2 |             23 |             25

See Also

ST_CountAgg, ST_SummaryStats, ST_SetBandNoDataValue

Name

ST_CountAgg — Aggregate. Returns the number of pixels in a given band of a set of rasters. If no band is specified defaults to band 1. If exclude_nodata_value is set to true, will only count pixels that are not equal to the NODATA value.

Synopsis

bigint fsfuncST_CountAgg( | rast, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value, |
| sample_percent); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;
double precision sample_percent;

bigint fsfuncST_CountAgg( | rast, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;

bigint fsfuncST_CountAgg( | rast, |
| exclude_nodata_value); |

raster rast;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;

Description

Returns the number of pixels in a given band of a set of rasters. If no band is specified nband defaults to 1.

If exclude_nodata_value is set to true, will only count pixels with value not equal to the NODATA value of the raster. Set exclude_nodata_value to false to get count all pixels

By default will sample all pixels. To get faster response, set sample_percent to value between zero (0) and one (1)

Availability: 2.2.0

Examples

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT
		rast.rast
	FROM (
		SELECT ST_SetValue(
			ST_SetValue(
				ST_SetValue(
					ST_AddBand(
						ST_MakeEmptyRaster(10, 10, 10, 10, 2, 2, 0, 0,0)
						, 1, '64BF', 0, 0
					)
					, 1, 1, 1, -10
				)
				, 1, 5, 4, 0
			)
			, 1, 5, 5, 3.14159
		) AS rast
	) AS rast
	FULL JOIN (
		SELECT generate_series(1, 10) AS id
	) AS id
		ON 1 = 1
)
SELECT
	ST_CountAgg(rast, 1, TRUE)
FROM foo;

 st_countagg
-------------
          20
(1 row)

See Also

ST_Count, ST_SummaryStats, ST_SetBandNoDataValue

Name

ST_Histogram — Returns a set of record summarizing a raster or raster coverage data distribution separate bin ranges. Number of bins are autocomputed if not specified.

Synopsis

SETOF record fsfuncST_Histogram( | rast, |
| nband=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true, |
| bins=autocomputed, |
| width=NULL, |
| right=false); |

raster rast;
integer nband=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;
integer bins=autocomputed;
double precision[] width=NULL;
boolean right=false;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Histogram( | rast, |
| nband, |
| bins, |
| width=NULL, |
| right=false); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
integer bins;
double precision[] width=NULL;
boolean right=false;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Histogram( | rast, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value, |
| bins, |
| right); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;
integer bins;
boolean right;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Histogram( | rast, |
| nband, |
| bins, |
| right); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
integer bins;
boolean right;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Histogram( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband, |
| bins, |
| right); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband;
integer bins;
boolean right;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Histogram( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value, |
| bins, |
| right); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;
integer bins;
boolean right;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Histogram( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true, |
| bins=autocomputed, |
| width=NULL, |
| right=false); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;
integer bins=autocomputed;
double precision[] width=NULL;
boolean right=false;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Histogram( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband=1, |
| bins, |
| width=NULL, |
| right=false); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband=1;
integer bins;
double precision[] width=NULL;
boolean right=false;

Description

Returns set of records consisting of min, max, count, percent for a given raster band for each bin. If no band is specified nband defaults to 1.

Note

By default only considers pixel values not equal to the nodata value . Set exclude_nodata_value to false to get count all pixels.

width double precision[]

width: an array indicating the width of each category/bin. If the number of bins is greater than the number of widths, the widths are repeated.

Example: 9 bins, widths are [a, b, c] will have the output be [a, b, c, a, b, c, a, b, c]

bins integer

Number of breakouts -- this is the number of records you'll get back from the function if specified. If not specified then the number of breakouts is autocomputed.

right boolean

compute the histogram from the right rather than from the left (default). This changes the criteria for evaluating a value x from [a, b) to (a, b]

Availability: 2.0.0

Example: Single raster tile - compute histograms for bands 1, 2, 3 and autocompute bins

SELECT band, (stats).*
FROM (SELECT rid, band, ST_Histogram(rast, band) As stats
    FROM dummy_rast CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,3) As band
     WHERE rid=2) As foo;

 band |  min  |  max  | count | percent
------+-------+-------+-------+---------
    1 |   249 |   250 |     2 |    0.08
    1 |   250 |   251 |     2 |    0.08
    1 |   251 |   252 |     1 |    0.04
    1 |   252 |   253 |     2 |    0.08
    1 |   253 |   254 |    18 |    0.72
    2 |    78 | 113.2 |    11 |    0.44
    2 | 113.2 | 148.4 |     4 |    0.16
    2 | 148.4 | 183.6 |     4 |    0.16
    2 | 183.6 | 218.8 |     1 |    0.04
    2 | 218.8 |   254 |     5 |     0.2
    3 |    62 | 100.4 |    11 |    0.44
    3 | 100.4 | 138.8 |     5 |     0.2
    3 | 138.8 | 177.2 |     4 |    0.16
    3 | 177.2 | 215.6 |     1 |    0.04
    3 | 215.6 |   254 |     4 |    0.16

Example: Just band 2 but for 6 bins

SELECT (stats).*
FROM (SELECT rid, ST_Histogram(rast, 2,6) As stats
    FROM dummy_rast
     WHERE rid=2) As foo;

    min     |    max     | count | percent
------------+------------+-------+---------
         78 | 107.333333 |     9 |    0.36
 107.333333 | 136.666667 |     6 |    0.24
 136.666667 |        166 |     0 |       0
        166 | 195.333333 |     4 |    0.16
 195.333333 | 224.666667 |     1 |    0.04
 224.666667 |        254 |     5 |     0.2
(6 rows)

-- Same as previous but we explicitly control the pixel value range of each bin.
SELECT (stats).*
FROM (SELECT rid, ST_Histogram(rast, 2,6,ARRAY[0.5,1,4,100,5]) As stats
    FROM dummy_rast
     WHERE rid=2) As foo;

  min  |  max  | count | percent
-------+-------+-------+----------
    78 |  78.5 |     1 |     0.08
  78.5 |  79.5 |     1 |     0.04
  79.5 |  83.5 |     0 |        0
  83.5 | 183.5 |    17 |   0.0068
 183.5 | 188.5 |     0 |        0
 188.5 |   254 |     6 | 0.003664
(6 rows)

See Also

ST_Count, ST_SummaryStats, ST_SummaryStatsAgg

Name

ST_Quantile — Compute quantiles for a raster or raster table coverage in the context of the sample or population. Thus, a value could be examined to be at the raster's 25%, 50%, 75% percentile.

Synopsis

SETOF record fsfuncST_Quantile( | rast, |
| nband=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true, |
| quantiles=NULL); |

raster rast;
integer nband=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;
double precision[] quantiles=NULL;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Quantile( | rast, |
| quantiles); |

raster rast;
double precision[] quantiles;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Quantile( | rast, |
| nband, |
| quantiles); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
double precision[] quantiles;

double precision fsfuncST_Quantile( | rast, |
| quantile); |

raster rast;
double precision quantile;

double precision fsfuncST_Quantile( | rast, |
| exclude_nodata_value, |
| quantile=NULL); |

raster rast;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;
double precision quantile=NULL;

double precision fsfuncST_Quantile( | rast, |
| nband, |
| quantile); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
double precision quantile;

double precision fsfuncST_Quantile( | rast, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value, |
| quantile); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;
double precision quantile;

double precision fsfuncST_Quantile( | rast, |
| nband, |
| quantile); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
double precision quantile;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Quantile( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true, |
| quantiles=NULL); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;
double precision[] quantiles=NULL;

SETOF record fsfuncST_Quantile( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband, |
| quantiles); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband;
double precision[] quantiles;

Description

Compute quantiles for a raster or raster table coverage in the context of the sample or population. Thus, a value could be examined to be at the raster's 25%, 50%, 75% percentile.

Note

If exclude_nodata_value is set to false, will also count pixels with no data.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

UPDATE dummy_rast SET rast = ST_SetBandNoDataValue(rast,249) WHERE rid=2;
--Example will consider only pixels of band 1 that are not 249 and in named quantiles --

SELECT (pvq).*
FROM (SELECT ST_Quantile(rast, ARRAY[0.25,0.75]) As pvq
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2) As foo
    ORDER BY (pvq).quantile;

 quantile | value
----------+-------
     0.25 |   253
     0.75 |   254

SELECT ST_Quantile(rast, 0.75) As value
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

value
------
  254

--real live example.  Quantile of all pixels in band 2 intersecting a geometry
SELECT rid, (ST_Quantile(rast,2)).* As pvc
    FROM o_4_boston
        WHERE ST_Intersects(rast,
            ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((224486 892151,224486 892200,224706 892200,224706 892151,224486 892151))',26986)
            )
ORDER BY value, quantile,rid
;

 rid | quantile | value
-----+----------+-------
   1 |        0 |     0
   2 |        0 |     0
  14 |        0 |     1
  15 |        0 |     2
  14 |     0.25 |    37
   1 |     0.25 |    42
  15 |     0.25 |    47
   2 |     0.25 |    50
  14 |      0.5 |    56
   1 |      0.5 |    64
  15 |      0.5 |    66
   2 |      0.5 |    77
  14 |     0.75 |    81
  15 |     0.75 |    87
   1 |     0.75 |    94
   2 |     0.75 |   106
  14 |        1 |   199
   1 |        1 |   244
   2 |        1 |   255
  15 |        1 |   255

See Also

ST_Count, ST_SummaryStats, ST_SummaryStatsAgg, ST_SetBandNoDataValue

Name

ST_SummaryStats — Returns summarystats consisting of count, sum, mean, stddev, min, max for a given raster band of a raster or raster coverage. Band 1 is assumed is no band is specified.

Synopsis

summarystats fsfuncST_SummaryStats( | rast, |
| exclude_nodata_value); |

raster rast;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;

summarystats fsfuncST_SummaryStats( | rast, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;

summarystats fsfuncST_SummaryStats( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| exclude_nodata_value); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;

summarystats fsfuncST_SummaryStats( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;

Description

Returns summarystats consisting of count, sum, mean, stddev, min, max for a given raster band of a raster or raster coverage. If no band is specified nband defaults to 1.

Note

By default only considers pixel values not equal to the nodata value. Set exclude_nodata_value to false to get count of all pixels.

Note

By default will sample all pixels. To get faster response, set sample_percent to lower than 1

Availability: 2.0.0

Warning

The ST_SummaryStats(rastertable, rastercolumn, ...) variants are deprecated as of 2.2.0. Use ST_SummaryStatsAgg instead.

Example: Single raster tile

SELECT rid, band, (stats).*
FROM (SELECT rid, band, ST_SummaryStats(rast, band) As stats
    FROM dummy_rast CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,3) As band
     WHERE rid=2) As foo;

 rid | band | count | sum  |    mean    |  stddev   | min | max
-----+------+-------+------+------------+-----------+-----+-----
   2 |    1 |    23 | 5821 | 253.086957 |  1.248061 | 250 | 254
   2 |    2 |    25 | 3682 |     147.28 | 59.862188 |  78 | 254
   2 |    3 |    25 | 3290 |      131.6 | 61.647384 |  62 | 254

Example: Summarize pixels that intersect buildings of interest

This example took 574ms on PostGIS windows 64-bit with all of Boston Buildings and aerial Tiles (tiles each 150x150 pixels ~ 134,000 tiles), ~102,000 building records

WITH
-- our features of interest
   feat AS (SELECT gid As building_id, geom_26986 As geom FROM buildings AS b
    WHERE gid IN(100, 103,150)
   ),
-- clip band 2 of raster tiles to boundaries of builds
-- then get stats for these clipped regions
   b_stats AS
	(SELECT  building_id, (stats).*
FROM (SELECT building_id, ST_SummaryStats(ST_Clip(rast,2,geom)) As stats
    FROM aerials.boston
		INNER JOIN feat
	ON ST_Intersects(feat.geom,rast)
 ) As foo
 )
-- finally summarize stats
SELECT building_id, SUM(count) As num_pixels
  , MIN(min) As min_pval
  ,  MAX(max) As max_pval
  , SUM(mean*count)/SUM(count) As avg_pval
	FROM b_stats
 WHERE count > 0
	GROUP BY building_id
	ORDER BY building_id;
 building_id | num_pixels | min_pval | max_pval |     avg_pval
-------------+------------+----------+----------+------------------
         100 |       1090 |        1 |      255 | 61.0697247706422
         103 |        655 |        7 |      182 | 70.5038167938931
         150 |        895 |        2 |      252 | 185.642458100559

Example: Raster coverage

-- stats for each band --
SELECT band, (stats).*
FROM (SELECT band, ST_SummaryStats('o_4_boston','rast', band) As stats
    FROM generate_series(1,3) As band) As foo;

 band |  count  |  sum   |       mean       |      stddev      | min | max
------+---------+--------+------------------+------------------+-----+-----
    1 | 8450000 | 725799 | 82.7064349112426 | 45.6800222638537 |   0 | 255
    2 | 8450000 | 700487 | 81.4197705325444 | 44.2161184161765 |   0 | 255
    3 | 8450000 | 575943 |  74.682739408284 | 44.2143885481407 |   0 | 255

-- For a table -- will get better speed if set sampling to less than 100%
-- Here we set to 25% and get a much faster answer
SELECT band, (stats).*
FROM (SELECT band, ST_SummaryStats('o_4_boston','rast', band,true,0.25) As stats
    FROM generate_series(1,3) As band) As foo;

 band |  count  |  sum   |       mean       |      stddev      | min | max
------+---------+--------+------------------+------------------+-----+-----
    1 | 2112500 | 180686 | 82.6890480473373 | 45.6961043857248 |   0 | 255
    2 | 2112500 | 174571 |  81.448503668639 | 44.2252623171821 |   0 | 255
    3 | 2112500 | 144364 | 74.6765884023669 | 44.2014869384578 |   0 | 255

See Also

summarystats, ST_SummaryStatsAgg, ST_Count, ST_Clip

Name

ST_SummaryStatsAgg — Aggregate. Returns summarystats consisting of count, sum, mean, stddev, min, max for a given raster band of a set of raster. Band 1 is assumed is no band is specified.

Synopsis

summarystats fsfuncST_SummaryStatsAgg( | rast, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value, |
| sample_percent); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;
double precision sample_percent;

summarystats fsfuncST_SummaryStatsAgg( | rast, |
| exclude_nodata_value, |
| sample_percent); |

raster rast;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;
double precision sample_percent;

summarystats fsfuncST_SummaryStatsAgg( | rast, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;

Description

Returns summarystats consisting of count, sum, mean, stddev, min, max for a given raster band of a raster or raster coverage. If no band is specified nband defaults to 1.

Note

By default only considers pixel values not equal to the NODATA value. Set exclude_nodata_value to False to get count of all pixels.

Note

By default will sample all pixels. To get faster response, set sample_percent to value between 0 and 1

Availability: 2.2.0

Examples

WITH foo AS (
	SELECT
		rast.rast
	FROM (
		SELECT ST_SetValue(
			ST_SetValue(
				ST_SetValue(
					ST_AddBand(
						ST_MakeEmptyRaster(10, 10, 10, 10, 2, 2, 0, 0,0)
						, 1, '64BF', 0, 0
					)
					, 1, 1, 1, -10
				)
				, 1, 5, 4, 0
			)
			, 1, 5, 5, 3.14159
		) AS rast
	) AS rast
	FULL JOIN (
		SELECT generate_series(1, 10) AS id
	) AS id
		ON 1 = 1
)
SELECT
	(stats).count,
	round((stats).sum::numeric, 3),
	round((stats).mean::numeric, 3),
	round((stats).stddev::numeric, 3),
	round((stats).min::numeric, 3),
	round((stats).max::numeric, 3)
FROM (
	SELECT
		ST_SummaryStatsAgg(rast, 1, TRUE, 1) AS stats
	FROM foo
) bar;

 count |  round  | round  | round |  round  | round
-------+---------+--------+-------+---------+-------
    20 | -68.584 | -3.429 | 6.571 | -10.000 | 3.142
(1 row)

See Also

summarystats, ST_SummaryStats, ST_Count, ST_Clip

Name

ST_ValueCount — Returns a set of records containing a pixel band value and count of the number of pixels in a given band of a raster (or a raster coverage) that have a given set of values. If no band is specified defaults to band 1. By default nodata value pixels are not counted. and all other values in the pixel are output and pixel band values are rounded to the nearest integer.

Synopsis

SETOF record fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rast, |
| nband=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true, |
| searchvalues=NULL, |
| roundto=0, |
| OUT value, |
| OUT count); |

raster rast;
integer nband=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;
double precision[] searchvalues=NULL;
double precision roundto=0;
double precision OUT value;
integer OUT count;

SETOF record fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rast, |
| nband, |
| searchvalues, |
| roundto=0, |
| OUT value, |
| OUT count); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
double precision[] searchvalues;
double precision roundto=0;
double precision OUT value;
integer OUT count;

SETOF record fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rast, |
| searchvalues, |
| roundto=0, |
| OUT value, |
| OUT count); |

raster rast;
double precision[] searchvalues;
double precision roundto=0;
double precision OUT value;
integer OUT count;

bigint fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rast, |
| searchvalue, |
| roundto=0); |

raster rast;
double precision searchvalue;
double precision roundto=0;

bigint fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rast, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value, |
| searchvalue, |
| roundto=0); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;
double precision searchvalue;
double precision roundto=0;

bigint fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rast, |
| nband, |
| searchvalue, |
| roundto=0); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
double precision searchvalue;
double precision roundto=0;

SETOF record fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband=1, |
| exclude_nodata_value=true, |
| searchvalues=NULL, |
| roundto=0, |
| OUT value, |
| OUT count); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband=1;
boolean exclude_nodata_value=true;
double precision[] searchvalues=NULL;
double precision roundto=0;
double precision OUT value;
integer OUT count;

SETOF record fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| searchvalues, |
| roundto=0, |
| OUT value, |
| OUT count); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
double precision[] searchvalues;
double precision roundto=0;
double precision OUT value;
integer OUT count;

SETOF record fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband, |
| searchvalues, |
| roundto=0, |
| OUT value, |
| OUT count); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband;
double precision[] searchvalues;
double precision roundto=0;
double precision OUT value;
integer OUT count;

bigintfsfuncST_ValueCount( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband, |
| exclude_nodata_value, |
| searchvalue, |
| roundto=0); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband;
boolean exclude_nodata_value;
double precision searchvalue;
double precision roundto=0;

bigint fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| searchvalue, |
| roundto=0); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
double precision searchvalue;
double precision roundto=0;

bigint fsfuncST_ValueCount( | rastertable, |
| rastercolumn, |
| nband, |
| searchvalue, |
| roundto=0); |

text rastertable;
text rastercolumn;
integer nband;
double precision searchvalue;
double precision roundto=0;

Description

Returns a set of records with columns value count which contain the pixel band value and count of pixels in the raster tile or raster coverage of selected band.

If no band is specified nband defaults to 1. If no searchvalues are specified, will return all pixel values found in the raster or raster coverage. If one searchvalue is given, will return an integer instead of records denoting the count of pixels having that pixel band value

Note

If exclude_nodata_value is set to false, will also count pixels with no data.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

UPDATE dummy_rast SET rast = ST_SetBandNoDataValue(rast,249) WHERE rid=2;
--Example will count only pixels of band 1 that are not 249. --

SELECT (pvc).*
FROM (SELECT ST_ValueCount(rast) As pvc
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2) As foo
    ORDER BY (pvc).value;

 value | count
-------+-------
   250 |     2
   251 |     1
   252 |     2
   253 |     6
   254 |    12

-- Example will coount all pixels of band 1 including 249 --
SELECT (pvc).*
FROM (SELECT ST_ValueCount(rast,1,false) As pvc
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2) As foo
    ORDER BY (pvc).value;

 value | count
-------+-------
   249 |     2
   250 |     2
   251 |     1
   252 |     2
   253 |     6
   254 |    12

-- Example will count only non-nodata value pixels of band 2
SELECT (pvc).*
FROM (SELECT ST_ValueCount(rast,2) As pvc
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2) As foo
    ORDER BY (pvc).value;
 value | count
-------+-------
    78 |     1
    79 |     1
    88 |     1
    89 |     1
    96 |     1
    97 |     1
    98 |     1
    99 |     2
   112 |     2
:

--real live example.  Count all the pixels in an aerial raster tile band 2 intersecting a geometry
-- and return only the pixel band values that have a count > 500
SELECT (pvc).value, SUM((pvc).count) As total
FROM (SELECT ST_ValueCount(rast,2) As pvc
    FROM o_4_boston
        WHERE ST_Intersects(rast,
            ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((224486 892151,224486 892200,224706 892200,224706 892151,224486 892151))',26986)
             )
        ) As foo
    GROUP BY (pvc).value
    HAVING SUM((pvc).count) > 500
    ORDER BY (pvc).value;

 value | total
-------+-----
    51 | 502
    54 | 521

-- Just return count of pixels in each raster tile that have value of 100 of tiles that intersect  a specific geometry --
SELECT rid, ST_ValueCount(rast,2,100) As count
    FROM o_4_boston
        WHERE ST_Intersects(rast,
            ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((224486 892151,224486 892200,224706 892200,224706 892151,224486 892151))',26986)
             ) ;

 rid | count
-----+-------
   1 |    56
   2 |    95
  14 |    37
  15 |    64

See Also

ST_Count, ST_SetBandNoDataValue

Raster Outputs

Name

ST_AsBinary — Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the raster without SRID meta data.

Synopsis

bytea fsfuncST_AsBinary( | rast, |
| outasin=FALSE); |

raster rast;
boolean outasin=FALSE;

Description

Returns the Binary representation of the raster. If outasin is TRUE, out-db bands are treated as in-db.

This is useful in binary cursors to pull data out of the database without converting it to a string representation.

Note

By default, WKB output contains the external file path for out-db bands. If the client does not have access to the raster file underlying an out-db band, set outasin to TRUE.

Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of outasin

Examples

SELECT ST_AsBinary(rast) As rastbin FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=1;

					 rastbin
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\001\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000@\000\000\000\000\000\000\010@\
000\000\000\000\000\000\340?\000\000\000\000\000\000\340?\000\000\000\000\000\00
0\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\012\000\000\000\012\000\024\000

Name

ST_AsGDALRaster — Return the raster tile in the designated GDAL Raster format. Raster formats are one of those supported by your compiled library. Use ST_GDALRasters() to get a list of formats supported by your library.

Synopsis

bytea fsfuncST_AsGDALRaster( | rast, |
| format, |
| options=NULL, |
| srid=sameassource); |

raster rast;
text format;
text[] options=NULL;
integer srid=sameassource;

Description

Returns the raster tile in the designated format. Arguments are itemized below:

format format to output. This is dependent on the drivers compiled in your libgdal library. Generally available are 'JPEG', 'GTIff', 'PNG'. Use ST_GDALDrivers to get a list of formats supported by your library.

options text array of GDAL options. Valid options are dependent on the format. Refer to GDAL Raster format options for more details.

srs The proj4text or srtext (from spatial_ref_sys) to embed in the image

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0.

JPEG Output Examples

SELECT ST_AsGDALRaster(rast, 'JPEG') As rastjpg
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=1;

SELECT ST_AsGDALRaster(rast, 'JPEG', ARRAY['QUALITY=50']) As rastjpg
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

GTIFF Output Examples

SELECT ST_AsGDALRaster(rast, 'GTiff') As rastjpg
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

-- Out GeoTiff with jpeg compression, 90% quality
SELECT ST_AsGDALRaster(rast, 'GTiff',
  ARRAY['COMPRESS=JPEG', 'JPEG_QUALITY=90'],
  4269) As rasttiff
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

See Also

the section called “Building Custom Applications with PostGIS Raster”, ST_GDALDrivers, ST_SRID

Name

ST_AsJPEG — Return the raster tile selected bands as a single Joint Photographic Exports Group (JPEG) image (byte array). If no band is specified and 1 or more than 3 bands, then only the first band is used. If only 3 bands then all 3 bands are used and mapped to RGB.

Synopsis

bytea fsfuncST_AsJPEG( | rast, |
| options=NULL); |

raster rast;
text[] options=NULL;

bytea fsfuncST_AsJPEG( | rast, |
| nband, |
| quality); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
integer quality;

bytea fsfuncST_AsJPEG( | rast, |
| nband, |
| options=NULL); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
text[] options=NULL;

bytea fsfuncST_AsJPEG( | rast, |
| nbands, |
| options=NULL); |

raster rast;
integer[] nbands;
text[] options=NULL;

bytea fsfuncST_AsJPEG( | rast, |
| nbands, |
| quality); |

raster rast;
integer[] nbands;
integer quality;

Description

Returns the selected bands of the raster as a single Joint Photographic Exports Group Image (JPEG). Use ST_AsGDALRaster if you need to export as less common raster types. If no band is specified and 1 or more than 3 bands, then only the first band is used. If 3 bands then all 3 bands are used. There are many variants of the function with many options. These are itemized below:

nband is for single band exports.

nbands is an array of bands to export (note that max is 3 for JPEG) and the order of the bands is RGB. e.g ARRAY[3,2,1] means map band 3 to Red, band 2 to green and band 1 to blue

quality number from 0 to 100. The higher the number the crisper the image.

options text Array of GDAL options as defined for JPEG (look at create_options for JPEG ST_GDALDrivers). For JPEG valid ones are PROGRESSIVE ON or OFF and QUALITY a range from 0 to 100 and default to 75. Refer to GDAL Raster format options for more details.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0.

Examples: Output

-- output first 3 bands 75% quality
SELECT ST_AsJPEG(rast) As rastjpg
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

-- output only first band as 90% quality
SELECT ST_AsJPEG(rast,1,90) As rastjpg
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

-- output first 3 bands (but make band 2 Red, band 1 green, and band 3 blue, progressive and 90% quality
SELECT ST_AsJPEG(rast,ARRAY[2,1,3],ARRAY['QUALITY=90','PROGRESSIVE=ON']) As rastjpg
    FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

See Also

the section called “Building Custom Applications with PostGIS Raster”, ST_GDALDrivers, ST_AsGDALRaster, ST_AsPNG, ST_AsTIFF

Name

ST_AsPNG — Return the raster tile selected bands as a single portable network graphics (PNG) image (byte array). If 1, 3, or 4 bands in raster and no bands are specified, then all bands are used. If more 2 or more than 4 bands and no bands specified, then only band 1 is used. Bands are mapped to RGB or RGBA space.

Synopsis

bytea fsfuncST_AsPNG( | rast, |
| options=NULL); |

raster rast;
text[] options=NULL;

bytea fsfuncST_AsPNG( | rast, |
| nband, |
| compression); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
integer compression;

bytea fsfuncST_AsPNG( | rast, |
| nband, |
| options=NULL); |

raster rast;
integer nband;
text[] options=NULL;

bytea fsfuncST_AsPNG( | rast, |
| nbands, |
| compression); |

raster rast;
integer[] nbands;
integer compression;

bytea fsfuncST_AsPNG( | rast, |
| nbands, |
| options=NULL); |

raster rast;
integer[] nbands;
text[] options=NULL;

Description

Returns the selected bands of the raster as a single Portable Network Graphics Image (PNG). Use ST_AsGDALRaster if you need to export as less common raster types. If no band is specified, then the first 3 bands are exported. There are many variants of the function with many options. If no srid is specified then then srid of the raster is used. These are itemized below:

nband is for single band exports.

nbands is an array of bands to export (note that max is 4 for PNG) and the order of the bands is RGBA. e.g ARRAY[3,2,1] means map band 3 to Red, band 2 to green and band 1 to blue

compression number from 1 to 9. The higher the number the greater the compression.

options text Array of GDAL options as defined for PNG (look at create_options for PNG of ST_GDALDrivers). For PNG valid one is only ZLEVEL (amount of time to spend on compression -- default 6) e.g. ARRAY['ZLEVEL=9']. WORLDFILE is not allowed since the function would have to output two outputs. Refer to GDAL Raster format options for more details.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0.

Examples

SELECT ST_AsPNG(rast) As rastpng
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

-- export the first 3 bands and map band 3 to Red, band 1 to Green, band 2 to blue
SELECT ST_AsPNG(rast, ARRAY[3,1,2]) As rastpng
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

See Also

ST_AsGDALRaster, ST_ColorMap, ST_GDALDrivers, the section called “Building Custom Applications with PostGIS Raster”

Name

ST_AsTIFF — Return the raster selected bands as a single TIFF image (byte array). If no band is specified, then will try to use all bands.

Synopsis

bytea fsfuncST_AsTIFF( | rast, |
| options='', |
| srid=sameassource); |

raster rast;
text[] options='';
integer srid=sameassource;

bytea fsfuncST_AsTIFF( | rast, |
| compression='', |
| srid=sameassource); |

raster rast;
text compression='';
integer srid=sameassource;

bytea fsfuncST_AsTIFF( | rast, |
| nbands, |
| compression='', |
| srid=sameassource); |

raster rast;
integer[] nbands;
text compression='';
integer srid=sameassource;

bytea fsfuncST_AsTIFF( | rast, |
| nbands, |
| options, |
| srid=sameassource); |

raster rast;
integer[] nbands;
text[] options;
integer srid=sameassource;

Description

Returns the selected bands of the raster as a single Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). If no band is specified, will try to use all bands. This is a wrapper around ST_AsGDALRaster. Use ST_AsGDALRaster if you need to export as less common raster types. There are many variants of the function with many options. If no spatial reference SRS text is present, the spatial reference of the raster is used. These are itemized below:

nbands is an array of bands to export (note that max is 3 for PNG) and the order of the bands is RGB. e.g ARRAY[3,2,1] means map band 3 to Red, band 2 to green and band 1 to blue

compression Compression expression -- JPEG90 (or some other percent), LZW, JPEG, DEFLATE9.

options text Array of GDAL create options as defined for GTiff (look at create_options for GTiff of ST_GDALDrivers). or refer to GDAL Raster format options for more details.

srid srid of spatial_ref_sys of the raster. This is used to populate the georeference information

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0.

Examples: Use jpeg compression 90%

SELECT ST_AsTIFF(rast, 'JPEG90') As rasttiff
FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid=2;

See Also

ST_GDALDrivers, ST_AsGDALRaster, ST_SRID

Raster Processing

Map Algebra

Built-in Map Algebra Callback Functions

DEM (Elevation)

Raster to Geometry

Raster Operators

Name

&& — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box intersects B's bounding box.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc&&( | A, |
| B); |

raster A ;
raster B ;

boolean fsfunc&&( | A, |
| B); |

raster A ;
geometry B ;

boolean fsfunc&&( | B, |
| A); |

geometry B ;
raster A ;

Description

The && operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of raster/geometr A intersects the bounding box of raster/geometr B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

SELECT A.rid As a_rid, B.rid As b_rid, A.rast && B.rast As intersect
 FROM dummy_rast AS A CROSS JOIN dummy_rast AS B LIMIT 3;

 a_rid | b_rid | intersect
-------+-------+---------
     2 |     2 | t
     2 |     3 | f
     2 |     1 | f

Name

&< — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is to the left of B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc&<( | A, |
| B); |

raster A ;
raster B ;

Description

The &< operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of raster A overlaps or is to the left of the bounding box of raster B, or more accurately, overlaps or is NOT to the right of the bounding box of raster B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Examples

SELECT A.rid As a_rid, B.rid As b_rid, A.rast &< B.rast As overleft
 FROM dummy_rast AS A CROSS JOIN dummy_rast AS B;

a_rid | b_rid | overleft
------+-------+----------
    2 |     2 | t
    2 |     3 | f
    2 |     1 | f
    3 |     2 | t
    3 |     3 | t
    3 |     1 | f
    1 |     2 | t
    1 |     3 | t
    1 |     1 | t

Name

&> — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is to the right of B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc&>( | A, |
| B); |

raster A ;
raster B ;

Description

The &> operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of raster A overlaps or is to the right of the bounding box of raster B, or more accurately, overlaps or is NOT to the left of the bounding box of raster B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the geometries.

Examples

SELECT A.rid As a_rid, B.rid As b_rid, A.rast &> B.rast As overright
 FROM dummy_rast AS A CROSS JOIN dummy_rast AS B;

 a_rid | b_rid | overright
-------+-------+----------
     2 |     2 | t
     2 |     3 | t
     2 |     1 | t
     3 |     2 | f
     3 |     3 | t
     3 |     1 | f
     1 |     2 | f
     1 |     3 | t
     1 |     1 | t

Name

= — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's. Uses double precision bounding box.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc=( | A, |
| B); |

raster A ;
raster B ;

Description

The = operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of raster A is the same as the bounding box of raster B. PostgreSQL uses the =, <, and > operators defined for rasters to perform internal orderings and comparison of rasters (ie. in a GROUP BY or ORDER BY clause).

Caution

This operand will NOT make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters. Use ~= instead. This operator exists mostly so one can group by the raster column.

Availability: 2.1.0

See Also

~=

Name

@ — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is contained by B's. Uses double precision bounding box.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc@( | A, |
| B); |

raster A ;
raster B ;

boolean fsfunc@( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
raster B ;

boolean fsfunc@( | B, |
| A); |

raster B ;
geometry A ;

Description

The @ operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of raster/geometry A is contained by bounding box of raster/geometr B.

Note

This operand will use spatial indexes on the rasters.

Availability: 2.0.0 raster @ raster, raster @ geometry introduced

Availability: 2.0.5 geometry @ raster introduced

See Also

~

Name

~= — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc~=( | A, |
| B); |

raster A ;
raster B ;

Description

The ~= operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of raster A is the same as the bounding box of raster B.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

Very useful usecase is for taking two sets of single band rasters that are of the same chunk but represent different themes and creating a multi-band raster

SELECT ST_AddBand(prec.rast, alt.rast) As new_rast
    FROM prec INNER JOIN alt ON (prec.rast ~= alt.rast);

See Also

ST_AddBand, =

Name

~ — Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is contains B's. Uses double precision bounding box.

Synopsis

boolean fsfunc~( | A, |
| B); |

raster A ;
raster B ;

boolean fsfunc~( | A, |
| B); |

geometry A ;
raster B ;

boolean fsfunc~( | B, |
| A); |

raster B ;
geometry A ;

Description

The ~ operator returns TRUE if the bounding box of raster/geometry A is contains bounding box of raster/geometr B.

Note

This operand will use spatial indexes on the rasters.

Availability: 2.0.0

See Also

@

Raster and Raster Band Spatial Relationships

Name

ST_Contains — Return true if no points of raster rastB lie in the exterior of raster rastA and at least one point of the interior of rastB lies in the interior of rastA.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Contains( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;

boolean fsfuncST_Contains( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;

Description

Raster rastA contains rastB if and only if no points of rastB lie in the exterior of rastA and at least one point of the interior of rastB lies in the interior of rastA. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

Note

This function will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Note

To test the spatial relationship of a raster and a geometry, use ST_Polygon on the raster, e.g. ST_Contains(ST_Polygon(raster), geometry) or ST_Contains(geometry, ST_Polygon(raster)).

Note

ST_Contains() is the inverse of ST_Within(). So, ST_Contains(rastA, rastB) implies ST_Within(rastB, rastA).

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

-- specified band numbers
SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_Contains(r1.rast, 1, r2.rast, 1) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 1;

NOTICE:  The first raster provided has no bands
 rid | rid | st_contains
-----+-----+-------------
   1 |   1 |
   1 |   2 | f

-- no band numbers specified
SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_Contains(r1.rast, r2.rast) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 1;
 rid | rid | st_contains
-----+-----+-------------
   1 |   1 | t
   1 |   2 | f

See Also

ST_Intersects, ST_Within

Name

ST_ContainsProperly — Return true if rastB intersects the interior of rastA but not the boundary or exterior of rastA.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_ContainsProperly( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;

boolean fsfuncST_ContainsProperly( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;

Description

Raster rastA contains properly rastB if rastB intersects the interior of rastA but not the boundary or exterior of rastA. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

Raster rastA does not contain properly itself but does contain itself.

Note

This function will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Note

To test the spatial relationship of a raster and a geometry, use ST_Polygon on the raster, e.g. ST_ContainsProperly(ST_Polygon(raster), geometry) or ST_ContainsProperly(geometry, ST_Polygon(raster)).

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_ContainsProperly(r1.rast, 1, r2.rast, 1) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 2;

 rid | rid | st_containsproperly
-----+-----+---------------------
   2 |   1 | f
   2 |   2 | f

See Also

ST_Intersects, ST_Contains

Name

ST_Covers — Return true if no points of raster rastB lie outside raster rastA.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Covers( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;

boolean fsfuncST_Covers( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;

Description

Raster rastA covers rastB if and only if no points of rastB lie in the exterior of rastA. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

Note

This function will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Note

To test the spatial relationship of a raster and a geometry, use ST_Polygon on the raster, e.g. ST_Covers(ST_Polygon(raster), geometry) or ST_Covers(geometry, ST_Polygon(raster)).

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_Covers(r1.rast, 1, r2.rast, 1) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 2;

 rid | rid | st_covers
-----+-----+-----------
   2 |   1 | f
   2 |   2 | t

See Also

ST_Intersects, ST_CoveredBy

Name

ST_CoveredBy — Return true if no points of raster rastA lie outside raster rastB.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_CoveredBy( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;

boolean fsfuncST_CoveredBy( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;

Description

Raster rastA is covered by rastB if and only if no points of rastA lie in the exterior of rastB. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

Note

This function will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Note

To test the spatial relationship of a raster and a geometry, use ST_Polygon on the raster, e.g. ST_CoveredBy(ST_Polygon(raster), geometry) or ST_CoveredBy(geometry, ST_Polygon(raster)).

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_CoveredBy(r1.rast, 1, r2.rast, 1) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 2;

 rid | rid | st_coveredby
-----+-----+--------------
   2 |   1 | f
   2 |   2 | t

See Also

ST_Intersects, ST_Covers

Name

ST_Disjoint — Return true if raster rastA does not spatially intersect rastB.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Disjoint( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;

boolean fsfuncST_Disjoint( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;

Description

Raster rastA and rastB are disjointed if they do not share any space together. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

Note

This function does NOT use any indexes.

Note

To test the spatial relationship of a raster and a geometry, use ST_Polygon on the raster, e.g. ST_Disjoint(ST_Polygon(raster), geometry).

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

-- rid = 1 has no bands, hence the NOTICE and the NULL value for st_disjoint
SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_Disjoint(r1.rast, 1, r2.rast, 1) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 2;

NOTICE:  The second raster provided has no bands
 rid | rid | st_disjoint
-----+-----+-------------
   2 |   1 |
   2 |   2 | f

-- this time, without specifying band numbers
SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_Disjoint(r1.rast, r2.rast) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 2;

 rid | rid | st_disjoint
-----+-----+-------------
   2 |   1 | t
   2 |   2 | f

See Also

ST_Intersects

Name

ST_Intersects — Return true if raster rastA spatially intersects raster rastB.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Intersects( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;

boolean fsfuncST_Intersects( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;

boolean fsfuncST_Intersects( | rast, |
| nband, |
| geommin); |

raster rast ;
integer nband ;
geometry geommin ;

boolean fsfuncST_Intersects( | rast, |
| geommin, |
| nband=NULL); |

raster rast ;
geometry geommin ;
integer nband=NULL ;

boolean fsfuncST_Intersects( | geommin, |
| rast, |
| nband=NULL); |

geometry geommin ;
raster rast ;
integer nband=NULL ;

Description

Return true if raster rastA spatially intersects raster rastB. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

Note

This function will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Enhanced: 2.0.0 support raster/raster intersects was introduced.

Warning

Changed: 2.1.0 The behavior of the ST_Intersects(raster, geometry) variants changed to match that of ST_Intersects(geometry, raster).

Examples

-- different bands of same raster
SELECT ST_Intersects(rast, 2, rast, 3) FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 2;

 st_intersects
---------------
 t

See Also

ST_Intersection, ST_Disjoint

Name

ST_Overlaps — Return true if raster rastA and rastB intersect but one does not completely contain the other.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Overlaps( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;

boolean fsfuncST_Overlaps( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;

Description

Return true if raster rastA spatially overlaps raster rastB. This means that rastA and rastB intersect but one does not completely contain the other. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

Note

This function will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Note

To test the spatial relationship of a raster and a geometry, use ST_Polygon on the raster, e.g. ST_Overlaps(ST_Polygon(raster), geometry).

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

-- comparing different bands of same raster
SELECT ST_Overlaps(rast, 1, rast, 2) FROM dummy_rast WHERE rid = 2;

 st_overlaps
-------------
 f

See Also

ST_Intersects

Name

ST_Touches — Return true if raster rastA and rastB have at least one point in common but their interiors do not intersect.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Touches( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;

boolean fsfuncST_Touches( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;

Description

Return true if raster rastA spatially touches raster rastB. This means that rastA and rastB have at least one point in common but their interiors do not intersect. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

Note

This function will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Note

To test the spatial relationship of a raster and a geometry, use ST_Polygon on the raster, e.g. ST_Touches(ST_Polygon(raster), geometry).

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_Touches(r1.rast, 1, r2.rast, 1) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 2;

 rid | rid | st_touches
-----+-----+------------
   2 |   1 | f
   2 |   2 | f

See Also

ST_Intersects

Name

ST_SameAlignment — Returns true if rasters have same skew, scale, spatial ref, and offset (pixels can be put on same grid without cutting into pixels) and false if they don't with notice detailing issue.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_SameAlignment( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;

boolean fsfuncST_SameAlignment( | ulx1, |
| uly1, |
| scalex1, |
| scaley1, |
| skewx1, |
| skewy1, |
| ulx2, |
| uly2, |
| scalex2, |
| scaley2, |
| skewx2, |
| skewy2); |

double precision ulx1 ;
double precision uly1 ;
double precision scalex1 ;
double precision scaley1 ;
double precision skewx1 ;
double precision skewy1 ;
double precision ulx2 ;
double precision uly2 ;
double precision scalex2 ;
double precision scaley2 ;
double precision skewx2 ;
double precision skewy2 ;

boolean fsfuncST_SameAlignment(
rastfield);

raster set rastfield ;

Description

Non-Aggregate version (Variants 1 and 2): Returns true if the two rasters (either provided directly or made using the values for upperleft, scale, skew and srid) have the same scale, skew, srid and at least one of any of the four corners of any pixel of one raster falls on any corner of the grid of the other raster. Returns false if they don't and a NOTICE detailing the alignment issue.

Aggregate version (Variant 3): From a set of rasters, returns true if all rasters in the set are aligned. The ST_SameAlignment() function is an "aggregate" function in the terminology of PostgreSQL. That means that it operates on rows of data, in the same way the SUM() and AVG() functions do.

Availability: 2.0.0

Enhanced: 2.1.0 addition of Aggegrate variant

Examples: Rasters

SELECT ST_SameAlignment(
	ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0),
	ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0)
) as sm;

sm
----
t

SELECT ST_SameAlignment(A.rast,b.rast)
 FROM dummy_rast AS A CROSS JOIN dummy_rast AS B;

 NOTICE:  The two rasters provided have different SRIDs
NOTICE:  The two rasters provided have different SRIDs
 st_samealignment
------------------
 t
 f
 f
 f

See Also

the section called “Loading and Creating Rasters”, ST_NotSameAlignmentReason, ST_MakeEmptyRaster

Name

ST_NotSameAlignmentReason — Returns text stating if rasters are aligned and if not aligned, a reason why.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_NotSameAlignmentReason( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA;
raster rastB;

Description

Returns text stating if rasters are aligned and if not aligned, a reason why.

Note

If there are several reasons why the rasters are not aligned, only one reason (the first test to fail) will be returned.

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT
	ST_SameAlignment(
		ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0),
		ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1, 1, 0, 0, 1.1, 1.1, 0, 0)
	),
	ST_NotSameAlignmentReason(
		ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0),
		ST_MakeEmptyRaster(1, 1, 0, 0, 1.1, 1.1, 0, 0)
	)
;

 st_samealignment |            st_notsamealignmentreason
------------------+-------------------------------------------------
 f                | The rasters have different scales on the X axis
(1 row)

See Also

the section called “Loading and Creating Rasters”, ST_SameAlignment

Name

ST_Within — Return true if no points of raster rastA lie in the exterior of raster rastB and at least one point of the interior of rastA lies in the interior of rastB.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_Within( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;

boolean fsfuncST_Within( | rastA, |
| rastB); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;

Description

Raster rastA is within rastB if and only if no points of rastA lie in the exterior of rastB and at least one point of the interior of rastA lies in the interior of rastB. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Note

To test the spatial relationship of a raster and a geometry, use ST_Polygon on the raster, e.g. ST_Within(ST_Polygon(raster), geometry) or ST_Within(geometry, ST_Polygon(raster)).

Note

ST_Within() is the inverse of ST_Contains(). So, ST_Within(rastA, rastB) implies ST_Contains(rastB, rastA).

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_Within(r1.rast, 1, r2.rast, 1) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 2;

 rid | rid | st_within
-----+-----+-----------
   2 |   1 | f
   2 |   2 | t

See Also

ST_Intersects, ST_Contains, ST_DWithin, ST_DFullyWithin

Name

ST_DWithin — Return true if rasters rastA and rastB are within the specified distance of each other.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_DWithin( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB, |
| distance_of_srid); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;
double precision distance_of_srid ;

boolean fsfuncST_DWithin( | rastA, |
| rastB, |
| distance_of_srid); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;
double precision distance_of_srid ;

Description

Return true if rasters rastA and rastB are within the specified distance of each other. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

The distance is specified in units defined by the spatial reference system of the rasters. For this function to make sense, the source rasters must both be of the same coordinate projection, having the same SRID.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Note

To test the spatial relationship of a raster and a geometry, use ST_Polygon on the raster, e.g. ST_DWithin(ST_Polygon(raster), geometry).

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_DWithin(r1.rast, 1, r2.rast, 1, 3.14) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 2;

 rid | rid | st_dwithin
-----+-----+------------
   2 |   1 | f
   2 |   2 | t

See Also

ST_Within, ST_DFullyWithin

Name

ST_DFullyWithin — Return true if rasters rastA and rastB are fully within the specified distance of each other.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncST_DFullyWithin( | rastA, |
| nbandA, |
| rastB, |
| nbandB, |
| distance_of_srid); |

raster rastA ;
integer nbandA ;
raster rastB ;
integer nbandB ;
double precision distance_of_srid ;

boolean fsfuncST_DFullyWithin( | rastA, |
| rastB, |
| distance_of_srid); |

raster rastA ;
raster rastB ;
double precision distance_of_srid ;

Description

Return true if rasters rastA and rastB are fully within the specified distance of each other. If the band number is not provided (or set to NULL), only the convex hull of the raster is considered in the test. If the band number is provided, only those pixels with value (not NODATA) are considered in the test.

The distance is specified in units defined by the spatial reference system of the rasters. For this function to make sense, the source rasters must both be of the same coordinate projection, having the same SRID.

Note

This operand will make use of any indexes that may be available on the rasters.

Note

To test the spatial relationship of a raster and a geometry, use ST_Polygon on the raster, e.g. ST_DFullyWithin(ST_Polygon(raster), geometry).

Availability: 2.1.0

Examples

SELECT r1.rid, r2.rid, ST_DFullyWithin(r1.rast, 1, r2.rast, 1, 3.14) FROM dummy_rast r1 CROSS JOIN dummy_rast r2 WHERE r1.rid = 2;

 rid | rid | st_dfullywithin
-----+-----+-----------------
   2 |   1 | f
   2 |   2 | t

See Also

ST_Within, ST_DWithin

Chapter 10. PostGIS Raster Frequently Asked Questions

10.1.

My raster data does not restore.

Raster data does not restore as a result of constraints that rely on schema postgis is installed in to be in search path. As of PostGIS 2.2.2 there is a script in share/contrib/postgis-2.2/postgis_proc_set_search_path.sql that will set the search_path of all raster functions. To use when restoring data:

-- make sure to install in same schema as your backup was installed in
CREATE EXTENSION postgis;
\i rtpostgis_proc_set_search_path.sql
-- then restore your data

10.2.

I'm getting error ERROR: RASTER_fromGDALRaster: Could not open bytea with GDAL. Check that the bytea is of a GDAL supported format. when using ST_FromGDALRaster or ERROR: rt_raster_to_gdal: Could not load the output GDAL driver when trying to use ST_AsPNG or other raster input functions.

As of PostGIS 2.1.3 and 2.0.5, a security change was made to by default disable all GDAL drivers and out of db rasters. The release notes are at PostGIS 2.0.6, 2.1.3 security release. In order to reenable specific drivers or all drivers and reenable out of database support, refer to the section called “Short Version”.

10.3.

Where can I find out more about the PostGIS Raster Project?

Refer to the PostGIS Raster home page.

10.4.

Are there any books or tutorials to get me started with this wonderful invention?

There is a full length beginner tutorial Intersecting vector buffers with large raster coverage using PostGIS Raster. Jorge has a series of blog articles on PostGIS Raster that demonstrate how to load raster data as well as cross compare to same tasks in Oracle GeoRaster. Check out Jorge's PostGIS Raster / Oracle GeoRaster Series. There is a whole chapter (more than 35 pages of content) dedicated to PostGIS Raster with free code and data downloads at PostGIS in Action - Raster chapter. You can buy PostGIS in Action now from Manning in hard-copy (significant discounts for bulk purchases) or just the E-book format. You can also buy from Amazon and various other book distributors. All hard-copy books come with a free coupon to download the E-book version.

Here is a review from a PostGIS Raster user PostGIS raster applied to land classification urban forestry

10.5.

How do I install Raster support in my PostGIS database?

The easiest is to download binaries for PostGIS and Raster which are currently available for windows and latest versions of Mac OSX. First you need a working PostGIS 2.0.0 or above and be running PostgreSQL 8.4, 9.0, or 9.1. Note in PostGIS 2.0 PostGIS Raster is fully integrated, so it will be compiled when you compile PostGIS.

Instructions for installing and running under windows are available at How to Install and Configure PostGIS raster on windows

If you are on windows, you can compile yourself, or use the pre-compiled PostGIS Raster windows binaries. If you are on Mac OSX Leopard or Snow Leopard, there are binaries available at Kyng Chaos Mac OSX PostgreSQL/GIS binaries.

Then to enable raster support in your database, run the rtpostgis.sql file in your database. To upgrade an existing install use rtpostgis_upgrade_minor..sql instead of rtpostgis.sql

For other platforms, you generally need to compile yourself. Dependencies are PostGIS and GDAL. For more details about compiling from source, please refer to Installing PostGIS Raster from source (in prior versions of PostGIS)

10.6.

I get error could not load library "C:/Program Files/PostgreSQL/8.4/lib/rtpostgis.dll": The specified module could not be found. or could not load library on Linux when trying to run rtpostgis.sql

rtpostgis.so/dll is built with dependency on libgdal.dll/so. Make sure for Windows you have libgdal-1.dll in the bin folder of your PostgreSQL install. For Linux libgdal has to be in your path or bin folder.

You may also run into different errors if you don't have PostGIS installed in your database. Make sure to install PostGIS first in your database before trying to install the raster support.

10.7.

How do I load Raster data into PostGIS?

The latest version of PostGIS comes packaged with a raster2pgsql raster loader executable capable of loading many kinds of rasters and also generating lower resolution overviews without any additional software. Please refer to the section called “Using raster2pgsql to load rasters” for more details. Pre-2.0 versions came with a raster2pgsql.py that required python with numpy and GDAL. This is no longer needed.

10.8.

What kind of raster file formats can I load into my database?

Any that your GDAL library supports. GDAL supported formats are documented GDAL File Formats.

Your particular GDAL install may not support all formats. To verify the ones supported by your particular GDAL install, you can use

raster2pgsql -G

10.9.

Can I export my PostGIS raster data to other raster formats?

Yes

GDAL 1.7+ has a PostGIS raster driver, but is only compiled in if you choose to compile with PostgreSQL support.

The driver currently doesn't support irregularly blocked rasters, although you can store irregularly blocked rasters in PostGIS raster data type.

If you are compiling from source, you need to include in your configure

--with-pg=path/to/pg_config

to enable the driver. Refer to GDAL Build Hints for tips on building GDAL against in various OS platforms.

If your version of GDAL is compiled with the PostGIS Raster driver you should see PostGIS Raster in list when you do

gdalinfo --formats

To get a summary about your raster via GDAL use gdalinfo:

gdalinfo  "PG:host=localhost port=5432 dbname='mygisdb' user='postgres' password='whatever' schema='someschema' table=sometable"

To export data to other raster formats, use gdal_translate the below will export all data from a table to a PNG file at 10% size.

Depending on your pixel band types, some translations may not work if the export format does not support that Pixel type. For example floating point band types and 32 bit unsigned ints will not translate easily to JPG or some others.

Here is an example simple translation

gdal_translate -of PNG -outsize 10% 10% "PG:host=localhost port=5432 dbname='mygisdb' user='postgres' password='whatever' schema='someschema' table=sometable" C:\somefile.png

You can also use SQL where clauses in your export using the where=... in your driver connection string. Below are some using a where clause

gdal_translate -of PNG -outsize 10% 10% "PG:host=localhost port=5432 dbname='mygisdb' user='postgres' password='whatever' schema='someschema' table=sometable where='filename=\'abcd.sid\''" " C:\somefile.png

gdal_translate -of PNG -outsize 10% 10% "PG:host=localhost port=5432 dbname='mygisdb' user='postgres' password='whatever' schema='someschema' table=sometable where='ST_Intersects(rast, ST_SetSRID(ST_Point(-71.032,42.3793),4326) )' " C:\intersectregion.png

To see more examples and syntax refer to Reading Raster Data of PostGIS Raster section

10.10.

Are their binaries of GDAL available already compiled with PostGIS Raster suppport?

Yes. Check out the page GDAL Binaries page. Any compiled with PostgreSQL support should have PostGIS Raster in them.

PostGIS Raster is undergoing many changes. If you want to get the latest nightly build for Windows -- then check out the Tamas Szekeres nightly builds built with Visual Studio which contain GDAL trunk, Python Bindings and MapServer executables and PostGIS Raster driver built-in. Just click the SDK bat and run your commands from there. http://vbkto.dyndns.org/sdk/. Also available are VS project files.

FWTools latest stable version for Windows is compiled with Raster support.

10.11.

What tools can I use to view PostGIS raster data?

You can use MapServer compiled with GDAL 1.7+ and PostGIS Raster driver support to view Raster data. QuantumGIS (QGIS) now supports viewing of PostGIS Raster if you have PostGIS raster driver installed.

In theory any tool that renders data using GDAL can support PostGIS raster data or support it with fairly minimal effort. Again for Windows, Tamas' binaries http://vbkto.dyndns.org/sdk/ are a good choice if you don't want the hassle of having to setup to compile your own.

10.12.

How can I add a PostGIS raster layer to my MapServer map?

First you need GDAL 1.7 or higher compiled with PostGIS raster support. GDAL 1.8 or above is preferred since many issues have been fixed in 1.8 and more PostGIS raster issues fixed in trunk version.

You can much like you can with any other raster. Refer to MapServer Raster processing options for list of various processing functions you can use with MapServer raster layers.

What makes PostGIS raster data particularly interesting, is that since each tile can have various standard database columns, you can segment it in your data source

Below is an example of how you would define a PostGIS raster layer in MapServer.

Note

The mode=2 is required for tiled rasters and was added in PostGIS 2.0 and GDAL 1.8 drivers. This does not exist in GDAL 1.7 drivers.

-- displaying raster with standard raster options
LAYER
	NAME coolwktraster
	TYPE raster
	STATUS ON
	DATA "PG:host=localhost port=5432 dbname='somedb' user='someuser' password='whatever'
		schema='someschema' table='cooltable' mode='2'"
	PROCESSING "NODATA=0"
	PROCESSING "SCALE=AUTO"
	#... other standard raster processing functions here
	#... classes are optional but useful for 1 band data
	CLASS
		NAME "boring"
		EXPRESSION ([pixel] < 20)
		COLOR 250 250 250
	END
	CLASS
		NAME "mildly interesting"
		EXPRESSION ([pixel] > 20 AND [pixel] < 1000)
		COLOR 255 0 0
	END
	CLASS
		NAME "very interesting"
		EXPRESSION ([pixel] >= 1000)
		COLOR 0 255 0
	END
END

-- displaying raster with standard raster options and a where clause
LAYER
	NAME soil_survey2009
	TYPE raster
	STATUS ON
	DATA "PG:host=localhost port=5432 dbname='somedb' user='someuser' password='whatever'
		schema='someschema' table='cooltable' where='survey_year=2009' mode='2'"
	PROCESSING "NODATA=0"
	#... other standard raster processing functions here
	#... classes are optional but useful for 1 band data
END

10.13.

What functions can I currently use with my raster data?

Refer to the list of Chapter 9, Raster Reference. There are more, but this is still a work in progress.

Refer to the PostGIS Raster roadmap page for details of what you can expect in the future.

10.14.

I am getting error ERROR: function st_intersects(raster, unknown) is not unique or st_union(geometry,text) is not unique. How do I fix?

The function is not unique error happens if one of your arguments is a textual representation of a geometry instead of a geometry. In these cases, PostgreSQL marks the textual representation as an unknown type, which means it can fall into the st_intersects(raster, geometry) or st_intersects(raster,raster) thus resulting in a non-unique case since both functions can in theory support your request. To prevent this, you need to cast the textual representation of the geometry to a geometry.

For example if your code looks like this:

SELECT rast
 FROM my_raster
   WHERE ST_Intersects(rast, 'SRID=4326;POINT(-10 10)');

Cast the textual geometry representation to a geometry by changing your code to this:

SELECT rast
 FROM my_raster
   WHERE ST_Intersects(rast, 'SRID=4326;POINT(-10 10)'::geometry);

10.15.

How is PostGIS Raster different from Oracle GeoRaster (SDO_GEORASTER) and SDO_RASTER types?

For a more extensive discussion on this topic, check out Jorge Arévalo Oracle GeoRaster and PostGIS Raster: First impressions

The major advantage of one-georeference-by-raster over one-georeference-by-layer is to allow:

* coverages to be not necessarily rectangular (which is often the case of raster coverage covering large extents. See the possible raster arrangements in the documentation)

* rasters to overlaps (which is necessary to implement lossless vector to raster conversion)

These arrangements are possible in Oracle as well, but they imply the storage of multiple SDO_GEORASTER objects linked to as many SDO_RASTER tables. A complex coverage can lead to hundreds of tables in the database. With PostGIS Raster you can store a similar raster arrangement into a unique table.

It's a bit like if PostGIS would force you to store only full rectangular vector coverage without gaps or overlaps (a perfect rectangular topological layer). This is very practical in some applications but practice has shown that it is not realistic or desirable for most geographical coverages. Vector structures needs the flexibility to store discontinuous and non-rectangular coverages. We think it is a big advantage that raster structure should benefit as well.

10.16.

raster2pgsql load of large file fails with String of N bytes is too long for encoding conversion?

raster2pgsql doesn't make any connections to your database when generating the file to load. If your database has set an explicit client encoding different from your database encoding, then when loading large raster files (above 30 MB in size), you may run into a bytes is too long for encoding conversion.

This generally happens if for example you have your database in UTF8, but to support windows apps, you have the client encoding set to WIN1252.

To work around this make sure the client encoding is the same as your database encoding during load. You can do this by explicitly setting the encoding in your load script. Example, if you are on windows:

set PGCLIENTENCODING=UTF8

If you are on Unix/Linux

export PGCLIENTENCODING=UTF8

Gory details of this issue are detailed in http://trac.osgeo.org/postgis/ticket/2209

Chapter 11. Topology

The PostGIS Topology types and functions are used to manage topological objects such as faces, edges and nodes.

Sandro Santilli's presentation at PostGIS Day Paris 2011 conference gives a good synopsis of PostGIS Topology and where it is headed Topology with PostGIS 2.0 slide deck.

Vincent Picavet provides a good synopsis and overview of what is Topology, how is it used, and various FOSS4G tools that support it in PostGIS Topology PGConf EU 2012.

An example of a topologically based GIS database is the US Census Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Reference System (TIGER) database. If you want to experiment with PostGIS topology and need some data, check out Topology_Load_Tiger.

The PostGIS topology module has existed in prior versions of PostGIS but was never part of the Official PostGIS documentation. In PostGIS 2.0.0 major cleanup is going on to remove use of all deprecated functions in it, fix known usability issues, better document the features and functions, add new functions, and enhance to closer conform to SQL-MM standards.

Details of this project can be found at PostGIS Topology Wiki

All functions and tables associated with this module are installed in a schema called topology.

Functions that are defined in SQL/MM standard are prefixed with ST_ and functions specific to PostGIS are not prefixed.

To build PostGIS 2.0 with topology support, compile with the --with-topology option as described in Chapter 2, PostGIS Installation. Some functions depend on GEOS 3.3+ so you should compile with GEOS 3.3+ to fully utilize the topology support.

Topology Types

Abstract

This section lists the PostgreSQL data types installed by PostGIS Topology. Note we describe the casting behavior of these which is very important especially when designing your own functions.

Topology Domains

Abstract

This section lists the PostgreSQL domains installed by PostGIS Topology. Domains can be used like object types as return objects of functions or table columns. The distinction between a domain and a type is that a domain is an existing type with a check constraint bound to it.

Name

TopoElement — An array of 2 integers generally used to identify a TopoGeometry component.

Description

An array of 2 integers used to represent one component of a simple or hierarchical TopoGeometry.

In the case of a simple TopoGeometry the first element of the array represents the identifier of a topological primitive and the second element represents its type (1:node, 2:edge, 3:face). In the case of a hierarchical TopoGeometry the first element of the array represents the identifier of a child TopoGeometry and the second element represents its layer identifier.

Note

For any given hierarchical TopoGeometry all child TopoGeometry elements will come from the same child layer, as specified in the topology.layer record for the layer of the TopoGeometry being defined.

Examples

SELECT te[1] AS id, te[2] AS type FROM
( SELECT ARRAY[1,2]::topology.topoelement AS te ) f;
 id | type
----+------
  1 |    2

SELECT ARRAY[1,2]::topology.topoelement;
  te
-------
 {1,2}

--Example of what happens when you try to case a 3 element array to topoelement
-- NOTE: topoement has to be a 2 element array so fails dimension check
SELECT ARRAY[1,2,3]::topology.topoelement;
ERROR:  value for domain topology.topoelement violates check constraint "dimensions"

See Also

GetTopoGeomElements, TopoElementArray, TopoGeometry

Name

TopoElementArray — An array of TopoElement objects

Description

An array of 1 or more TopoElement objects, generally used to pass around components of TopoGeometry objects.

Examples

SELECT '{{1,2},{4,3}}'::topology.topoelementarray As tea;
  tea
-------
{{1,2},{4,3}}

-- more verbose equivalent --
SELECT ARRAY[ARRAY[1,2], ARRAY[4,3]]::topology.topoelementarray As tea;

  tea
-------
{{1,2},{4,3}}

--using the array agg function packaged with topology --
SELECT topology.TopoElementArray_Agg(ARRAY[e,t]) As tea
  FROM generate_series(1,4) As e CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,3) As t;
  tea
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
{{1,1},{1,2},{1,3},{2,1},{2,2},{2,3},{3,1},{3,2},{3,3},{4,1},{4,2},{4,3}}

SELECT '{{1,2,4},{3,4,5}}'::topology.topoelementarray As tea;
ERROR:  value for domain topology.topoelementarray violates check constraint "dimensions"

See Also

TopoElement, GetTopoGeomElementArray, TopoElementArray_Agg

Topology and TopoGeometry Management

Abstract

This section lists the Topology functions for building new Topology schemas, validating topologies, and managing TopoGeometry Columns

Name

AddTopoGeometryColumn — Adds a topogeometry column to an existing table, registers this new column as a layer in topology.layer and returns the new layer_id.

Synopsis

text fsfuncAddTopoGeometryColumn( | topology_name, |
| schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| column_name, |
| feature_type); |

varchar topology_name;
varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;
varchar feature_type;

text fsfuncAddTopoGeometryColumn( | topology_name, |
| schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| column_name, |
| feature_type, |
| child_layer); |

varchar topology_name;
varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;
varchar feature_type;
integer child_layer;

Description

Each TopoGeometry object belongs to a specific Layer of a specific Topology. Before creating a TopoGeometry object you need to create its TopologyLayer. A Topology Layer is an association of a feature-table with the topology. It also contain type and hierarchy information. We create a layer using the AddTopoGeometryColumn() function:

This function will both add the requested column to the table and add a record to the topology.layer table with all the given info.

If you don't specify [child_layer] (or set it to NULL) this layer would contain Basic TopoGeometries (composed by primitive topology elements). Otherwise this layer will contain hierarchical TopoGeometries (composed by TopoGeometries from the child_layer).

Once the layer is created (its id is returned by the AddTopoGeometryColumn function) you're ready to construct TopoGeometry objects in it

Valid feature_types are: POINT, LINE, POLYGON, COLLECTION

Availability: 1.?

Examples

-- Note for this example we created our new table in the ma_topo schema
-- though we could have created it in a different schema -- in which case topology_name and schema_name would be different
CREATE SCHEMA ma;
CREATE TABLE ma.parcels(gid serial, parcel_id varchar(20) PRIMARY KEY, address text);
SELECT topology.AddTopoGeometryColumn('ma_topo', 'ma', 'parcels', 'topo', 'POLYGON');

CREATE SCHEMA ri;
CREATE TABLE ri.roads(gid serial PRIMARY KEY, road_name text);
SELECT topology.AddTopoGeometryColumn('ri_topo', 'ri', 'roads', 'topo', 'LINE');

See Also

CreateTopology, CreateTopoGeom

Name

DropTopology — Use with caution: Drops a topology schema and deletes its reference from topology.topology table and references to tables in that schema from the geometry_columns table.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncDropTopology(
topology_schema_name);

varchar topology_schema_name;

Description

Drops a topology schema and deletes its reference from topology.topology table and references to tables in that schema from the geometry_columns table. This function should be USED WITH CAUTION, as it could destroy data you care about. If the schema does not exist, it just removes reference entries the named schema.

Availability: 1.?

Examples

Cascade drops the ma_topo schema and removes all references to it in topology.topology and geometry_columns.

SELECT topology.DropTopology('ma_topo');

See Also

Name

DropTopoGeometryColumn — Drops the topogeometry column from the table named table_name in schema schema_name and unregisters the columns from topology.layer table.

Synopsis

text fsfuncDropTopoGeometryColumn( | schema_name, |
| table_name, |
| column_name); |

varchar schema_name;
varchar table_name;
varchar column_name;

Description

Drops the topogeometry column from the table named table_name in schema schema_name and unregisters the columns from topology.layer table. Returns summary of drop status. NOTE: it first sets all values to NULL before dropping to bypass referential integrity checks.

Availability: 1.?

Examples

SELECT topology.DropTopoGeometryColumn('ma_topo', 'parcel_topo', 'topo');

See Also

AddTopoGeometryColumn

Name

TopologySummary — Takes a topology name and provides summary totals of types of objects in topology

Synopsis

text fsfuncTopologySummary(
topology_schema_name);

varchar topology_schema_name;

Description

Takes a topology name and provides summary totals of types of objects in topology.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

SELECT topology.topologysummary('city_data');
                    topologysummary
--------------------------------------------------------
 Topology city_data (329), SRID 4326, precision: 0
 22 nodes, 24 edges, 10 faces, 29 topogeoms in 5 layers
 Layer 1, type Polygonal (3), 9 topogeoms
  Deploy: features.land_parcels.feature
 Layer 2, type Puntal (1), 8 topogeoms
  Deploy: features.traffic_signs.feature
 Layer 3, type Lineal (2), 8 topogeoms
  Deploy: features.city_streets.feature
 Layer 4, type Polygonal (3), 3 topogeoms
  Hierarchy level 1, child layer 1
  Deploy: features.big_parcels.feature
 Layer 5, type Puntal (1), 1 topogeoms
  Hierarchy level 1, child layer 2
  Deploy: features.big_signs.feature

See Also

Topology_Load_Tiger

Name

ValidateTopology — Returns a set of validatetopology_returntype objects detailing issues with topology

Synopsis

setof validatetopology_returntype fsfuncValidateTopology(
topology_schema_name);

varchar topology_schema_name;

Description

Returns a set of validatetopology_returntype objects detailing issues with topology. List of possible errors and what the returned ids represent are displayed below:

Error | id1 | id2
edge crosses node | edge_id | node_id
invalid edge | edge_id | null
edge not simple | edge_id | null
edge crosses edge | edge_id | edge_id
edge start node geometry mis-match | edge_id | node_id
edge end node geometry mis-match | edge_id | node_id
face without edges | face_id | null
face has no rings | face_id | null
face overlaps face | face_id | face_id
face within face | inner face_id | outer face_id

Availability: 1.0.0

Enhanced: 2.0.0 more efficient edge crossing detection and fixes for false positives that were existent in prior versions.

Changed: 2.2.0 values for id1 and id2 were swapped for 'edge crosses node' to be consistent with error description.

Examples

SELECT * FROM  topology.ValidateTopology('ma_topo');
      error        | id1 | id2
-------------------+-----+-----
face without edges |   0 |

See Also

validatetopology_returntype, Topology_Load_Tiger

Topology Constructors

Abstract

This section covers the topology functions for creating new topologies.

Name

CreateTopology — Creates a new topology schema and registers this new schema in the topology.topology table.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncCreateTopology(
topology_schema_name);

varchar topology_schema_name;

integer fsfuncCreateTopology( | topology_schema_name, |
| srid); |

varchar topology_schema_name;
integer srid;

integer fsfuncCreateTopology( | topology_schema_name, |
| srid, |
| prec); |

varchar topology_schema_name;
integer srid;
double precision prec;

integer fsfuncCreateTopology( | topology_schema_name, |
| srid, |
| prec, |
| hasz); |

varchar topology_schema_name;
integer srid;
double precision prec;
boolean hasz;

Description

Creates a new schema with name topology_name consisting of tables (edge_data,face,node, relation and registers this new topology in the topology.topology table. It returns the id of the topology in the topology table. The srid is the spatial reference identified as defined in spatial_ref_sys table for that topology. Topologies must be uniquely named. The tolerance is measured in the units of the spatial reference system. If the tolerance (prec) is not specified defaults to 0.

This is similar to the SQL/MM ST_InitTopoGeo but a bit more functional. hasz defaults to false if not specified.

Availability: 1.?

Examples

This example creates a new schema called ma_topo that will store edges, faces, and relations in Massachusetts State Plane meters. The tolerance represents 1/2 meter since the spatial reference system is a meter based spatial reference system

SELECT topology.CreateTopology('ma_topo',26986, 0.5);

Create Rhode Island topology in State Plane ft

SELECT topology.CreateTopology('ri_topo',3438) As topoid;
topoid
------
2

See Also

the section called “The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems”, ST_InitTopoGeo, Topology_Load_Tiger

Name

CopyTopology — Makes a copy of a topology structure (nodes, edges, faces, layers and TopoGeometries).

Synopsis

integer fsfuncCopyTopology( | existing_topology_name, |
| new_name); |

varchar existing_topology_name;
varchar new_name;

Description

Creates a new topology with name new_topology_name and SRID and precision taken from existing_topology_name, copies all nodes, edges and faces in there, copies layers and their TopoGeometries too.

Note

The new rows in topology.layer will contain synthesized values for schema_name, table_name and feature_column. This is because the TopoGeometry will only exist as a definition but won't be available in any user-level table yet.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

This example makes a backup of a topology called ma_topo

SELECT topology.CopyTopology('ma_topo', 'ma_topo_bakup');

See Also

the section called “The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems”, CreateTopology

Name

ST_InitTopoGeo — Creates a new topology schema and registers this new schema in the topology.topology table and details summary of process.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_InitTopoGeo(
topology_schema_name);

varchar topology_schema_name;

Description

This is an SQL-MM equivalent of CreateTopology but lacks the spatial reference and tolerance options of CreateTopology and outputs a text description of creation instead of topology id.

Availability: 1.?

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3 Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.17

Examples

SELECT topology.ST_InitTopoGeo('topo_schema_to_create') AS topocreation;
                      astopocreation
------------------------------------------------------------
 Topology-Geometry 'topo_schema_to_create' (id:7) created.

See Also

CreateTopology

Name

ST_CreateTopoGeo — Adds a collection of geometries to a given empty topology and returns a message detailing success.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_CreateTopoGeo( | atopology, |
| acollection); |

varchar atopology;
geometry acollection;

Description

Adds a collection of geometries to a given empty topology and returns a message detailing success.

Useful for populating an empty topology.

Availability: 2.0

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details -- X.3.18

Examples

-- Populate topology --
SELECT topology.ST_CreateTopoGeo('ri_topo',
 ST_GeomFromText('MULTILINESTRING((384744 236928,384750 236923,384769 236911,384799 236895,384811 236890,384833 236884,
  384844 236882,384866 236881,384879 236883,384954 236898,385087 236932,385117 236938,
  385167 236938,385203 236941,385224 236946,385233 236950,385241 236956,385254 236971,
  385260 236979,385268 236999,385273 237018,385273 237037,385271 237047,385267 237057,
  385225 237125,385210 237144,385192 237161,385167 237192,385162 237202,385159 237214,
  385159 237227,385162 237241,385166 237256,385196 237324,385209 237345,385234 237375,
  385237 237383,385238 237399,385236 237407,385227 237419,385213 237430,385193 237439,
  385174 237451,385170 237455,385169 237460,385171 237475,385181 237503,385190 237521,
  385200 237533,385206 237538,385213 237541,385221 237542,385235 237540,385242 237541,
  385249 237544,385260 237555,385270 237570,385289 237584,385292 237589,385291 237596,385284 237630))',3438)
  );

      st_createtopogeo
----------------------------
 Topology ri_topo populated

-- create tables and topo geometries --
CREATE TABLE ri.roads(gid serial PRIMARY KEY, road_name text);

SELECT topology.AddTopoGeometryColumn('ri_topo', 'ri', 'roads', 'topo', 'LINE');

See Also

AddTopoGeometryColumn, CreateTopology, DropTopology

Name

TopoGeo_AddPoint — Adds a point to an existing topology using a tolerance and possibly splitting an existing edge.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncTopoGeo_AddPoint( | toponame, |
| apoint, |
| tolerance); |

varchar toponame;
geometry apoint;
float8 tolerance;

Description

Adds a point to an existing topology and return its identifier. The given point will snap to existing nodes or edges within given tolerance. An existing edge may be split by the snapped point.

Availability: 2.0.0

See Also

TopoGeo_AddLineString, TopoGeo_AddPolygon, AddNode, CreateTopology

Name

TopoGeo_AddLineString — Adds a linestring to an existing topology using a tolerance and possibly splitting existing edges/faces. Returns edge identifiers

Synopsis

SETOF integer fsfuncTopoGeo_AddLineString( | toponame, |
| aline, |
| tolerance); |

varchar toponame;
geometry aline;
float8 tolerance;

Description

Adds a linestring to an existing topology and return a set of edge identifiers forming it up. The given line will snap to existing nodes or edges within given tolerance. Existing edges and faces may be split by the line.

Availability: 2.0.0

See Also

TopoGeo_AddPoint, TopoGeo_AddPolygon, AddEdge, CreateTopology

Name

TopoGeo_AddPolygon — Adds a polygon to an existing topology using a tolerance and possibly splitting existing edges/faces.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncTopoGeo_AddPolygon( | atopology, |
| apoly, |
| atolerance); |

varchar atopology;
geometry apoly;
float8 atolerance;

Description

Adds a polygon to an existing topology and return a set of face identifiers forming it up. The boundary of the given polygon will snap to existing nodes or edges within given tolerance. Existing edges and faces may be split by the boundary of the new polygon.

Availability: 2.0.0

See Also

TopoGeo_AddPoint, TopoGeo_AddLineString, AddFace, CreateTopology

Topology Editors

Abstract

This section covers topology functions for adding, moving, deleting, and splitting edges, faces, and nodes. All of these functions are defined by ISO SQL/MM.

Name

ST_AddIsoNode — Adds an isolated node to a face in a topology and returns the nodeid of the new node. If face is null, the node is still created.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_AddIsoNode( | atopology, |
| aface, |
| apoint); |

varchar atopology;
integer aface;
geometry apoint;

Description

Adds an isolated node with point location apoint to an existing face with faceid aface to a topology atopology and returns the nodeid of the new node.

If the spatial reference system (srid) of the point geometry is not the same as the topology, the apoint is not a point geometry, the point is null, or the point intersects an existing edge (even at the boundaries) then an exception is thrown. If the point already exists as a node, an exception is thrown.

If aface is not null and the apoint is not within the face, then an exception is thrown.

Availability: 1.?

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Net Routines: X+1.3.1

Examples

See Also

AddNode, CreateTopology, DropTopology, ST_Intersects

Name

ST_AddIsoEdge — Adds an isolated edge defined by geometry alinestring to a topology connecting two existing isolated nodes anode and anothernode and returns the edge id of the new edge.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_AddIsoEdge( | atopology, |
| anode, |
| anothernode, |
| alinestring); |

varchar atopology;
integer anode;
integer anothernode;
geometry alinestring;

Description

Adds an isolated edge defined by geometry alinestring to a topology connecting two existing isolated nodes anode and anothernode and returns the edge id of the new edge.

If the spatial reference system (srid) of the alinestring geometry is not the same as the topology, any of the input arguments are null, or the nodes are contained in more than one face, or the nodes are start or end nodes of an existing edge, then an exception is thrown.

If the alinestring is not within the face of the face the anode and anothernode belong to, then an exception is thrown.

If the anode and anothernode are not the start and end points of the alinestring then an exception is thrown.

Availability: 1.?

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.4

Examples

See Also

ST_AddIsoNode, ST_IsSimple, ST_Within

Name

ST_AddEdgeNewFaces — Add a new edge and, if in doing so it splits a face, delete the original face and replace it with two new faces.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_AddEdgeNewFaces( | atopology, |
| anode, |
| anothernode, |
| acurve); |

varchar atopology;
integer anode;
integer anothernode;
geometry acurve;

Description

Add a new edge and, if in doing so it splits a face, delete the original face and replace it with two new faces. Returns the id of the newly added edge.

Updates all existing joined edges and relationships accordingly.

If any arguments are null, the given nodes are unknown (must already exist in the node table of the topology schema) , the acurve is not a LINESTRING, the anode and anothernode are not the start and endpoints of acurve then an error is thrown.

If the spatial reference system (srid) of the acurve geometry is not the same as the topology an exception is thrown.

Availability: 2.0

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.12

Examples

See Also

ST_RemEdgeNewFace

ST_AddEdgeModFace

Name

ST_AddEdgeModFace — Add a new edge and, if in doing so it splits a face, modify the original face and add a new face.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_AddEdgeModFace( | atopology, |
| anode, |
| anothernode, |
| acurve); |

varchar atopology;
integer anode;
integer anothernode;
geometry acurve;

Description

Add a new edge and, if doing so splits a face, modify the original face and add a new one.

Note

If possible, the new face will be created on left side of the new edge. This will not be possible if the face on the left side will need to be the Universe face (unbounded).

Returns the id of the newly added edge.

Updates all existing joined edges and relationships accordingly.

If any arguments are null, the given nodes are unknown (must already exist in the node table of the topology schema) , the acurve is not a LINESTRING, the anode and anothernode are not the start and endpoints of acurve then an error is thrown.

If the spatial reference system (srid) of the acurve geometry is not the same as the topology an exception is thrown.

Availability: 2.0

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.13

Examples

See Also

ST_RemEdgeModFace

ST_AddEdgeNewFaces

Name

ST_RemEdgeNewFace — Removes an edge and, if the removed edge separated two faces, delete the original faces and replace them with a new face.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_RemEdgeNewFace( | atopology, |
| anedge); |

varchar atopology;
integer anedge;

Description

Removes an edge and, if the removed edge separated two faces, delete the original faces and replace them with a new face.

Returns the id of a newly created face or NULL, if no new face is created. No new face is created when the removed edge is dangling or isolated or confined with the universe face (possibly making the universe flood into the face on the other side).

Updates all existing joined edges and relationships accordingly.

Refuses to remove an edge partecipating in the definition of an existing TopoGeometry. Refuses to heal two faces if any TopoGeometry is defined by only one of them (and not the other).

If any arguments are null, the given edge is unknown (must already exist in the edge table of the topology schema), the topology name is invalid then an error is thrown.

Availability: 2.0

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.14

Examples

See Also

ST_RemEdgeModFace

ST_AddEdgeNewFaces

Name

ST_RemEdgeModFace — Removes an edge and, if the removed edge separated two faces, delete one of the them and modify the other to take the space of both.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_RemEdgeModFace( | atopology, |
| anedge); |

varchar atopology;
integer anedge;

Description

Removes an edge and, if the removed edge separated two faces, delete one of the them and modify the other to take the space of both. Preferentially keeps the face on the right, to be symmetric with ST_AddEdgeModFace also keeping it. Returns the id of the face remaining in place of the removed edge.

Updates all existing joined edges and relationships accordingly.

Refuses to remove an edge partecipating in the definition of an existing TopoGeometry. Refuses to heal two faces if any TopoGeometry is defined by only one of them (and not the other).

If any arguments are null, the given edge is unknown (must already exist in the edge table of the topology schema), the topology name is invalid then an error is thrown.

Availability: 2.0

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.15

Examples

See Also

ST_AddEdgeModFace

ST_RemEdgeNewFace

Name

ST_ChangeEdgeGeom — Changes the shape of an edge without affecting the topology structure.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_ChangeEdgeGeom( | atopology, |
| anedge, |
| acurve); |

varchar atopology;
integer anedge;
geometry acurve;

Description

Changes the shape of an edge without affecting the topology structure.

If any arguments are null, the given edge does not exist in the node table of the topology schema, the acurve is not a LINESTRING, the anode and anothernode are not the start and endpoints of acurve or the modification would change the underlying topology then an error is thrown.

If the spatial reference system (srid) of the acurve geometry is not the same as the topology an exception is thrown.

If the new acurve is not simple, then an error is thrown.

If moving the edge from old to new position would hit an obstacle then an error is thrown.

Availability: 1.1.0

Enhanced: 2.0.0 adds topological consistency enforcement

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details X.3.6

Examples

SELECT topology.ST_ChangeEdgeGeom('ma_topo', 1,
		ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(227591.9 893900.4,227622.6 893844.3,227641.6 893816.6, 227704.5 893778.5)', 26986) );
 ----
 Edge 1 changed

See Also

ST_AddEdgeModFace

ST_RemEdgeModFace

ST_ModEdgeSplit

Name

ST_ModEdgeSplit — Split an edge by creating a new node along an existing edge, modifying the original edge and adding a new edge.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_ModEdgeSplit( | atopology, |
| anedge, |
| apoint); |

varchar atopology;
integer anedge;
geometry apoint;

Description

Split an edge by creating a new node along an existing edge, modifying the original edge and adding a new edge. Updates all existing joined edges and relationships accordingly. Returns the identifier of the newly added node.

Availability: 1.?

Changed: 2.0 - In prior versions, this was misnamed ST_ModEdgesSplit

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.9

Examples

-- Add an edge --
 SELECT topology.AddEdge('ma_topo', ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(227592 893910, 227600 893910)', 26986) ) As edgeid;

-- edgeid-
3

-- Split the edge  --
SELECT topology.ST_ModEdgeSplit('ma_topo',  3, ST_SetSRID(ST_Point(227594,893910),26986)  ) As node_id;
        node_id
-------------------------
7

See Also

ST_NewEdgesSplit, ST_ModEdgeHeal, ST_NewEdgeHeal, AddEdge

Name

ST_ModEdgeHeal — Heal two edges by deleting the node connecting them, modifying the first edge and deleting the second edge. Returns the id of the deleted node.

Synopsis

int fsfuncST_ModEdgeHeal( | atopology, |
| anedge, |
| anotheredge); |

varchar atopology;
integer anedge;
integer anotheredge;

Description

Heal two edges by deleting the node connecting them, modifying the first edge and deleting the second edge. Returns the id of the deleted node. Updates all existing joined edges and relationships accordingly.

Availability: 2.0

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.9

See Also

ST_ModEdgeSplit ST_NewEdgesSplit

Name

ST_NewEdgeHeal — Heal two edges by deleting the node connecting them, deleting both edges, and replacing them with an edge whose direction is the same as the first edge provided.

Synopsis

int fsfuncST_NewEdgeHeal( | atopology, |
| anedge, |
| anotheredge); |

varchar atopology;
integer anedge;
integer anotheredge;

Description

Heal two edges by deleting the node connecting them, deleting both edges, and replacing them with an edge whose direction is the same as the first edge provided. Returns the id of the new edge replacing the healed ones. Updates all existing joined edges and relationships accordingly.

Availability: 2.0

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.9

See Also

ST_ModEdgeHeal ST_ModEdgeSplit ST_NewEdgesSplit

Name

ST_MoveIsoNode — Moves an isolated node in a topology from one point to another. If new apoint geometry exists as a node an error is thrown. REturns description of move.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_MoveIsoNode( | atopology, |
| anedge, |
| apoint); |

varchar atopology;
integer anedge;
geometry apoint;

Description

Moves an isolated node in a topology from one point to another. If new apoint geometry exists as a node an error is thrown.

If any arguments are null, the apoint is not a point, the existing node is not isolated (is a start or end point of an existing edge), new node location intersects an existing edge (even at the end points) then an exception is thrown.

If the spatial reference system (srid) of the point geometry is not the same as the topology an exception is thrown.

Availability: 1.?

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Net Routines: X.3.2

Examples

-- Add an isolated node with no face  --
SELECT topology.ST_AddIsoNode('ma_topo',  NULL, ST_GeomFromText('POINT(227579 893916)', 26986) ) As nodeid;
 nodeid
--------
      7
-- Move the new node --
SELECT topology.ST_MoveIsoNode('ma_topo', 7,  ST_GeomFromText('POINT(227579.5 893916.5)', 26986) ) As descrip;
                      descrip
----------------------------------------------------
Isolated Node 7 moved to location 227579.5,893916.5

See Also

ST_AddIsoNode

Name

ST_NewEdgesSplit — Split an edge by creating a new node along an existing edge, deleting the original edge and replacing it with two new edges. Returns the id of the new node created that joins the new edges.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncST_NewEdgesSplit( | atopology, |
| anedge, |
| apoint); |

varchar atopology;
integer anedge;
geometry apoint;

Description

Split an edge with edge id anedge by creating a new node with point location apoint along current edge, deleting the original edge and replacing it with two new edges. Returns the id of the new node created that joins the new edges. Updates all existing joined edges and relationships accordingly.

If the spatial reference system (srid) of the point geometry is not the same as the topology, the apoint is not a point geometry, the point is null, the point already exists as a node, the edge does not correspond to an existing edge or the point is not within the edge then an exception is thrown.

Availability: 1.?

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Net Routines: X.3.8

Examples

-- Add an edge  --
SELECT topology.AddEdge('ma_topo', ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(227575 893917,227592 893900)', 26986) ) As edgeid;
-- result-
edgeid
------
	2
-- Split the new edge --
SELECT topology.ST_NewEdgesSplit('ma_topo', 2,  ST_GeomFromText('POINT(227578.5 893913.5)', 26986) ) As newnodeid;
 newnodeid
---------
       6

See Also

ST_ModEdgeSplit ST_ModEdgeHeal ST_NewEdgeHeal AddEdge

Name

ST_RemoveIsoNode — Removes an isolated node and returns description of action. If the node is not isolated (is start or end of an edge), then an exception is thrown.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_RemoveIsoNode( | atopology, |
| anode); |

varchar atopology;
integer anode;

Description

Removes an isolated node and returns description of action. If the node is not isolated (is start or end of an edge), then an exception is thrown.

Availability: 1.?

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X+1.3.3

Examples

-- Add an isolated node with no face  --
SELECT topology.ST_RemoveIsoNode('ma_topo',  7 ) As result;
         result
-------------------------
 Isolated node 7 removed

See Also

ST_AddIsoNode

Name

ST_RemoveIsoEdge — Removes an isolated edge and returns description of action. If the edge is not isolated, then an exception is thrown.

Synopsis

text fsfuncST_RemoveIsoEdge( | atopology, |
| anedge); |

varchar atopology;
integer anedge;

Description

Removes an isolated edge and returns description of action. If the edge is not isolated, then an exception is thrown.

Availability: 1.?

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X+1.3.3

Examples

-- Remove an isolated node with no face  --
SELECT topology.ST_RemoveIsoNode('ma_topo',  7 ) As result;
         result
-------------------------
 Isolated node 7 removed

See Also

ST_AddIsoNode

Topology Accessors

Name

GetEdgeByPoint — Find the edge-id of an edge that intersects a given point

Synopsis

integer fsfuncGetEdgeByPoint( | atopology, |
| apoint, |
| tol); |

varchar atopology;
geometry apoint;
float8 tol;

Retrieve the id of an edge that intersects a Point

The function returns an integer (id-edge) given a topology, a POINT and a tolerance. If tolerance = 0 then the point has to intersect the edge.

If the point doesn't intersect an edge, returns 0 (zero).

If use tolerance > 0 and there is more than one edge near the point then an exception is thrown.

Note

If tolerance = 0, the function use ST_Intersects otherwise uses ST_DWithin.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0.

Examples

These examples use edges we created in AddEdge

SELECT topology.GetEdgeByPoint('ma_topo',geom, 1) As with1mtol, topology.GetEdgeByPoint('ma_topo',geom,0) As withnotol
FROM ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=26986;POINT(227622.6 893843)') As geom;
 with1mtol | withnotol
-----------+-----------
         2 |         0

SELECT topology.GetEdgeByPoint('ma_topo',geom, 1) As nearnode
FROM ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=26986;POINT(227591.9 893900.4)') As geom;

-- get error --
ERROR:  Two or more edges found

See Also

AddEdge, GetNodeByPoint, GetFaceByPoint

Name

GetFaceByPoint — Find the face-id of a face that intersects a given point

Synopsis

integer fsfuncGetFaceByPoint( | atopology, |
| apoint, |
| tol); |

varchar atopology;
geometry apoint;
float8 tol;

Description

Retrieve the id of a face that intersects a Point.

The function returns an integer (id-face) given a topology, a POINT and a tolerance. If tolerance = 0 then the point has to intersect the face.

If the point doesn't intersect a face, returns 0 (zero).

If use tolerance > 0 and there is more than one face near the point then an exception is thrown.

Note

If tolerance = 0, the function uses ST_Intersects otherwise uses ST_DWithin.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0.

Examples

These examples use edges faces created in AddFace

SELECT topology.GetFaceByPoint('ma_topo',geom, 10) As with1mtol, topology.GetFaceByPoint('ma_topo',geom,0) As withnotol
	FROM ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(234604.6 899382.0)') As geom;

	 with1mtol | withnotol
	-----------+-----------
			 1 |         0

SELECT topology.GetFaceByPoint('ma_topo',geom, 1) As nearnode
	FROM ST_GeomFromEWKT('POINT(227591.9 893900.4)') As geom;

-- get error --
ERROR:  Two or more faces found

See Also

AddFace, GetNodeByPoint, GetEdgeByPoint

Name

GetNodeByPoint — Find the id of a node at a point location

Synopsis

integer fsfuncGetNodeByPoint( | atopology, |
| point, |
| tol); |

varchar atopology;
geometry point;
float8 tol;

Retrieve the id of a node at a point location

The function return an integer (id-node) given a topology, a POINT and a tolerance. If tolerance = 0 mean exactly intersection otherwise retrieve the node from an interval.

If there isn't a node at the point, it return 0 (zero).

If use tolerance > 0 and near the point there are more than one node it throw an exception.

Note

If tolerance = 0, the function use ST_Intersects otherwise will use ST_DWithin.

Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0.

Examples

These examples use edges we created in AddEdge

SELECT topology.GetNodeByPoint('ma_topo',geom, 1) As nearnode
 FROM ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=26986;POINT(227591.9 893900.4)') As geom;
  nearnode
----------
        2

SELECT topology.GetNodeByPoint('ma_topo',geom, 1000) As too_much_tolerance
 FROM ST_GeomFromEWKT('SRID=26986;POINT(227591.9 893900.4)') As geom;

 ----get error--
 ERROR:  Two or more nodes found

See Also

AddEdge, GetEdgeByPoint, GetFaceByPoint

Name

GetTopologyID — Returns the id of a topology in the topology.topology table given the name of the topology.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncGetTopologyID(
toponame);

varchar toponame;

Description

Returns the id of a topology in the topology.topology table given the name of the topology.

Availability: 1.?

Examples

SELECT topology.GetTopologyID('ma_topo') As topo_id;
 topo_id
---------
       1

See Also

CreateTopology, DropTopology, GetTopologyName, GetTopologySRID

Name

GetTopologySRID — Returns the SRID of a topology in the topology.topology table given the name of the topology.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncGetTopologyID(
toponame);

varchar toponame;

Description

Returns the spatial reference id of a topology in the topology.topology table given the name of the topology.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

SELECT topology.GetTopologySRID('ma_topo') As SRID;
 SRID
-------
  4326

See Also

CreateTopology, DropTopology, GetTopologyName, GetTopologyID

Name

GetTopologyName — Returns the name of a topology (schema) given the id of the topology.

Synopsis

varchar fsfuncGetTopologyName(
topology_id);

integer topology_id;

Description

Returns the topology name (schema) of a topology from the topology.topology table given the topology id of the topology.

Availability: 1.?

Examples

SELECT topology.GetTopologyName(1) As topo_name;
 topo_name
-----------
 ma_topo

See Also

CreateTopology, DropTopology, GetTopologyID, GetTopologySRID

Name

ST_GetFaceEdges — Returns a set of ordered edges that bound aface.

Synopsis

getfaceedges_returntype fsfuncST_GetFaceEdges( | atopology, |
| aface); |

varchar atopology;
integer aface;

Description

Returns a set of ordered edges that bound aface. Each output consists of a sequence and edgeid. Sequence numbers start with value 1.

Enumeration of each ring edges start from the edge with smallest identifier. Order of edges follows a left-hand-rule (bound face is on the left of each directed edge).

Availability: 2.0

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3 Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.5

Examples

-- Returns the edges bounding face 1
SELECT (topology.ST_GetFaceEdges('tt', 1)).*;
-- result --
 sequence | edge
----------+------
        1 |   -4
        2 |    5
        3 |    7
        4 |   -6
        5 |    1
        6 |    2
        7 |    3
(7 rows)

-- Returns the sequence, edge id
-- and geometry of the edges that bound face 1
-- If you just need geom and seq, can use ST_GetFaceGeometry
SELECT t.seq, t.edge, geom
FROM topology.ST_GetFaceEdges('tt',1) As t(seq,edge)
	INNER JOIN tt.edge AS e ON abs(t.edge) = e.edge_id;

See Also

GetRingEdges, AddFace, ST_GetFaceGeometry

Name

ST_GetFaceGeometry — Returns the polygon in the given topology with the specified face id.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_GetFaceGeometry( | atopology, |
| aface); |

varchar atopology;
integer aface;

Description

Returns the polygon in the given topology with the specified face id. Builds the polygon from the edges making up the face.

Availability: 1.?

Description This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3 Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.16

Examples

-- Returns the wkt of the polygon added with AddFace
SELECT ST_AsText(topology.ST_GetFaceGeometry('ma_topo', 1)) As facegeomwkt;
-- result --
               facegeomwkt

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 POLYGON((234776.9 899563.7,234896.5 899456.7,234914 899436.4,234946.6 899356.9,
234872.5 899328.7,234891 899285.4,234992.5 899145,234890.6 899069,
234755.2 899255.4,234612.7 899379.4,234776.9 899563.7))

See Also

AddFace

Name

GetRingEdges — Returns the ordered set of signed edge identifiers met by walking on an a given edge side.

Synopsis

getfaceedges_returntype fsfuncGetRingEdges( | atopology, |
| aring, |
| max_edges=null); |

varchar atopology;
integer aring;
integer max_edges=null;

Description

Returns the ordered set of signed edge identifiers met by walking on an a given edge side. Each output consists of a sequence and a signed edge id. Sequence numbers start with value 1.

If you pass a positive edge id, the walk starts on the left side of the corresponding edge and follows the edge direction. If you pass a negative edge id, the walk starts on the right side of it and goes backward.

If max_edges is not null no more than those records are returned by that function. This is meant to be a safety parameter when dealing with possibly invalid topologies.

Note

This function uses edge ring linking metadata.

Availability: 2.0.0

See Also

ST_GetFaceEdges, GetNodeEdges

Name

GetNodeEdges — Returns an ordered set of edges incident to the given node.

Synopsis

getfaceedges_returntype fsfuncGetNodeEdges( | atopology, |
| anode); |

varchar atopology;
integer anode;

Description

Returns an ordered set of edges incident to the given node. Each output consists of a sequence and a signed edge id. Sequence numbers start with value 1. A positive edge starts at the given node. A negative edge ends into the given node. Closed edges will appear twice (with both signs). Order is clockwise starting from northbound.

Note

This function computes ordering rather than deriving from metadata and is thus usable to build edge ring linking.

Availability: 2.0

See Also

GetRingEdges, ST_Azimuth

Topology Processing

Abstract

This section covers the functions for processing topologies in non-standard ways.

Name

Polygonize — Find and register all faces defined by topology edges

Synopsis

text fsfuncPolygonize(
toponame);

varchar toponame;

Description

Register all faces that can be built out a topology edge primitives.

The target topology is assumed to contain no self-intersecting edges.

Note

Already known faces are recognized, so it is safe to call Polygonize multiple times on the same topology.

Note

This function does not use nor set the next_left_edge and next_right_edge fields of the edge table.

Availability: 2.0.0

See Also

AddFace, ST_Polygonize

Name

AddNode — Adds a point node to the node table in the specified topology schema and returns the nodeid of new node. If point already exists as node, the existing nodeid is returned.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncAddNode( | toponame, |
| apoint, |
| allowEdgeSplitting=false, |
| computeContainingFace=false); |

varchar toponame;
geometry apoint;
boolean allowEdgeSplitting=false;
boolean computeContainingFace=false;

Description

Adds a point node to the node table in the specified topology schema. The AddEdge function automatically adds start and end points of an edge when called so not necessary to explicitly add nodes of an edge.

If any edge crossing the node is found either an exception is raised or the edge is split, depending on the allowEdgeSplitting parameter value.

If computeContainingFace is true a newly added node would get the correct containing face computed.

Note

If the apoint geometry already exists as a node, the node is not added but the existing nodeid is returned.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

SELECT topology.AddNode('ma_topo', ST_GeomFromText('POINT(227641.6 893816.5)', 26986) ) As nodeid;
-- result --
nodeid
--------
 4

See Also

AddEdge, CreateTopology

Name

AddEdge — Adds a linestring edge to the edge table and associated start and end points to the point nodes table of the specified topology schema using the specified linestring geometry and returns the edgeid of the new (or existing) edge.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncAddEdge( | toponame, |
| aline); |

varchar toponame;
geometry aline;

Description

Adds an edge to the edge table and associated nodes to the nodes table of the specified toponame schema using the specified linestring geometry and returns the edgeid of the new or existing record. The newly added edge has "universe" face on both sides and links to itself.

Note

If the aline geometry crosses, overlaps, contains or is contained by an existing linestring edge, then an error is thrown and the edge is not added.

Note

The geometry of aline must have the same srid as defined for the topology otherwise an invalid spatial reference sys error will be thrown.

Availability: 2.0.0 requires GEOS >= 3.3.0.

Examples

SELECT topology.AddEdge('ma_topo', ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(227575.8 893917.2,227591.9 893900.4)', 26986) ) As edgeid;
-- result-
edgeid
--------
 1

SELECT topology.AddEdge('ma_topo', ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(227591.9 893900.4,227622.6 893844.2,227641.6 893816.5,
 227704.5 893778.5)', 26986) ) As edgeid;
-- result --
edgeid
--------
 2

 SELECT topology.AddEdge('ma_topo', ST_GeomFromText('LINESTRING(227591.2 893900, 227591.9 893900.4,
  227704.5 893778.5)', 26986) ) As edgeid;
 -- gives error --
 ERROR:  Edge intersects (not on endpoints) with existing edge 1

See Also

CreateTopology, the section called “The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems”

Name

AddFace — Registers a face primitive to a topology and gets its identifier.

Synopsis

integer fsfuncAddFace( | toponame, |
| apolygon, |
| force_new=false); |

varchar toponame;
geometry apolygon;
boolean force_new=false;

Description

Registers a face primitive to a topology and gets its identifier.

For a newly added face, the edges forming its boundaries and the ones contained in the face will be updated to have correct values in the left_face and right_face fields. Isolated nodes contained in the face will also be updated to have a correct containing_face field value.

Note

This function does not use nor set the next_left_edge and next_right_edge fields of the edge table.

The target topology is assumed to be valid (containing no self-intersecting edges). An exception is raised if: The polygon boundary is not fully defined by existing edges or the polygon overlaps an existing face.

If the apolygon geometry already exists as a face, then: if force_new is false (the default) the face id of the existing face is returned; if force_new is true a new id will be assigned to the newly registered face.

Note

When a new registration of an existing face is performed (force_new=true), no action will be taken to resolve dangling references to the existing face in the edge, node an relation tables, nor will the MBR field of the existing face record be updated. It is up to the caller to deal with that.

Note

The apolygon geometry must have the same srid as defined for the topology otherwise an invalid spatial reference sys error will be thrown.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

-- first add the edges we use generate_series as an iterator (the below
-- will only work for polygons with < 10000 points because of our max in gs)
SELECT topology.AddEdge('ma_topo', ST_MakeLine(ST_PointN(geom,i), ST_PointN(geom, i + 1) )) As edgeid
    FROM (SELECT  ST_NPoints(geom) AS npt, geom
            FROM
                (SELECT ST_Boundary(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((234896.5 899456.7,234914 899436.4,234946.6 899356.9,234872.5 899328.7,
                234891 899285.4,234992.5 899145, 234890.6 899069,234755.2 899255.4,
                234612.7 899379.4,234776.9 899563.7,234896.5 899456.7))', 26986) )  As geom
            )  As geoms) As facen CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,10000) As i
         WHERE i < npt;
-- result --
 edgeid
--------
      3
      4
      5
      6
      7
      8
      9
     10
     11
     12
(10 rows)
-- then add the face -

SELECT topology.AddFace('ma_topo',
    ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((234896.5 899456.7,234914 899436.4,234946.6 899356.9,234872.5 899328.7,
    234891 899285.4,234992.5 899145, 234890.6 899069,234755.2 899255.4,
    234612.7 899379.4,234776.9 899563.7,234896.5 899456.7))', 26986) ) As faceid;
-- result --
faceid
--------
 1

See Also

AddEdge, CreateTopology, the section called “The SPATIAL_REF_SYS Table and Spatial Reference Systems”

Name

ST_Simplify — Returns a "simplified" geometry version of the given TopoGeometry using the Douglas-Peucker algorithm.

Synopsis

geometry fsfuncST_Simplify( | geomA, |
| tolerance); |

TopoGeometry geomA;
float tolerance;

Description

Returns a "simplified" geometry version of the given TopoGeometry using the Douglas-Peucker algorithm on each component edge.

Note

The returned geometry may be non-simple or non-valid.

Splitting component edges may help retaining simplicity/validity.

Performed by the GEOS module.

Availability: 2.1.0

See Also

Geometry ST_Simplify, ST_IsSimple, ST_IsValid, ST_ModEdgeSplit

TopoGeometry Constructors

Abstract

This section covers the topology functions for creating new topogeometries.

Name

CreateTopoGeom — Creates a new topo geometry object from topo element array - tg_type: 1:[multi]point, 2:[multi]line, 3:[multi]poly, 4:collection

Synopsis

topogeometry fsfuncCreateTopoGeom( | toponame, |
| tg_type, |
| layer_id, |
| tg_objs); |

varchar toponame;
integer tg_type;
integer layer_id;
topoelementarray tg_objs;

topogeometry fsfuncCreateTopoGeom( | toponame, |
| tg_type, |
| layer_id); |

varchar toponame;
integer tg_type;
integer layer_id;

Description

Creates a topogeometry object for layer denoted by layer_id and registers it in the relations table in the toponame schema.

tg_type is an integer: 1:[multi]point (punctal), 2:[multi]line (lineal), 3:[multi]poly (areal), 4:collection. layer_id is the layer id in the topology.layer table.

punctal layers are formed from set of nodes, lineal layers are formed from a set of edges, areal layers are formed from a set of faces, and collections can be formed from a mixture of nodes, edges, and faces.

Omitting the array of components generates an empty TopoGeometry object.

Availability: 1.?

Examples: Form from existing edges

Create a topogeom in ri_topo schema for layer 2 (our ri_roads), of type (2) LINE, for the first edge (we loaded in ST_CreateTopoGeo.

INSERT INTO ri.ri_roads(road_name, topo) VALUES('Unknown', topology.CreateTopoGeom('ri_topo',2,2,'{{1,2}}'::topology.topoelementarray);

Examples: Convert an areal geometry to best guess topogeometry

Lets say we have geometries that should be formed from a collection of faces. We have for example blockgroups table and want to know the topo geometry of each block group. If our data was perfectly aligned, we could do this:

-- create our topo geometry column --
SELECT topology.AddTopoGeometryColumn(
	'topo_boston',
	'boston', 'blockgroups', 'topo', 'POLYGON');

-- addtopgeometrycolumn --
1

-- update our column assuming
-- everything is perfectly aligned with our edges
UPDATE boston.blockgroups AS bg
	SET topo = topology.CreateTopoGeom('topo_boston'
        ,3,1
        , foo.bfaces)
FROM (SELECT b.gid,  topology.TopoElementArray_Agg(ARRAY[f.face_id,3]) As bfaces
	FROM boston.blockgroups As b
            INNER JOIN topo_boston.face As f ON b.geom && f.mbr
        WHERE ST_Covers(b.geom, topology.ST_GetFaceGeometry('topo_boston', f.face_id))
            GROUP BY b.gid) As foo
WHERE foo.gid = bg.gid;

--the world is rarely perfect allow for some error
--count the face if 50% of it falls
-- within what we think is our blockgroup boundary
UPDATE boston.blockgroups AS bg
	SET topo = topology.CreateTopoGeom('topo_boston'
        ,3,1
        , foo.bfaces)
FROM (SELECT b.gid,  topology.TopoElementArray_Agg(ARRAY[f.face_id,3]) As bfaces
	FROM boston.blockgroups As b
            INNER JOIN topo_boston.face As f ON b.geom && f.mbr
        WHERE ST_Covers(b.geom, topology.ST_GetFaceGeometry('topo_boston', f.face_id))
        	OR
 (  ST_Intersects(b.geom, topology.ST_GetFaceGeometry('topo_boston', f.face_id))
            AND ST_Area(ST_Intersection(b.geom, topology.ST_GetFaceGeometry('topo_boston', f.face_id) ) ) >
                ST_Area(topology.ST_GetFaceGeometry('topo_boston', f.face_id))*0.5
                )
            GROUP BY b.gid) As foo
WHERE foo.gid = bg.gid;

-- and if we wanted to convert our topogeometry back
-- to a denomalized geometry aligned with our faces and edges
-- cast the topo to a geometry
-- The really cool thing is my new geometries
-- are now aligned with my tiger street centerlines
UPDATE boston.blockgroups SET new_geom = topo::geometry;

See Also

AddTopoGeometryColumn, toTopoGeom ST_CreateTopoGeo, ST_GetFaceGeometry, TopoElementArray, TopoElementArray_Agg

Name

toTopoGeom — Converts a simple Geometry into a topo geometry

Synopsis

topogeometry fsfunctoTopoGeom( | geom, |
| toponame, |
| layer_id, |
| tolerance); |

geometry geom;
varchar toponame;
integer layer_id;
float8 tolerance;

topogeometry fsfunctoTopoGeom( | geom, |
| topogeom, |
| tolerance); |

geometry geom;
topogeometry topogeom;
float8 tolerance;

Description

Converts a simple Geometry into a TopoGeometry.

Topological primitives required to represent the input geometry will be added to the underlying topology, possibly splitting existing ones, and they will be associated with the output TopoGeometry in the relation table.

Existing TopoGeometry objects (with the possible exception of topogeom, if given) will retain their shapes.

When tolerance is given it will be used to snap the input geometry to existing primitives.

In the first form a new TopoGeometry will be created for the given layer (layer_id) of the given topology (toponame).

In the second form the primitives resulting from the conversion will be added to the pre-existing TopoGeometry (topogeom), possibly adding space to its final shape. To have the new shape completely replace the old one see clearTopoGeom.

Availability: 2.0

Enhanced: 2.1.0 adds the version taking an existing TopoGeometry.

Examples

This is a full self-contained workflow

 -- do this if you don't have a topology setup already
-- creates topology not allowing any tolerance
SELECT topology.CreateTopology('topo_boston_test', 2249);
-- create a new table
CREATE TABLE nei_topo(gid serial primary key, nei varchar(30));
--add a topogeometry column to it
SELECT topology.AddTopoGeometryColumn('topo_boston_test', 'public', 'nei_topo', 'topo', 'MULTIPOLYGON') As new_layer_id;
new_layer_id
-----------
1

--use new layer id in populating the new topogeometry column
-- we add the topogeoms to the new layer with 0 tolerance
INSERT INTO nei_topo(nei, topo)
SELECT nei,  topology.toTopoGeom(geom, 'topo_boston_test', 1)
FROM neighborhoods
WHERE gid BETWEEN 1 and 15;

--use to verify what has happened --
SELECT * FROM
    topology.TopologySummary('topo_boston_test');

-- summary--
Topology topo_boston_test (5), SRID 2249, precision 0
61 nodes, 87 edges, 35 faces, 15 topogeoms in 1 layers
Layer 1, type Polygonal (3), 15 topogeoms
 Deploy: public.nei_topo.topo

-- Shrink all TopoGeometry polygons by 10 meters
UPDATE nei_topo SET topo = ST_Buffer(clearTopoGeom(topo), -10);

-- Get the no-one-lands left by the above operation
-- I think GRASS calls this "polygon0 layer"
SELECT ST_GetFaceGeometry('topo_boston_test', f.face_id)
  FROM topo_boston_test.face f
  WHERE f.face_id > 0 -- don't consider the universe face
  AND NOT EXISTS ( -- check that no TopoGeometry references the face
    SELECT * FROM topo_boston_test.relation
    WHERE layer_id = 1 AND element_id = f.face_id
  );

See Also

CreateTopology, AddTopoGeometryColumn, CreateTopoGeom, TopologySummary, clearTopoGeom

Name

TopoElementArray_Agg — Returns a topoelementarray for a set of element_id, type arrays (topoelements)

Synopsis

topoelementarray fsfuncTopoElementArray_Agg(
tefield);

topoelement set tefield;

Description

Used to create a TopoElementArray from a set of TopoElement.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

SELECT topology.TopoElementArray_Agg(ARRAY[e,t]) As tea
  FROM generate_series(1,3) As e CROSS JOIN generate_series(1,4) As t;
  tea
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
{{1,1},{1,2},{1,3},{1,4},{2,1},{2,2},{2,3},{2,4},{3,1},{3,2},{3,3},{3,4}}

See Also

TopoElement, TopoElementArray

TopoGeometry Editors

Abstract

This section covers the topology functions for editing existing topogeometries.

Name

clearTopoGeom — Clears the content of a topo geometry

Synopsis

topogeometry fsfuncclearTopoGeom(
topogeom);

topogeometry topogeom;

Description

Clears the content a TopoGeometry turning it into an empty one. Mostly useful in conjunction with toTopoGeom to replace the shape of existing objects and any dependent object in higher hierarchical levels.

Availability: 2.1

Examples

-- Shrink all TopoGeometry polygons by 10 meters
UPDATE nei_topo SET topo = ST_Buffer(clearTopoGeom(topo), -10);

See Also

toTopoGeom

Name

toTopoGeom — Adds a geometry shape to an existing topo geometry

Description

Refer to toTopoGeom

TopoGeometry Accessors

Name

GetTopoGeomElementArray — Returns a topoelementarray (an array of topoelements) containing the topological elements and type of the given TopoGeometry (primitive elements)

Synopsis

topoelementarray fsfuncGetTopoGeomElementArray( | toponame, |
| layer_id, |
| tg_id); |

varchar toponame;
integer layer_id;
integer tg_id;

topoelementarray topoelement fsfuncGetTopoGeomElementArray(
tg);

topogeometry tg;

Description

Returns a TopoElementArray containing the topological elements and type of the given TopoGeometry (primitive elements). This is similar to GetTopoGeomElements except it returns the elements as an array rather than as a dataset.

tg_id is the topogeometry id of the topogeometry object in the topology in the layer denoted by layer_id in the topology.layer table.

Availability: 1.?

Examples

See Also

GetTopoGeomElements, TopoElementArray

Name

GetTopoGeomElements — Returns a set of topoelement objects containing the topological element_id,element_type of the given TopoGeometry (primitive elements)

Synopsis

setof topoelement fsfuncGetTopoGeomElements( | toponame, |
| layer_id, |
| tg_id); |

varchar toponame;
integer layer_id;
integer tg_id;

setof topoelement fsfuncGetTopoGeomElements(
tg);

topogeometry tg;

Description

Returns a set of element_id,element_type (topoelements) for a given topogeometry object in toponame schema.

tg_id is the topogeometry id of the topogeometry object in the topology in the layer denoted by layer_id in the topology.layer table.

Availability: 1.?

Examples

See Also

GetTopoGeomElementArray, TopoElement

TopoGeometry Outputs

Name

AsGML — Returns the GML representation of a topogeometry.

Synopsis

text fsfuncAsGML(
tg);

topogeometry tg;

text fsfuncAsGML( | tg, |
| nsprefix_in); |

topogeometry tg;
text nsprefix_in;

text fsfuncAsGML( | tg, |
| visitedTable); |

topogeometry tg;
regclass visitedTable;

text fsfuncAsGML( | tg, |
| visitedTable, |
| nsprefix); |

topogeometry tg;
regclass visitedTable;
text nsprefix;

text fsfuncAsGML( | tg, |
| nsprefix_in, |
| precision, |
| options); |

topogeometry tg;
text nsprefix_in;
integer precision;
integer options;

text fsfuncAsGML( | tg, |
| nsprefix_in, |
| precision, |
| options, |
| visitedTable); |

topogeometry tg;
text nsprefix_in;
integer precision;
integer options;
regclass visitedTable;

text fsfuncAsGML( | tg, |
| nsprefix_in, |
| precision, |
| options, |
| visitedTable, |
| idprefix); |

topogeometry tg;
text nsprefix_in;
integer precision;
integer options;
regclass visitedTable;
text idprefix;

text fsfuncAsGML( | tg, |
| nsprefix_in, |
| precision, |
| options, |
| visitedTable, |
| idprefix, |
| gmlversion); |

topogeometry tg;
text nsprefix_in;
integer precision;
integer options;
regclass visitedTable;
text idprefix;
int gmlversion;

Description

Returns the GML representation of a topogeometry in version GML3 format. If no nsprefix_in is specified then gml is used. Pass in an empty string for nsprefix to get a non-qualified name space. The precision (default: 15) and options (default 1) parameters, if given, are passed untouched to the underlying call to ST_AsGML.

The visitedTable parameter, if given, is used for keeping track of the visited Node and Edge elements so to use cross-references (xlink:xref) rather than duplicating definitions. The table is expected to have (at least) two integer fields: 'element_type' and 'element_id'. The calling user must have both read and write privileges on the given table. For best performance, an index should be defined on element_type and element_id, in that order. Such index would be created automatically by adding a unique constraint to the fields. Example:

CREATE TABLE visited (
  element_type integer, element_id integer,
  unique(element_type, element_id)
);

The idprefix parameter, if given, will be prepended to Edge and Node tag identifiers.

The gmlver parameter, if given, will be passed to the underlying ST_AsGML. Defaults to 3.

Availability: 2.0.0

Examples

This uses the topo geometry we created in CreateTopoGeom

SELECT topology.AsGML(topo) As rdgml
  FROM ri.roads
  WHERE road_name = 'Unknown';

-- rdgml--
<gml:TopoCurve>
    <gml:directedEdge>
        <gml:Edge gml:id="E1">
            <gml:directedNode orientation="-">
                <gml:Node gml:id="N1"/>
            </gml:directedNode>
            <gml:directedNode></gml:directedNode>
            <gml:curveProperty>
                <gml:Curve srsName="urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3438">
                    <gml:segments>
                        <gml:LineStringSegment>
                            <gml:posList srsDimension="2">384744 236928 384750 236923 384769 236911 384799 236895 384811 236890
                            384833 236884 384844 236882 384866 236881 384879 236883 384954 236898 385087 236932 385117 236938
                            385167 236938 385203 236941 385224 236946 385233 236950 385241 236956 385254 236971
                            385260 236979 385268 236999 385273 237018 385273 237037 385271 237047 385267 237057 385225 237125
                            385210 237144 385192 237161 385167 237192 385162 237202 385159 237214 385159 237227 385162 237241
                            385166 237256 385196 237324 385209 237345 385234 237375 385237 237383 385238 237399 385236 237407
                            385227 237419 385213 237430 385193 237439 385174 237451 385170 237455 385169 237460 385171 237475
                            385181 237503 385190 237521 385200 237533 385206 237538 385213 237541 385221 237542 385235 237540 385242 237541
                            385249 237544 385260 237555 385270 237570 385289 237584 385292 237589 385291 237596 385284 237630</gml:posList>
                        </gml:LineStringSegment>
                    </gml:segments>
                </gml:Curve>
            </gml:curveProperty>
        </gml:Edge>
    </gml:directedEdge>
</gml:TopoCurve>

Same exercise as previous without namespace

SELECT topology.AsGML(topo,'') As rdgml
  FROM ri.roads
  WHERE road_name = 'Unknown';

-- rdgml--
<TopoCurve>
    <directedEdge>
        <Edge id="E1">
            <directedNode orientation="-">
                <Node id="N1"/>
            </directedNode>
            <directedNode></directedNode>
            <curveProperty>
                <Curve srsName="urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3438">
                    <segments>
                        <LineStringSegment>
                            <posList srsDimension="2">384744 236928 384750 236923 384769 236911 384799 236895 384811 236890
                            384833 236884 384844 236882 384866 236881 384879 236883 384954 236898 385087 236932 385117 236938
                            385167 236938 385203 236941 385224 236946 385233 236950 385241 236956 385254 236971
                            385260 236979 385268 236999 385273 237018 385273 237037 385271 237047 385267 237057 385225 237125
                            385210 237144 385192 237161 385167 237192 385162 237202 385159 237214 385159 237227 385162 237241
                            385166 237256 385196 237324 385209 237345 385234 237375 385237 237383 385238 237399 385236 237407
                            385227 237419 385213 237430 385193 237439 385174 237451 385170 237455 385169 237460 385171 237475
                            385181 237503 385190 237521 385200 237533 385206 237538 385213 237541 385221 237542 385235 237540 385242 237541
                            385249 237544 385260 237555 385270 237570 385289 237584 385292 237589 385291 237596 385284 237630</posList>
                         </LineStringSegment>
                    </segments>
                </Curve>
            </curveProperty>
        </Edge>
    </directedEdge>
</TopoCurve>

See Also

CreateTopoGeom, ST_CreateTopoGeo

Name

AsTopoJSON — Returns the TopoJSON representation of a topogeometry.

Synopsis

text fsfuncAsTopoJSON( | tg, |
| edgeMapTable); |

topogeometry tg;
regclass edgeMapTable;

Description

Returns the TopoJSON representation of a topogeometry. If edgeMapTable is not null, it will be used as a lookup/storage mapping of edge identifiers to arc indices. This is to be able to allow for a compact "arcs" array in the final document.

The table, if given, is expected to have an "arc_id" field of type "serial" and an "edge_id" of type integer; the code will query the table for "edge_id" so it is recommended to add an index on that field.

Note

Arc indices in the TopoJSONjoutput are 0-based but they are 1-based in the "edgeMapTable" table.

A full TopoJSON document will be need to contain, in addition to the snippets returned by this function, the actual arcs plus some headers. See the TopoJSON specification.

Availability: 2.1.0

See Also

ST_AsGeoJSON

Examples

CREATE TEMP TABLE edgemap(arc_id serial, edge_id int unique);

-- header
SELECT '{ "type": "Topology", "transform": { "scale": [1,1], "translate": [0,0] }, "objects": {'

-- objects
UNION ALL SELECT '"' || feature_name || '": ' || AsTopoJSON(feature, 'edgemap')
FROM features.big_parcels WHERE feature_name = 'P3P4';

-- arcs
WITH edges AS (
  SELECT m.arc_id, e.geom FROM edgemap m, city_data.edge e
  WHERE e.edge_id = m.edge_id
), points AS (
  SELECT arc_id, (st_dumppoints(geom)).* FROM edges
), compare AS (
  SELECT p2.arc_id,
         CASE WHEN p1.path IS NULL THEN p2.geom
              ELSE ST_Translate(p2.geom, -ST_X(p1.geom), -ST_Y(p1.geom))
         END AS geom
  FROM points p2 LEFT OUTER JOIN points p1
  ON ( p1.arc_id = p2.arc_id AND p2.path[1] = p1.path[1]+1 )
  ORDER BY arc_id, p2.path
), arcsdump AS (
  SELECT arc_id, (regexp_matches( ST_AsGeoJSON(geom), '\[.*\]'))[1] as t
  FROM compare
), arcs AS (
  SELECT arc_id, '[' || array_to_string(array_agg(t), ',') || ']' as a FROM arcsdump
  GROUP BY arc_id
  ORDER BY arc_id
)
SELECT '}, "arcs": [' UNION ALL
SELECT array_to_string(array_agg(a), E',\n') from arcs

-- footer
UNION ALL SELECT ']}'::text as t;

-- Result:
{ "type": "Topology", "transform": { "scale": [1,1], "translate": [0,0] }, "objects": {
"P3P4": { "type": "MultiPolygon", "arcs": [[[-1]],[[6,5,-5,-4,-3,1]]]}
}, "arcs": [
 [[25,30],[6,0],[0,10],[-14,0],[0,-10],[8,0]],
 [[35,6],[0,8]],
 [[35,6],[12,0]],
 [[47,6],[0,8]],
 [[47,14],[0,8]],
 [[35,22],[12,0]],
 [[35,14],[0,8]]
 ]}

Topology Spatial Relationships

Abstract

This section lists the Topology functions used to check relationships between topogeometries and topology primitives

Name

Equals — Returns true if two topogeometries are composed of the same topology primitives.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncEquals( | tg1, |
| tg2); |

topogeometry tg1;
topogeometry tg2;

Description

Returns true if two topogeometries are composed of the same topology primitives: faces, edges, nodes.

Note

This function not supported for topogeometries that are geometry collections. It also can not compare topogeometries from different topologies.

Availability: 1.1.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

See Also

GetTopoGeomElements, ST_Equals

Name

Intersects — Returns true if any pair of primitives from the two topogeometries intersect.

Synopsis

boolean fsfuncIntersects( | tg1, |
| tg2); |

topogeometry tg1;
topogeometry tg2;

Description

Returns true if any pair of primitives from the two topogeometries intersect.

Note

This function not supported for topogeometries that are geometry collections. It also can not compare topogeometries from different topologies. Also not currently supported for hierarchichal topogeometries (topogeometries composed of other topogeometries).

Availability: 1.1.0

Description This function supports 3d and will not drop the z-index.

Examples

See Also

ST_Intersects

Chapter 12. Address Standardizer

This is a fork of the PAGC standardizer (original code for this portion was PAGC PostgreSQL Address Standardizer).

The address standardizer is a single line address parser that takes an input address and normalizes it based on a set of rules stored in a table and helper lex and gaz tables.

The code is built into a single postgresql extension library called address_standardizer which can be installed with CREATE EXTENSION address_standardizer;. In addition to the address_standardizer extension, a sample data extension called address_standardizer_data_us extensions is built, which contains gaz, lex, and rules tables for US data. This extensions can be installed via: CREATE EXTENSION address_standardizer_data_us;

The code for this extension can be found in the PostGIS extensions/address_standardizer and is currently self-contained.

For installation instructions refer to: the section called “Installing and Using the address standardizer”.

How the Parser Works

The parser works from right to left looking first at the macro elements for postcode, state/province, city, and then looks micro elements to determine if we are dealing with a house number street or intersection or landmark. It currently does not look for a country code or name, but that could be introduced in the future.

Country code

Assumed to be US or CA based on: postcode as US or Canada state/province as US or Canada else US

Postcode/zipcode

These are recognized using Perl compatible regular expressions. These regexs are currently in the parseaddress-api.c and are relatively simple to make changes to if needed.

State/province

These are recognized using Perl compatible regular expressions. These regexs are currently in the parseaddress-api.c but could get moved into includes in the future for easier maintenance.

Address Standardizer Types

Abstract

This section lists the PostgreSQL data types installed by Address Standardizer extension. Note we describe the casting behavior of these which is very important especially when designing your own functions.

Name

stdaddr — A composite type that consists of the elements of an address. This is the return type for standardize_address function.

Description

A composite type that consists of elements of an address. This is the return type for standardize_address function. Some descriptions for elements are borrowed from PAGC Postal Attributes.

The token numbers denote the output reference number in the rules table.

Description This method needs address_standardizer extension.

building

is text (token number 0): Refers to building number or name. Unparsed building identifiers and types. Generally blank for most addresses.

house_num

is a text (token number 1): This is the street number on a street. Example 75 in 75 State Street.

predir

is text (token number 2): STREET NAME PRE-DIRECTIONAL such as North, South, East, West etc.

qual

is text (token number 3): STREET NAME PRE-MODIFIER Example OLD in 3715 OLD HIGHWAY 99.

pretype

is text (token number 4): STREET PREFIX TYPE

name

is text (token number 5): STREET NAME

suftype

is text (token number 6): STREET POST TYPE e.g. St, Ave, Cir. A street type following the root street name. Example STREET in 75 State Street.

sufdir

is text (token number 7): STREET POST-DIRECTIONAL A directional modifier that follows the street name.. Example WEST in 3715 TENTH AVENUE WEST.

ruralroute

is text (token number 8): RURAL ROUTE . Example 8 in RR 7.

extra

is text: Extra information like Floor number.

city

is text (token number 10): Example Boston.

state

is text (token number 11): Example MASSACHUSETTS

country

is text (token number 12): Example USA

postcode

is text POSTAL CODE (ZIP CODE) (token number 13): Example 02109

box

is text POSTAL BOX NUMBER (token number 14 and 15): Example 02109

unit

is text Apartment number or Suite Number (token number 17): Example 3B in APT 3B.

Address Standardizer Tables

Abstract

This section lists the PostgreSQL table formats used by the address_standardizer for normalizing addresses. Note that these tables do not need to be named the same as what is referenced here. You can have different lex, gaz, rules tables for each country for example or for your custom geocoder. The names of these tables get passed into the address standardizer functions.

The packaged extension address_standardizer_data_us contains data for standardizing US addresses.

Name

rules table — The rules table contains a set of rules that maps address input sequence tokens to standardized output sequence. A rule is defined as a set of input tokens followed by -1 (terminator) followed by set of output tokens followed by -1 followed by number denoting kind of rule followed by ranking of rule.

Description

A rules table must have at least the following columns, though you are allowed to add more for your own uses.

id

Primary key of table

rule

text field denoting the rule. Details at PAGC Address Standardizer Rule records.

A rule consists of a set of non-negative integers representing input tokens, terminated by a -1, followed by an equal number of non-negative integers representing postal attributes, terminated by a -1, followed by an integer representing a rule type, followed by an integer representing the rank of the rule. The rules are ranked from 0 (lowest) to 17 (highest).

So for example the rule 2 0 2 22 3 -1 5 5 6 7 3 -1 2 6 maps to sequence of output tokens TYPE NUMBER TYPE DIRECT QUALIF to the output sequence STREET STREET SUFTYP SUFDIR QUALIF. The rule is an ARC_C rule of rank 6.

Numbers for corresponding output tokens are listed in stdaddr.

Input Tokens

Each rule starts with a set of input tokens followed by a terminator -1. Valid input tokens excerpted from PAGC Input Tokens are as follows:

Form-Based Input Tokens

AMPERS

(13). The ampersand (&) is frequently used to abbreviate the word "and".

DASH

(9). A punctuation character.

DOUBLE

(21). A sequence of two letters. Often used as identifiers.

FRACT

(25). Fractions are sometimes used in civic numbers or unit numbers.

MIXED

(23). An alphanumeric string that contains both letters and digits. Used for identifiers.

NUMBER

(0). A string of digits.

ORD

(15). Representations such as First or 1st. Often used in street names.

ORD

(18). A single letter.

WORD

(1). A word is a string of letters of arbitrary length. A single letter can be both a SINGLE and a WORD.

Function-based Input Tokens

BOXH

(14). Words used to denote post office boxes. For example Box or PO Box.

BUILDH

(19). Words used to denote buildings or building complexes, usually as a prefix. For example: Tower in Tower 7A.

BUILDT

(24). Words and abbreviations used to denote buildings or building complexes, usually as a suffix. For example: Shopping Centre.

DIRECT

(22). Words used to denote directions, for example North.

MILE

(20). Words used to denote milepost addresses.

ROAD

(6). Words and abbreviations used to denote highways and roads. For example: the Interstate in Interstate 5

RR

(8). Words and abbreviations used to denote rural routes. RR.

TYPE

(2). Words and abbreviation used to denote street typess. For example: ST or AVE.

UNITH

(16). Words and abbreviation used to denote internal subaddresses. For example, APT or UNIT.

Postal Type Input Tokens

QUINT

(28). A 5 digit number. Identifies a Zip Code

QUAD

(29). A 4 digit number. Identifies ZIP4.

PCH

(27). A 3 character sequence of letter number letter. Identifies an FSA, the first 3 characters of a Canadian postal code.

PCT

(26). A 3 character sequence of number letter number. Identifies an LDU, the last 3 characters of a Canadian postal code.

Stopwords

STOPWORDS combine with WORDS. In rules a string of multiple WORDs and STOPWORDs will be represented by a single WORD token.

STOPWORD

(7). A word with low lexical significance, that can be omitted in parsing. For example: THE.

Output Tokens

After the first -1 (terminator), follows the output tokens and their order, followed by a terminator -1. Numbers for corresponding output tokens are listed in stdaddr. What are allowed is dependent on kind of rule. Output tokens valid for each rule type are listed in the section called “Rule Types and Rank”.

Rule Types and Rank

The final part of the rule is the rule type which is denoted by one of the following, followed by a rule rank. The rules are ranked from 0 (lowest) to 17 (highest).

MACRO_C

(token number = "0"). The class of rules for parsing MACRO clauses such as PLACE STATE ZIP

MACRO_C output tokens (excerpted from http://www.pagcgeo.org/docs/html/pagc-12.html#--r-typ--.

CITY

(token number "10"). Example "Albany"

STATE

(token number "11"). Example "NY"

NATION

(token number "12"). This attribute is not used in most reference files. Example "USA"

POSTAL

(token number "13"). (SADS elements "ZIP CODE" , "PLUS 4" ). This attribute is used for both the US Zip and the Canadian Postal Codes.

MICRO_C

(token number = "1"). The class of rules for parsing full MICRO clauses (such as House, street, sufdir, predir, pretyp, suftype, qualif) (ie ARC_C plus CIVIC_C). These rules are not used in the build phase.

MICRO_C output tokens (excerpted from http://www.pagcgeo.org/docs/html/pagc-12.html#--r-typ--.

HOUSE

is a text (token number 1): This is the street number on a street. Example 75 in 75 State Street.

predir

is text (token number 2): STREET NAME PRE-DIRECTIONAL such as North, South, East, West etc.

qual

is text (token number 3): STREET NAME PRE-MODIFIER Example OLD in 3715 OLD HIGHWAY 99.

pretype

is text (token number 4): STREET PREFIX TYPE

street

is text (token number 5): STREET NAME

suftype

is text (token number 6): STREET POST TYPE e.g. St, Ave, Cir. A street type following the root street name. Example STREET in 75 State Street.

sufdir

is text (token number 7): STREET POST-DIRECTIONAL A directional modifier that follows the street name.. Example WEST in 3715 TENTH AVENUE WEST.

ARC_C

(token number = "2"). The class of rules for parsing MICRO clauses, excluding the HOUSE attribute. As such uses same set of output tokens as MICRO_C minus the HOUSE token.

CIVIC_C

(token number = "3"). The class of rules for parsing the HOUSE attribute.

EXTRA_C

(token number = "4"). The class of rules for parsing EXTRA attributes - attributes excluded from geocoding. These rules are not used in the build phase.

EXTRA_C output tokens (excerpted from http://www.pagcgeo.org/docs/html/pagc-12.html#--r-typ--.

BLDNG

(token number 0): Unparsed building identifiers and types.

BOXH

i(token number 14): The BOX in BOX 3B

BOXT

(token number 15): The 3B in BOX 3B

RR

(token number 8): The RR in RR 7

UNITH

(token number 16): The APT in APT 3B

UNITT

(token number 17): The 3B in APT 3B

UNKNWN

(token number 9): An otherwise unclassified output.

Name

lex table — A lex table is used to classify alphanumeric input and associate that input with (a) input tokens ( See the section called “Input Tokens”) and (b) standardized representations.

Description

A lex (short for lexicon) table is used to classify alphanumeric input and associate that input with the section called “Input Tokens” and (b) standardized representations. Things you will find in these tables are ONE mapped to stdword: 1.

A lex has at least the following columns in the table. You may add

id

Primary key of table

seq

integer: definition number?

word

text: the input word

stdword

text: the standardized replacement word

token

integer: the kind of word it is. Only if it is used in this context will it be replaced. Refer to PAGC Tokens.

Name

gaz table — A gaz table is used to standardize place names and associate that input with (a) input tokens ( See the section called “Input Tokens”) and (b) standardized representations.

Description

A gaz (short for gazeteer) table is used to classify place names and associate that input with the section called “Input Tokens” and (b) standardized representations. For example if you are in US, you may load these with State Names and associated abbreviations.

A gaz table has at least the following columns in the table. You may add more columns if you wish for your own purposes.

id

Primary key of table

seq

integer: definition number? - identifer used for that instance of the word

word

text: the input word

stdword

text: the standardized replacement word

token

integer: the kind of word it is. Only if it is used in this context will it be replaced. Refer to PAGC Tokens.

Address Standardizer Functions

Name

parse_address — Takes a 1 line address and breaks into parts

Synopsis

record fsfuncparse_address(
address);

text address;

Description

Returns takes as input an address, and returns a record output consisting of fields num, street, street2, address1, city, state, zip, zipplus, country.

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This method needs address_standardizer extension.

Examples

Single Addresss

SELECT num, street, city, zip, zipplus
	FROM parse_address('1 Devonshire Place, Boston, MA 02109-1234') AS a;

 num |      street      |  city  |  zip  | zipplus
-----+------------------+--------+-------+---------
 1   | Devonshire Place | Boston | 02109 | 1234

Table of addresses

-- basic table
CREATE TABLE places(addid serial PRIMARY KEY, address text);

INSERT INTO places(address)
VALUES ('529 Main Street, Boston MA, 02129'),
 ('77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139'),
 ('25 Wizard of Oz, Walaford, KS 99912323'),
 ('26 Capen Street, Medford, MA'),
 ('124 Mount Auburn St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138'),
 ('950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610');

 -- parse the addresses
 -- if you want all fields you can use (a).*
SELECT addid, (a).num, (a).street, (a).city, (a).state, (a).zip, (a).zipplus
FROM (SELECT addid, parse_address(address) As a
 FROM places) AS p;

 addid | num |        street        |   city    | state |  zip  | zipplus
-------+-----+----------------------+-----------+-------+-------+---------
     1 | 529 | Main Street          | Boston    | MA    | 02129 |
     2 | 77  | Massachusetts Avenue | Cambridge | MA    | 02139 |
     3 | 25  | Wizard of Oz         | Walaford  | KS    | 99912 | 323
     4 | 26  | Capen Street         | Medford   | MA    |       |
     5 | 124 | Mount Auburn St      | Cambridge | MA    | 02138 |
     6 | 950 | Main Street          | Worcester | MA    | 01610 |
(6 rows)

See Also

Name

standardize_address — Returns an stdaddr form of an input address utilizing lex, gaz, and rule tables.

Synopsis

stdaddr fsfuncstandardize_address( | lextab, |
| gaztab, |
| rultab, |
| address); |

text lextab;
text gaztab;
text rultab;
text address;

stdaddr fsfuncstandardize_address( | lextab, |
| gaztab, |
| rultab, |
| micro, |
| macro); |

text lextab;
text gaztab;
text rultab;
text micro;
text macro;

Description

Returns an stdaddr form of an input address utilizing lex table table name, gaz table, and rules table table names and an address.

Variant 1: Takes an address as a single line.

Variant 2: Takes an address as 2 parts. A micro consisting of standard first line of postal address e.g. house_num street, and a macro consisting of standard postal second line of an address e.g city, state postal_code country.

Availability: 2.2.0

Description This method needs address_standardizer extension.

Examples

Using address_standardizer_data_us extension

CREATE EXTENSION address_standardizer_data_us; -- only needs to be done once

Variant 1: Single line address. This doesn't work well with non-US addresses

SELECT house_num, name, suftype, city, country, state, unit  FROM standardize_address('us_lex',
			   'us_gaz', 'us_rules', 'One Devonshire Place, PH 301, Boston, MA 02109');

house_num |    name    | suftype |  city  | country |     state     |      unit
----------+------------+---------+--------+---------+---------------+-----------------
1         | DEVONSHIRE | PLACE   | BOSTON | USA     | MASSACHUSETTS | # PENTHOUSE 301

Using tables packaged with tiger geocoder. This example only works if you installed postgis_tiger_geocoder.

SELECT *  FROM standardize_address('tiger.pagc_lex',
         'tiger.pagc_gaz', 'tiger.pagc_rules', 'One Devonshire Place, PH 301, Boston, MA 02109-1234');

Make easier to read we'll dump output using hstore extension CREATE EXTENSION hstore; you need to install

SELECT (each(hstore(p))).*
 FROM standardize_address('tiger.pagc_lex', 'tiger.pagc_gaz',
   'tiger.pagc_rules', 'One Devonshire Place, PH 301, Boston, MA 02109') As p;

    key     |      value
------------+-----------------
 box        |
 city       | BOSTON
 name       | DEVONSHIRE
 qual       |
 unit       | # PENTHOUSE 301
 extra      |
 state      | MA
 predir     |
 sufdir     |
 country    | USA
 pretype    |
 suftype    | PL
 building   |
 postcode   | 02109
 house_num  | 1
 ruralroute |
(16 rows)

Variant 2: As a two part Address

SELECT (each(hstore(p))).*
 FROM standardize_address('tiger.pagc_lex', 'tiger.pagc_gaz',
   'tiger.pagc_rules', 'One Devonshire Place, PH 301', 'Boston, MA 02109, US') As p;

    key     |      value
------------+-----------------
 box        |
 city       | BOSTON
 name       | DEVONSHIRE
 qual       |
 unit       | # PENTHOUSE 301
 extra      |
 state      | MA
 predir     |
 sufdir     |
 country    | USA
 pretype    |
 suftype    | PL
 building   |
 postcode   | 02109
 house_num  | 1
 ruralroute |
(16 rows)

See Also

stdaddr, rules table, lex table, gaz table, Pagc_Normalize_Address

Chapter 13. PostGIS Extras

This chapter documents features found in the extras folder of the PostGIS source tarballs and source repository. These are not always packaged with PostGIS binary releases, but are usually plpgsql based or standard shell scripts that can be run as is.

Tiger Geocoder

Abstract

A plpgsql based geocoder written to work with the TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system ) / Line and Master Address database export released by the US Census Bureau.

There are four components to the geocoder: the data loader functions, the address normalizer, the address geocoder, and the reverse geocoder.

Although it is designed specifically for the US, a lot of the concepts and functions are applicable and can be adapted to work with other country address and road networks.

The script builds a schema called tiger to house all the tiger related functions, reusable lookup data such as road type prefixes, suffixes, states, various control tables for managing data load, and skeleton base tables from which all the tiger loaded tables inherit from.

Another schema called tiger_data is also created which houses all the census data for each state that the loader downloads from Census site and loads into the database. In the current model, each set of state tables is prefixed with the state code e.g ma_addr, ma_edges etc with constraints to enforce only that state data. Each of these tables inherits from the tables addr, faces, edges, etc located in the tiger schema.

All the geocode functions only reference the base tables, so there is no requirement that the data schema be called tiger_data or that data can't be further partitioned into other schemas -- e.g a different schema for each state, as long as all the tables inherit from the tables in the tiger schema.

For instructions on how to enable the extension in your database and also to load data using it, refer to the section called “Tiger Geocoder Enabling your PostGIS database: Using Extension”.

Note

If you are using tiger geocoder (tiger_2010), you can upgrade the scripts using the accompanying upgrade_geocoder.bat / .sh scripts in extras/tiger. One major change between tiger_2010 and tiger_2011+ is that the county and state tables are no longer broken out by state. If you have data from tiger_2010 and want to replace with tiger_2015, refer to the section called “Upgrading your Tiger Geocoder Install”

Note

New in PostGIS 2.2.0 release is support for Tiger 2015 data and inclusion of Address Standardizer as part of PostGIS.

New in PostGIS 2.1.0 release is ability to install tiger geocoder with PostgreSQL extension model if you are running PostgreSQL 9.1+. Refer to the section called “Tiger Geocoder Enabling your PostGIS database: Using Extension” for details.

The Pagc_Normalize_Address function as a drop in replacement for in-built Normalize_Address. Refer to the section called “Installing and Using the address standardizer” for compile and installation instructions.

Design:

The goal of this project is to build a fully functional geocoder that can process an arbitrary United States address string and using normalized TIGER census data, produce a point geometry and rating reflecting the location of the given address and likeliness of the location. The higher the rating number the worse the result.

The reverse_geocode function, introduced in PostGIS 2.0.0 is useful for deriving the street address and cross streets of a GPS location.

The geocoder should be simple for anyone familiar with PostGIS to install and use, and should be easily installable and usable on all platforms supported by PostGIS.

It should be robust enough to function properly despite formatting and spelling errors.

It should be extensible enough to be used with future data updates, or alternate data sources with a minimum of coding changes.

Note

The tiger schema must be added to the database search path for the functions to work properly.

There are a couple other open source geocoders for PostGIS, that unlike tiger geocoder have the advantage of multi-country geocoding support

Nominatim uses OpenStreetMap gazeteer formatted data. It requires osm2pgsql for loading the data, PostgreSQL 8.4+ and PostGIS 1.5+ to function. It is packaged as a webservice interface and seems designed to be called as a webservice. Just like the tiger geocoder, it has both a geocoder and a reverse geocoder component. From the documentation, it is unclear if it has a pure SQL interface like the tiger geocoder, or if a good deal of the logic is implemented in the web interface.

GIS Graphy also utilizes PostGIS and like Nominatim works with OpenStreetMap (OSM) data. It comes with a loader to load OSM data and similar to Nominatim is capable of geocoding not just US. Much like Nominatim, it runs as a webservice and relies on Java 1.5, Servlet apps, Solr. GisGraphy is cross-platform and also has a reverse geocoder among some other neat features.

Chapter 14. PostGIS Special Functions Index

PostGIS Aggregate Functions

The functions given below are spatial aggregate functions provided with PostGIS that can be used just like any other sql aggregate function such as sum, average.

ST_3DExtent - an aggregate function that returns the box3D bounding box that bounds rows of geometries.

ST_Accum - Aggregate. Constructs an array of geometries.

ST_ClusterIntersecting - Aggregate. Returns an array with the connected components of a set of geometries

ST_ClusterWithin - Aggregate. Returns an array of GeometryCollections, where each GeometryCollection represents a set of geometries separated by no more than the specified distance.

ST_Collect - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from a collection of other geometries.

ST_Extent - an aggregate function that returns the bounding box that bounds rows of geometries.

ST_MakeLine - Creates a Linestring from point or line geometries.

ST_MemUnion - Same as ST_Union, only memory-friendly (uses less memory and more processor time).

ST_Polygonize - Aggregate. Creates a GeometryCollection containing possible polygons formed from the constituent linework of a set of geometries.

ST_SameAlignment - Returns true if rasters have same skew, scale, spatial ref, and offset (pixels can be put on same grid without cutting into pixels) and false if they don't with notice detailing issue.

ST_Union - Returns a geometry that represents the point set union of the Geometries.

TopoElementArray_Agg - Returns a topoelementarray for a set of element_id, type arrays (topoelements)

PostGIS SQL-MM Compliant Functions

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that conform to the SQL/MM 3 standard

Note

SQL-MM defines the default SRID of all geometry constructors as 0. PostGIS uses a default SRID of -1.

ST_3DDWithin - For 3d (z) geometry type Returns true if two geometries 3d distance is within number of units. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM ?

ST_3DDistance - For geometry type Returns the 3-dimensional cartesian minimum distance (based on spatial ref) between two geometries in projected units. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM ?

ST_3DIntersects - Returns TRUE if the Geometries "spatially intersect" in 3d - only for points, linestrings, polygons, polyhedral surface (area). With SFCGAL backend enabled also supports TINS This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: ?

ST_AddEdgeModFace - Add a new edge and, if in doing so it splits a face, modify the original face and add a new face. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.13

ST_AddEdgeNewFaces - Add a new edge and, if in doing so it splits a face, delete the original face and replace it with two new faces. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.12

ST_AddIsoEdge - Adds an isolated edge defined by geometry alinestring to a topology connecting two existing isolated nodes anode and anothernode and returns the edge id of the new edge. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.4

ST_AddIsoNode - Adds an isolated node to a face in a topology and returns the nodeid of the new node. If face is null, the node is still created. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Net Routines: X+1.3.1

ST_Area - Returns the area of the surface if it is a Polygon or MultiPolygon. For geometry, a 2D Cartesian area is determined with units specified by the SRID. For geography, area is determined on a curved surface with units in square meters. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.1.2, 9.5.3

ST_AsBinary - Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID meta data. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.37

ST_AsText - Return the Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID metadata. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.25

ST_Boundary - Returns the closure of the combinatorial boundary of this Geometry. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.14

ST_Buffer - (T)Returns a geometry covering all points within a given distancefrom the input geometry. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.17

ST_Centroid - Returns the geometric center of a geometry. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.1.4, 9.5.5

ST_ChangeEdgeGeom - Changes the shape of an edge without affecting the topology structure. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details X.3.6

ST_Contains - Returns true if and only if no points of B lie in the exterior of A, and at least one point of the interior of B lies in the interior of A. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.31

ST_ConvexHull - The convex hull of a geometry represents the minimum convex geometry that encloses all geometries within the set. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.16

ST_CoordDim - Return the coordinate dimension of the ST_Geometry value. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.3

ST_CreateTopoGeo - Adds a collection of geometries to a given empty topology and returns a message detailing success. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details -- X.3.18

ST_Crosses - Returns TRUE if the supplied geometries have some, but not all, interior points in common. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.29

ST_CurveToLine - Converts a CIRCULARSTRING/CURVEPOLYGON to a LINESTRING/POLYGON This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.7

ST_Difference - Returns a geometry that represents that part of geometry A that does not intersect with geometry B. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.20

ST_Dimension - The inherent dimension of this Geometry object, which must be less than or equal to the coordinate dimension. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.2

ST_Disjoint - Returns TRUE if the Geometries do not "spatially intersect" - if they do not share any space together. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.26

ST_Distance - For geometry type Returns the 2D Cartesian distance between two geometries in projected units (based on spatial ref). For geography type defaults to return minimum geodesic distance between two geographies in meters. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.23

ST_EndPoint - Returns the last point of a LINESTRING or CIRCULARLINESTRING geometry as a POINT. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.4

ST_Envelope - Returns a geometry representing the double precision (float8) bounding box of the supplied geometry. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.15

ST_Equals - Returns true if the given geometries represent the same geometry. Directionality is ignored. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.24

ST_ExteriorRing - Returns a line string representing the exterior ring of the POLYGON geometry. Return NULL if the geometry is not a polygon. Will not work with MULTIPOLYGON This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.2.3, 8.3.3

ST_GMLToSQL - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from GML representation. This is an alias name for ST_GeomFromGML This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.50 (except for curves support).

ST_GeomCollFromText - Makes a collection Geometry from collection WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0. This method implements the SQL/MM specification.

ST_GeomFromText - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Well-Known Text representation (WKT). This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.40

ST_GeomFromWKB - Creates a geometry instance from a Well-Known Binary geometry representation (WKB) and optional SRID. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.41

ST_GeometryFromText - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Well-Known Text representation (WKT). This is an alias name for ST_GeomFromText This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.40

ST_GeometryN - Return the 1-based Nth geometry if the geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, (MULTI)POINT, (MULTI)LINESTRING, MULTICURVE or (MULTI)POLYGON, POLYHEDRALSURFACE Otherwise, return NULL. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 9.1.5

ST_GeometryType - Return the geometry type of the ST_Geometry value. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.4

ST_GetFaceEdges - Returns a set of ordered edges that bound aface. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3 Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.5

ST_GetFaceGeometry - Returns the polygon in the given topology with the specified face id. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3 Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.16

ST_InitTopoGeo - Creates a new topology schema and registers this new schema in the topology.topology table and details summary of process. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3 Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.17

ST_InteriorRingN - Return the Nth interior linestring ring of the polygon geometry. Return NULL if the geometry is not a polygon or the given N is out of range. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.2.6, 8.3.5

ST_Intersection - (T)Returns a geometry that represents the shared portion of geomA and geomB. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.18

ST_Intersects - Returns TRUE if the Geometries/Geography "spatially intersect in 2D" - (share any portion of space) and FALSE if they don't (they are Disjoint). For geography -- tolerance is 0.00001 meters (so any points that close are considered to intersect) This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.27

ST_IsClosed - Returns TRUE if the LINESTRING's start and end points are coincident. For Polyhedral surface is closed (volumetric). This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.5, 9.3.3

ST_IsEmpty - Returns true if this Geometry is an empty geometrycollection, polygon, point etc. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.7

ST_IsRing - Returns TRUE if this LINESTRING is both closed and simple. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.6

ST_IsSimple - Returns (TRUE) if this Geometry has no anomalous geometric points, such as self intersection or self tangency. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.8

ST_IsValid - Returns true if the ST_Geometry is well formed. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.9

ST_Length - Returns the 2D length of the geometry if it is a LineString or MultiLineString. geometry are in units of spatial reference and geography are in meters (default spheroid) This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.2, 9.3.4

ST_LineFromText - Makes a Geometry from WKT representation with the given SRID. If SRID is not given, it defaults to 0. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.2.8

ST_LineFromWKB - Makes a LINESTRING from WKB with the given SRID This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.2.9

ST_LinestringFromWKB - Makes a geometry from WKB with the given SRID. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.2.9

ST_M - Return the M coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point. This method implements the SQL/MM specification.

ST_MLineFromText - Return a specified ST_MultiLineString value from WKT representation. This method implements the SQL/MM specification.SQL-MM 3: 9.4.4

ST_MPointFromText - Makes a Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 9.2.4

ST_MPolyFromText - Makes a MultiPolygon Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 9.6.4

ST_ModEdgeHeal - Heal two edges by deleting the node connecting them, modifying the first edgeand deleting the second edge. Returns the id of the deleted node. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.9

ST_ModEdgeSplit - Split an edge by creating a new node along an existing edge, modifying the original edge and adding a new edge. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.9

ST_MoveIsoNode - Moves an isolated node in a topology from one point to another. If new apoint geometry exists as a node an error is thrown. REturns description of move. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Net Routines: X.3.2

ST_NewEdgeHeal - Heal two edges by deleting the node connecting them, deleting both edges,and replacing them with an edge whose direction is the same as the firstedge provided. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.9

ST_NewEdgesSplit - Split an edge by creating a new node along an existing edge, deleting the original edge and replacing it with two new edges. Returns the id of the new node created that joins the new edges. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Net Routines: X.3.8

ST_NumGeometries - If geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION (or MULTI*) return the number of geometries, for single geometries will return 1, otherwise return NULL. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 9.1.4

ST_NumInteriorRings - Return the number of interior rings of the a polygon in the geometry. This will work with POLYGON and return NULL for a MULTIPOLYGON type or any other type This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.2.5

ST_NumPatches - Return the number of faces on a Polyhedral Surface. Will return null for non-polyhedral geometries. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: ?

ST_NumPoints - Return the number of points in an ST_LineString or ST_CircularString value. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.2.4

ST_OrderingEquals - Returns true if the given geometries represent the same geometry and points are in the same directional order. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.43

ST_Overlaps - Returns TRUE if the Geometries share space, are of the same dimension, but are not completely contained by each other. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.32

ST_PatchN - Return the 1-based Nth geometry (face) if the geometry is a POLYHEDRALSURFACE, POLYHEDRALSURFACEM. Otherwise, return NULL. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: ?

ST_Perimeter - Return the length measurement of the boundary of an ST_Surface or ST_MultiSurface geometry or geography. (Polygon, MultiPolygon). geometry measurement is in units of spatial reference and geography is in meters. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.1.3, 9.5.4

ST_Point - Returns an ST_Point with the given coordinate values. OGC alias for ST_MakePoint. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 6.1.2

ST_PointFromText - Makes a point Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not given, it defaults to unknown. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 6.1.8

ST_PointFromWKB - Makes a geometry from WKB with the given SRID This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 6.1.9

ST_PointN - Return the Nth point in the first linestring or circular linestring in the geometry. Return NULL if there is no linestring in the geometry. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.2.5, 7.3.5

ST_PointOnSurface - Returns a POINT guaranteed to lie on the surface. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.1.5, 9.5.6. According to the specs, ST_PointOnSurface works for surface geometries (POLYGONs, MULTIPOLYGONS, CURVED POLYGONS). So PostGIS seems to be extending what the spec allows here. Most databases Oracle,DB II, ESRI SDE seem to only support this function for surfaces. SQL Server 2008 like PostGIS supports for all common geometries.

ST_Polygon - Returns a polygon built from the specified linestring and SRID. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.3.2

ST_PolygonFromText - Makes a Geometry from WKT with the given SRID. If SRID is not give, it defaults to 0. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.3.6

ST_Relate - Returns true if this Geometry is spatially related to anotherGeometry, by testing for intersections between the Interior, Boundary and Exterior of the two geometries as specified by the values in the intersectionMatrixPattern. If no intersectionMatrixPattern is passed in, then returns the maximum intersectionMatrixPattern that relates the 2 geometries. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.25

ST_RemEdgeModFace - Removes an edge and, if the removed edge separated two faces,delete one of the them and modify the other to take the space of both. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.15

ST_RemEdgeNewFace - Removes an edge and, if the removed edge separated two faces,delete the original faces and replace them with a new face. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X.3.14

ST_RemoveIsoEdge - Removes an isolated edge and returns description of action. If the edge is not isolated, then an exception is thrown. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X+1.3.3

ST_RemoveIsoNode - Removes an isolated node and returns description of action. If the node is not isolated (is start or end of an edge), then an exception is thrown. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM: Topo-Geo and Topo-Net 3: Routine Details: X+1.3.3

ST_SRID - Returns the spatial reference identifier for the ST_Geometry as defined in spatial_ref_sys table. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.5

ST_StartPoint - Returns the first point of a LINESTRING geometry as a POINT. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 7.1.3

ST_SymDifference - Returns a geometry that represents the portions of A and B that do not intersect. It is called a symmetric difference because ST_SymDifference(A,B) = ST_SymDifference(B,A). This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.21

ST_Touches - Returns TRUE if the geometries have at least one point in common, but their interiors do not intersect. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.28

ST_Transform - Returns a new geometry with its coordinates transformed to the SRID referenced by the integer parameter. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.6

ST_Union - Returns a geometry that represents the point set union of the Geometries. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.19 the z-index (elevation) when polygons are involved.

ST_WKBToSQL - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Well-Known Binary representation (WKB). This is an alias name for ST_GeomFromWKB that takes no srid This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.36

ST_WKTToSQL - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Well-Known Text representation (WKT). This is an alias name for ST_GeomFromText This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.34

ST_Within - Returns true if the geometry A is completely inside geometry B This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 5.1.30

ST_X - Return the X coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 6.1.3

ST_Y - Return the Y coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point. This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 6.1.4

ST_Z - Return the Z coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point. This method implements the SQL/MM specification.

PostGIS Geography Support Functions

The functions and operators given below are PostGIS functions/operators that take as input or return as output a geography data type object.

Note

Functions with a (T) are not native geodetic functions, and use a ST_Transform call to and from geometry to do the operation. As a result, they may not behave as expected when going over dateline, poles, and for large geometries or geometry pairs that cover more than one UTM zone. Basic transform - (favoring UTM, Lambert Azimuthal (North/South), and falling back on mercator in worst case scenario)

ST_Area - Returns the area of the surface if it is a Polygon or MultiPolygon. For geometry, a 2D Cartesian area is determined with units specified by the SRID. For geography, area is determined on a curved surface with units in square meters.

ST_AsBinary - Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID meta data.

ST_AsEWKT - Return the Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the geometry with SRID meta data.

ST_AsGML - Return the geometry as a GML version 2 or 3 element.

ST_AsGeoJSON - Return the geometry as a GeoJSON element.

ST_AsKML - Return the geometry as a KML element. Several variants. Default version=2, default precision=15

ST_AsSVG - Returns a Geometry in SVG path data given a geometry or geography object.

ST_AsText - Return the Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID metadata.

ST_Azimuth - Returns the north-based azimuth as the angle in radians measured clockwise from the vertical on pointA to pointB.

ST_Buffer - (T)Returns a geometry covering all points within a given distancefrom the input geometry.

ST_CoveredBy - Returns 1 (TRUE) if no point in Geometry/Geography A is outside Geometry/Geography B

ST_Covers - Returns 1 (TRUE) if no point in Geometry B is outside Geometry A

ST_DWithin - Returns true if the geometries are within the specified distance of one another. For geometry units are in those of spatial reference and For geography units are in meters and measurement is defaulted to use_spheroid=true (measure around spheroid), for faster check, use_spheroid=false to measure along sphere.

ST_Distance - For geometry type Returns the 2D Cartesian distance between two geometries in projected units (based on spatial ref). For geography type defaults to return minimum geodesic distance between two geographies in meters.

ST_GeogFromText - Return a specified geography value from Well-Known Text representation or extended (WKT).

ST_GeogFromWKB - Creates a geography instance from a Well-Known Binary geometry representation (WKB) or extended Well Known Binary (EWKB).

ST_GeographyFromText - Return a specified geography value from Well-Known Text representation or extended (WKT).

= - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's. Uses double precision bounding box.

ST_Intersection - (T)Returns a geometry that represents the shared portion of geomA and geomB.

ST_Intersects - Returns TRUE if the Geometries/Geography "spatially intersect in 2D" - (share any portion of space) and FALSE if they don't (they are Disjoint). For geography -- tolerance is 0.00001 meters (so any points that close are considered to intersect)

ST_Length - Returns the 2D length of the geometry if it is a LineString or MultiLineString. geometry are in units of spatial reference and geography are in meters (default spheroid)

ST_Perimeter - Return the length measurement of the boundary of an ST_Surface or ST_MultiSurface geometry or geography. (Polygon, MultiPolygon). geometry measurement is in units of spatial reference and geography is in meters.

ST_Project - Returns a POINT projected from a start point using a distance in meters and bearing (azimuth) in radians.

ST_Segmentize - Return a modified geometry/geography having no segment longer than the given distance. Distance computation is performed in 2d only. For geometry, length units are in units of spatial reference. For geography, units are in meters.

ST_Summary - Returns a text summary of the contents of the geometry.

<-> - Returns the 2D distance between A and B.

&& - Returns TRUE if A's 2D bounding box intersects B's 2D bounding box.

PostGIS Raster Support Functions

The functions and operators given below are PostGIS functions/operators that take as input or return as output a raster data type object. Listed in alphabetical order.

Box3D - Returns the box 3d representation of the enclosing box of the raster.

@ - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is contained by B's. Uses double precision bounding box.

~ - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is contains B's. Uses double precision bounding box.

= - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's. Uses double precision bounding box.

&& - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box intersects B's bounding box.

&< - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is to the left of B's.

&> - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is to the right of B's.

~= - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's.

ST_Retile - Return a set of configured tiles from an arbitrarily tiled raster coverage.

ST_AddBand - Returns a raster with the new band(s) of given type added with given initial value in the given index location. If no index is specified, the band is added to the end.

ST_AsBinary - Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the raster without SRID meta data.

ST_AsGDALRaster - Return the raster tile in the designated GDAL Raster format. Raster formats are one of those supported by your compiled library. Use ST_GDALRasters() to get a list of formats supported by your library.

ST_AsJPEG - Return the raster tile selected bands as a single Joint Photographic Exports Group (JPEG) image (byte array). If no band is specified and 1 or more than 3 bands, then only the first band is used. If only 3 bands then all 3 bands are used and mapped to RGB.

ST_AsPNG - Return the raster tile selected bands as a single portable network graphics (PNG) image (byte array). If 1, 3, or 4 bands in raster and no bands are specified, then all bands are used. If more 2 or more than 4 bands and no bands specified, then only band 1 is used. Bands are mapped to RGB or RGBA space.

ST_AsRaster - Converts a PostGIS geometry to a PostGIS raster.

ST_AsTIFF - Return the raster selected bands as a single TIFF image (byte array). If no band is specified, then will try to use all bands.

ST_Aspect - Returns the aspect (in degrees by default) of an elevation raster band. Useful for analyzing terrain.

ST_Band - Returns one or more bands of an existing raster as a new raster. Useful for building new rasters from existing rasters.

ST_BandIsNoData - Returns true if the band is filled with only nodata values.

ST_BandMetaData - Returns basic meta data for a specific raster band. band num 1 is assumed if none-specified.

ST_BandNoDataValue - Returns the value in a given band that represents no data. If no band num 1 is assumed.

ST_BandPath - Returns system file path to a band stored in file system. If no bandnum specified, 1 is assumed.

ST_BandPixelType - Returns the type of pixel for given band. If no bandnum specified, 1 is assumed.

ST_Clip - Returns the raster clipped by the input geometry. If band number not is specified, all bands are processed. If crop is not specified or TRUE, the output raster is cropped.

ST_ColorMap - Creates a new raster of up to four 8BUI bands (grayscale, RGB, RGBA) from the source raster and a specified band. Band 1 is assumed if not specified.

ST_Contains - Return true if no points of raster rastB lie in the exterior of raster rastA and at least one point of the interior of rastB lies in the interior of rastA.

ST_ContainsProperly - Return true if rastB intersects the interior of rastA but not the boundary or exterior of rastA.

ST_ConvexHull - Return the convex hull geometry of the raster including pixel values equal to BandNoDataValue. For regular shaped and non-skewed rasters, this gives the same result as ST_Envelope so only useful for irregularly shaped or skewed rasters.

ST_Count - Returns the number of pixels in a given band of a raster or raster coverage. If no band is specified defaults to band 1. If exclude_nodata_value is set to true, will only count pixels that are not equal to the nodata value.

ST_CountAgg - Aggregate. Returns the number of pixels in a given band of a set of rasters. If no band is specified defaults to band 1. If exclude_nodata_value is set to true, will only count pixels that are not equal to the NODATA value.

ST_CoveredBy - Return true if no points of raster rastA lie outside raster rastB.

ST_Covers - Return true if no points of raster rastB lie outside raster rastA.

ST_DFullyWithin - Return true if rasters rastA and rastB are fully within the specified distance of each other.

ST_DWithin - Return true if rasters rastA and rastB are within the specified distance of each other.

ST_Disjoint - Return true if raster rastA does not spatially intersect rastB.

ST_DumpAsPolygons - Returns a set of geomval (geom,val) rows, from a given raster band. If no band number is specified, band num defaults to 1.

ST_DumpValues - Get the values of the specified band as a 2-dimension array.

ST_Envelope - Returns the polygon representation of the extent of the raster.

ST_FromGDALRaster - Returns a raster from a supported GDAL raster file.

ST_GeoReference - Returns the georeference meta data in GDAL or ESRI format as commonly seen in a world file. Default is GDAL.

ST_HasNoBand - Returns true if there is no band with given band number. If no band number is specified, then band number 1 is assumed.

ST_Height - Returns the height of the raster in pixels.

ST_HillShade - Returns the hypothetical illumination of an elevation raster band using provided azimuth, altitude, brightness and scale inputs.

ST_Histogram - Returns a set of record summarizing a raster or raster coverage data distribution separate bin ranges. Number of bins are autocomputed if not specified.

ST_Intersection - Returns a raster or a set of geometry-pixelvalue pairs representing the shared portion of two rasters or the geometrical intersection of a vectorization of the raster and a geometry.

ST_Intersects - Return true if raster rastA spatially intersects raster rastB.

ST_IsEmpty - Returns true if the raster is empty (width = 0 and height = 0). Otherwise, returns false.

ST_MakeEmptyRaster - Returns an empty raster (having no bands) of given dimensions (width & height), upperleft X and Y, pixel size and rotation (scalex, scaley, skewx & skewy) and reference system (srid). If a raster is passed in, returns a new raster with the same size, alignment and SRID. If srid is left out, the spatial ref is set to unknown (0).

ST_MapAlgebra - Callback function version - Returns a one-band raster given one or more input rasters, band indexes and one user-specified callback function.

ST_MapAlgebraExpr - 1 raster band version: Creates a new one band raster formed by applying a valid PostgreSQL algebraic operation on the input raster band and of pixeltype provided. Band 1 is assumed if no band is specified.

ST_MapAlgebraExpr - 2 raster band version: Creates a new one band raster formed by applying a valid PostgreSQL algebraic operation on the two input raster bands and of pixeltype provided. band 1 of each raster is assumed if no band numbers are specified. The resulting raster will be aligned (scale, skew and pixel corners) on the grid defined by the first raster and have its extent defined by the "extenttype" parameter. Values for "extenttype" can be: INTERSECTION, UNION, FIRST, SECOND.

ST_MapAlgebraFct - 1 band version - Creates a new one band raster formed by applying a valid PostgreSQL function on the input raster band and of pixeltype prodived. Band 1 is assumed if no band is specified.

ST_MapAlgebraFct - 2 band version - Creates a new one band raster formed by applying a valid PostgreSQL function on the 2 input raster bands and of pixeltype prodived. Band 1 is assumed if no band is specified. Extent type defaults to INTERSECTION if not specified.

ST_MapAlgebraFctNgb - 1-band version: Map Algebra Nearest Neighbor using user-defined PostgreSQL function. Return a raster which values are the result of a PLPGSQL user function involving a neighborhood of values from the input raster band.

ST_MapAlgebra - Expression version - Returns a one-band raster given one or two input rasters, band indexes and one or more user-specified SQL expressions.

ST_MemSize - Returns the amount of space (in bytes) the raster takes.

ST_MetaData - Returns basic meta data about a raster object such as pixel size, rotation (skew), upper, lower left, etc.

ST_MinConvexHull - Return the convex hull geometry of the raster excluding NODATA pixels.

ST_NearestValue - Returns the nearest non-NODATA value of a given band's pixel specified by a columnx and rowy or a geometric point expressed in the same spatial reference coordinate system as the raster.

ST_Neighborhood - Returns a 2-D double precision array of the non-NODATA values around a given band's pixel specified by either a columnX and rowY or a geometric point expressed in the same spatial reference coordinate system as the raster.

ST_NotSameAlignmentReason - Returns text stating if rasters are aligned and if not aligned, a reason why.

ST_NumBands - Returns the number of bands in the raster object.

ST_Overlaps - Return true if raster rastA and rastB intersect but one does not completely contain the other.

ST_PixelAsCentroid - Returns the centroid (point geometry) of the area represented by a pixel.

ST_PixelAsCentroids - Returns the centroid (point geometry) for each pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel. The point geometry is the centroid of the area represented by a pixel.

ST_PixelAsPoint - Returns a point geometry of the pixel's upper-left corner.

ST_PixelAsPoints - Returns a point geometry for each pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel. The coordinates of the point geometry are of the pixel's upper-left corner.

ST_PixelAsPolygon - Returns the polygon geometry that bounds the pixel for a particular row and column.

ST_PixelAsPolygons - Returns the polygon geometry that bounds every pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel.

ST_PixelHeight - Returns the pixel height in geometric units of the spatial reference system.

ST_PixelOfValue - Get the columnx, rowy coordinates of the pixel whose value equals the search value.

ST_PixelWidth - Returns the pixel width in geometric units of the spatial reference system.

ST_Polygon - Returns a multipolygon geometry formed by the union of pixels that have a pixel value that is not no data value. If no band number is specified, band num defaults to 1.

ST_Quantile - Compute quantiles for a raster or raster table coverage in the context of the sample or population. Thus, a value could be examined to be at the raster's 25%, 50%, 75% percentile.

ST_RasterToWorldCoord - Returns the raster's upper left corner as geometric X and Y (longitude and latitude) given a column and row. Column and row starts at 1.

ST_RasterToWorldCoordX - Returns the geometric X coordinate upper left of a raster, column and row. Numbering of columns and rows starts at 1.

ST_RasterToWorldCoordY - Returns the geometric Y coordinate upper left corner of a raster, column and row. Numbering of columns and rows starts at 1.

ST_Reclass - Creates a new raster composed of band types reclassified from original. The nband is the band to be changed. If nband is not specified assumed to be 1. All other bands are returned unchanged. Use case: convert a 16BUI band to a 8BUI and so forth for simpler rendering as viewable formats.

ST_Resample - Resample a raster using a specified resampling algorithm, new dimensions, an arbitrary grid corner and a set of raster georeferencing attributes defined or borrowed from another raster.

ST_Rescale - Resample a raster by adjusting only its scale (or pixel size). New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. Default is NearestNeighbor.

ST_Resize - Resize a raster to a new width/height

ST_Reskew - Resample a raster by adjusting only its skew (or rotation parameters). New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. Default is NearestNeighbor.

ST_Rotation - Returns the rotation of the raster in radian.

ST_Roughness - Returns a raster with the calculated "roughness" of a DEM.

ST_SRID - Returns the spatial reference identifier of the raster as defined in spatial_ref_sys table.

ST_SameAlignment - Returns true if rasters have same skew, scale, spatial ref, and offset (pixels can be put on same grid without cutting into pixels) and false if they don't with notice detailing issue.

ST_ScaleX - Returns the X component of the pixel width in units of coordinate reference system.

ST_ScaleY - Returns the Y component of the pixel height in units of coordinate reference system.

ST_SetBandIsNoData - Sets the isnodata flag of the band to TRUE.

ST_SetBandNoDataValue - Sets the value for the given band that represents no data. Band 1 is assumed if no band is specified. To mark a band as having no nodata value, set the nodata value = NULL.

ST_SetGeoReference - Set Georeference 6 georeference parameters in a single call. Numbers should be separated by white space. Accepts inputs in GDAL or ESRI format. Default is GDAL.

ST_SetRotation - Set the rotation of the raster in radian.

ST_SetSRID - Sets the SRID of a raster to a particular integer srid defined in the spatial_ref_sys table.

ST_SetScale - Sets the X and Y size of pixels in units of coordinate reference system. Number units/pixel width/height.

ST_SetSkew - Sets the georeference X and Y skew (or rotation parameter). If only one is passed in, sets X and Y to the same value.

ST_SetUpperLeft - Sets the value of the upper left corner of the pixel to projected X and Y coordinates.

ST_SetValue - Returns modified raster resulting from setting the value of a given band in a given columnx, rowy pixel or the pixels that intersect a particular geometry. Band numbers start at 1 and assumed to be 1 if not specified.

ST_SetValues - Returns modified raster resulting from setting the values of a given band.

ST_SkewX - Returns the georeference X skew (or rotation parameter).

ST_SkewY - Returns the georeference Y skew (or rotation parameter).

ST_Slope - Returns the slope (in degrees by default) of an elevation raster band. Useful for analyzing terrain.

ST_SnapToGrid - Resample a raster by snapping it to a grid. New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. Default is NearestNeighbor.

ST_Summary - Returns a text summary of the contents of the raster.

ST_SummaryStats - Returns summarystats consisting of count, sum, mean, stddev, min, max for a given raster band of a raster or raster coverage. Band 1 is assumed is no band is specified.

ST_SummaryStatsAgg - Aggregate. Returns summarystats consisting of count, sum, mean, stddev, min, max for a given raster band of a set of raster. Band 1 is assumed is no band is specified.

ST_TPI - Returns a raster with the calculated Topographic Position Index.

ST_TRI - Returns a raster with the calculated Terrain Ruggedness Index.

ST_Tile - Returns a set of rasters resulting from the split of the input raster based upon the desired dimensions of the output rasters.

ST_Touches - Return true if raster rastA and rastB have at least one point in common but their interiors do not intersect.

ST_Transform - Reprojects a raster in a known spatial reference system to another known spatial reference system using specified resampling algorithm. Options are NearestNeighbor, Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline, Lanczos defaulting to NearestNeighbor.

ST_Union - Returns the union of a set of raster tiles into a single raster composed of 1 or more bands.

ST_UpperLeftX - Returns the upper left X coordinate of raster in projected spatial ref.

ST_UpperLeftY - Returns the upper left Y coordinate of raster in projected spatial ref.

ST_Value - Returns the value of a given band in a given columnx, rowy pixel or at a particular geometric point. Band numbers start at 1 and assumed to be 1 if not specified. If exclude_nodata_value is set to false, then all pixels include nodata pixels are considered to intersect and return value. If exclude_nodata_value is not passed in then reads it from metadata of raster.

ST_ValueCount - Returns a set of records containing a pixel band value and count of the number of pixels in a given band of a raster (or a raster coverage) that have a given set of values. If no band is specified defaults to band 1. By default nodata value pixels are not counted. and all other values in the pixel are output and pixel band values are rounded to the nearest integer.

ST_Width - Returns the width of the raster in pixels.

ST_Within - Return true if no points of raster rastA lie in the exterior of raster rastB and at least one point of the interior of rastA lies in the interior of rastB.

ST_WorldToRasterCoord - Returns the upper left corner as column and row given geometric X and Y (longitude and latitude) or a point geometry expressed in the spatial reference coordinate system of the raster.

ST_WorldToRasterCoordX - Returns the column in the raster of the point geometry (pt) or a X and Y world coordinate (xw, yw) represented in world spatial reference system of raster.

ST_WorldToRasterCoordY - Returns the row in the raster of the point geometry (pt) or a X and Y world coordinate (xw, yw) represented in world spatial reference system of raster.

UpdateRasterSRID - Change the SRID of all rasters in the user-specified column and table.

PostGIS Geometry / Geography / Raster Dump Functions

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that take as input or return as output a set of or single geometry_dump or geomval data type object.

ST_DumpAsPolygons - Returns a set of geomval (geom,val) rows, from a given raster band. If no band number is specified, band num defaults to 1.

ST_Intersection - Returns a raster or a set of geometry-pixelvalue pairs representing the shared portion of two rasters or the geometrical intersection of a vectorization of the raster and a geometry.

ST_Dump - Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows, that make up a geometry g1.

ST_DumpPoints - Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows of all points that make up a geometry.

ST_DumpRings - Returns a set of geometry_dump rows, representing the exterior and interior rings of a polygon.

PostGIS Box Functions

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that take as input or return as output the box* family of PostGIS spatial types. The box family of types consists of box2d, and box3d

Box2D - Returns a BOX2D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

Box3D - Returns a BOX3D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

Box3D - Returns the box 3d representation of the enclosing box of the raster.

ST_3DExtent - an aggregate function that returns the box3D bounding box that bounds rows of geometries.

ST_3DMakeBox - Creates a BOX3D defined by the given 3d point geometries.

ST_AsTWKB - Returns the geometry as TWKB, aka "Tiny Well-Known Binary"

ST_Box2dFromGeoHash - Return a BOX2D from a GeoHash string.

ST_ClipByBox2D - Returns the portion of a geometry falling within a rectangle.

ST_EstimatedExtent - Return the 'estimated' extent of the given spatial table. The estimated is taken from the geometry column's statistics. The current schema will be used if not specified.

ST_Expand - Returns bounding box expanded in all directions from the bounding box of the input geometry. Uses double-precision

ST_Extent - an aggregate function that returns the bounding box that bounds rows of geometries.

ST_MakeBox2D - Creates a BOX2D defined by the given point geometries.

ST_XMax - Returns X maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_XMin - Returns X minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_YMax - Returns Y maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_YMin - Returns Y minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_ZMax - Returns Z minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_ZMin - Returns Z minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

PostGIS Functions that support 3D

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that do not throw away the Z-Index.

AddGeometryColumn - Adds a geometry column to an existing table of attributes. By default uses type modifier to define rather than constraints. Pass in false for use_typmod to get old check constraint based behavior

Box3D - Returns a BOX3D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

DropGeometryColumn - Removes a geometry column from a spatial table.

GeometryType - Returns the type of the geometry as a string. Eg: 'LINESTRING', 'POLYGON', 'MULTIPOINT', etc.

ST_3DArea - Computes area of 3D surface geometries. Will return 0 for solids.

ST_3DClosestPoint - Returns the 3-dimensional point on g1 that is closest to g2. This is the first point of the 3D shortest line.

ST_3DDFullyWithin - Returns true if all of the 3D geometries are within the specified distance of one another.

ST_3DDWithin - For 3d (z) geometry type Returns true if two geometries 3d distance is within number of units.

ST_3DDifference - Perform 3D difference

ST_3DDistance - For geometry type Returns the 3-dimensional cartesian minimum distance (based on spatial ref) between two geometries in projected units.

ST_3DExtent - an aggregate function that returns the box3D bounding box that bounds rows of geometries.

ST_3DIntersection - Perform 3D intersection

ST_3DIntersects - Returns TRUE if the Geometries "spatially intersect" in 3d - only for points, linestrings, polygons, polyhedral surface (area). With SFCGAL backend enabled also supports TINS

ST_3DLength - Returns the 3-dimensional or 2-dimensional length of the geometry if it is a linestring or multi-linestring.

ST_3DLongestLine - Returns the 3-dimensional longest line between two geometries

ST_3DMakeBox - Creates a BOX3D defined by the given 3d point geometries.

ST_3DMaxDistance - For geometry type Returns the 3-dimensional cartesian maximum distance (based on spatial ref) between two geometries in projected units.

ST_3DPerimeter - Returns the 3-dimensional perimeter of the geometry, if it is a polygon or multi-polygon.

ST_3DShortestLine - Returns the 3-dimensional shortest line between two geometries

ST_3DUnion - Perform 3D union

ST_Accum - Aggregate. Constructs an array of geometries.

ST_AddMeasure - Return a derived geometry with measure elements linearly interpolated between the start and end points.

ST_AddPoint - Adds a point to a LineString before point <position> (0-based index).

ST_Affine - Applies a 3d affine transformation to the geometry to do things like translate, rotate, scale in one step.

ST_ApproximateMedialAxis - Compute the approximate medial axis of an areal geometry.

ST_AsBinary - Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID meta data.

ST_AsEWKB - Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry with SRID meta data.

ST_AsEWKT - Return the Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the geometry with SRID meta data.

ST_AsGML - Return the geometry as a GML version 2 or 3 element.

ST_AsGeoJSON - Return the geometry as a GeoJSON element.

ST_AsHEXEWKB - Returns a Geometry in HEXEWKB format (as text) using either little-endian (NDR) or big-endian (XDR) encoding.

ST_AsKML - Return the geometry as a KML element. Several variants. Default version=2, default precision=15

ST_AsX3D - Returns a Geometry in X3D xml node element format: ISO-IEC-19776-1.2-X3DEncodings-XML

ST_Boundary - Returns the closure of the combinatorial boundary of this Geometry.

ST_BoundingDiagonal - Returns the diagonal of the supplied geometry's bounding box.

ST_CPAWithin - Returns true if the trajectories' closest points of approachare within the specified distance.

ST_ClosestPointOfApproach - Returns the measure at which points interpolated along two lines are closest.

ST_Collect - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from a collection of other geometries.

ST_ConvexHull - The convex hull of a geometry represents the minimum convex geometry that encloses all geometries within the set.

ST_CoordDim - Return the coordinate dimension of the ST_Geometry value.

ST_CurveToLine - Converts a CIRCULARSTRING/CURVEPOLYGON to a LINESTRING/POLYGON

ST_DelaunayTriangles - Return a Delaunay triangulation around the given input points.

ST_Difference - Returns a geometry that represents that part of geometry A that does not intersect with geometry B.

ST_DistanceCPA - Returns the distance between closest points of approach in two trajectories.

ST_Dump - Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows, that make up a geometry g1.

ST_DumpPoints - Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows of all points that make up a geometry.

ST_DumpRings - Returns a set of geometry_dump rows, representing the exterior and interior rings of a polygon.

ST_EndPoint - Returns the last point of a LINESTRING or CIRCULARLINESTRING geometry as a POINT.

ST_ExteriorRing - Returns a line string representing the exterior ring of the POLYGON geometry. Return NULL if the geometry is not a polygon. Will not work with MULTIPOLYGON

ST_Extrude - Extrude a surface to a related volume

ST_FlipCoordinates - Returns a version of the given geometry with X and Y axis flipped. Useful for people who have built latitude/longitude features and need to fix them.

ST_Force2D - Forces the geometries into a "2-dimensional mode" so that all output representations will only have the X and Y coordinates.

ST_ForceCurve - Upcasts a geometry into its curved type, if applicable.

ST_ForceLHR - Force LHR orientation

ST_ForceRHR - Forces the orientation of the vertices in a polygon to follow the Right-Hand-Rule.

ST_ForceSFS - Forces the geometries to use SFS 1.1 geometry types only.

ST_Force_3D - Forces the geometries into XYZ mode. This is an alias for ST_Force3DZ.

ST_Force_3DZ - Forces the geometries into XYZ mode. This is a synonym for ST_Force3D.

ST_Force_4D - Forces the geometries into XYZM mode.

ST_Force_Collection - Converts the geometry into a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION.

ST_GeomFromEWKB - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Extended Well-Known Binary representation (EWKB).

ST_GeomFromEWKT - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Extended Well-Known Text representation (EWKT).

ST_GeomFromGML - Takes as input GML representation of geometry and outputs a PostGIS geometry object

ST_GeomFromGeoJSON - Takes as input a geojson representation of a geometry and outputs a PostGIS geometry object

ST_GeomFromKML - Takes as input KML representation of geometry and outputs a PostGIS geometry object

ST_GeometryN - Return the 1-based Nth geometry if the geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, (MULTI)POINT, (MULTI)LINESTRING, MULTICURVE or (MULTI)POLYGON, POLYHEDRALSURFACE Otherwise, return NULL.

ST_GeometryType - Return the geometry type of the ST_Geometry value.

ST_HasArc - Returns true if a geometry or geometry collection contains a circular string

ST_InteriorRingN - Return the Nth interior linestring ring of the polygon geometry. Return NULL if the geometry is not a polygon or the given N is out of range.

ST_InterpolatePoint - Return the value of the measure dimension of a geometry at the point closed to the provided point.

ST_IsClosed - Returns TRUE if the LINESTRING's start and end points are coincident. For Polyhedral surface is closed (volumetric).

ST_IsCollection - Returns TRUE if the argument is a collection (MULTI*, GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, ...)

ST_IsPlanar - Check if a surface is or not planar

ST_IsSimple - Returns (TRUE) if this Geometry has no anomalous geometric points, such as self intersection or self tangency.

ST_IsSolid - Test if the geometry is a solid. No validity check is performed.

ST_IsValidTrajectory - Returns true if the geometry is a valid trajectory.

ST_Length_Spheroid - Calculates the 2D or 3D length/perimeter of a geometry on an ellipsoid. This is useful if the coordinates of the geometry are in longitude/latitude and a length is desired without reprojection.

ST_LineFromMultiPoint - Creates a LineString from a MultiPoint geometry.

ST_LineInterpolatePoint - Returns a point interpolated along a line. Second argument is a float8 between 0 and 1 representing fraction of total length of linestring the point has to be located.

ST_LineSubstring - Return a linestring being a substring of the input one starting and ending at the given fractions of total 2d length. Second and third arguments are float8 values between 0 and 1.

ST_LineToCurve - Converts a LINESTRING/POLYGON to a CIRCULARSTRING, CURVEPOLYGON

ST_LocateBetweenElevations - Return a derived geometry (collection) value with elements that intersect the specified range of elevations inclusively. Only 3D, 4D LINESTRINGS and MULTILINESTRINGS are supported.

ST_M - Return the M coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

ST_MakeLine - Creates a Linestring from point or line geometries.

ST_MakePoint - Creates a 2D,3DZ or 4D point geometry.

ST_MakePolygon - Creates a Polygon formed by the given shell. Input geometries must be closed LINESTRINGS.

ST_MakeSolid - Cast the geometry into a solid. No check is performed. To obtain a valid solid, the input geometry must be a closed Polyhedral Surface or a closed TIN.

ST_MakeValid - Attempts to make an invalid geometry valid without losing vertices.

ST_MemSize - Returns the amount of space (in bytes) the geometry takes.

ST_MemUnion - Same as ST_Union, only memory-friendly (uses less memory and more processor time).

ST_NDims - Returns coordinate dimension of the geometry as a small int. Values are: 2,3 or 4.

ST_NPoints - Return the number of points (vertexes) in a geometry.

ST_NRings - If the geometry is a polygon or multi-polygon returns the number of rings.

ST_Node - Node a set of linestrings.

ST_NumGeometries - If geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION (or MULTI*) return the number of geometries, for single geometries will return 1, otherwise return NULL.

ST_NumPatches - Return the number of faces on a Polyhedral Surface. Will return null for non-polyhedral geometries.

ST_Orientation - Determine surface orientation

ST_PatchN - Return the 1-based Nth geometry (face) if the geometry is a POLYHEDRALSURFACE, POLYHEDRALSURFACEM. Otherwise, return NULL.

ST_PointFromWKB - Makes a geometry from WKB with the given SRID

ST_PointN - Return the Nth point in the first linestring or circular linestring in the geometry. Return NULL if there is no linestring in the geometry.

ST_PointOnSurface - Returns a POINT guaranteed to lie on the surface.

ST_Polygon - Returns a polygon built from the specified linestring and SRID.

ST_RemovePoint - Removes point from a linestring. Offset is 0-based.

ST_RemoveRepeatedPoints - Returns a version of the given geometry with duplicated points removed.

ST_Rotate - Rotate a geometry rotRadians counter-clockwise about an origin.

ST_RotateX - Rotate a geometry rotRadians about the X axis.

ST_RotateY - Rotate a geometry rotRadians about the Y axis.

ST_RotateZ - Rotate a geometry rotRadians about the Z axis.

ST_Scale - Scales the geometry to a new size by multiplying the ordinates with the parameters. Ie: ST_Scale(geom, Xfactor, Yfactor, Zfactor).

ST_SetPoint - Replace point N of linestring with given point. Index is 0-based.

ST_Shift_Longitude - Reads every point/vertex in every component of every feature in a geometry, and if the longitude coordinate is <0, adds 360 to it. The result would be a 0-360 version of the data to be plotted in a 180 centric map

ST_SnapToGrid - Snap all points of the input geometry to a regular grid.

ST_StartPoint - Returns the first point of a LINESTRING geometry as a POINT.

ST_StraightSkeleton - Compute a straight skeleton from a geometry

ST_SwapOrdinates - Returns a version of the given geometry with given ordinate values swapped.

ST_SymDifference - Returns a geometry that represents the portions of A and B that do not intersect. It is called a symmetric difference because ST_SymDifference(A,B) = ST_SymDifference(B,A).

ST_Tesselate - Perform surface Tesselation of a polygon or polyhedralsurface and returns as a TIN or collection of TINS

ST_TransScale - Translates the geometry using the deltaX and deltaY args, then scales it using the XFactor, YFactor args, working in 2D only.

ST_Translate - Translates the geometry to a new location using the numeric parameters as offsets. Ie: ST_Translate(geom, X, Y) or ST_Translate(geom, X, Y,Z).

ST_UnaryUnion - Like ST_Union, but working at the geometry component level.

ST_Volume - Computes the volume of a 3D solid. If applied to surface (even closed) geometries will return 0.

ST_X - Return the X coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

ST_XMax - Returns X maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_XMin - Returns X minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_Y - Return the Y coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

ST_YMax - Returns Y maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_YMin - Returns Y minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_Z - Return the Z coordinate of the point, or NULL if not available. Input must be a point.

ST_ZMax - Returns Z minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_ZMin - Returns Z minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_Zmflag - Returns ZM (dimension semantic) flag of the geometries as a small int. Values are: 0=2d, 1=3dm, 2=3dz, 3=4d.

TG_Equals - Returns true if two topogeometries are composed of the same topology primitives.

TG_Intersects - Returns true if any pair of primitives from thetwo topogeometries intersect.

UpdateGeometrySRID - Updates the SRID of all features in a geometry column, geometry_columns metadata and srid. If it was enforced with constraints, the constraints will be updated with new srid constraint. If the old was enforced by type definition, the type definition will be changed.

geometry_overlaps_nd - Returns TRUE if A's n-D bounding box intersects B's n-D bounding box.

postgis_sfcgal_version - Returns the version of SFCGAL in use

PostGIS Curved Geometry Support Functions

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that can use CIRCULARSTRING, CURVEPOLYGON, and other curved geometry types

AddGeometryColumn - Adds a geometry column to an existing table of attributes. By default uses type modifier to define rather than constraints. Pass in false for use_typmod to get old check constraint based behavior

Box2D - Returns a BOX2D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

Box3D - Returns a BOX3D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

DropGeometryColumn - Removes a geometry column from a spatial table.

GeometryType - Returns the type of the geometry as a string. Eg: 'LINESTRING', 'POLYGON', 'MULTIPOINT', etc.

PostGIS_AddBBox - Add bounding box to the geometry.

PostGIS_DropBBox - Drop the bounding box cache from the geometry.

PostGIS_HasBBox - Returns TRUE if the bbox of this geometry is cached, FALSE otherwise.

ST_3DExtent - an aggregate function that returns the box3D bounding box that bounds rows of geometries.

ST_Accum - Aggregate. Constructs an array of geometries.

ST_Affine - Applies a 3d affine transformation to the geometry to do things like translate, rotate, scale in one step.

ST_AsBinary - Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID meta data.

ST_AsEWKB - Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry with SRID meta data.

ST_AsEWKT - Return the Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the geometry with SRID meta data.

ST_AsHEXEWKB - Returns a Geometry in HEXEWKB format (as text) using either little-endian (NDR) or big-endian (XDR) encoding.

ST_AsText - Return the Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID metadata.

ST_Collect - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from a collection of other geometries.

ST_CoordDim - Return the coordinate dimension of the ST_Geometry value.

ST_CurveToLine - Converts a CIRCULARSTRING/CURVEPOLYGON to a LINESTRING/POLYGON

ST_Distance - For geometry type Returns the 2D Cartesian distance between two geometries in projected units (based on spatial ref). For geography type defaults to return minimum geodesic distance between two geographies in meters.

ST_Dump - Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows, that make up a geometry g1.

ST_DumpPoints - Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows of all points that make up a geometry.

ST_EndPoint - Returns the last point of a LINESTRING or CIRCULARLINESTRING geometry as a POINT.

ST_EstimatedExtent - Return the 'estimated' extent of the given spatial table. The estimated is taken from the geometry column's statistics. The current schema will be used if not specified.

ST_FlipCoordinates - Returns a version of the given geometry with X and Y axis flipped. Useful for people who have built latitude/longitude features and need to fix them.

ST_Force2D - Forces the geometries into a "2-dimensional mode" so that all output representations will only have the X and Y coordinates.

ST_ForceCurve - Upcasts a geometry into its curved type, if applicable.

ST_ForceSFS - Forces the geometries to use SFS 1.1 geometry types only.

ST_Force3D - Forces the geometries into XYZ mode. This is an alias for ST_Force3DZ.

ST_Force3DM - Forces the geometries into XYM mode.

ST_Force3DZ - Forces the geometries into XYZ mode. This is a synonym for ST_Force3D.

ST_Force4D - Forces the geometries into XYZM mode.

ST_ForceCollection - Converts the geometry into a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION.

ST_GeoHash - Return a GeoHash representation of the geometry.

ST_GeogFromWKB - Creates a geography instance from a Well-Known Binary geometry representation (WKB) or extended Well Known Binary (EWKB).

ST_GeomFromEWKB - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Extended Well-Known Binary representation (EWKB).

ST_GeomFromEWKT - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Extended Well-Known Text representation (EWKT).

ST_GeomFromText - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Well-Known Text representation (WKT).

ST_GeomFromWKB - Creates a geometry instance from a Well-Known Binary geometry representation (WKB) and optional SRID.

ST_GeometryN - Return the 1-based Nth geometry if the geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, (MULTI)POINT, (MULTI)LINESTRING, MULTICURVE or (MULTI)POLYGON, POLYHEDRALSURFACE Otherwise, return NULL.

= - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's. Uses double precision bounding box.

&<| - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box overlaps or is below B's.

ST_HasArc - Returns true if a geometry or geometry collection contains a circular string

ST_IsClosed - Returns TRUE if the LINESTRING's start and end points are coincident. For Polyhedral surface is closed (volumetric).

ST_IsCollection - Returns TRUE if the argument is a collection (MULTI*, GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, ...)

ST_IsEmpty - Returns true if this Geometry is an empty geometrycollection, polygon, point etc.

ST_LineToCurve - Converts a LINESTRING/POLYGON to a CIRCULARSTRING, CURVEPOLYGON

ST_MemSize - Returns the amount of space (in bytes) the geometry takes.

ST_NPoints - Return the number of points (vertexes) in a geometry.

ST_NRings - If the geometry is a polygon or multi-polygon returns the number of rings.

ST_PointFromWKB - Makes a geometry from WKB with the given SRID

ST_PointN - Return the Nth point in the first linestring or circular linestring in the geometry. Return NULL if there is no linestring in the geometry.

ST_Rotate - Rotate a geometry rotRadians counter-clockwise about an origin.

ST_RotateZ - Rotate a geometry rotRadians about the Z axis.

ST_SRID - Returns the spatial reference identifier for the ST_Geometry as defined in spatial_ref_sys table.

ST_Scale - Scales the geometry to a new size by multiplying the ordinates with the parameters. Ie: ST_Scale(geom, Xfactor, Yfactor, Zfactor).

ST_SetSRID - Sets the SRID on a geometry to a particular integer value.

ST_StartPoint - Returns the first point of a LINESTRING geometry as a POINT.

ST_Summary - Returns a text summary of the contents of the geometry.

ST_SwapOrdinates - Returns a version of the given geometry with given ordinate values swapped.

ST_TransScale - Translates the geometry using the deltaX and deltaY args, then scales it using the XFactor, YFactor args, working in 2D only.

ST_Transform - Returns a new geometry with its coordinates transformed to the SRID referenced by the integer parameter.

ST_Translate - Translates the geometry to a new location using the numeric parameters as offsets. Ie: ST_Translate(geom, X, Y) or ST_Translate(geom, X, Y,Z).

ST_XMax - Returns X maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_XMin - Returns X minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_YMax - Returns Y maxima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_YMin - Returns Y minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_ZMax - Returns Z minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_ZMin - Returns Z minima of a bounding box 2d or 3d or a geometry.

ST_Zmflag - Returns ZM (dimension semantic) flag of the geometries as a small int. Values are: 0=2d, 1=3dm, 2=3dz, 3=4d.

UpdateGeometrySRID - Updates the SRID of all features in a geometry column, geometry_columns metadata and srid. If it was enforced with constraints, the constraints will be updated with new srid constraint. If the old was enforced by type definition, the type definition will be changed.

&& - Returns TRUE if A's 2D bounding box intersects B's 2D bounding box.

&&& - Returns TRUE if A's n-D bounding box intersects B's n-D bounding box.

PostGIS Polyhedral Surface Support Functions

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that can use POLYHEDRALSURFACE, POLYHEDRALSURFACEM geometries

Box2D - Returns a BOX2D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

Box3D - Returns a BOX3D representing the maximum extents of the geometry.

GeometryType - Returns the type of the geometry as a string. Eg: 'LINESTRING', 'POLYGON', 'MULTIPOINT', etc.

ST_3DArea - Computes area of 3D surface geometries. Will return 0 for solids.

ST_3DClosestPoint - Returns the 3-dimensional point on g1 that is closest to g2. This is the first point of the 3D shortest line.

ST_3DDFullyWithin - Returns true if all of the 3D geometries are within the specified distance of one another.

ST_3DDWithin - For 3d (z) geometry type Returns true if two geometries 3d distance is within number of units.

ST_3DDifference - Perform 3D difference

ST_3DDistance - For geometry type Returns the 3-dimensional cartesian minimum distance (based on spatial ref) between two geometries in projected units.

ST_3DExtent - an aggregate function that returns the box3D bounding box that bounds rows of geometries.

ST_3DIntersection - Perform 3D intersection

ST_3DIntersects - Returns TRUE if the Geometries "spatially intersect" in 3d - only for points, linestrings, polygons, polyhedral surface (area). With SFCGAL backend enabled also supports TINS

ST_3DLongestLine - Returns the 3-dimensional longest line between two geometries

ST_3DMaxDistance - For geometry type Returns the 3-dimensional cartesian maximum distance (based on spatial ref) between two geometries in projected units.

ST_3DShortestLine - Returns the 3-dimensional shortest line between two geometries

ST_3DUnion - Perform 3D union

ST_Accum - Aggregate. Constructs an array of geometries.

ST_Affine - Applies a 3d affine transformation to the geometry to do things like translate, rotate, scale in one step.

ST_ApproximateMedialAxis - Compute the approximate medial axis of an areal geometry.

ST_Area - Returns the area of the surface if it is a Polygon or MultiPolygon. For geometry, a 2D Cartesian area is determined with units specified by the SRID. For geography, area is determined on a curved surface with units in square meters.

ST_AsBinary - Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID meta data.

ST_AsEWKB - Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry with SRID meta data.

ST_AsEWKT - Return the Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the geometry with SRID meta data.

ST_AsGML - Return the geometry as a GML version 2 or 3 element.

ST_AsX3D - Returns a Geometry in X3D xml node element format: ISO-IEC-19776-1.2-X3DEncodings-XML

ST_CoordDim - Return the coordinate dimension of the ST_Geometry value.

ST_Dimension - The inherent dimension of this Geometry object, which must be less than or equal to the coordinate dimension.

ST_Dump - Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows, that make up a geometry g1.

ST_DumpPoints - Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows of all points that make up a geometry.

ST_Expand - Returns bounding box expanded in all directions from the bounding box of the input geometry. Uses double-precision

ST_Extent - an aggregate function that returns the bounding box that bounds rows of geometries.

ST_Extrude - Extrude a surface to a related volume

ST_FlipCoordinates - Returns a version of the given geometry with X and Y axis flipped. Useful for people who have built latitude/longitude features and need to fix them.

ST_Force2D - Forces the geometries into a "2-dimensional mode" so that all output representations will only have the X and Y coordinates.

ST_ForceLHR - Force LHR orientation

ST_ForceRHR - Forces the orientation of the vertices in a polygon to follow the Right-Hand-Rule.

ST_ForceSFS - Forces the geometries to use SFS 1.1 geometry types only.

ST_Force3D - Forces the geometries into XYZ mode. This is an alias for ST_Force3DZ.

ST_Force3DZ - Forces the geometries into XYZ mode. This is a synonym for ST_Force3D.

ST_ForceCollection - Converts the geometry into a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION.

ST_GeomFromEWKB - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Extended Well-Known Binary representation (EWKB).

ST_GeomFromEWKT - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from Extended Well-Known Text representation (EWKT).

ST_GeomFromGML - Takes as input GML representation of geometry and outputs a PostGIS geometry object

ST_GeometryN - Return the 1-based Nth geometry if the geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, (MULTI)POINT, (MULTI)LINESTRING, MULTICURVE or (MULTI)POLYGON, POLYHEDRALSURFACE Otherwise, return NULL.

ST_GeometryType - Return the geometry type of the ST_Geometry value.

= - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's. Uses double precision bounding box.

&<| - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box overlaps or is below B's.

~= - Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's.

ST_IsClosed - Returns TRUE if the LINESTRING's start and end points are coincident. For Polyhedral surface is closed (volumetric).

ST_IsPlanar - Check if a surface is or not planar

ST_IsSolid - Test if the geometry is a solid. No validity check is performed.

ST_MakeSolid - Cast the geometry into a solid. No check is performed. To obtain a valid solid, the input geometry must be a closed Polyhedral Surface or a closed TIN.

ST_MemSize - Returns the amount of space (in bytes) the geometry takes.

ST_NPoints - Return the number of points (vertexes) in a geometry.

ST_NumGeometries - If geometry is a GEOMETRYCOLLECTION (or MULTI*) return the number of geometries, for single geometries will return 1, otherwise return NULL.

ST_NumPatches - Return the number of faces on a Polyhedral Surface. Will return null for non-polyhedral geometries.

ST_PatchN - Return the 1-based Nth geometry (face) if the geometry is a POLYHEDRALSURFACE, POLYHEDRALSURFACEM. Otherwise, return NULL.

ST_RemoveRepeatedPoints - Returns a version of the given geometry with duplicated points removed.

ST_Rotate - Rotate a geometry rotRadians counter-clockwise about an origin.

ST_RotateX - Rotate a geometry rotRadians about the X axis.

ST_RotateY - Rotate a geometry rotRadians about the Y axis.

ST_RotateZ - Rotate a geometry rotRadians about the Z axis.

ST_Scale - Scales the geometry to a new size by multiplying the ordinates with the parameters. Ie: ST_Scale(geom, Xfactor, Yfactor, Zfactor).

ST_ShiftLongitude - Reads every point/vertex in every component of every feature in a geometry, and if the longitude coordinate is <0, adds 360 to it. The result would be a 0-360 version of the data to be plotted in a 180 centric map

ST_StraightSkeleton - Compute a straight skeleton from a geometry

ST_Summary - Returns a text summary of the contents of the geometry.

ST_SwapOrdinates - Returns a version of the given geometry with given ordinate values swapped.

ST_Tesselate - Perform surface Tesselation of a polygon or polyhedralsurface and returns as a TIN or collection of TINS

ST_Transform - Returns a new geometry with its coordinates transformed to the SRID referenced by the integer parameter.

ST_Volume - Computes the volume of a 3D solid. If applied to surface (even closed) geometries will return 0.

&& - Returns TRUE if A's 2D bounding box intersects B's 2D bounding box.

&&& - Returns TRUE if A's n-D bounding box intersects B's n-D bounding box.

postgis_sfcgal_version - Returns the version of SFCGAL in use

PostGIS Function Support Matrix

Below is an alphabetical listing of spatial specific functions in PostGIS and the kinds of spatial types they work with or OGC/SQL compliance they try to conform to.

A PostGIS Function Support Matrix means the function works with the type or subtype natively.

A PostGIS Function Support Matrix means it works but with a transform cast built-in using cast to geometry, transform to a "best srid" spatial ref and then cast back. Results may not be as expected for large areas or areas at poles and may accumulate floating point junk.

A PostGIS Function Support Matrix means the function works with the type because of a auto-cast to another such as to box3d rather than direct type support.

A PostGIS Function Support Matrix means the function only available if PostGIS compiled with SFCGAL support.

A PostGIS Function Support Matrix means the function support is provided by SFCGAL if PostGIS compiled with SFCGAL support, otherwise GEOS/built-in support.

geom - Basic 2D geometry support (x,y).

geog - Basic 2D geography support (x,y).

2.5D - basic 2D geometries in 3 D/4D space (has Z or M coord).

PS - Polyhedral surfaces

T - Triangles and Triangulated Irregular Network surfaces (TIN)

Function | geom | geog | 2.5D | Curves | SQL MM | PS | T
Box2D | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
Box3D | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
Find_SRID |  |  |  |  |  |  |
GeometryType | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_3DArea | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_3DClosestPoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_3DDFullyWithin | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_3DDWithin | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_3DDifference | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_3DDistance | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_3DExtent | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_3DIntersection | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_3DIntersects | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_3DLength | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_3DLongestLine | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_3DMakeBox | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_3DMaxDistance | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_3DPerimeter | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_3DShortestLine | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_3DUnion | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Accum | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_AddMeasure | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_AddPoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_Affine | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_ApproximateMedialAxis | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Area | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_AsBinary | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_AsEWKB | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_AsEWKT | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_AsEncodedPolyline | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_AsGML | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_AsGeoJSON | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_AsHEXEWKB | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_AsKML | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_AsLatLonText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_AsSVG | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |
ST_AsTWKB | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_AsText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_AsX3D | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Azimuth | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |
ST_BdMPolyFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_BdPolyFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Boundary | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_BoundingDiagonal | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_Box2dFromGeoHash | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Buffer | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_BuildArea | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_CPAWithin | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_Centroid | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_ClipByBox2D | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_ClosestPoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_ClosestPointOfApproach | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_ClusterIntersecting | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_ClusterWithin | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Collect | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_CollectionExtract | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_CollectionHomogenize | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_ConcaveHull | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Contains | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_ContainsProperly | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_ConvexHull | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_CoordDim | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_CoveredBy | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |
ST_Covers | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |
ST_Crosses | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_CurveToLine | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_DFullyWithin | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_DWithin | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |
ST_DelaunayTriangles | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Difference | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Dimension | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Disjoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Distance | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_DistanceCPA | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_DistanceSphere | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_DistanceSpheroid | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Dump | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_DumpPoints | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_DumpRings | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_EndPoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Envelope | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Equals | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_EstimatedExtent | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_Expand | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Extent | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_ExteriorRing | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Extrude | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_FlipCoordinates | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Force2D | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_ForceCurve | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_ForceLHR | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_ForceRHR | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_ForceSFS | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Force3D | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_Force3DM | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_Force3DZ | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_Force4D | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_ForceCollection | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_GMLToSQL | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_GeoHash | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_GeogFromText |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |
ST_GeogFromWKB |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_GeographyFromText |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |
ST_GeomCollFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_GeomFromEWKB | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_GeomFromEWKT | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_GeomFromGML | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_GeomFromGeoHash | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_GeomFromGeoJSON | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_GeomFromKML | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_GeomFromTWKB | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_GeomFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_GeomFromWKB | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_GeometryFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_GeometryN | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_GeometryType | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
|>> | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
<<| | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
~ | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
@ | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
= | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
<< | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
|&> | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
&<| | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
&< | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
&> | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
>> | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
~= | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_HasArc | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_HausdorffDistance | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_InteriorRingN | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_InterpolatePoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_Intersection | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Intersects | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_IsClosed | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_IsCollection | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_IsEmpty | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_IsPlanar | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_IsRing | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_IsSimple | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_IsSolid | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_IsValid | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_IsValidDetail | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_IsValidReason | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_IsValidTrajectory | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_Length | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Length2D | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Length2D_Spheroid | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_LengthSpheroid | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_LineCrossingDirection | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_LineFromEncodedPolyline | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_LineFromMultiPoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_LineFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_LineFromWKB | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_LineInterpolatePoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_LineLocatePoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_LineMerge | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_LineSubstring | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_LineToCurve | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_LinestringFromWKB | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_LocateAlong | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_LocateBetween | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_LocateBetweenElevations | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_LongestLine | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_M | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_MLineFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_MPointFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_MPolyFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_MakeBox2D | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_MakeEnvelope | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_MakeLine | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_MakePoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_MakePointM | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_MakePolygon | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_MakeSolid | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_MakeValid | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_MaxDistance | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_MemSize | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_MemUnion | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_MinimumBoundingCircle | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_MinkowskiSum | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Multi | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_NDims | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_NPoints | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_NRings | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_Node | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_NumGeometries | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_NumInteriorRing | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_NumInteriorRings | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_NumPatches | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_NumPoints | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_OffsetCurve | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_OrderingEquals | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Orientation | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_Overlaps | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_PatchN | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_Perimeter | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Perimeter2D | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Point | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_PointFromGeoHash |  |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_PointFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_PointFromWKB | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_PointN | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_PointOnSurface | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_PointInsideCircle | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Polygon | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_PolygonFromText | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Polygonize | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Project |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |
ST_Relate | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_RelateMatch |  |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_RemovePoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_RemoveRepeatedPoints | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_Reverse | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Rotate | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_RotateX | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_RotateY | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_RotateZ | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_SRID | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Scale | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Segmentize | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |
ST_SetEffectiveArea | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_SetPoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_SetSRID | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_SharedPaths | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_ShiftLongitude | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_ShortestLine | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Simplify | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_SimplifyVW | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Snap | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_SnapToGrid | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_Split | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_StartPoint | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_StraightSkeleton | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Subdivide | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
ST_Summary | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_SwapOrdinates | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_SymDifference | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Tesselate | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_Touches | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_TransScale | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_Transform | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
ST_Translate | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_UnaryUnion | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |
ST_Union | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Volume | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
ST_WKBToSQL | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_WKTToSQL | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_Within | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_X | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_XMax | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_XMin | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_Y | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_YMax | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_YMin | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_Z | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |
ST_ZMax | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_ZMin | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
ST_Zmflag | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |
<#> | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
<<#>> | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
<<->> | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
|=| | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |  |
<-> | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  |  |  |
&& | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |
&&& | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix
postgis.backend |  |  |  |  |  |  |
postgis.enable_outdb_rasters |  |  |  |  |  |  |
postgis.gdal_datapath |  |  |  |  |  |  |
postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers |  |  |  |  |  |  |
postgis_sfcgal_version |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix |  |  | PostGIS Function Support Matrix | PostGIS Function Support Matrix

New, Enhanced or changed PostGIS Functions

PostGIS Functions new or enhanced in 2.2

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that were added or enhanced.

Note

postgis_sfcgal now can be installed as an extension using CREATE EXTENSION postgis_sfcgal;

Note

PostGIS 2.2.0: Tiger Geocoder upgraded to work with TIGER 2015 data.

Note

address_standardizer, address_standardizer_data_us extensions for standardizing address data refer to Chapter 12, Address Standardizer for details.

Note

Many functions in topology rewritten as C functions for increased performance.

Functions new in PostGIS 2.2

<<#>> - Availability: 2.2.0 -- KNN only available for PostgreSQL 9.1+ Returns the n-D distance between A and B bounding boxes.

<<->> - Availability: 2.2.0 -- KNN only available for PostgreSQL 9.1+ Returns the n-D distance between the centroids of A and B boundingboxes.

ST_3DDifference - Availability: 2.2.0 Perform 3D difference

ST_3DUnion - Availability: 2.2.0 Perform 3D union

ST_ApproximateMedialAxis - Availability: 2.2.0 Compute the approximate medial axis of an areal geometry.

ST_AsEncodedPolyline - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns an Encoded Polyline from a LineString geometry.

ST_AsTWKB - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns the geometry as TWKB, aka "Tiny Well-Known Binary"

ST_BoundingDiagonal - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns the diagonal of the supplied geometry's bounding box.

ST_CPAWithin - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns true if the trajectories' closest points of approachare within the specified distance.

ST_ClipByBox2D - Availability: 2.2.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.5.0. Returns the portion of a geometry falling within a rectangle.

ST_ClosestPointOfApproach - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns the measure at which points interpolated along two lines are closest.

ST_ClusterIntersecting - Availability: 2.2.0 - requires GEOS Aggregate. Returns an array with the connected components of a set of geometries

ST_ClusterWithin - Availability: 2.2.0 - requires GEOS Aggregate. Returns an array of GeometryCollections, where each GeometryCollection represents a set of geometries separated by no more than the specified distance.

ST_CountAgg - Availability: 2.2.0 Aggregate. Returns the number of pixels in a given band of a set of rasters. If no band is specified defaults to band 1. If exclude_nodata_value is set to true, will only count pixels that are not equal to the NODATA value.

ST_CreateOverview - Availability: 2.2.0 Create an reduced resolution version of a given raster coverage.

ST_DistanceCPA - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns the distance between closest points of approach in two trajectories.

ST_ForceCurve - Availability: 2.2.0 Upcasts a geometry into its curved type, if applicable.

ST_IsPlanar - Availability: 2.2.0: This was documented in 2.1.0 but got accidentally left out in 2.1 release. Check if a surface is or not planar

ST_IsSolid - Availability: 2.2.0 Test if the geometry is a solid. No validity check is performed.

ST_IsValidTrajectory - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns true if the geometry is a valid trajectory.

ST_LineFromEncodedPolyline - Availability: 2.2.0 Creates a LineString from an Encoded Polyline.

ST_MakeSolid - Availability: 2.2.0 Cast the geometry into a solid. No check is performed. To obtain a valid solid, the input geometry must be a closed Polyhedral Surface or a closed TIN.

ST_MapAlgebra - Availability: 2.2.0: Ability to add a mask Callback function version - Returns a one-band raster given one or more input rasters, band indexes and one user-specified callback function.

ST_MemSize - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns the amount of space (in bytes) the raster takes.

ST_RemoveRepeatedPoints - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns a version of the given geometry with duplicated points removed.

ST_Retile - Availability: 2.2.0 Return a set of configured tiles from an arbitrarily tiled raster coverage.

ST_SetEffectiveArea - Availability: 2.2.0 Sets the effective area for each vertex, storing the value in the M ordinate. A simplified geometry can then be generated by filtering on the M ordinate.

ST_SimplifyVW - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns a "simplified" version of the given geometry using the Visvalingam-Whyatt algorithm

ST_Subdivide - Availability: 2.2.0 requires GEOS >= 3.5.0. Returns a set of geometry where no geometry in the set has more than the specified number of vertices.

ST_SummaryStatsAgg - Availability: 2.2.0 Aggregate. Returns summarystats consisting of count, sum, mean, stddev, min, max for a given raster band of a set of raster. Band 1 is assumed is no band is specified.

ST_SwapOrdinates - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns a version of the given geometry with given ordinate values swapped.

ST_Volume - Availability: 2.2.0 Computes the volume of a 3D solid. If applied to surface (even closed) geometries will return 0.

parse_address - Availability: 2.2.0 Takes a 1 line address and breaks into parts

postgis.enable_outdb_rasters - Availability: 2.2.0 A boolean configuration option to enable access to out-db raster bands.

postgis.gdal_datapath - Availability: 2.2.0 A configuration option to assign the value of GDAL's GDAL_DATA option. If not set, the environmentally set GDAL_DATA variable is used.

postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers - Availability: 2.2.0 A configuration option to set the enabled GDAL drivers in the PostGIS environment. Affects the GDAL configuration variable GDAL_SKIP.

standardize_address - Availability: 2.2.0 Returns an stdaddr form of an input address utilizing lex, gaz, and rule tables.

|=| - Availability: 2.2.0. Index-supported only available for PostgreSQL 9.5+ Returns the distance between A and B trajectories at their closest point of approach.

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that are enhanced in PostGIS 2.2.

ST_Area - Enhanced: 2.2.0 - measurement on spheroid performed with GeographicLib for improved accuracy and robustness. Requires Proj >= 4.9.0 to take advantage of the new feature.

ST_AsX3D - Enhanced: 2.2.0: Support for GeoCoordinates and axis (x/y, long/lat) flipping. Look at options for details.

ST_Azimuth - Enhanced: 2.2.0 measurement on spheroid performed with GeographicLib for improved accuracy and robustness. Requires Proj >= 4.9.0 to take advantage of the new feature.

ST_Distance - Enhanced: 2.2.0 - measurement on spheroid performed with GeographicLib for improved accuracy and robustness. Requires Proj >= 4.9.0 to take advantage of the new feature.

ST_Scale - Enhanced: 2.2.0 support for scaling all dimension (geometry parameter) was introduced.

ST_Summary - Enhanced: 2.2.0 Added support for TIN and Curves

<-> - Enhanced: 2.2.0 -- True KNN ("K nearest neighbor") behavior for geometry and geography for PostgreSQL 9.5+. Note for geography KNN is based on sphere rather than spheroid. For PostgreSQL 9.4 and below, geography support is new but only supports centroid box.

PostGIS functions breaking changes in 2.2

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that have possibly breaking changes in PostGIS 2.2. If you use any of these, you may need to check your existing code.

Get_Geocode_Setting - Changed: 2.2.0 : default settings are now kept in a table called geocode_settings_default. Use customized settingsa are in geocode_settings and only contain those that have been set by user.

ST_3DClosestPoint - Changed: 2.2.0 - if 2 2D geometries are input, a 2D point is returned (instead of old behavior assuming 0 for missing Z). In case of 2D and 3D, Z is no longer assumed to be 0 for missing Z.

ST_3DDistance - Changed: 2.2.0 - In case of 2D and 3D, Z is no longer assumed to be 0 for missing Z.

ST_3DLongestLine - Changed: 2.2.0 - if 2 2D geometries are input, a 2D point is returned (instead of old behavior assuming 0 for missing Z). In case of 2D and 3D, Z is no longer assumed to be 0 for missing Z.

ST_3DMaxDistance - Changed: 2.2.0 - In case of 2D and 3D, Z is no longer assumed to be 0 for missing Z.

ST_3DShortestLine - Changed: 2.2.0 - if 2 2D geometries are input, a 2D point is returned (instead of old behavior assuming 0 for missing Z). In case of 2D and 3D, Z is no longer assumed to be 0 for missing Z.

ST_DistanceSphere - Changed: 2.2.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Distance_Sphere

ST_DistanceSpheroid - Changed: 2.2.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Distance_Spheroid

ST_Equals - Changed: 2.2.0 Returns true even for invalid geometries if they are binary equal

ST_LengthSpheroid - Changed: 2.2.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Length_Spheroid and used to have a ST_3DLength_Spheroid alias

ST_MemSize - Changed: 2.2.0 name changed to ST_MemSize to follow naming convention. In prior versions this function was called ST_Mem_Size, old name deprecated though still available.

ST_PointInsideCircle - Changed: 2.2.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Point_Inside_Circle

ST_Split - Changed: 2.2.0 support for splitting a line by a multiline, a multipoint or (multi)polygon boundary was introduced.

ValidateTopology - Changed: 2.2.0 values for id1 and id2 were swapped for 'edge crosses node' to be consistent with error description.

<-> - Changed: 2.2.0 -- For PostgreSQL 9.5 users, old Hybrid syntax may be slower, so you'll want to get rid of that hack if you are running your code only on PostGIS 2.2+ 9.5+. See examples below.

PostGIS Functions new or enhanced in 2.1

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that were added or enhanced.

Note

More Topology performance Improvements. Please refer to Chapter 11, Topology for more details.

Note

Bug fixes (particularly with handling of out-of-band rasters), many new functions (often shortening code you have to write to accomplish a common task) and massive speed improvements to raster functionality. Refer to Chapter 9, Raster Reference for more details.

Note

PostGIS 2.1.0: Tiger Geocoder upgraded to work with TIGER 2012 census data. geocode_settings added for debugging and tweaking rating preferences, loader made less greedy, now only downloads tables to be loaded. PostGIS 2.1.1: Tiger Geocoder upgraded to work with TIGER 2013 data. Please refer to the section called “Tiger Geocoder” for more details.

Functions new in PostGIS 2.1

AsTopoJSON - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns the TopoJSON representation of a topogeometry.

Drop_Nation_Tables_Generate_Script - Availability: 2.1.0 Generates a script that drops all tables in the specified schema that start with county_all, state_all or state code followed by county or state.

Get_Geocode_Setting - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns value of specific setting stored in tiger.geocode_settings table.

Loader_Generate_Nation_Script - Availability: 2.1.0 Generates a shell script for the specified platform that loads in the county and state lookup tables.

Pagc_Normalize_Address - Availability: 2.1.0 Given a textual street address, returns a composite norm_addy type that has road suffix, prefix and type standardized, street, streetname etc. broken into separate fields. This function will work with just the lookup data packaged with the tiger_geocoder (no need for tiger census data). Requires address_standardizer extension.

ST_3DArea - Availability: 2.1.0 Computes area of 3D surface geometries. Will return 0 for solids.

ST_3DIntersection - Availability: 2.1.0 Perform 3D intersection

ST_Box2dFromGeoHash - Availability: 2.1.0 Return a BOX2D from a GeoHash string.

ST_ColorMap - Availability: 2.1.0 Creates a new raster of up to four 8BUI bands (grayscale, RGB, RGBA) from the source raster and a specified band. Band 1 is assumed if not specified.

ST_Contains - Availability: 2.1.0 Return true if no points of raster rastB lie in the exterior of raster rastA and at least one point of the interior of rastB lies in the interior of rastA.

ST_ContainsProperly - Availability: 2.1.0 Return true if rastB intersects the interior of rastA but not the boundary or exterior of rastA.

ST_CoveredBy - Availability: 2.1.0 Return true if no points of raster rastA lie outside raster rastB.

ST_Covers - Availability: 2.1.0 Return true if no points of raster rastB lie outside raster rastA.

ST_DFullyWithin - Availability: 2.1.0 Return true if rasters rastA and rastB are fully within the specified distance of each other.

ST_DWithin - Availability: 2.1.0 Return true if rasters rastA and rastB are within the specified distance of each other.

ST_DelaunayTriangles - Availability: 2.1.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.4.0. Return a Delaunay triangulation around the given input points.

ST_Disjoint - Availability: 2.1.0 Return true if raster rastA does not spatially intersect rastB.

ST_DumpValues - Availability: 2.1.0 Get the values of the specified band as a 2-dimension array.

ST_Extrude - Availability: 2.1.0 Extrude a surface to a related volume

ST_ForceLHR - Availability: 2.1.0 Force LHR orientation

ST_FromGDALRaster - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns a raster from a supported GDAL raster file.

ST_GeomFromGeoHash - Availability: 2.1.0 Return a geometry from a GeoHash string.

ST_InvDistWeight4ma - Availability: 2.1.0 Raster processing function that interpolates a pixel's value from the pixel's neighborhood.

ST_MapAlgebra - Availability: 2.1.0 Callback function version - Returns a one-band raster given one or more input rasters, band indexes and one user-specified callback function.

ST_MapAlgebra - Availability: 2.1.0 Expression version - Returns a one-band raster given one or two input rasters, band indexes and one or more user-specified SQL expressions.

ST_MinConvexHull - Availability: 2.1.0 Return the convex hull geometry of the raster excluding NODATA pixels.

ST_MinDist4ma - Availability: 2.1.0 Raster processing function that returns the minimum distance (in number of pixels) between the pixel of interest and a neighboring pixel with value.

ST_MinkowskiSum - Availability: 2.1.0 Performs Minkowski sum

ST_NearestValue - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns the nearest non-NODATA value of a given band's pixel specified by a columnx and rowy or a geometric point expressed in the same spatial reference coordinate system as the raster.

ST_Neighborhood - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns a 2-D double precision array of the non-NODATA values around a given band's pixel specified by either a columnX and rowY or a geometric point expressed in the same spatial reference coordinate system as the raster.

ST_NotSameAlignmentReason - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns text stating if rasters are aligned and if not aligned, a reason why.

ST_Orientation - Availability: 2.1.0 Determine surface orientation

ST_Overlaps - Availability: 2.1.0 Return true if raster rastA and rastB intersect but one does not completely contain the other.

ST_PixelAsCentroid - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns the centroid (point geometry) of the area represented by a pixel.

ST_PixelAsCentroids - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns the centroid (point geometry) for each pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel. The point geometry is the centroid of the area represented by a pixel.

ST_PixelAsPoint - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns a point geometry of the pixel's upper-left corner.

ST_PixelAsPoints - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns a point geometry for each pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel. The coordinates of the point geometry are of the pixel's upper-left corner.

ST_PixelOfValue - Availability: 2.1.0 Get the columnx, rowy coordinates of the pixel whose value equals the search value.

ST_PointFromGeoHash - Availability: 2.1.0 Return a point from a GeoHash string.

ST_RasterToWorldCoord - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns the raster's upper left corner as geometric X and Y (longitude and latitude) given a column and row. Column and row starts at 1.

ST_Resize - Availability: 2.1.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+ Resize a raster to a new width/height

ST_Roughness - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns a raster with the calculated "roughness" of a DEM.

ST_SetValues - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns modified raster resulting from setting the values of a given band.

ST_Simplify - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns a "simplified" geometry version of the given TopoGeometry using the Douglas-Peucker algorithm.

ST_StraightSkeleton - Availability: 2.1.0 Compute a straight skeleton from a geometry

ST_Summary - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns a text summary of the contents of the raster.

ST_TPI - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns a raster with the calculated Topographic Position Index.

ST_TRI - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns a raster with the calculated Terrain Ruggedness Index.

ST_Tesselate - Availability: 2.1.0 Perform surface Tesselation of a polygon or polyhedralsurface and returns as a TIN or collection of TINS

ST_Tile - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns a set of rasters resulting from the split of the input raster based upon the desired dimensions of the output rasters.

ST_Touches - Availability: 2.1.0 Return true if raster rastA and rastB have at least one point in common but their interiors do not intersect.

ST_Union - Availability: 2.1.0 ST_Union(rast, unionarg) variant was introduced. Returns the union of a set of raster tiles into a single raster composed of 1 or more bands.

ST_Within - Availability: 2.1.0 Return true if no points of raster rastA lie in the exterior of raster rastB and at least one point of the interior of rastA lies in the interior of rastB.

ST_WorldToRasterCoord - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns the upper left corner as column and row given geometric X and Y (longitude and latitude) or a point geometry expressed in the spatial reference coordinate system of the raster.

Set_Geocode_Setting - Availability: 2.1.0 Sets a setting that affects behavior of geocoder functions.

UpdateRasterSRID - Availability: 2.1.0 Change the SRID of all rasters in the user-specified column and table.

clearTopoGeom - Availability: 2.1 Clears the content of a topo geometry

postgis.backend - Availability: 2.1.0 The backend to service a function where GEOS and SFCGAL overlap. Options: geos or sfcgal. Defaults to geos.

postgis_sfcgal_version - Availability: 2.1.0 Returns the version of SFCGAL in use

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that are enhanced in PostGIS 2.1.

ST_AddBand - Enhanced: 2.1.0 support for addbandarg added.

ST_AddBand - Enhanced: 2.1.0 support for new out-db bands added.

ST_AsBinary - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of outasin

ST_Aspect - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Uses ST_MapAlgebra() and added optional interpolate_nodata function parameter

ST_Clip - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Rewritten in C

ST_Distinct4ma - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of Variant 2

ST_HillShade - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Uses ST_MapAlgebra() and added optional interpolate_nodata function parameter

ST_Max4ma - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of Variant 2

ST_Mean4ma - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of Variant 2

ST_Min4ma - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of Variant 2

ST_PixelAsPolygons - Enhanced: 2.1.0 exclude_nodata_value optional argument was added.

ST_Polygon - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Improved Speed (fully C-Based) and the returning multipolygon is ensured to be valid.

ST_Range4ma - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of Variant 2

ST_SameAlignment - Enhanced: 2.1.0 addition of Aggegrate variant

ST_SetGeoReference - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of ST_SetGeoReference(raster, double precision, ...) variant

ST_SetValue - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Geometry variant of ST_SetValue() now supports any geometry type, not just point. The geometry variant is a wrapper around the geomval[] variant of ST_SetValues()

ST_Slope - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Uses ST_MapAlgebra() and added optional units, scale, interpolate_nodata function parameters

ST_StdDev4ma - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of Variant 2

ST_Sum4ma - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of Variant 2

ST_Transform - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Addition of ST_Transform(rast, alignto) variant

ST_Union - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Improved Speed (fully C-Based).

ST_Union - Enhanced: 2.1.0 ST_Union(rast) (variant 1) unions all bands of all input rasters. Prior versions of PostGIS assumed the first band.

ST_Union - Enhanced: 2.1.0 ST_Union(rast, uniontype) (variant 4) unions all bands of all input rasters.

ST_AsGML - Enhanced: 2.1.0 id support was introduced, for GML 3.

ST_Boundary - Enhanced: 2.1.0 support for Triangle was introduced

ST_DWithin - Enhanced: 2.1.0 improved speed for geography. See Making Geography faster for details.

ST_DWithin - Enhanced: 2.1.0 support for curved geometries was introduced.

ST_Distance - Enhanced: 2.1.0 improved speed for geography. See Making Geography faster for details.

ST_Distance - Enhanced: 2.1.0 - support for curved geometries was introduced.

ST_DumpPoints - Enhanced: 2.1.0 Faster speed. Reimplemented as native-C.

ST_MakeValid - Enhanced: 2.1.0 added support for GEOMETRYCOLLECTION and MULTIPOINT.

ST_Segmentize - Enhanced: 2.1.0 support for geography was introduced.

ST_Summary - Enhanced: 2.1.0 S flag to denote if has a known spatial reference system

toTopoGeom - Enhanced: 2.1.0 adds the version taking an existing TopoGeometry.

PostGIS functions breaking changes in 2.1

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that have possibly breaking changes in PostGIS 2.1. If you use any of these, you may need to check your existing code.

ST_Aspect - Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, return values were in radians. Now, return values default to degrees

ST_HillShade - Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, azimuth and altitude were expressed in radians. Now, azimuth and altitude are expressed in degrees

ST_Intersects - Changed: 2.1.0 The behavior of the ST_Intersects(raster, geometry) variants changed to match that of ST_Intersects(geometry, raster).

ST_PixelAsCentroids - Changed: 2.1.1 Changed behavior of exclude_nodata_value.

ST_PixelAsPoints - Changed: 2.1.1 Changed behavior of exclude_nodata_value.

ST_PixelAsPolygons - Changed: 2.1.1 Changed behavior of exclude_nodata_value.

ST_Polygon - Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions would sometimes return a polygon, changed to always return multipolygon.

ST_RasterToWorldCoordX - Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, this was called ST_Raster2WorldCoordX

ST_RasterToWorldCoordY - Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, this was called ST_Raster2WorldCoordY

ST_Resample - Changed: 2.1.0 Parameter srid removed. Variants with a reference raster no longer applies the reference raster's SRID. Use ST_Transform() to reproject raster. Works on rasters with no SRID.

ST_Rescale - Changed: 2.1.0 Works on rasters with no SRID

ST_Reskew - Changed: 2.1.0 Works on rasters with no SRID

ST_Slope - Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, return values were in radians. Now, return values default to degrees

ST_SnapToGrid - Changed: 2.1.0 Works on rasters with no SRID

ST_WorldToRasterCoordX - Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, this was called ST_World2RasterCoordX

ST_WorldToRasterCoordY - Changed: 2.1.0 In prior versions, this was called ST_World2RasterCoordY

ST_EstimatedExtent - Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Estimated_Extent.

ST_Force2D - Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_2D.

ST_Force3D - Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_3D.

ST_Force3DM - Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_3DM.

ST_Force3DZ - Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_3DZ.

ST_Force4D - Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_4D.

ST_ForceCollection - Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Force_Collection.

ST_LineInterpolatePoint - Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Line_Interpolate_Point.

ST_LineLocatePoint - Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Line_Locate_Point.

ST_LineSubstring - Changed: 2.1.0. Up to 2.0.x this was called ST_Line_Substring.

ST_Segmentize - Changed: 2.1.0 As a result of the introduction of geography support: The construct SELECT ST_Segmentize('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)',0.5); will result in ambiguous function error. You need to have properly typed object e.g. a geometry/geography column, use ST_GeomFromText, ST_GeogFromText or SELECT ST_Segmentize('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)'::geometry,0.5);

PostGIS Functions new, behavior changed, or enhanced in 2.0

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that were added, enhanced, or have the section called “PostGIS Functions changed behavior in 2.0” breaking changes in 2.0 releases.

New geometry types: TIN and Polyhedral surfaces was introduced in 2.0

Note

Greatly improved support for Topology. Please refer to Chapter 11, Topology for more details.

Note

In PostGIS 2.0, raster type and raster functionality has been integrated. There are way too many new raster functions to list here and all are new so please refer to Chapter 9, Raster Reference for more details of the raster functions available. Earlier pre-2.0 versions had raster_columns/raster_overviews as real tables. These were changed to views before release. Functions such as ST_AddRasterColumn were removed and replaced with AddRasterConstraints, DropRasterConstraints as a result some apps that created raster tables may need changing.

Note

Tiger Geocoder upgraded to work with TIGER 2010 census data and now included in the core PostGIS documentation. A reverse geocoder function was also added. Please refer to the section called “Tiger Geocoder” for more details.

&& - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns TRUE if A's bounding box intersects B's bounding box.

&&& - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns TRUE if A's n-D bounding box intersects B's n-D bounding box.

<#> - Availability: 2.0.0 -- KNN only available for PostgreSQL 9.1+ Returns the 2D distance between A and B bounding boxes.

<-> - Availability: 2.0.0 -- Weak KNN provides nearest neighbors based on geometry centroid distances instead of true distances. Exact results for points, inexact for all other types. Available for PostgreSQL 9.1+ Returns the 2D distance between A and B.

AddEdge - Availability: 2.0.0 requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Adds a linestring edge to the edge table and associated start and end points to the point nodes table of the specified topology schema using the specified linestring geometry and returns the edgeid of the new (or existing) edge.

AddFace - Availability: 2.0.0 Registers a face primitive to a topology and gets its identifier.

AddNode - Availability: 2.0.0 Adds a point node to the node table in the specified topology schema and returns the nodeid of new node. If point already exists as node, the existing nodeid is returned.

AddOverviewConstraints - Availability: 2.0.0 Tag a raster column as being an overview of another.

AddRasterConstraints - Availability: 2.0.0 Adds raster constraints to a loaded raster table for a specific column that constrains spatial ref, scaling, blocksize, alignment, bands, band type and a flag to denote if raster column is regularly blocked. The table must be loaded with data for the constraints to be inferred. Returns true of the constraint setting was accomplished and if issues a notice.

AsGML - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the GML representation of a topogeometry.

CopyTopology - Availability: 2.0.0 Makes a copy of a topology structure (nodes, edges, faces, layers and TopoGeometries).

DropOverviewConstraints - Availability: 2.0.0 Untag a raster column from being an overview of another.

DropRasterConstraints - Availability: 2.0.0 Drops PostGIS raster constraints that refer to a raster table column. Useful if you need to reload data or update your raster column data.

Drop_Indexes_Generate_Script - Availability: 2.0.0 Generates a script that drops all non-primary key and non-unique indexes on tiger schema and user specified schema. Defaults schema to tiger_data if no schema is specified.

Drop_State_Tables_Generate_Script - Availability: 2.0.0 Generates a script that drops all tables in the specified schema that are prefixed with the state abbreviation. Defaults schema to tiger_data if no schema is specified.

Geocode_Intersection - Availability: 2.0.0 Takes in 2 streets that intersect and a state, city, zip, and outputs a set of possible locations on the first cross street that is at the intersection, also includes a geomout as the point location in NAD 83 long lat, a normalized_address (addy) for each location, and the rating. The lower the rating the more likely the match. Results are sorted by lowest rating first. Can optionally pass in maximum results, defaults to 10. Uses Tiger data (edges, faces, addr), PostgreSQL fuzzy string matching (soundex, levenshtein).

GetEdgeByPoint - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Find the edge-id of an edge that intersects a given point

GetFaceByPoint - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Find the face-id of a face that intersects a given point

GetNodeByPoint - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Find the id of a node at a point location

GetNodeEdges - Availability: 2.0 Returns an ordered set of edges incident to the given node.

GetRingEdges - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the ordered set of signed edge identifiers met by walking on ana given edge side.

GetTopologySRID - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the SRID of a topology in the topology.topology table given the name of the topology.

Get_Tract - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns census tract or field from tract table of where the geometry is located. Default to returning short name of tract.

Install_Missing_Indexes - Availability: 2.0.0 Finds all tables with key columns used in geocoder joins and filter conditions that are missing used indexes on those columns and will add them.

Loader_Generate_Census_Script - Availability: 2.0.0 Generates a shell script for the specified platform for the specified states that will download Tiger census state tract, bg, and tabblocks data tables, stage and load into tiger_data schema. Each state script is returned as a separate record.

Loader_Generate_Script - Availability: 2.0.0 to support Tiger 2010 structured data and load census tract (tract), block groups (bg), and blocks (tabblocks) tables . Generates a shell script for the specified platform for the specified states that will download Tiger data, stage and load into tiger_data schema. Each state script is returned as a separate record. Latest version supports Tiger 2010 structural changes and also loads census tract, block groups, and blocks tables.

Missing_Indexes_Generate_Script - Availability: 2.0.0 Finds all tables with key columns used in geocoder joins that are missing indexes on those columns and will output the SQL DDL to define the index for those tables.

Polygonize - Availability: 2.0.0 Find and register all faces defined by topology edges

Reverse_Geocode - Availability: 2.0.0 Takes a geometry point in a known spatial ref sys and returns a record containing an array of theoretically possible addresses and an array of cross streets. If include_strnum_range = true, includes the street range in the cross streets.

ST_3DClosestPoint - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the 3-dimensional point on g1 that is closest to g2. This is the first point of the 3D shortest line.

ST_3DDFullyWithin - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns true if all of the 3D geometries are within the specified distance of one another.

ST_3DDWithin - Availability: 2.0.0 For 3d (z) geometry type Returns true if two geometries 3d distance is within number of units.

ST_3DDistance - Availability: 2.0.0 For geometry type Returns the 3-dimensional cartesian minimum distance (based on spatial ref) between two geometries in projected units.

ST_3DIntersects - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns TRUE if the Geometries "spatially intersect" in 3d - only for points, linestrings, polygons, polyhedral surface (area). With SFCGAL backend enabled also supports TINS

ST_3DLongestLine - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the 3-dimensional longest line between two geometries

ST_3DMaxDistance - Availability: 2.0.0 For geometry type Returns the 3-dimensional cartesian maximum distance (based on spatial ref) between two geometries in projected units.

ST_3DShortestLine - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the 3-dimensional shortest line between two geometries

ST_AddEdgeModFace - Availability: 2.0 Add a new edge and, if in doing so it splits a face, modify the original face and add a new face.

ST_AddEdgeNewFaces - Availability: 2.0 Add a new edge and, if in doing so it splits a face, delete the original face and replace it with two new faces.

ST_AsGDALRaster - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0. Return the raster tile in the designated GDAL Raster format. Raster formats are one of those supported by your compiled library. Use ST_GDALRasters() to get a list of formats supported by your library.

ST_AsJPEG - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0. Return the raster tile selected bands as a single Joint Photographic Exports Group (JPEG) image (byte array). If no band is specified and 1 or more than 3 bands, then only the first band is used. If only 3 bands then all 3 bands are used and mapped to RGB.

ST_AsLatLonText - Availability: 2.0 Return the Degrees, Minutes, Seconds representation of the given point.

ST_AsPNG - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0. Return the raster tile selected bands as a single portable network graphics (PNG) image (byte array). If 1, 3, or 4 bands in raster and no bands are specified, then all bands are used. If more 2 or more than 4 bands and no bands specified, then only band 1 is used. Bands are mapped to RGB or RGBA space.

ST_AsRaster - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0. Converts a PostGIS geometry to a PostGIS raster.

ST_AsTIFF - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0. Return the raster selected bands as a single TIFF image (byte array). If no band is specified, then will try to use all bands.

ST_AsX3D - Availability: 2.0.0: ISO-IEC-19776-1.2-X3DEncodings-XML Returns a Geometry in X3D xml node element format: ISO-IEC-19776-1.2-X3DEncodings-XML

ST_Aspect - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the aspect (in degrees by default) of an elevation raster band. Useful for analyzing terrain.

ST_Band - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns one or more bands of an existing raster as a new raster. Useful for building new rasters from existing rasters.

ST_BandIsNoData - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns true if the band is filled with only nodata values.

ST_Clip - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the raster clipped by the input geometry. If band number not is specified, all bands are processed. If crop is not specified or TRUE, the output raster is cropped.

ST_CollectionHomogenize - Availability: 2.0.0 Given a geometry collection, returns the "simplest" representation of the contents.

ST_ConcaveHull - Availability: 2.0.0 The concave hull of a geometry represents a possibly concave geometry that encloses all geometries within the set. You can think of it as shrink wrapping.

ST_Count - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the number of pixels in a given band of a raster or raster coverage. If no band is specified defaults to band 1. If exclude_nodata_value is set to true, will only count pixels that are not equal to the nodata value.

ST_CreateTopoGeo - Availability: 2.0 Adds a collection of geometries to a given empty topology and returns a message detailing success.

ST_Distinct4ma - Availability: 2.0.0 Raster processing function that calculates the number of unique pixel values in a neighborhood.

ST_FlipCoordinates - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns a version of the given geometry with X and Y axis flipped. Useful for people who have built latitude/longitude features and need to fix them.

ST_GDALDrivers - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GDAL >= 1.6.0. Returns a list of raster formats supported by your lib gdal. These are the formats you can output your raster using ST_AsGDALRaster.

ST_GeomFromGeoJSON - Availability: 2.0.0 requires - JSON-C >= 0.9 Takes as input a geojson representation of a geometry and outputs a PostGIS geometry object

ST_GetFaceEdges - Availability: 2.0 Returns a set of ordered edges that bound aface.

ST_HasNoBand - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns true if there is no band with given band number. If no band number is specified, then band number 1 is assumed.

ST_HillShade - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the hypothetical illumination of an elevation raster band using provided azimuth, altitude, brightness and scale inputs.

ST_Histogram - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns a set of record summarizing a raster or raster coverage data distribution separate bin ranges. Number of bins are autocomputed if not specified.

ST_InterpolatePoint - Availability: 2.0.0 Return the value of the measure dimension of a geometry at the point closed to the provided point.

ST_IsEmpty - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns true if the raster is empty (width = 0 and height = 0). Otherwise, returns false.

ST_IsValidDetail - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Returns a valid_detail (valid,reason,location) row stating if a geometry is valid or not and if not valid, a reason why and a location where.

ST_IsValidReason - Availability: 2.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0 for the version taking flags. Returns text stating if a geometry is valid or not and if not valid, a reason why.

ST_MakeLine - Availability: 2.0.0 - Support for linestring input elements was introduced Creates a Linestring from point or line geometries.

ST_MakeValid - Availability: 2.0.0, requires GEOS-3.3.0 Attempts to make an invalid geometry valid without losing vertices.

ST_MapAlgebraExpr - Availability: 2.0.0 1 raster band version: Creates a new one band raster formed by applying a valid PostgreSQL algebraic operation on the input raster band and of pixeltype provided. Band 1 is assumed if no band is specified.

ST_MapAlgebraExpr - Availability: 2.0.0 2 raster band version: Creates a new one band raster formed by applying a valid PostgreSQL algebraic operation on the two input raster bands and of pixeltype provided. band 1 of each raster is assumed if no band numbers are specified. The resulting raster will be aligned (scale, skew and pixel corners) on the grid defined by the first raster and have its extent defined by the "extenttype" parameter. Values for "extenttype" can be: INTERSECTION, UNION, FIRST, SECOND.

ST_MapAlgebraFct - Availability: 2.0.0 1 band version - Creates a new one band raster formed by applying a valid PostgreSQL function on the input raster band and of pixeltype prodived. Band 1 is assumed if no band is specified.

ST_MapAlgebraFct - Availability: 2.0.0 2 band version - Creates a new one band raster formed by applying a valid PostgreSQL function on the 2 input raster bands and of pixeltype prodived. Band 1 is assumed if no band is specified. Extent type defaults to INTERSECTION if not specified.

ST_MapAlgebraFctNgb - Availability: 2.0.0 1-band version: Map Algebra Nearest Neighbor using user-defined PostgreSQL function. Return a raster which values are the result of a PLPGSQL user function involving a neighborhood of values from the input raster band.

ST_Max4ma - Availability: 2.0.0 Raster processing function that calculates the maximum pixel value in a neighborhood.

ST_Mean4ma - Availability: 2.0.0 Raster processing function that calculates the mean pixel value in a neighborhood.

ST_Min4ma - Availability: 2.0.0 Raster processing function that calculates the minimum pixel value in a neighborhood.

ST_ModEdgeHeal - Availability: 2.0 Heal two edges by deleting the node connecting them, modifying the first edgeand deleting the second edge. Returns the id of the deleted node.

ST_NewEdgeHeal - Availability: 2.0 Heal two edges by deleting the node connecting them, deleting both edges,and replacing them with an edge whose direction is the same as the firstedge provided.

ST_Node - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Node a set of linestrings.

ST_NumPatches - Availability: 2.0.0 Return the number of faces on a Polyhedral Surface. Will return null for non-polyhedral geometries.

ST_OffsetCurve - Availability: 2.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.2, improved with GEOS >= 3.3 Return an offset line at a given distance and side from an input line. Useful for computing parallel lines about a center line

ST_PatchN - Availability: 2.0.0 Return the 1-based Nth geometry (face) if the geometry is a POLYHEDRALSURFACE, POLYHEDRALSURFACEM. Otherwise, return NULL.

ST_PixelAsPolygon - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the polygon geometry that bounds the pixel for a particular row and column.

ST_PixelAsPolygons - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the polygon geometry that bounds every pixel of a raster band along with the value, the X and the Y raster coordinates of each pixel.

ST_Project - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns a POINT projected from a start point using a distance in meters and bearing (azimuth) in radians.

ST_Quantile - Availability: 2.0.0 Compute quantiles for a raster or raster table coverage in the context of the sample or population. Thus, a value could be examined to be at the raster's 25%, 50%, 75% percentile.

ST_Range4ma - Availability: 2.0.0 Raster processing function that calculates the range of pixel values in a neighborhood.

ST_Reclass - Availability: 2.0.0 Creates a new raster composed of band types reclassified from original. The nband is the band to be changed. If nband is not specified assumed to be 1. All other bands are returned unchanged. Use case: convert a 16BUI band to a 8BUI and so forth for simpler rendering as viewable formats.

ST_RelateMatch - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Returns true if intersectionMattrixPattern1 implies intersectionMatrixPattern2

ST_RemEdgeModFace - Availability: 2.0 Removes an edge and, if the removed edge separated two faces,delete one of the them and modify the other to take the space of both.

ST_RemEdgeNewFace - Availability: 2.0 Removes an edge and, if the removed edge separated two faces,delete the original faces and replace them with a new face.

ST_Resample - Availability: 2.0.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+ Resample a raster using a specified resampling algorithm, new dimensions, an arbitrary grid corner and a set of raster georeferencing attributes defined or borrowed from another raster.

ST_Rescale - Availability: 2.0.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+ Resample a raster by adjusting only its scale (or pixel size). New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. Default is NearestNeighbor.

ST_Reskew - Availability: 2.0.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+ Resample a raster by adjusting only its skew (or rotation parameters). New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. Default is NearestNeighbor.

ST_SameAlignment - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns true if rasters have same skew, scale, spatial ref, and offset (pixels can be put on same grid without cutting into pixels) and false if they don't with notice detailing issue.

ST_SetBandIsNoData - Availability: 2.0.0 Sets the isnodata flag of the band to TRUE.

ST_SharedPaths - Availability: 2.0.0 requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Returns a collection containing paths shared by the two input linestrings/multilinestrings.

ST_Slope - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the slope (in degrees by default) of an elevation raster band. Useful for analyzing terrain.

ST_Snap - Availability: 2.0.0 requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Snap segments and vertices of input geometry to vertices of a reference geometry.

ST_SnapToGrid - Availability: 2.0.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+ Resample a raster by snapping it to a grid. New pixel values are computed using the NearestNeighbor (english or american spelling), Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline or Lanczos resampling algorithm. Default is NearestNeighbor.

ST_Split - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns a collection of geometries resulting by splitting a geometry.

ST_StdDev4ma - Availability: 2.0.0 Raster processing function that calculates the standard deviation of pixel values in a neighborhood.

ST_Sum4ma - Availability: 2.0.0 Raster processing function that calculates the sum of all pixel values in a neighborhood.

ST_SummaryStats - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns summarystats consisting of count, sum, mean, stddev, min, max for a given raster band of a raster or raster coverage. Band 1 is assumed is no band is specified.

ST_Transform - Availability: 2.0.0 Requires GDAL 1.6.1+ Reprojects a raster in a known spatial reference system to another known spatial reference system using specified resampling algorithm. Options are NearestNeighbor, Bilinear, Cubic, CubicSpline, Lanczos defaulting to NearestNeighbor.

ST_UnaryUnion - Availability: 2.0.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.3.0. Like ST_Union, but working at the geometry component level.

ST_Union - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns the union of a set of raster tiles into a single raster composed of 1 or more bands.

ST_ValueCount - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns a set of records containing a pixel band value and count of the number of pixels in a given band of a raster (or a raster coverage) that have a given set of values. If no band is specified defaults to band 1. By default nodata value pixels are not counted. and all other values in the pixel are output and pixel band values are rounded to the nearest integer.

TopoElementArray_Agg - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns a topoelementarray for a set of element_id, type arrays (topoelements)

TopoGeo_AddLineString - Availability: 2.0.0 Adds a linestring to an existing topology using a tolerance and possibly splitting existing edges/faces. Returns edge identifiers

TopoGeo_AddPoint - Availability: 2.0.0 Adds a point to an existing topology using a tolerance and possibly splitting an existing edge.

TopoGeo_AddPolygon - Availability: 2.0.0 Adds a polygon to an existing topology using a tolerance and possibly splitting existing edges/faces.

TopologySummary - Availability: 2.0.0 Takes a topology name and provides summary totals of types of objects in topology

Topology_Load_Tiger - Availability: 2.0.0 Loads a defined region of tiger data into a PostGIS Topology and transforming the tiger data to spatial reference of the topology and snapping to the precision tolerance of the topology.

toTopoGeom - Availability: 2.0 Converts a simple Geometry into a topo geometry

~= - Availability: 2.0.0 Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's.

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that are enhanced in PostGIS 2.0.

AddGeometryColumn - Enhanced: 2.0.0 use_typmod argument introduced. Defaults to creating typmod geometry column instead of constraint-based.

Box2D - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Box3D - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Geocode - Enhanced: 2.0.0 to support Tiger 2010 structured data and revised some logic to improve speed, accuracy of geocoding, and to offset point from centerline to side of street address is located on. The new parameter max_results useful for specifying number of best results or just returning the best result.

GeometryType - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

Populate_Geometry_Columns - Enhanced: 2.0.0 use_typmod optional argument was introduced that allows controlling if columns are created with typmodifiers or with check constraints.

ST_Intersection - Enhanced: 2.0.0 - Intersection in the raster space was introduced. In earlier pre-2.0.0 versions, only intersection performed in vector space were supported.

ST_Intersects - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support raster/raster intersects was introduced.

ST_Value - Enhanced: 2.0.0 exclude_nodata_value optional argument was added.

ST_3DExtent - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_Accum - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_Affine - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_Area - Enhanced: 2.0.0 - support for 2D polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

ST_AsBinary - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_AsBinary - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for higher coordinate dimensions was introduced.

ST_AsBinary - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for specifying endian with geography was introduced.

ST_AsEWKB - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_AsEWKT - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Geography, Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_AsGML - Enhanced: 2.0.0 prefix support was introduced. Option 4 for GML3 was introduced to allow using LineString instead of Curve tag for lines. GML3 Support for Polyhedral surfaces and TINS was introduced. Option 32 was introduced to output the box.

ST_AsKML - Enhanced: 2.0.0 - Add prefix namespace. Default is no prefix

ST_Azimuth - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for geography was introduced.

ST_ChangeEdgeGeom - Enhanced: 2.0.0 adds topological consistency enforcement

ST_Dimension - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TINs was introduced. No longer throws an exception if given empty geometry.

ST_Dump - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_DumpPoints - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_Expand - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_Extent - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_Force2D - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

ST_ForceRHR - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

ST_Force3D - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

ST_Force3DZ - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

ST_ForceCollection - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

ST_GMLToSQL - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TIN was introduced.

ST_GMLToSQL - Enhanced: 2.0.0 default srid optional parameter added.

ST_GeomFromEWKB - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TIN was introduced.

ST_GeomFromEWKT - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TIN was introduced.

ST_GeomFromGML - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TIN was introduced.

ST_GeomFromGML - Enhanced: 2.0.0 default srid optional parameter added.

ST_GeometryN - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_GeometryType - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

ST_IsClosed - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

ST_MakeEnvelope - Enhanced: 2.0: Ability to specify an envelope without specifying an SRID was introduced.

ST_MakeValid - Enhanced: 2.0.1, speed improvements requires GEOS-3.3.4

ST_NPoints - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

ST_NumGeometries - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_Relate - Enhanced: 2.0.0 - added support for specifying boundary node rule (requires GEOS >= 3.0).

ST_Rotate - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_Rotate - Enhanced: 2.0.0 additional parameters for specifying the origin of rotation were added.

ST_RotateX - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_RotateY - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_RotateZ - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_Scale - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces, Triangles and TIN was introduced.

ST_ShiftLongitude - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces and TIN was introduced.

ST_Summary - Enhanced: 2.0.0 added support for geography

ST_Transform - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

ValidateTopology - Enhanced: 2.0.0 more efficient edge crossing detection and fixes for false positives that were existent in prior versions.

&& - Enhanced: 2.0.0 support for Polyhedral surfaces was introduced.

PostGIS Functions changed behavior in 2.0

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that have changed behavior in PostGIS 2.0 and may require application changes.

Note

Most deprecated functions have been removed. These are functions that haven't been documented since 1.2 or some internal functions that were never documented. If you are using a function that you don't see documented, it's probably deprecated, about to be deprecated, or internal and should be avoided. If you have applications or tools that rely on deprecated functions, please refer to Q: 3.3 for more details.

Note

Bounding boxes of geometries have been changed from float4 to double precision (float8). This has an impact on answers you get using bounding box operators and casting of bounding boxes to geometries. E.g ST_SetSRID(abbox) will often return a different more accurate answer in PostGIS 2.0+ than it did in prior versions which may very well slightly change answers to view port queries.

Note

The arguments hasnodata was replaced with exclude_nodata_value which has the same meaning as the older hasnodata but clearer in purpose.

AddGeometryColumn - Changed: 2.0.0 This function no longer updates geometry_columns since geometry_columns is a view that reads from system catalogs. It by default also does not create constraints, but instead uses the built in type modifier behavior of PostgreSQL. So for example building a wgs84 POINT column with this function is now equivalent to: ALTER TABLE some_table ADD COLUMN geom geometry(Point,4326);

AddGeometryColumn - Changed: 2.0.0 If you require the old behavior of constraints use the default use_typmod, but set it to false.

AddGeometryColumn - Changed: 2.0.0 Views can no longer be manually registered in geometry_columns, however views built against geometry typmod tables geometries and used without wrapper functions will register themselves correctly because they inherit the typmod behavior of their parent table column. Views that use geometry functions that output other geometries will need to be cast to typmod geometries for these view geometry columns to be registered correctly in geometry_columns. Refer to .

DropGeometryColumn - Changed: 2.0.0 This function is provided for backward compatibility. Now that since geometry_columns is now a view against the system catalogs, you can drop a geometry column like any other table column using ALTER TABLE

DropGeometryTable - Changed: 2.0.0 This function is provided for backward compatibility. Now that since geometry_columns is now a view against the system catalogs, you can drop a table with geometry columns like any other table using DROP TABLE

Populate_Geometry_Columns - Changed: 2.0.0 By default, now uses type modifiers instead of check constraints to constrain geometry types. You can still use check constraint behavior instead by using the new use_typmod and setting it to false.

Box3D - Changed: 2.0.0 In pre-2.0 versions, there used to be a box2d instead of box3d. Since box2d is a deprecated type, this was changed to box3d.

ST_GDALDrivers - Changed: 2.0.6, 2.1.3 - by default no drivers are enabled, unless GUC or Environment variable gdal_enabled_drivers is set.

ST_ScaleX - Changed: 2.0.0. In WKTRaster versions this was called ST_PixelSizeX.

ST_ScaleY - Changed: 2.0.0. In WKTRaster versions this was called ST_PixelSizeY.

ST_SetScale - Changed: 2.0.0 In WKTRaster versions this was called ST_SetPixelSize. This was changed in 2.0.0.

ST_3DExtent - Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Extent3D

ST_3DLength - Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Length3D

ST_3DMakeBox - Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_MakeBox3D

ST_3DPerimeter - Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions this used to be called ST_Perimeter3D

ST_AsBinary - Changed: 2.0.0 Inputs to this function can not be unknown -- must be geometry. Constructs such as ST_AsBinary('POINT(1 2)') are no longer valid and you will get an n st_asbinary(unknown) is not unique error. Code like that needs to be changed to ST_AsBinary('POINT(1 2)'::geometry);. If that is not possible, then install legacy.sql.

ST_AsGML - Changed: 2.0.0 use default named args

ST_AsGeoJSON - Changed: 2.0.0 support default args and named args.

ST_AsKML - Changed: 2.0.0 - uses default args and supports named args

ST_AsSVG - Changed: 2.0.0 to use default args and support named args

ST_EndPoint - Changed: 2.0.0 no longer works with single geometry multilinestrings. In older versions of PostGIS -- a single line multilinestring would work happily with this function and return the start point. In 2.0.0 it just returns NULL like any other multilinestring. The older behavior was an undocumented feature, but people who assumed they had their data stored as LINESTRING may experience these returning NULL in 2.0 now.

ST_GeomFromText - Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions of PostGIS ST_GeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(EMPTY)') was allowed. This is now illegal in PostGIS 2.0.0 to better conform with SQL/MM standards. This should now be written as ST_GeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION EMPTY')

ST_GeometryN - Changed: 2.0.0 Prior versions would return NULL for singular geometries. This was changed to return the geometry for ST_GeometryN(..,1) case.

ST_IsEmpty - Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions of PostGIS ST_GeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(EMPTY)') was allowed. This is now illegal in PostGIS 2.0.0 to better conform with SQL/MM standards

ST_Length - Changed: 2.0.0 Breaking change -- in prior versions applying this to a MULTI/POLYGON of type geography would give you the perimeter of the POLYGON/MULTIPOLYGON. In 2.0.0 this was changed to return 0 to be in line with geometry behavior. Please use ST_Perimeter if you want the perimeter of a polygon

ST_LocateAlong - Changed: 2.0.0 in prior versions this used to be called ST_Locate_Along_Measure. The old name has been deprecated and will be removed in the future but is still available.

ST_LocateBetween - Changed: 2.0.0 - in prior versions this used to be called ST_Locate_Between_Measures. The old name has been deprecated and will be removed in the future but is still available for backward compatibility.

ST_ModEdgeSplit - Changed: 2.0 - In prior versions, this was misnamed ST_ModEdgesSplit

ST_NumGeometries - Changed: 2.0.0 In prior versions this would return NULL if the geometry was not a collection/MULTI type. 2.0.0+ now returns 1 for single geometries e.g POLYGON, LINESTRING, POINT.

ST_NumInteriorRings - Changed: 2.0.0 - in prior versions it would return the number of interior rings for the first POLYGON in a MULTIPOLYGON.

ST_PointN - Changed: 2.0.0 no longer works with single geometry multilinestrings. In older versions of PostGIS -- a single line multilinestring would work happily with this function and return the start point. In 2.0.0 it just returns NULL like any other multilinestring.

ST_StartPoint - Changed: 2.0.0 no longer works with single geometry multilinestrings. In older versions of PostGIS -- a single line multilinestring would work happily with this function and return the start point. In 2.0.0 it just returns NULL like any other multilinestring. The older behavior was an undocumented feature, but people who assumed they had their data stored as LINESTRING may experience these returning NULL in 2.0 now.

PostGIS Functions new, behavior changed, or enhanced in 1.5

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that were introduced or enhanced in this minor release.

PostGIS_LibXML_Version - Availability: 1.5 Returns the version number of the libxml2 library.

ST_AddMeasure - Availability: 1.5.0 Return a derived geometry with measure elements linearly interpolated between the start and end points.

ST_AsBinary - Availability: 1.5.0 geography support was introduced. Return the Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID meta data.

ST_AsGML - Availability: 1.5.0 geography support was introduced. Return the geometry as a GML version 2 or 3 element.

ST_AsGeoJSON - Availability: 1.5.0 geography support was introduced. Return the geometry as a GeoJSON element.

ST_AsText - Availability: 1.5 - support for geography was introduced. Return the Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of the geometry/geography without SRID metadata.

ST_Buffer - Availability: 1.5 - ST_Buffer was enhanced to support different endcaps and join types. These are useful for example to convert road linestrings into polygon roads with flat or square edges instead of rounded edges. Thin wrapper for geography was added. - requires GEOS >= 3.2 to take advantage of advanced geometry functionality. (T)Returns a geometry covering all points within a given distancefrom the input geometry.

ST_ClosestPoint - Availability: 1.5.0 Returns the 2-dimensional point on g1 that is closest to g2. This is the first point of the shortest line.

ST_CollectionExtract - Availability: 1.5.0 Given a (multi)geometry, returns a (multi)geometry consisting only of elements of the specified type.

ST_Covers - Availability: 1.5 - support for geography was introduced. Returns 1 (TRUE) if no point in Geometry B is outside Geometry A

ST_DFullyWithin - Availability: 1.5.0 Returns true if all of the geometries are within the specified distance of one another

ST_DWithin - Availability: 1.5.0 support for geography was introduced Returns true if the geometries are within the specified distance of one another. For geometry units are in those of spatial reference and For geography units are in meters and measurement is defaulted to use_spheroid=true (measure around spheroid), for faster check, use_spheroid=false to measure along sphere.

ST_Distance - Availability: 1.5.0 geography support was introduced in 1.5. Speed improvements for planar to better handle large or many vertex geometries For geometry type Returns the 2D Cartesian distance between two geometries in projected units (based on spatial ref). For geography type defaults to return minimum geodesic distance between two geographies in meters.

ST_DistanceSphere - Availability: 1.5 - support for other geometry types besides points was introduced. Prior versions only work with points. Returns minimum distance in meters between two lon/lat geometries. Uses a spherical earth and radius derived from the spheroid defined by the SRID. Faster than ST_DistanceSpheroid , but less accurate. PostGIS versions prior to 1.5 only implemented for points.

ST_DistanceSpheroid - Availability: 1.5 - support for other geometry types besides points was introduced. Prior versions only work with points. Returns the minimum distance between two lon/lat geometries given a particular spheroid. PostGIS versions prior to 1.5 only support points.

ST_DumpPoints - Availability: 1.5.0 Returns a set of geometry_dump (geom,path) rows of all points that make up a geometry.

ST_Envelope - Availability: 1.5.0 behavior changed to output double precision instead of float4 Returns a geometry representing the double precision (float8) bounding box of the supplied geometry.

ST_GMLToSQL - Availability: 1.5, requires libxml2 1.6+ Return a specified ST_Geometry value from GML representation. This is an alias name for ST_GeomFromGML

ST_GeomFromGML - Availability: 1.5, requires libxml2 1.6+ Takes as input GML representation of geometry and outputs a PostGIS geometry object

ST_GeomFromKML - Availability: 1.5,libxml2 2.6+ Takes as input KML representation of geometry and outputs a PostGIS geometry object

~= - Availability: 1.5.0 changed behavior Returns TRUE if A's bounding box is the same as B's.

ST_HausdorffDistance - Availability: 1.5.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.2.0 Returns the Hausdorff distance between two geometries. Basically a measure of how similar or dissimilar 2 geometries are. Units are in the units of the spatial reference system of the geometries.

ST_Intersection - Availability: 1.5 support for geography data type was introduced. (T)Returns a geometry that represents the shared portion of geomA and geomB.

ST_Intersects - Availability: 1.5 support for geography was introduced. Returns TRUE if the Geometries/Geography "spatially intersect in 2D" - (share any portion of space) and FALSE if they don't (they are Disjoint). For geography -- tolerance is 0.00001 meters (so any points that close are considered to intersect)

ST_Length - Availability: 1.5.0 geography support was introduced in 1.5. Returns the 2D length of the geometry if it is a LineString or MultiLineString. geometry are in units of spatial reference and geography are in meters (default spheroid)

ST_LongestLine - Availability: 1.5.0 Returns the 2-dimensional longest line points of two geometries. The function will only return the first longest line if more than one, that the function finds. The line returned will always start in g1 and end in g2. The length of the line this function returns will always be the same as st_maxdistance returns for g1 and g2.

ST_MakeEnvelope - Availability: 1.5 Creates a rectangular Polygon formed from the given minimums and maximums. Input values must be in SRS specified by the SRID.

ST_MaxDistance - Availability: 1.5.0 Returns the 2-dimensional largest distance between two geometries in projected units.

ST_ShortestLine - Availability: 1.5.0 Returns the 2-dimensional shortest line between two geometries

&& - Availability: 1.5.0 support for geography was introduced. Returns TRUE if A's 2D bounding box intersects B's 2D bounding box.

PostGIS Functions new, behavior changed, or enhanced in 1.4

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that were introduced or enhanced in the 1.4 release.

Populate_Geometry_Columns - Ensures geometry columns are defined with type modifiers or have appropriate spatial constraints This ensures they will be registered correctly in geometry_columns view. By default will convert all geometry columns with no type modifier to ones with type modifiers. To get old behavior set use_typmod=false Availability: 1.4.0

ST_AsSVG - Returns a Geometry in SVG path data given a geometry or geography object. Availability: 1.2.2. Availability: 1.4.0 Changed in PostGIS 1.4.0 to include L command in absolute path to conform to http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/paths.html#PathDataBNF

ST_Collect - Return a specified ST_Geometry value from a collection of other geometries. Availability: 1.4.0 - ST_Collect(geomarray) was introduced. ST_Collect was enhanced to handle more geometries faster.

ST_ContainsProperly - Returns true if B intersects the interior of A but not the boundary (or exterior). A does not contain properly itself, but does contain itself. Availability: 1.4.0 - requires GEOS >= 3.1.0.

ST_Extent - an aggregate function that returns the bounding box that bounds rows of geometries. Availability: 1.4.0

ST_GeoHash - Return a GeoHash representation of the geometry. Availability: 1.4.0

ST_IsValidReason - Returns text stating if a geometry is valid or not and if not valid, a reason why. Availability: 1.4 - requires GEOS >= 3.1.0.

ST_LineCrossingDirection - Given 2 linestrings, returns a number between -3 and 3 denoting what kind of crossing behavior. 0 is no crossing. Availability: 1.4

ST_LocateBetweenElevations - Return a derived geometry (collection) value with elements that intersect the specified range of elevations inclusively. Only 3D, 4D LINESTRINGS and MULTILINESTRINGS are supported. Availability: 1.4.0

ST_MakeLine - Creates a Linestring from point or line geometries. Availability: 1.4.0 - ST_MakeLine(geomarray) was introduced. ST_MakeLine aggregate functions was enhanced to handle more points faster.

ST_MinimumBoundingCircle - Returns the smallest circle polygon that can fully contain a geometry. Default uses 48 segments per quarter circle. Availability: 1.4.0 - requires GEOS

ST_Union - Returns a geometry that represents the point set union of the Geometries. Availability: 1.4.0 - ST_Union was enhanced. ST_Union(geomarray) was introduced and also faster aggregate collection in PostgreSQL. If you are using GEOS 3.1.0+ ST_Union will use the faster Cascaded Union algorithm described in http://blog.cleverelephant.ca/2009/01/must-faster-unions-in-postgis-14.html

PostGIS Functions new in 1.3

The functions given below are PostGIS functions that were introduced in the 1.3 release.

ST_AsGML - Return the geometry as a GML version 2 or 3 element. Availability: 1.3.2

ST_AsGeoJSON - Return the geometry as a GeoJSON element. Availability: 1.3.4

ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology - Returns a "simplified" version of the given geometry using the Douglas-Peucker algorithm. Will avoid creating derived geometries (polygons in particular) that are invalid. Availability: 1.3.3

Chapter 15. Reporting Problems

Reporting Software Bugs

Reporting bugs effectively is a fundamental way to help PostGIS development. The most effective bug report is that enabling PostGIS developers to reproduce it, so it would ideally contain a script triggering it and every information regarding the environment in which it was detected. Good enough info can be extracted running SELECT postgis_full_version() [for postgis] and SELECT version() [for postgresql].

If you aren't using the latest release, it's worth taking a look at its release changelog first, to find out if your bug has already been fixed.

Using the PostGIS bug tracker will ensure your reports are not discarded, and will keep you informed on its handling process. Before reporting a new bug please query the database to see if it is a known one, and if it is please add any new information you have about it.

You might want to read Simon Tatham's paper about How to Report Bugs Effectively before filing a new report.

Reporting Documentation Issues

The documentation should accurately reflect the features and behavior of the software. If it doesn't, it could be because of a software bug or because the documentation is in error or deficient.

Documentation issues can also be reported to the PostGIS bug tracker.

If your revision is trivial, just describe it in a new bug tracker issue, being specific about its location in the documentation.

If your changes are more extensive, a Subversion patch is definitely preferred. This is a four step process on Unix (assuming you already have Subversion installed):

Check out a copy of PostGIS' Subversion trunk. On Unix, type:

svn checkout http://svn.osgeo.org/postgis/trunk/

This will be stored in the directory ./trunk

Make your changes to the documentation with your favorite text editor. On Unix, type (for example):

vim trunk/doc/postgis.xml

Note that the documentation is written in DocBook XML rather than HTML, so if you are not familiar with it please follow the example of the rest of the documentation.

Make a patch file containing the differences from the master copy of the documentation. On Unix, type:

svn diff trunk/doc/postgis.xml > doc.patch

Attach the patch to a new issue in bug tracker.

Appendix A. Appendix

Release Notes

Release 2.2.8

Release date: 2018/11/22

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

Bug Fixes and Enhancements

#2985, Avoid array overflow in ANALYZE (Paul Ramsey)

#4160, Use qualified names in topology extension install (Raúl Marín)

#4189, Fix undefined behaviour in SADFWrite (Raúl Marín)

#4191, Fix undefined behaviour in ptarray_clone_deep (Raúl Marín)

#4020, Fix leftovers in topology upgrade from 2.1 (Sandro Santilli)

#4203, Fix build with GNU Make 4.1 (Sandro Santilli)

#4206, Replace getrelid with rt_fetch (getrelid has been deprecated since PostgreSQL 9.1) (Laurenz Albe)

#3457, Fix raster envelope shortcut in ST_Clip (Sai-bot)

#4326, Allocate enough memory in gidx_to_string (Raúl Marín)

#4249, Fix undefined behaviour in raster intersection (Raúl Marín)

Release 2.2.7

Release date: 2018/04/06

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

Bug Fixes and Enhancements

#3055, [raster] ST_Clip() on a raster without band crashes the server (Regina Obe)

#3965, ST_ClusterKMeans used to lose some clusters on initialization (Darafei Praliaskouski)

#3978, Fix KNN when upgrading from 2.1 or older (Sandro Santilli)

#4017, lwgeom lexer memory corruption (Peter E)

#4055, ST_ClusterIntersecting dropping SRID (Daniel Baston)

Release 2.2.6

Release date: 2017/10/18

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

Bug Fixes and Enhancements

#3786, ptarray null and heap issues on is_closed

#3774, Trigonometric length for CompoundCurves

#3731, Crash on very small table of homogenous data

#2836, Receiving ERROR: ExteriorRing: geom is not a polygon with ST_ConcaveHull

#3866, Rare crash generating TWKB with large coordinate values

#3869, Fix build with "gold" linker

#3879, Division by zero in some arc cases

#3878, Single defn of signum in header

#3880, Undefined behaviour in TYPMOD_GET_SRID

#3875, Fix undefined behaviour in shift operation

#3874, lw_dist2d_pt_arc division by zero

#3882, undefined behaviour in zigzag with negative inputs

#3891, undefined behaviour in pointarray_to_encoded_polyline

#3895, throw error on malformed WKB input

#3907, Allocate enough space for all possible GBOX string outputs (Raúl Marín Rodríguez)

Release 2.2.5

Release date: 2017/01/30

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

Bug Fixes and Enhancements

3418, KNN recheck in 9.5+ fails with index returned tuples in wrong order

3680, PostGIS upgrade scripts missing GRANT for views

Release 2.2.4

Release date: 2016/11/26

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

Bug Fixes and Enhancements

1973, st_concavehull() returns sometimes empty geometry collection Fix from gde

3656, Fix upgrade of aggregates from 2.2 or lower version

3501, add raster constraint max extent exceeds array size limit for large tables, change to use ST_Extent

3659, Crash caused by raster GUC define after CREATE EXTENSION using wrong memory context. (manaeem)

Release 2.2.3

Release date: 2016/10/06

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

Bug Fixes and Enhancements

3615, Fix schema support in RT_CreateOveriew (Cait Smith)

3628, Fix lack of support for capitalized-Y in SwapOrdinates

3524, Add interruptibility to geography brute-force distance calculation

3522, Handle POINT and MULTIPOINT correctly in ST_Subdivide

3565, ST_SetPoint can crash backend

3571, Install desktop file and application icons for shp2pgsql-gui (Sebastiaan Couwenberg)

3573, Operator <<->> incorrectly calculates m distance

3579, Crash in LWGEOM2GEOS

3515, tiger_data not being backed up

3569, Incorrect coordinates returned by ST_CollectionHomogenize (Dan Baston)

3602, perl as found by configure is not used in tiger extension, postgis_sfcgal, address_standardizer

3604, pgcommon/Makefile.in orders CFLAGS leads to installed liblwgeom.h (Greg Troxel)

3607, Fix inconsistency with multilinestring in ST_LocateBetweenElevations (Artur Zakirov)

3608, Fix crash passing -W UTF-8 to shp2pgsql (Matt Amos)

3624, [raster] load_outdb related tests fail for 2.2.2 & 2.3.0-beta1 on Debian unstable perl @INC fix (Sebastiaan Couwenberg)

3627, Encoded polyline functions ignore precision parameter (Christian Quest / Dan Baston)

3501, use ST_Union instead of ST_Collect to compute raster max extent constraint

3640, Interpolate_from_address sometimes results in "" invalid for numeric

3641, Tiger normalize, pagc_normalize integer out of range

3644, Deadlock on interrupt

3542, Crash on Geometry(MultiCurve())

Numerous documentation corrections from ruvyn

Release 2.2.2

Release date: 2016/03/22

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

Bug Fixes and Enhancments

#3463, Fix crash on face-collapsing edge change

#3422, Improve ST_Split robustness on standard precision double systems (arm64, ppc64el, s390c, powerpc, ...)

#3427, Update spatial_ref_sys to EPSG version 8.8

#3433, ST_ClusterIntersecting incorrect for MultiPoints

#3435, ST_AsX3D fix rendering of concave geometries

#3436, memory handling mistake in ptarray_clone_deep

#3437, ST_Intersects incorrect for MultiPoints

#3461, ST_GeomFromKML crashes Postgres when there are innerBoundaryIs and no outerBoundaryIs

#3429, upgrading to 2.3 or from 2.1 can cause loop/hang on some platforms

#3460, ST_ClusterWithin 'Tolerance not defined' error after upgrade

#3490, Raster data restore issues, materialized views. Scripts postgis_proc_set_search_path.sql, rtpostgis_proc_set_search_path.sql refer to http://postgis.net/docs/manual-2.2/RT_FAQ.html#faq_raster_data_not_restore

#3426, failing POINT EMPTY tests on fun architectures

Release 2.2.1

Release date: 2016/01/06

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

New Features

#2232, avoid accumulated error in SVG rounding

#3321, Fix performance regression in topology loading

#3329, Fix robustness regression in TopoGeo_addPoint

#3349, Fix installation path of postgis_topology scripts

#3351, set endnodes isolation on ST_RemoveIsoEdge (and lwt_RemIsoEdge)

#3355, geography ST_Segmentize has geometry bbox

#3359, Fix toTopoGeom loss of low-id primitives from TopoGeometry definition

#3360, _raster_constraint_info_scale invalid input syntax

#3375, crash in repeated point removal for collection(point)

#3378, Fix handling of hierarchical TopoGeometries in presence of multiple topologies

#3380, #3402, Decimate lines on topology load

#3388, #3410, Fix missing end-points in ST_Removepoints

#3389, Buffer overflow in lwgeom_to_geojson

#3390, Compilation under Alpine Linux 3.2 gives an error when compiling the postgis and postgis_topology extension

#3393, ST_Area NaN for some polygons

#3401, Improve ST_Split robustness on 32bit systems

#3404, ST_ClusterWithin crashes backend

#3407, Fix crash on splitting a face or an edge defining multiple TopoGeometry objects

#3411, Clustering functions not using spatial index

#3412, Improve robustness of snapping step in TopoGeo_addLinestring

#3415, Fix OSX 10.9 build under pkgsrc

Fix memory leak in lwt_ChangeEdgeGeom [liblwgeom]

Release 2.2.0

Release date: 2015/10/07

This is a new feature release, with new functions, improved performance, and other goodies.

New Features

Topology API in liblwgeom (Sandro Santilli / Regione Toscana - SITA)

New lwgeom_unaryunion method in liblwgeom

New lwgeom_linemerge method in liblwgeom

New lwgeom_is_simple method in liblwgeom

#3169, Add SFCGAL 1.1 support: add ST_3DDifference, ST_3DUnion, ST_Volume, ST_MakeSolid, ST_IsSolid (Vincent Mora / Oslandia)

#3169, ST_ApproximateMedialAxis (Sandro Santilli)

ST_CPAWithin (Sandro Santilli / Boundless)

Add |=| operator with CPA semantic and KNN support with PgSQL 9.5+ (Sandro Santilli / Boundless)

#3131, KNN support for the geography type (Paul Ramsey / CartoDB)

#3023, ST_ClusterIntersecting / ST_ClusterWithin (Dan Baston)

#2703, Exact KNN results for all geometry types, aka "KNN re-check" (Paul Ramsey / CartoDB)

#1137, Allow a tolerance value in ST_RemoveRepeatedPoints (Paul Ramsey / CartoDB)

#3062, Allow passing M factor to ST_Scale (Sandro Santilli / Boundless)

#3139, ST_BoundingDiagonal (Sandro Santilli / Boundless)

#3129, ST_IsValidTrajectory (Sandro Santilli / Boundless)

#3128, ST_ClosestPointOfApproach (Sandro Santilli / Boundless)

#3152, ST_DistanceCPA (Sandro Santilli / Boundless)

Canonical output for index key types

ST_SwapOrdinates (Sandro Santilli / Boundless)

#2918, Use GeographicLib functions for geodetics (Mike Toews)

#3074, ST_Subdivide to break up large geometry (Paul Ramsey / CartoDB)

#3040, KNN GiST index based centroid (<<->>) n-D distance operators (Sandro Santilli / Boundless)

Interruptibility API for liblwgeom (Sandro Santilli / CartoDB)

#2939, ST_ClipByBox2D (Sandro Santilli / CartoDB)

#2247, ST_Retile and ST_CreateOverview: in-db raster overviews creation (Sandro Santilli / Vizzuality)

#899, -m shp2pgsql attribute names mapping -m switch (Regina Obe / Sandro Santilli)

#1678, Added GUC postgis.gdal_datapath to specify GDAL config variable GDAL_DATA

#2843, Support reprojection on raster import (Sandro Santilli / Vizzuality)

#2349, Support for encoded_polyline input/output (Kashif Rasul)

#2159, report libjson version from postgis_full_version()

#2770, ST_MemSize(raster)

Add postgis_noop(raster)

Added missing variants of ST_TPI(), ST_TRI() and ST_Roughness()

Added GUC postgis.gdal_enabled_drivers to specify GDAL config variable GDAL_SKIP

Added GUC postgis.enable_outdb_rasters to enable access to rasters with out-db bands

#2387, address_standardizer extension as part of PostGIS (Stephen Woodbridge / imaptools.com, Walter Sinclair, Regina Obe)

#2816, address_standardizer_data_us extension provides reference lex,gaz,rules for address_standardizer (Stephen Woodbridge / imaptools.com, Walter Sinclair, Regina Obe)

#2341, New mask parameter for ST_MapAlgebra

#2397, read encoding info automatically in shapefile loader

#2430, ST_ForceCurve

#2565, ST_SummaryStatsAgg()

#2567, ST_CountAgg()

#2632, ST_AsGML() support for curved features

#2652, Add --upgrade-path switch to run_test.pl

#2754, sfcgal wrapped as an extension

#2227, Simplification with Visvalingam-Whyatt algorithm ST_SimplifyVW, ST_SetEffectiveArea (Nicklas Avén)

Functions to encode and decode TWKB ST_AsTWKB, ST_GeomFromTWKB (Paul Ramsey / Nicklas Avén / CartoDB)

Enhancements

#3223, Add memcmp short-circuit to ST_Equals (Daniel Baston)

#3227, Tiger geocoder upgraded to support Tiger 2015 census

#2278, Make liblwgeom compatible between minor releases

#897, ST_AsX3D support for GeoCoordinates and systems "GD" "WE" ability to flip x/y axis (use option = 2, 3)

ST_Split: allow splitting lines by multilines, multipoints and (multi)polygon boundaries

#3070, Simplify geometry type constraint

#2839, Implement selectivity estimator for functional indexes, speeding up spatial queries on raster tables. (Sandro Santilli / Vizzuality)

#2361, Added spatial_index column to raster_columns view

#2390, Testsuite for pgsql2shp

#2527, Added -k flag to raster2pgsql to skip checking that band is NODATA

#2616, Reduce text casts during topology building and export

#2717, support startpoint, endpoint, pointn, numpoints for compoundcurve

#2747, Add support for GDAL 2.0

#2754, SFCGAL can now be installed with CREATE EXTENSION (Vincent Mora @ Oslandia)

#2828, Convert ST_Envelope(raster) from SQL to C

#2829, Shortcut ST_Clip(raster) if geometry fully contains the raster and no NODATA specified

#2906, Update tiger geocoder to handle tiger 2014 data

#3048, Speed up geometry simplification (J.Santana @ CartoDB)

#3092, Slow performance of geometry_columns with many tables

Release 2.1.8

Release date: 2015-07-07

This is a critical bug fix release.

Bug Fixes

#3159, do not force a bbox cache on ST_Affine

#3018, GROUP BY geography sometimes returns duplicate rows

#3084, shp2pgsql - illegal number format when specific system locale set

#3094, Malformed GeoJSON inputs crash backend

#3104, st_asgml introduces random characters in ID field

#3155, Remove liblwgeom.h on make uninstall

#3177, gserialized_is_empty cannot handle nested empty cases

Fix crash in ST_LineLocatePoint

Release 2.1.7

Release date: 2015-03-30

This is a critical bug fix release.

Bug Fixes

#3086, ST_DumpValues() crashes backend on cleanup with invalid band indexes

#3088, Do not (re)define strcasestr in a liblwgeom.h

#3094, Malformed GeoJSON inputs crash backend

Release 2.1.6

Release date: 2015-03-20

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

Enhancements

#3000, Ensure edge splitting and healing algorithms use indexes

#3048, Speed up geometry simplification (J.Santana @ CartoDB)

#3050, Speed up geometry type reading (J.Santana @ CartoDB)

Bug Fixes

#2941, allow geography columns with SRID other than 4326

#3069, small objects getting inappropriately fluffed up w/ boxes

#3068, Have postgis_typmod_dims return NULL for unconstrained dims

#3061, Allow duplicate points in JSON, GML, GML ST_GeomFrom* functions

#3058, Fix ND-GiST picksplit method to split on the best plane

#3052, Make operators <-> and <#> available for PostgreSQL < 9.1

#3045, Fix dimensionality confusion in &&& operator

#3016, Allow unregistering layers of corrupted topologies

#3015, Avoid exceptions from TopologySummary

#3020, ST_AddBand out-db bug where height using width value

#3031, Allow restore of Geometry(Point) tables dumped with empties in them

Release 2.1.5

Release date: 2014-12-18

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

Enhancements

#2933, Speedup construction of large multi-geometry objects

Bug Fixes

#2947, Fix memory leak in lwgeom_make_valid for single-component collection input

#2949, Fix memory leak in lwgeom_mindistance2d for curve input

#2931, BOX representation is case sensitive

#2942, PostgreSQL 9.5 support

#2953, 2D stats not generated when Z/M values are extreme

#3009, Geography cast may effect underlying tuple

Release 2.1.4

Release date: 2014-09-10

This is a bug fix and performance improvement release.

Enhancements

#2745, Speedup ST_Simplify calls against points

#2747, Support for GDAL 2.0

#2749, Make rtpostgis_upgrade_20_21.sql ACID

#2811, Do not specify index names when loading shapefiles/rasters

#2829, Shortcut ST_Clip(raster) if geometry fully contains the raster and no NODATA specified

#2895, Raise cost of ST_ConvexHull(raster) to 300 for better query plans

Bug Fixes

#2605, armel: _ST_Covers() returns true for point in hole

#2911, Fix output scale on ST_Rescale/ST_Resample/ST_Resize of rasters with scale 1/-1 and offset 0/0.

Fix crash in ST_Union(raster)

#2704, ST_GeomFromGML() does not work properly with array of gml:pos (Even Roualt)

#2708, updategeometrysrid doesn't update srid check when schema not specified. Patch from Marc Jansen

#2720, lwpoly_add_ring should update maxrings after realloc

#2759, Fix postgis_restore.pl handling of multiline object comments embedding sql comments

#2774, fix undefined behavior in ptarray_calculate_gbox_geodetic

Fix potential memory fault in ST_MakeValid

#2784, Fix handling of bogus argument to --with-sfcgal

#2772, Premature memory free in RASTER_getBandPath (ST_BandPath)

#2755, Fix regressions tests against all versions of SFCGAL

#2775, lwline_from_lwmpoint leaks memory

#2802, ST_MapAlgebra checks for valid callback function return value

#2803, ST_MapAlgebra handles no userarg and STRICT callback function

#2834, ST_Estimated_Extent and mixedCase table names (regression bug)

#2845, Bad geometry created from ST_AddPoint

#2870, Binary insert into geography column results geometry being inserted

#2872, make install builds documentation (Greg Troxell)

#2819, find isfinite or replacement on Centos5 / Solaris

#2899, geocode limit 1 not returning best answer (tiger geocoder)

#2903, Unable to compile on FreeBSD

#2927 reverse_geocode not filling in direction prefix (tiger geocoder) get rid of deprecated ST_Line_Locate_Point called

Release 2.1.3

Release date: 2014/05/13

This is a bug fix and security release.

Important changes

Starting with this version offline raster access and use of GDAL drivers are disabled by default.

An environment variable is introduced to allow for enabling specific GDAL drivers: POSTGIS_GDAL_ENABLED_DRIVERS. By default, all GDAL drivers are disabled

An environment variable is introduced to allow for enabling out-db raster bands: POSTGIS_ENABLE_OUTDB_RASTERS. By default, out-db raster bands are disabled

The environment variables must be set for the PostgreSQL process, and determines the behavior of the whole cluster.

Bug Fixes

#2697, invalid GeoJSON Polygon input crashes server process

#2700, Fix dumping of higher-dimension datasets with null rows

#2706, ST_DumpPoints of EMPTY geometries crashes server

Release 2.1.2

Release date: 2014/03/31

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 2.1.1 release.

Bug Fixes

#2666, Error out at configure time if no SQL preprocessor can be found

#2534, st_distance returning incorrect results for large geographies

#2539, Check for json-c/json.h presence/usability before json/json.h

#2543, invalid join selectivity error from simple query

#2546, GeoJSON with string coordinates parses incorrectly

#2547, Fix ST_Simplify(TopoGeometry) for hierarchical topogeoms

#2552, Fix NULL raster handling in ST_AsPNG, ST_AsTIFF and ST_AsJPEG

#2555, Fix parsing issue of range arguments of ST_Reclass

#2556, geography ST_Intersects results depending on insert order

#2580, Do not allow installing postgis twice in the same database

#2589, Remove use of unnecessary void pointers

#2607, Cannot open more than 1024 out-db files in one process

#2610, Ensure face splitting algorithm uses the edge index

#2615, EstimatedExtent (and hence, underlying stats) gathering wrong bbox

#2619, Empty rings array in GeoJSON polygon causes crash

#2634, regression in sphere distance code

#2638, Geography distance on M geometries sometimes wrong

#2648, #2653, Fix topology functions when "topology" is not in search_path

#2654, Drop deprecated calls from topology

#2655, Let users without topology privileges call postgis_full_version()

#2674, Fix missing operator = and hash_raster_ops opclass on raster

#2675, #2534, #2636, #2634, #2638, Geography distance issues with tree optimization

Enhancements

#2494, avoid memcopy in GiST index (hayamiz)

#2560, soft upgrade: avoid drop/recreate of aggregates that hadn't changed

Release 2.1.1

Release date: 2013/11/06

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 2.1.0 release.

Important Changes

#2514, Change raster license from GPL v3+ to v2+, allowing distribution of PostGIS Extension as GPLv2.

Bug Fixes

#2396, Make regression tests more endian-agnostic

#2434, Fix ST_Intersection(geog,geog) regression in rare cases

#2454, Fix behavior of ST_PixelAsXXX functions regarding exclude_nodata_value parameter

#2489, Fix upgrades from 2.0 leaving stale function signatures

#2525, Fix handling of SRID in nested collections

#2449, Fix potential infinite loop in index building

#2493, Fix behavior of ST_DumpValues when passed an empty raster

#2502, Fix postgis_topology_scripts_installed() install schema

#2504, Fix segfault on bogus pgsql2shp call

#2512, Support for foreign tables and materialized views in raster_columns and raster_overviews

Enhancements

#2478, support for tiger 2013

#2463, support for exact length calculations on arc geometries

Release 2.1.0

Release date: 2013/08/17

This is a minor release addressing both bug fixes and performance and functionality enhancements addressing issues since 2.0.3 release. If you are upgrading from 2.0+, only a soft upgrade is required. If you are upgrading from 1.5 or earlier, a hard upgrade is required.

Important / Breaking Changes

#1653, Removed srid parameter from ST_Resample(raster) and variants with reference raster no longer apply reference raster's SRID.

#1962 ST_Segmentize - As a result of the introduction of geography support, The construct: SELECT ST_Segmentize('LINESTRING(1 2, 3 4)',0.5); will result in ambiguous function error

#2026, ST_Union(raster) now unions all bands of all rasters

#2089, liblwgeom: lwgeom_set_handlers replaces lwgeom_init_allocators.

#2150, regular_blocking is no longer a constraint. column of same name in raster_columns now checks for existance of spatially_unique and coverage_tile constraints

ST_Intersects(raster, geometry) behaves in the same manner as ST_Intersects(geometry, raster).

point variant of ST_SetValue(raster) previously did not check SRID of input geometry and raster.

ST_Hillshade parameters azimuth and altitude are now in degrees instead of radians.

ST_Slope and ST_Aspect return pixel values in degrees instead of radians.

#2104, ST_World2RasterCoord, ST_World2RasterCoordX and ST_World2RasterCoordY renamed to ST_WorldToRasterCoord, ST_WorldToRasterCoordX and ST_WorldToRasterCoordY. ST_Raster2WorldCoord, ST_Raster2WorldCoordX and ST_Raster2WorldCoordY renamed to ST_RasterToWorldCoord, ST_RasterToWorldCoordX and ST_RasterToWorldCoordY

ST_Estimated_Extent renamed to ST_EstimatedExtent

ST_Line_Interpolate_Point renamed to ST_LineInterpolatePoint

ST_Line_Substring renamed to ST_LineSubstring

ST_Line_Locate_Point renamed to ST_LineLocatePoint

ST_Force_XXX renamed to ST_ForceXXX

ST_MapAlgebraFctNgb and 1 and 2 raster variants of ST_MapAlgebraFct. Use ST_MapAlgebra instead

1 and 2 raster variants of ST_MapAlgebraExpr. Use expression variants of ST_MapAlgebra instead

New Features

- Refer to http://postgis.net/docs/manual-2.1/PostGIS_Special_Functions_Index.html#NewFunctions_2_1 for complete list of new functions

#310, ST_DumpPoints converted to a C function (Nathan Wagner) and much faster

#739, UpdateRasterSRID()

#945, improved join selectivity, N-D selectivity calculations, user accessible selectivity and stats reader functions for testing (Paul Ramsey / OpenGeo)

toTopoGeom with TopoGeometry sink (Sandro Santilli / Vizzuality)

clearTopoGeom (Sandro Santilli / Vizzuality)

ST_Segmentize(geography) (Paul Ramsey / OpenGeo)

ST_DelaunayTriangles (Sandro Santilli / Vizzuality)

ST_NearestValue, ST_Neighborhood (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

ST_PixelAsPoint, ST_PixelAsPoints (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

ST_PixelAsCentroid, ST_PixelAsCentroids (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

ST_Raster2WorldCoord, ST_World2RasterCoord (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

Additional raster/raster spatial relationship functions (ST_Contains, ST_ContainsProperly, ST_Covers, ST_CoveredBy, ST_Disjoint, ST_Overlaps, ST_Touches, ST_Within, ST_DWithin, ST_DFullyWithin) (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

Added array variants of ST_SetValues() to set many pixel values of a band in one call (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

#1293, ST_Resize(raster) to resize rasters based upon width/height

#1627, package tiger_geocoder as a PostgreSQL extension

#1643, #2076, Upgrade tiger geocoder to support loading tiger 2011 and 2012 (Regina Obe / Paragon Corporation) Funded by Hunter Systems Group

GEOMETRYCOLLECTION support for ST_MakeValid (Sandro Santilli / Vizzuality)

#1709, ST_NotSameAlignmentReason(raster, raster)

#1818, ST_GeomFromGeoHash and friends (Jason Smith (darkpanda))

#1856, reverse geocoder rating setting for prefer numbered highway name

ST_PixelOfValue (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

Casts to/from PostgreSQL geotypes (point/path/polygon).

Added geomval array variant of ST_SetValues() to set many pixel values of a band using a set of geometries and corresponding values in one call (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

ST_Tile(raster) to break up a raster into tiles (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

#1895, new r-tree node splitting algorithm (Alex Korotkov)

#2011, ST_DumpValues to output raster as array (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

#2018, ST_Distance support for CircularString, CurvePolygon, MultiCurve, MultiSurface, CompoundCurve

#2030, n-raster (and n-band) ST_MapAlgebra (Bborie Park / UC Davis)

#2193, Utilize PAGC parser as drop in replacement for tiger normalizer (Steve Woodbridge, Regina Obe)

#2210, ST_MinConvexHull(raster)

lwgeom_from_geojson in liblwgeom (Sandro Santilli / Vizzuality)

#1687, ST_Simplify for TopoGeometry (Sandro Santilli / Vizzuality)

#2228, TopoJSON output for TopoGeometry (Sandro Santilli / Vizzuality)

#2123, ST_FromGDALRaster

#613, ST_SetGeoReference with numerical parameters instead of text

#2276, ST_AddBand(raster) variant for out-db bands

#2280, ST_Summary(raster)

#2163, ST_TPI for raster (Nathaniel Clay)

#2164, ST_TRI for raster (Nathaniel Clay)

#2302, ST_Roughness for raster (Nathaniel Clay)

#2290, ST_ColorMap(raster) to generate RGBA bands

#2254, Add SFCGAL backend support. (Backend selection throught postgis.backend var) Functions available both throught GEOS or SFCGAL: ST_Intersects, ST_3DIntersects, ST_Intersection, ST_Area, ST_Distance, ST_3DDistance New functions available only with SFCGAL backend: ST_3DIntersection, ST_Tesselate, ST_3DArea, ST_Extrude, ST_ForceLHR ST_Orientation, ST_Minkowski, ST_StraightSkeleton postgis_sfcgal_version New function available in PostGIS: ST_ForceSFS (Olivier Courtin and Hugo Mercier / Oslandia)

Enhancements

For detail of new functions and function improvements, please refer to the section called “PostGIS Functions new or enhanced in 2.1”.

Much faster raster ST_Union, ST_Clip and many more function additions operations

For geometry/geography better planner selectivity and a lot more functions.

#823, tiger geocoder: Make loader_generate_script download portion less greedy

#826, raster2pgsql no longer defaults to padding tiles. Flag -P can be used to pad tiles

#1363, ST_AddBand(raster, ...) array version rewritten in C

#1364, ST_Union(raster, ...) aggregate function rewritten in C

#1655, Additional default values for parameters of ST_Slope

#1661, Add aggregate variant of ST_SameAlignment

#1719, Add support for Point and GeometryCollection ST_MakeValid inputs

#1780, support ST_GeoHash for geography

#1796, Big performance boost for distance calculations in geography

#1802, improved function interruptibility.

#1823, add parameter in ST_AsGML to use id column for GML 3 output (become mandatory since GML 3.2.1)

#1856, tiger geocoder: reverse geocoder rating setting for prefer numbered highway name

#1938, Refactor basic ST_AddBand to add multiple new bands in one call

#1978, wrong answer when calculating length of a closed circular arc (circle)

#1989, Preprocess input geometry to just intersection with raster to be clipped

#2021, Added multi-band support to ST_Union(raster, ...) aggregate function

#2006, better support of ST_Area(geography) over poles and dateline

#2065, ST_Clip(raster, ...) now a C function

#2069, Added parameters to ST_Tile(raster) to control padding of tiles

#2078, New variants of ST_Slope, ST_Aspect and ST_HillShade to provide solution to handling tiles in a coverage

#2097, Added RANGE uniontype option for ST_Union(raster)

#2105, Added ST_Transform(raster) variant for aligning output to reference raster

#2119, Rasters passed to ST_Resample(), ST_Rescale(), ST_Reskew(), and ST_SnapToGrid() no longer require an SRID

#2141, More verbose output when constraints fail to be added to a raster column

#2143, Changed blocksize constraint of raster to allow multiple values

#2148, Addition of coverage_tile constraint for raster

#2149, Addition of spatially_unique constraint for raster

TopologySummary output now includes unregistered layers and a count of missing TopoGeometry objects from their natural layer.

ST_HillShade(), ST_Aspect() and ST_Slope() have one new optional parameter to interpolate NODATA pixels before running the operation.

Point variant of ST_SetValue(raster) is now a wrapper around geomval variant of ST_SetValues(rast).

Proper support for raster band's isnodata flag in core API and loader.

Additional default values for parameters of ST_Aspect and ST_HillShade

#2178, ST_Summary now advertises presence of known srid with an [S] flag

#2202, Make libjson-c optional (--without-json configure switch)

#2213, Add support libjson-c 0.10+

#2231, raster2pgsql supports user naming of filename column with -n

#2200, ST_Union(raster, uniontype) unions all bands of all rasters

#2264, postgis_restore.pl support for restoring into databases with postgis in a custom schema

#2244, emit warning when changing raster's georeference if raster has out-db bands

#2222, add parameter OutAsIn to flag whether ST_AsBinary should return out-db bands as in-db bands

Fixes

#1839, handling of subdatasets in GeoTIFF in raster2pgsql.

#1840, fix logic of when to compute # of tiles in raster2pgsql.

#1870, align the docs and actual behavior of raster's ST_Intersects

#1872, fix ST_ApproxSummarystats to prevent division by zero

#1875, ST_SummaryStats returns NULL for all parameters except count when count is zero

#1932, fix raster2pgsql of syntax for index tablespaces

#1936, ST_GeomFromGML on CurvePolygon causes server crash

#1939, remove custom data types: summarystats, histogram, quantile, valuecount

#1951, remove crash on zero-length linestrings

#1957, ST_Distance to a one-point LineString returns NULL

#1976, Geography point-in-ring code overhauled for more reliability

#1981, cleanup of unused variables causing warnings with gcc 4.6+

#1996, support POINT EMPTY in GeoJSON output

#2062, improve performance of distance calculations

#2057, Fixed linking issue for raster2psql to libpq

#2077, Fixed incorrect values returning from ST_Hillshade()

#2019, ST_FlipCoordinates does not update bbox

#2100, ST_AsRaster may not return raster with specified pixel type

#2126, Better handling of empty rasters from ST_ConvexHull()

#2165, ST_NumPoints regression failure with CircularString

#2168, ST_Distance is not always commutative

#2182, Fix issue with outdb rasters with no SRID and ST_Resize

#2188, Fix function parameter value overflow that caused problems when copying data from a GDAL dataset

#2198, Fix incorrect dimensions used when generating bands of out-db rasters in ST_Tile()

#2201, ST_GeoHash wrong on boundaries

#2203, Changed how rasters with unknown SRID and default geotransform are handled when passing to GDAL Warp API

#2215, Fixed raster exclusion constraint for conflicting name of implicit index

#2251, Fix bad dimensions when rescaling rasters with default geotransform matrix

#2133, Fix performance regression in expression variant of ST_MapAlgebra

#2257, GBOX variables not initialized when testing with empty geometries

#2271, Prevent parallel make of raster

#2282, Fix call to undefined function nd_stats_to_grid() in debug mode

#2307, ST_MakeValid outputs invalid geometries

#2309, Remove confusing INFO message when trying to get SRS info

#2336, FIPS 20 (KS) causes wildcard expansion to wget all files

#2348, Provide raster upgrade path for 2.0 to 2.1

#2351, st_distance between geographies wrong

#2359, Fix handling of schema name when adding overview constraints

#2371, Support GEOS versions with more than 1 digit in micro

#2383, Remove unsafe use of \' from raster warning message

#2384, Incorrect variable datatypes for ST_Neighborhood

Known Issues

#2111, Raster bands can only reference the first 256 bands of out-db rasters

Release 2.0.5

Release date: 2014/03/31

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 2.0.4 release. If you are using PostGIS 2.0+ a soft upgrade is required. For users of PostGIS 1.5 or below, a hard upgrade is required.

Bug Fixes

#2494, avoid memcpy in GIST index

#2502, Fix postgis_topology_scripts_installed() install schema

#2504, Fix segfault on bogus pgsql2shp call

#2528, Fix memory leak in ST_Split / lwline_split_by_line

#2532, Add missing raster/geometry commutator operators

#2533, Remove duplicated signatures

#2552, Fix NULL raster handling in ST_AsPNG, ST_AsTIFF and ST_AsJPEG

#2555, Fix parsing issue of range arguments of ST_Reclass

#2589, Remove use of unnecessary void pointers

#2607, Cannot open more than 1024 out-db files in process

#2610, Ensure face splitting algorithm uses the edge index

#2619, Empty ring array in GeoJSON polygon causes crash

#2638, Geography distance on M geometries sometimes wrong

Important Changes

##2514, Change raster license from GPL v3+ to v2+, allowing distribution of PostGIS Extension as GPLv2.

Release 2.0.4

Release date: 2013/09/06

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 2.0.3 release. If you are using PostGIS 2.0+ a soft upgrade is required. For users of PostGIS 1.5 or below, a hard upgrade is required.

Bug Fixes

#2110, Equality operator between EMPTY and point on origin

Allow adding points at precision distance with TopoGeo_addPoint

#1968, Fix missing edge from toTopoGeom return

#2165, ST_NumPoints regression failure with CircularString

#2168, ST_Distance is not always commutative

#2186, gui progress bar updates too frequent

#2201, ST_GeoHash wrong on boundaries

#2257, GBOX variables not initialized when testing with empty geometries

#2271, Prevent parallel make of raster

#2267, Server crash from analyze table

#2277, potential segfault removed

#2307, ST_MakeValid outputs invalid geometries

#2351, st_distance between geographies wrong

#2359, Incorrect handling of schema for overview constraints

#2371, Support GEOS versions with more than 1 digit in micro

#2372, Cannot parse space-padded KML coordinates

Fix build with systemwide liblwgeom installed

#2383, Fix unsafe use of \' in warning message

#2410, Fix segmentize of collinear curve

#2412, ST_LineToCurve support for lines with less than 4 vertices

#2415, ST_Multi support for COMPOUNDCURVE and CURVEPOLYGON

#2420, ST_LineToCurve: require at least 8 edges to define a full circle

#2423, ST_LineToCurve: require all arc edges to form the same angle

#2424, ST_CurveToLine: add support for COMPOUNDCURVE in MULTICURVE

#2427, Make sure to retain first point of curves on ST_CurveToLine

Enhancements

#2269, Avoid uselessly detoasting full geometries on ANALYZE

Known Issues

#2111, Raster bands can only reference the first 256 bands of out-db rasters

Release 2.0.3

Release date: 2013/03/01

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 2.0.2 release. If you are using PostGIS 2.0+ a soft upgrade is required. For users of PostGIS 1.5 or below, a hard upgrade is required.

Bug Fixes

#2126, Better handling of empty rasters from ST_ConvexHull()

#2134, Make sure to process SRS before passing it off to GDAL functions

Fix various memory leaks in liblwgeom

#2173, Fix robustness issue in splitting a line with own vertex also affecting topology building (#2172)

#2174, Fix usage of wrong function lwpoly_free()

#2176, Fix robustness issue with ST_ChangeEdgeGeom

#2184, Properly copy topologies with Z value

postgis_restore.pl support for mixed case geometry column name in dumps

#2188, Fix function parameter value overflow that caused problems when copying data from a GDAL dataset

#2216, More memory errors in MultiPolygon GeoJSON parsing (with holes)

Fix Memory leak in GeoJSON parser

Enhancements

#2141, More verbose output when constraints fail to be added to a raster column

Speedup ST_ChangeEdgeGeom

Release 2.0.2

Release date: 2012/12/03

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 2.0.1 release.

Bug Fixes

#1287, Drop of "gist_geometry_ops" broke a few clients package of legacy_gist.sql for these cases

#1391, Errors during upgrade from 1.5

#1828, Poor selectivity estimate on ST_DWithin

#1838, error importing tiger/line data

#1869, ST_AsBinary is not unique added to legacy_minor/legacy.sql scripts

#1885, Missing field from tabblock table in tiger2010 census_loader.sql

#1891, Use LDFLAGS environment when building liblwgeom

#1900, Fix pgsql2shp for big-endian systems

#1932, Fix raster2pgsql for invalid syntax for setting index tablespace

#1936, ST_GeomFromGML on CurvePolygon causes server crash

#1955, ST_ModEdgeHeal and ST_NewEdgeHeal for doubly connected edges

#1957, ST_Distance to a one-point LineString returns NULL

#1976, Geography point-in-ring code overhauled for more reliability

#1978, wrong answer calculating length of closed circular arc (circle)

#1981, Remove unused but set variables as found with gcc 4.6+

#1987, Restore 1.5.x behaviour of ST_Simplify

#1989, Preprocess input geometry to just intersection with raster to be clipped

#1991, geocode really slow on PostgreSQL 9.2

#1996, support POINT EMPTY in GeoJSON output

#1998, Fix ST_{Mod,New}EdgeHeal joining edges sharing both endpoints

#2001, ST_CurveToLine has no effect if the geometry doesn't actually contain an arc

#2015, ST_IsEmpty('POLYGON(EMPTY)') returns False

#2019, ST_FlipCoordinates does not update bbox

#2025, Fix side location conflict at TopoGeo_AddLineString

#2026, improve performance of distance calculations

#2033, Fix adding a splitting point into a 2.5d topology

#2051, Fix excess of precision in ST_AsGeoJSON output

#2052, Fix buffer overflow in lwgeom_to_geojson

#2056, Fixed lack of SRID check of raster and geometry in ST_SetValue()

#2057, Fixed linking issue for raster2psql to libpq

#2060, Fix "dimension" check violation by GetTopoGeomElementArray

#2072, Removed outdated checks preventing ST_Intersects(raster) from working on out-db bands

#2077, Fixed incorrect answers from ST_Hillshade(raster)

#2092, Namespace issue with ST_GeomFromKML,ST_GeomFromGML for libxml 2.8+

#2099, Fix double free on exception in ST_OffsetCurve

#2100, ST_AsRaster() may not return raster with specified pixel type

#2108, Ensure ST_Line_Interpolate_Point always returns POINT

#2109, Ensure ST_Centroid always returns POINT

#2117, Ensure ST_PointOnSurface always returns POINT

#2129, Fix SRID in ST_Homogenize output with collection input

#2130, Fix memory error in MultiPolygon GeoJson parsing

Update URL of Maven jar

Enhancements

#1581, ST_Clip(raster, ...) no longer imposes NODATA on a band if the corresponding band from the source raster did not have NODATA

#1928, Accept array properties in GML input multi-geom input (Kashif Rasul and Shoaib Burq / SpacialDB)

#2082, Add indices on start_node and end_node of topology edge tables

#2087, Speedup topology.GetRingEdges using a recursive CTE

Release 2.0.1

Release date: 2012/06/22

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 2.0.0 release.

Bug Fixes

#1264, fix st_dwithin(geog, geog, 0).

#1468 shp2pgsql-gui table column schema get shifted

#1694, fix building with clang. (vince)

#1708, improve restore of pre-PostGIS 2.0 backups.

#1714, more robust handling of high topology tolerance.

#1755, ST_GeographyFromText support for higher dimensions.

#1759, loading transformed shapefiles in raster enabled db.

#1761, handling of subdatasets in NetCDF, HDF4 and HDF5 in raster2pgsql.

#1763, topology.toTopoGeom use with custom search_path.

#1766, don't let ST_RemEdge* destroy peripheral TopoGeometry objects.

#1774, Clearer error on setting an edge geometry to an invalid one.

#1775, ST_ChangeEdgeGeom collision detection with 2-vertex target.

#1776, fix ST_SymDifference(empty, geom) to return geom.

#1779, install SQL comment files.

#1782, fix spatial reference string handling in raster.

#1789, fix false edge-node crossing report in ValidateTopology.

#1790, fix toTopoGeom handling of duplicated primitives.

#1791, fix ST_Azimuth with very close but distinct points.

#1797, fix (ValidateTopology(xxx)).* syntax calls.

#1805, put back the 900913 SRID entry.

#1813, Only show readable relations in metadata tables.

#1819, fix floating point issues with ST_World2RasterCoord and ST_Raster2WorldCoord variants.

#1820 compilation on 9.2beta1.

#1822, topology load on PostgreSQL 9.2beta1.

#1825, fix prepared geometry cache lookup

#1829, fix uninitialized read in GeoJSON parser

#1834, revise postgis extension to only backup user specified spatial_ref_sys

#1839, handling of subdatasets in GeoTIFF in raster2pgsql.

#1840, fix logic of when to compute # of tiles in raster2pgsql.

#1851, fix spatial_ref_system parameters for EPSG:3844

#1857, fix failure to detect endpoint mismatch in ST_AddEdge*Face*

#1865, data loss in postgis_restore.pl when data rows have leading dashes.

#1867, catch invalid topology name passed to topogeo_add*

#1872, fix ST_ApproxSummarystats to prevent division by zero

#1873, fix ptarray_locate_point to return interpolated Z/M values for on-the-line case

#1875, ST_SummaryStats returns NULL for all parameters except count when count is zero

#1881, shp2pgsql-gui -- editing a field sometimes triggers removing row

#1883, Geocoder install fails trying to run create_census_base_tables() (Brian Panulla)

Enhancements

More detailed exception message from topology editing functions.

#1786, improved build dependencies

#1806, speedup of ST_BuildArea, ST_MakeValid and ST_GetFaceGeometry.

#1812, Add lwgeom_normalize in LIBLWGEOM for more stable testing.

Release 2.0.0

Release date: 2012/04/03

This is a major release. A hard upgrade is required. Yes this means a full dump reload and some special preparations if you are using obsolete functions. Refer to the section called “Hard upgrade” for details on upgrading. Refer to the section called “PostGIS Functions new, behavior changed, or enhanced in 2.0” for more details and changed/new functions.

Testers - Our unsung heroes

We are most indebted to the numerous members in the PostGIS community who were brave enough to test out the new features in this release. No major release can be successful without these folk.

Below are those who have been most valiant, provided very detailed and thorough bug reports, and detailed analysis.

Andrea Peri - Lots of testing on topology, checking for correctness

Andreas Forø Tollefsen - raster testing

Chris English - topology stress testing loader functions

Salvatore Larosa - topology robustness testing

Brian Hamlin - Benchmarking (also experimental experimental branches before they are folded into core) , general testing of various pieces including Tiger and Topology. Testing on various server VMs

Mike Pease - Tiger geocoder testing - very detailed reports of issues

Tom van Tilburg - raster testing

Important / Breaking Changes

#722, #302, Most deprecated functions removed (over 250 functions) (Regina Obe, Paul Ramsey)

Unknown SRID changed from -1 to 0. (Paul Ramsey)

-- (most deprecated in 1.2) removed non-ST variants buffer, length, intersects (and internal functions renamed) etc.

-- If you have been using deprecated functions CHANGE your apps or suffer the consequences. If you don't see a function documented -- it ain't supported or it is an internal function. Some constraints in older tables were built with deprecated functions. If you restore you may need to rebuild table constraints with populate_geometry_columns(). If you have applications or tools that rely on deprecated functions, please refer to Q: 3.3 for more details.

#944 geometry_columns is now a view instead of a table (Paul Ramsey, Regina Obe) for tables created the old way reads (srid, type, dims) constraints for geometry columns created with type modifiers reads rom column definition

#1081, #1082, #1084, #1088 - Mangement functions support typmod geometry column creation functions now default to typmod creation (Regina Obe)

#1083 probe_geometry_columns(), rename_geometry_table_constraints(), fix_geometry_columns(); removed - now obsolete with geometry_column view (Regina Obe)

#817 Renaming old 3D functions to the convention ST_3D (Nicklas Avén)

#548 (sorta), ST_NumGeometries,ST_GeometryN now returns 1 (or the geometry) instead of null for single geometries (Sandro Santilli, Maxime van Noppen)

New Features

KNN Gist index based centroid (<->) and box (<#>) distance operators (Paul Ramsey / funded by Vizzuality)

Support for TIN and PolyHedralSurface and enhancement of many functions to support 3D (Olivier Courtin / Oslandia)

Raster support integrated and documented (Pierre Racine, Jorge Arévalo, Mateusz Loskot, Sandro Santilli, David Zwarg, Regina Obe, Bborie Park) (Company developer and funding: University Laval, Deimos Space, CadCorp, Michigan Tech Research Institute, Azavea, Paragon Corporation, UC Davis Center for Vectorborne Diseases)

Making spatial indexes 3D aware - in progress (Paul Ramsey, Mark Cave-Ayland)

Topology support improved (more functions), documented, testing (Sandro Santilli / Faunalia for RT-SIGTA), Andrea Peri, Regina Obe, Jose Carlos Martinez Llari

3D relationship and measurement support functions (Nicklas Avén)

ST_3DDistance, ST_3DClosestPoint, ST_3DIntersects, ST_3DShortestLine and more...

N-Dimensional spatial indexes (Paul Ramsey / OpenGeo)

ST_Split (Sandro Santilli / Faunalia for RT-SIGTA)

ST_IsValidDetail (Sandro Santilli / Faunalia for RT-SIGTA)

ST_MakeValid (Sandro Santilli / Faunalia for RT-SIGTA)

ST_RemoveRepeatedPoints (Sandro Santilli / Faunalia for RT-SIGTA)

ST_GeometryN and ST_NumGeometries support for non-collections (Sandro Santilli)

ST_IsCollection (Sandro Santilli, Maxime van Noppen)

ST_SharedPaths (Sandro Santilli / Faunalia for RT-SIGTA)

ST_Snap (Sandro Santilli)

ST_RelateMatch (Sandro Santilli / Faunalia for RT-SIGTA)

ST_ConcaveHull (Regina Obe and Leo Hsu / Paragon Corporation)

ST_UnaryUnion (Sandro Santilli / Faunalia for RT-SIGTA)

ST_AsX3D (Regina Obe / Arrival 3D funding)

ST_OffsetCurve (Sandro Santilli, Rafal Magda)

ST_GeomFromGeoJSON (Kashif Rasul, Paul Ramsey / Vizzuality funding)

Enhancements

Made shape file loader tolerant of truncated multibyte values found in some free worldwide shapefiles (Sandro Santilli)

Lots of bug fixes and enhancements to shp2pgsql Beefing up regression tests for loaders Reproject support for both geometry and geography during import (Jeff Adams / Azavea, Mark Cave-Ayland)

pgsql2shp conversion from predefined list (Loic Dachary / Mark Cave-Ayland)

Shp-pgsql GUI loader - support loading multiple files at a time. (Mark Leslie)

Extras - upgraded tiger_geocoder from using old TIGER format to use new TIGER shp and file structure format (Stephen Frost)

Extras - revised tiger_geocoder to work with TIGER census 2010 data, addition of reverse geocoder function, various bug fixes, accuracy enhancements, limit max result return, speed improvements, loading routines. (Regina Obe, Leo Hsu / Paragon Corporation / funding provided by Hunter Systems Group)

Overall Documentation proofreading and corrections. (Kasif Rasul)

Cleanup PostGIS JDBC classes, revise to use Maven build. (Maria Arias de Reyna, Sandro Santilli)

Bug Fixes

#1335 ST_AddPoint returns incorrect result on Linux (Even Rouault)

Release specific credits

We thank U.S Department of State Human Information Unit (HIU) and Vizzuality for general monetary support to get PostGIS 2.0 out the door.

Release 1.5.4

Release date: 2012/05/07

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 1.5.3 release.

Bug Fixes

#547, ST_Contains memory problems (Sandro Santilli)

#621, Problem finding intersections with geography (Paul Ramsey)

#627, PostGIS/PostgreSQL process die on invalid geometry (Paul Ramsey)

#810, Increase accuracy of area calculation (Paul Ramsey)

#852, improve spatial predicates robustness (Sandro Santilli, Nicklas Avén)

#877, ST_Estimated_Extent returns NULL on empty tables (Sandro Santilli)

#1028, ST_AsSVG kills whole postgres server when fails (Paul Ramsey)

#1056, Fix boxes of arcs and circle stroking code (Paul Ramsey)

#1121, populate_geometry_columns using deprecated functions (Regin Obe, Paul Ramsey)

#1135, improve testsuite predictability (Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum)

#1146, images generator crashes (bronaugh)

#1170, North Pole intersection fails (Paul Ramsey)

#1179, ST_AsText crash with bad value (kjurka)

#1184, honour DESTDIR in documentation Makefile (Bryce L Nordgren)

#1227, server crash on invalid GML

#1252, SRID appearing in WKT (Paul Ramsey)

#1264, st_dwithin(g, g, 0) doesn't work (Paul Ramsey)

#1344, allow exporting tables with invalid geometries (Sandro Santilli)

#1389, wrong proj4text for SRID 31300 and 31370 (Paul Ramsey)

#1406, shp2pgsql crashes when loading into geography (Sandro Santilli)

#1595, fixed SRID redundancy in ST_Line_SubString (Sandro Santilli)

#1596, check SRID in UpdateGeometrySRID (Mike Toews, Sandro Santilli)

#1602, fix ST_Polygonize to retain Z (Sandro Santilli)

#1697, fix crash with EMPTY entries in GiST index (Paul Ramsey)

#1772, fix ST_Line_Locate_Point with collapsed input (Sandro Santilli)

#1799, Protect ST_Segmentize from max_length=0 (Sandro Santilli)

Alter parameter order in 900913 (Paul Ramsey)

Support builds with "gmake" (Greg Troxel)

Release 1.5.3

Release date: 2011/06/25

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 1.5.2 release. If you are running PostGIS 1.3+, a soft upgrade is sufficient otherwise a hard upgrade is recommended.

Bug Fixes

#1056, produce correct bboxes for arc geometries, fixes index errors (Paul Ramsey)

#1007, ST_IsValid crash fix requires GEOS 3.3.0+ or 3.2.3+ (Sandro Santilli, reported by Birgit Laggner)

#940, support for PostgreSQL 9.1 beta 1 (Regina Obe, Paul Ramsey, patch submitted by stl)

#845, ST_Intersects precision error (Sandro Santilli, Nicklas Avén) Reported by cdestigter

#884, Unstable results with ST_Within, ST_Intersects (Chris Hodgson)

#779, shp2pgsql -S option seems to fail on points (Jeff Adams)

#666, ST_DumpPoints is not null safe (Regina Obe)

#631, Update NZ projections for grid transformation support (jpalmer)

#630, Peculiar Null treatment in arrays in ST_Collect (Chris Hodgson) Reported by David Bitner

#624, Memory leak in ST_GeogFromText (ryang, Paul Ramsey)

#609, Bad source code in manual section 5.2 Java Clients (simoc, Regina Obe)

#604, shp2pgsql usage touchups (Mike Toews, Paul Ramsey)

#573 ST_Union fails on a group of linestrings Not a PostGIS bug, fixed in GEOS 3.3.0

#457 ST_CollectionExtract returns non-requested type (Nicklas Avén, Paul Ramsey)

#441 ST_AsGeoJson Bbox on GeometryCollection error (Olivier Courtin)

#411 Ability to backup invalid geometries (Sando Santilli) Reported by Regione Toscana

#409 ST_AsSVG - degraded (Olivier Courtin) Reported by Sdikiy

#373 Documentation syntax error in hard upgrade (Paul Ramsey) Reported by psvensso

Release 1.5.2

Release date: 2010/09/27

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 1.5.1 release. If you are running PostGIS 1.3+, a soft upgrade is sufficient otherwise a hard upgrade is recommended.

Bug Fixes

Loader: fix handling of empty (0-verticed) geometries in shapefiles. (Sandro Santilli)

#536, Geography ST_Intersects, ST_Covers, ST_CoveredBy and Geometry ST_Equals not using spatial index (Regina Obe, Nicklas Aven)

#573, Improvement to ST_Contains geography (Paul Ramsey)

Loader: Add support for command-q shutdown in Mac GTK build (Paul Ramsey)

#393, Loader: Add temporary patch for large DBF files (Maxime Guillaud, Paul Ramsey)

#507, Fix wrong OGC URN in GeoJSON and GML output (Olivier Courtin)

spatial_ref_sys.sql Add datum conversion for projection SRID 3021 (Paul Ramsey)

Geography - remove crash for case when all geographies are out of the estimate (Paul Ramsey)

#469, Fix for array_aggregation error (Greg Stark, Paul Ramsey)

#532, Temporary geography tables showing up in other user sessions (Paul Ramsey)

#562, ST_Dwithin errors for large geographies (Paul Ramsey)

#513, shape loading GUI tries to make spatial index when loading DBF only mode (Paul Ramsey)

#527, shape loading GUI should always append log messages (Mark Cave-Ayland)

#504, shp2pgsql should rename xmin/xmax fields (Sandro Santilli)

#458, postgis_comments being installed in contrib instead of version folder (Mark Cave-Ayland)

#474, Analyzing a table with geography column crashes server (Paul Ramsey)

#581, LWGEOM-expand produces inconsistent results (Mark Cave-Ayland)

#513, Add dbf filter to shp2pgsql-gui and allow uploading dbf only (Paul Ramsey)

Fix further build issues against PostgreSQL 9.0 (Mark Cave-Ayland)

#572, Password whitespace for Shape File (Mark Cave-Ayland)

#603, shp2pgsql: "-w" produces invalid WKT for MULTI* objects. (Mark Cave-Ayland)

Release 1.5.1

Release date: 2010/03/11

This is a bug fix release, addressing issues that have been filed since the 1.4.1 release. If you are running PostGIS 1.3+, a soft upgrade is sufficient otherwise a hard upgrade is recommended.

Bug Fixes

#410, update embedded bbox when applying ST_SetPoint, ST_AddPoint ST_RemovePoint to a linestring (Paul Ramsey)

#411, allow dumping tables with invalid geometries (Sandro Santilli, for Regione Toscana-SIGTA)

#414, include geography_columns view when running upgrade scripts (Paul Ramsey)

#419, allow support for multilinestring in ST_Line_Substring (Paul Ramsey, for Lidwala Consulting Engineers)

#421, fix computed string length in ST_AsGML() (Olivier Courtin)

#441, fix GML generation with heterogeneous collections (Olivier Courtin)

#443, incorrect coordinate reversal in GML 3 generation (Olivier Courtin)

#450, #451, wrong area calculation for geography features that cross the date line (Paul Ramsey)

Ensure support for upcoming 9.0 PgSQL release (Paul Ramsey)

Release 1.5.0

Release date: 2010/02/04

This release provides support for geographic coordinates (lat/lon) via a new GEOGRAPHY type. Also performance enhancements, new input format support (GML,KML) and general upkeep.

API Stability

The public API of PostGIS will not change during minor (0.0.X) releases.

The definition of the =~ operator has changed from an exact geometric equality check to a bounding box equality check.

Compatibility

GEOS, Proj4, and LibXML2 are now mandatory dependencies

The library versions below are the minimum requirements for PostGIS 1.5

PostgreSQL 8.3 and higher on all platforms

GEOS 3.1 and higher only (GEOS 3.2+ to take advantage of all features)

LibXML2 2.5+ related to new ST_GeomFromGML/KML functionality

Proj4 4.5 and higher only

New Features

the section called “PostGIS Functions new, behavior changed, or enhanced in 1.5”

Added Hausdorff distance calculations (#209) (Vincent Picavet)

Added parameters argument to ST_Buffer operation to support one-sided buffering and other buffering styles (Sandro Santilli)

Addition of other Distance related visualization and analysis functions (Nicklas Aven)

ST_ClosestPoint

ST_DFullyWithin

ST_LongestLine

ST_MaxDistance

ST_ShortestLine

ST_DumpPoints (Maxime van Noppen)

KML, GML input via ST_GeomFromGML and ST_GeomFromKML (Olivier Courtin)

Extract homogeneous collection with ST_CollectionExtract (Paul Ramsey)

Add measure values to an existing linestring with ST_AddMeasure (Paul Ramsey)

History table implementation in utils (George Silva)

Geography type and supporting functions

Spherical algorithms (Dave Skea)

Object/index implementation (Paul Ramsey)

Selectivity implementation (Mark Cave-Ayland)

Serializations to KML, GML and JSON (Olivier Courtin)

ST_Area, ST_Distance, ST_DWithin, ST_GeogFromText, ST_GeogFromWKB, ST_Intersects, ST_Covers, ST_Buffer (Paul Ramsey)

Enhancements

Performance improvements to ST_Distance (Nicklas Aven)

Documentation updates and improvements (Regina Obe, Kevin Neufeld)

Testing and quality control (Regina Obe)

PostGIS 1.5 support PostgreSQL 8.5 trunk (Guillaume Lelarge)

Win32 support and improvement of core shp2pgsql-gui (Mark Cave-Ayland)

In place 'make check' support (Paul Ramsey)

Bug fixes

http://trac.osgeo.org/postgis/query?status=closed&milestone=PostGIS+1.5.0&order=priority

Release 1.4.0

Release date: 2009/07/24

This release provides performance enhancements, improved internal structures and testing, new features, and upgraded documentation. If you are running PostGIS 1.1+, a soft upgrade is sufficient otherwise a hard upgrade is recommended.

API Stability

As of the 1.4 release series, the public API of PostGIS will not change during minor releases.

Compatibility

The versions below are the *minimum* requirements for PostGIS 1.4

PostgreSQL 8.2 and higher on all platforms

GEOS 3.0 and higher only

PROJ4 4.5 and higher only

New Features

ST_Union() uses high-speed cascaded union when compiled against GEOS 3.1+ (Paul Ramsey)

ST_ContainsProperly() requires GEOS 3.1+

ST_Intersects(), ST_Contains(), ST_Within() use high-speed cached prepared geometry against GEOS 3.1+ (Paul Ramsey / funded by Zonar Systems)

Vastly improved documentation and reference manual (Regina Obe & Kevin Neufeld)

Figures and diagram examples in the reference manual (Kevin Neufeld)

ST_IsValidReason() returns readable explanations for validity failures (Paul Ramsey)

ST_GeoHash() returns a geohash.org signature for geometries (Paul Ramsey)

GTK+ multi-platform GUI for shape file loading (Paul Ramsey)

ST_LineCrossingDirection() returns crossing directions (Paul Ramsey)

ST_LocateBetweenElevations() returns sub-string based on Z-ordinate. (Paul Ramsey)

Geometry parser returns explicit error message about location of syntax errors (Mark Cave-Ayland)

ST_AsGeoJSON() return JSON formatted geometry (Olivier Courtin)

Populate_Geometry_Columns() -- automatically add records to geometry_columns for TABLES and VIEWS (Kevin Neufeld)

ST_MinimumBoundingCircle() -- returns the smallest circle polygon that can encompass a geometry (Bruce Rindahl)

Enhancements

Core geometry system moved into independent library, liblwgeom. (Mark Cave-Ayland)

New build system uses PostgreSQL "pgxs" build bootstrapper. (Mark Cave-Ayland)

Debugging framework formalized and simplified. (Mark Cave-Ayland)

All build-time #defines generated at configure time and placed in headers for easier cross-platform support (Mark Cave-Ayland)

Logging framework formalized and simplified (Mark Cave-Ayland)

Expanded and more stable support for CIRCULARSTRING, COMPOUNDCURVE and CURVEPOLYGON, better parsing, wider support in functions (Mark Leslie & Mark Cave-Ayland)

Improved support for OpenSolaris builds (Paul Ramsey)

Improved support for MSVC builds (Mateusz Loskot)

Updated KML support (Olivier Courtin)

Unit testing framework for liblwgeom (Paul Ramsey)

New testing framework to comprehensively exercise every PostGIS function (Regine Obe)

Performance improvements to all geometry aggregate functions (Paul Ramsey)

Support for the upcoming PostgreSQL 8.4 (Mark Cave-Ayland, Talha Bin Rizwan)

Shp2pgsql and pgsql2shp re-worked to depend on the common parsing/unparsing code in liblwgeom (Mark Cave-Ayland)

Use of PDF DbLatex to build PDF docs and preliminary instructions for build (Jean David Techer)

Automated User documentation build (PDF and HTML) and Developer Doxygen Documentation (Kevin Neufeld)

Automated build of document images using ImageMagick from WKT geometry text files (Kevin Neufeld)

More attractive CSS for HTML documentation (Dane Springmeyer)

Bug fixes

http://trac.osgeo.org/postgis/query?status=closed&milestone=PostGIS+1.4.0&order=priority

Release 1.3.6

Release date: 2009/05/04

If you are running PostGIS 1.1+, a soft upgrade is sufficient otherwise a hard upgrade is recommended. This release adds support for PostgreSQL 8.4, exporting prj files from the database with shape data, some crash fixes for shp2pgsql, and several small bug fixes in the handling of "curve" types, logical error importing dbf only files, improved error handling of AddGeometryColumns.

Release 1.3.5

Release date: 2008/12/15

If you are running PostGIS 1.1+, a soft upgrade is sufficient otherwise a hard upgrade is recommended. This release is a bug fix release to address a failure in ST_Force_Collection and related functions that critically affects using MapServer with LINE layers.

Release 1.3.4

Release date: 2008/11/24

This release adds support for GeoJSON output, building with PostgreSQL 8.4, improves documentation quality and output aesthetics, adds function-level SQL documentation, and improves performance for some spatial predicates (point-in-polygon tests).

Bug fixes include removal of crashers in handling circular strings for many functions, some memory leaks removed, a linear referencing failure for measures on vertices, and more. See the NEWS file for details.

Release 1.3.3

Release date: 2008/04/12

This release fixes bugs shp2pgsql, adds enhancements to SVG and KML support, adds a ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology function, makes the build more sensitive to GEOS versions, and fixes a handful of severe but rare failure cases.

Release 1.3.2

Release date: 2007/12/01

This release fixes bugs in ST_EndPoint() and ST_Envelope, improves support for JDBC building and OS/X, and adds better support for GML output with ST_AsGML(), including GML3 output.

Release 1.3.1

Release date: 2007/08/13

This release fixes some oversights in the previous release around version numbering, documentation, and tagging.

Release 1.3.0

Release date: 2007/08/09

This release provides performance enhancements to the relational functions, adds new relational functions and begins the migration of our function names to the SQL-MM convention, using the spatial type (SP) prefix.

Added Functionality

JDBC: Added Hibernate Dialect (thanks to Norman Barker)

Added ST_Covers and ST_CoveredBy relational functions. Description and justification of these functions can be found at http://lin-ear-th-inking.blogspot.com/2007/06/subtleties-of-ogc-covers-spatial.html

Added ST_DWithin relational function.

Performance Enhancements

Added cached and indexed point-in-polygon short-circuits for the functions ST_Contains, ST_Intersects, ST_Within and ST_Disjoint

Added inline index support for relational functions (except ST_Disjoint)

Other Changes

Extended curved geometry support into the geometry accessor and some processing functions

Began migration of functions to the SQL-MM naming convention; using a spatial type (ST) prefix.

Added initial support for PostgreSQL 8.3

Release 1.2.1

Release date: 2007/01/11

This release provides bug fixes in PostgreSQL 8.2 support and some small performance enhancements.

Changes

Fixed point-in-polygon shortcut bug in Within().

Fixed PostgreSQL 8.2 NULL handling for indexes.

Updated RPM spec files.

Added short-circuit for Transform() in no-op case.

JDBC: Fixed JTS handling for multi-dimensional geometries (thanks to Thomas Marti for hint and partial patch). Additionally, now JavaDoc is compiled and packaged. Fixed classpath problems with GCJ. Fixed pgjdbc 8.2 compatibility, losing support for jdk 1.3 and older.

Release 1.2.0

Release date: 2006/12/08

This release provides type definitions along with serialization/deserialization capabilities for SQL-MM defined curved geometries, as well as performance enhancements.

Changes

Added curved geometry type support for serialization/deserialization

Added point-in-polygon shortcircuit to the Contains and Within functions to improve performance for these cases.

Release 1.1.6

Release date: 2006/11/02

This is a bugfix release, in particular fixing a critical error with GEOS interface in 64bit systems. Includes an updated of the SRS parameters and an improvement in reprojections (take Z in consideration). Upgrade is encouraged.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.3 or later follow the soft upgrade procedure.

If you are upgrading from a release between 1.0.0RC6 and 1.0.2 (inclusive) and really want a live upgrade read the upgrade section of the 1.0.3 release notes chapter.

Upgrade from any release prior to 1.0.0RC6 requires an hard upgrade.

Bug fixes

fixed CAPI change that broke 64-bit platforms

loader/dumper: fixed regression tests and usage output

Fixed setSRID() bug in JDBC, thanks to Thomas Marti

Other changes

use Z ordinate in reprojections

spatial_ref_sys.sql updated to EPSG 6.11.1

Simplified Version.config infrastructure to use a single pack of version variables for everything.

Include the Version.config in loader/dumper USAGE messages

Replace hand-made, fragile JDBC version parser with Properties

Release 1.1.5

Release date: 2006/10/13

This is an bugfix release, including a critical segfault on win32. Upgrade is encouraged.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.3 or later follow the soft upgrade procedure.

If you are upgrading from a release between 1.0.0RC6 and 1.0.2 (inclusive) and really want a live upgrade read the upgrade section of the 1.0.3 release notes chapter.

Upgrade from any release prior to 1.0.0RC6 requires an hard upgrade.

Bug fixes

Fixed MingW link error that was causing pgsql2shp to segfault on Win32 when compiled for PostgreSQL 8.2

fixed nullpointer Exception in Geometry.equals() method in Java

Added EJB3Spatial.odt to fulfill the GPL requirement of distributing the "preferred form of modification"

Removed obsolete synchronization from JDBC Jts code.

Updated heavily outdated README files for shp2pgsql/pgsql2shp by merging them with the manpages.

Fixed version tag in jdbc code that still said "1.1.3" in the "1.1.4" release.

New Features

Added -S option for non-multi geometries to shp2pgsql

Release 1.1.4

Release date: 2006/09/27

This is an bugfix release including some improvements in the Java interface. Upgrade is encouraged.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.3 or later follow the soft upgrade procedure.

If you are upgrading from a release between 1.0.0RC6 and 1.0.2 (inclusive) and really want a live upgrade read the upgrade section of the 1.0.3 release notes chapter.

Upgrade from any release prior to 1.0.0RC6 requires an hard upgrade.

Bug fixes

Fixed support for PostgreSQL 8.2

Fixed bug in collect() function discarding SRID of input

Added SRID match check in MakeBox2d and MakeBox3d

Fixed regress tests to pass with GEOS-3.0.0

Improved pgsql2shp run concurrency.

Java changes

reworked JTS support to reflect new upstream JTS developers' attitude to SRID handling. Simplifies code and drops build depend on GNU trove.

Added EJB2 support generously donated by the "Geodetix s.r.l. Company" http://www.geodetix.it/

Added EJB3 tutorial / examples donated by Norman Barker <nbarker@ittvis.com>

Reorganized java directory layout a little.

Release 1.1.3

Release date: 2006/06/30

This is an bugfix release including also some new functionalities (most notably long transaction support) and portability enhancements. Upgrade is encouraged.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.3 or later follow the soft upgrade procedure.

If you are upgrading from a release between 1.0.0RC6 and 1.0.2 (inclusive) and really want a live upgrade read the upgrade section of the 1.0.3 release notes chapter.

Upgrade from any release prior to 1.0.0RC6 requires an hard upgrade.

Bug fixes / correctness

BUGFIX in distance(poly,poly) giving wrong results.

BUGFIX in pgsql2shp successful return code.

BUGFIX in shp2pgsql handling of MultiLine WKT.

BUGFIX in affine() failing to update bounding box.

WKT parser: forbidden construction of multigeometries with EMPTY elements (still supported for GEOMETRYCOLLECTION).

New functionalities

NEW Long Transactions support.

NEW DumpRings() function.

NEW AsHEXEWKB(geom, XDR|NDR) function.

JDBC changes

Improved regression tests: MultiPoint and scientific ordinates

Fixed some minor bugs in jdbc code

Added proper accessor functions for all fields in preparation of making those fields private later

Other changes

NEW regress test support for loader/dumper.

Added --with-proj-libdir and --with-geos-libdir configure switches.

Support for build Tru64 build.

Use Jade for generating documentation.

Don't link pgsql2shp to more libs then required.

Initial support for PostgreSQL 8.2.

Release 1.1.2

Release date: 2006/03/30

This is an bugfix release including some new functions and portability enhancements. Upgrade is encouraged.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.3 or later follow the soft upgrade procedure.

If you are upgrading from a release between 1.0.0RC6 and 1.0.2 (inclusive) and really want a live upgrade read the upgrade section of the 1.0.3 release notes chapter.

Upgrade from any release prior to 1.0.0RC6 requires an hard upgrade.

Bug fixes

BUGFIX in SnapToGrid() computation of output bounding box

BUGFIX in EnforceRHR()

jdbc2 SRID handling fixes in JTS code

Fixed support for 64bit archs

New functionalities

Regress tests can now be run *before* postgis installation

New affine() matrix transformation functions

New rotate{,X,Y,Z}() function

Old translating and scaling functions now use affine() internally

Embedded access control in estimated_extent() for builds against pgsql >= 8.0.0

Other changes

More portable ./configure script

Changed ./run_test script to have more sane default behaviour

Release 1.1.1

Release date: 2006/01/23

This is an important Bugfix release, upgrade is highly recommended. Previous version contained a bug in postgis_restore.pl preventing hard upgrade procedure to complete and a bug in GEOS-2.2+ connector preventing GeometryCollection objects to be used in topological operations.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.3 or later follow the soft upgrade procedure.

If you are upgrading from a release between 1.0.0RC6 and 1.0.2 (inclusive) and really want a live upgrade read the upgrade section of the 1.0.3 release notes chapter.

Upgrade from any release prior to 1.0.0RC6 requires an hard upgrade.

Bug fixes

Fixed a premature exit in postgis_restore.pl

BUGFIX in geometrycollection handling of GEOS-CAPI connector

Solaris 2.7 and MingW support improvements

BUGFIX in line_locate_point()

Fixed handling of postgresql paths

BUGFIX in line_substring()

Added support for localized cluster in regress tester

New functionalities

New Z and M interpolation in line_substring()

New Z and M interpolation in line_interpolate_point()

added NumInteriorRing() alias due to OpenGIS ambiguity

Release 1.1.0

Release date: 2005/12/21

This is a Minor release, containing many improvements and new things. Most notably: build procedure greatly simplified; transform() performance drastically improved; more stable GEOS connectivity (CAPI support); lots of new functions; draft topology support.

It is highly recommended that you upgrade to GEOS-2.2.x before installing PostGIS, this will ensure future GEOS upgrades won't require a rebuild of the PostGIS library.

Credits

This release includes code from Mark Cave Ayland for caching of proj4 objects. Markus Schaber added many improvements in his JDBC2 code. Alex Bodnaru helped with PostgreSQL source dependency relief and provided Debian specfiles. Michael Fuhr tested new things on Solaris arch. David Techer and Gerald Fenoy helped testing GEOS C-API connector. Hartmut Tschauner provided code for the azimuth() function. Devrim GUNDUZ provided RPM specfiles. Carl Anderson helped with the new area building functions. See the credits section for more names.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.3 or later you DO NOT need a dump/reload. Simply sourcing the new lwpostgis_upgrade.sql script in all your existing databases will work. See the soft upgrade chapter for more information.

If you are upgrading from a release between 1.0.0RC6 and 1.0.2 (inclusive) and really want a live upgrade read the upgrade section of the 1.0.3 release notes chapter.

Upgrade from any release prior to 1.0.0RC6 requires an hard upgrade.

New functions

scale() and transscale() companion methods to translate()

line_substring()

line_locate_point()

M(point)

LineMerge(geometry)

shift_longitude(geometry)

azimuth(geometry)

locate_along_measure(geometry, float8)

locate_between_measures(geometry, float8, float8)

SnapToGrid by point offset (up to 4d support)

BuildArea(any_geometry)

OGC BdPolyFromText(linestring_wkt, srid)

OGC BdMPolyFromText(linestring_wkt, srid)

RemovePoint(linestring, offset)

ReplacePoint(linestring, offset, point)

Bug fixes

Fixed memory leak in polygonize()

Fixed bug in lwgeom_as_anytype cast functions

Fixed USE_GEOS, USE_PROJ and USE_STATS elements of postgis_version() output to always reflect library state.

Function semantic changes

SnapToGrid doesn't discard higher dimensions

Changed Z() function to return NULL if requested dimension is not available

Performance improvements

Much faster transform() function, caching proj4 objects

Removed automatic call to fix_geometry_columns() in AddGeometryColumns() and update_geometry_stats()

JDBC2 works

Makefile improvements

JTS support improvements

Improved regression test system

Basic consistency check method for geometry collections

Support for (Hex)(E)wkb

Autoprobing DriverWrapper for HexWKB / EWKT switching

fix compile problems in ValueSetter for ancient jdk releases.

fix EWKT constructors to accept SRID=4711; representation

added preliminary read-only support for java2d geometries

Other new things

Full autoconf-based configuration, with PostgreSQL source dependency relief

GEOS C-API support (2.2.0 and higher)

Initial support for topology modelling

Debian and RPM specfiles

New lwpostgis_upgrade.sql script

Other changes

JTS support improvements

Stricter mapping between DBF and SQL integer and string attributes

Wider and cleaner regression test suite

old jdbc code removed from release

obsoleted direct use of postgis_proc_upgrade.pl

scripts version unified with release version

Release 1.0.6

Release date: 2005/12/06

Contains a few bug fixes and improvements.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.3 or later you DO NOT need a dump/reload.

If you are upgrading from a release between 1.0.0RC6 and 1.0.2 (inclusive) and really want a live upgrade read the upgrade section of the 1.0.3 release notes chapter.

Upgrade from any release prior to 1.0.0RC6 requires an hard upgrade.

Bug fixes

Fixed palloc(0) call in collection deserializer (only gives problem with --enable-cassert)

Fixed bbox cache handling bugs

Fixed geom_accum(NULL, NULL) segfault

Fixed segfault in addPoint()

Fixed short-allocation in lwcollection_clone()

Fixed bug in segmentize()

Fixed bbox computation of SnapToGrid output

Improvements

Initial support for postgresql 8.2

Added missing SRID mismatch checks in GEOS ops

Release 1.0.5

Release date: 2005/11/25

Contains memory-alignment fixes in the library, a segfault fix in loader's handling of UTF8 attributes and a few improvements and cleanups.

Note

Return code of shp2pgsql changed from previous releases to conform to unix standards (return 0 on success).

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.3 or later you DO NOT need a dump/reload.

If you are upgrading from a release between 1.0.0RC6 and 1.0.2 (inclusive) and really want a live upgrade read the upgrade section of the 1.0.3 release notes chapter.

Upgrade from any release prior to 1.0.0RC6 requires an hard upgrade.

Library changes

Fixed memory alignment problems

Fixed computation of null values fraction in analyzer

Fixed a small bug in the getPoint4d_p() low-level function

Speedup of serializer functions

Fixed a bug in force_3dm(), force_3dz() and force_4d()

Loader changes

Fixed return code of shp2pgsql

Fixed back-compatibility issue in loader (load of null shapefiles)

Fixed handling of trailing dots in dbf numerical attributes

Segfault fix in shp2pgsql (utf8 encoding)

Other changes

Schema aware postgis_proc_upgrade.pl, support for pgsql 7.2+

New "Reporting Bugs" chapter in manual

Release 1.0.4

Release date: 2005/09/09

Contains important bug fixes and a few improvements. In particular, it fixes a memory leak preventing successful build of GiST indexes for large spatial tables.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.3 you DO NOT need a dump/reload.

If you are upgrading from a release between 1.0.0RC6 and 1.0.2 (inclusive) and really want a live upgrade read the upgrade section of the 1.0.3 release notes chapter.

Upgrade from any release prior to 1.0.0RC6 requires an hard upgrade.

Bug fixes

Memory leak plugged in GiST indexing

Segfault fix in transform() handling of proj4 errors

Fixed some proj4 texts in spatial_ref_sys (missing +proj)

Loader: fixed string functions usage, reworked NULL objects check, fixed segfault on MULTILINESTRING input.

Fixed bug in MakeLine dimension handling

Fixed bug in translate() corrupting output bounding box

Improvements

Documentation improvements

More robust selectivity estimator

Minor speedup in distance()

Minor cleanups

GiST indexing cleanup

Looser syntax acceptance in box3d parser

Release 1.0.3

Release date: 2005/08/08

Contains some bug fixes - including a severe one affecting correctness of stored geometries - and a few improvements.

Upgrading

Due to a bug in a bounding box computation routine, the upgrade procedure requires special attention, as bounding boxes cached in the database could be incorrect.

An hard upgrade procedure (dump/reload) will force recomputation of all bounding boxes (not included in dumps). This is required if upgrading from releases prior to 1.0.0RC6.

If you are upgrading from versions 1.0.0RC6 or up, this release includes a perl script (utils/rebuild_bbox_caches.pl) to force recomputation of geometries' bounding boxes and invoke all operations required to propagate eventual changes in them (geometry statistics update, reindexing). Invoke the script after a make install (run with no args for syntax help). Optionally run utils/postgis_proc_upgrade.pl to refresh postgis procedures and functions signatures (see Soft upgrade).

Bug fixes

Severe bugfix in lwgeom's 2d bounding box computation

Bugfix in WKT (-w) POINT handling in loader

Bugfix in dumper on 64bit machines

Bugfix in dumper handling of user-defined queries

Bugfix in create_undef.pl script

Improvements

Small performance improvement in canonical input function

Minor cleanups in loader

Support for multibyte field names in loader

Improvement in the postgis_restore.pl script

New rebuild_bbox_caches.pl util script

Release 1.0.2

Release date: 2005/07/04

Contains a few bug fixes and improvements.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.0RC6 or up you DO NOT need a dump/reload.

Upgrading from older releases requires a dump/reload. See the upgrading chapter for more informations.

Bug fixes

Fault tolerant btree ops

Memory leak plugged in pg_error

Rtree index fix

Cleaner build scripts (avoided mix of CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS)

Improvements

New index creation capabilities in loader (-I switch)

Initial support for postgresql 8.1dev

Release 1.0.1

Release date: 2005/05/24

Contains a few bug fixes and some improvements.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.0RC6 or up you DO NOT need a dump/reload.

Upgrading from older releases requires a dump/reload. See the upgrading chapter for more informations.

Library changes

BUGFIX in 3d computation of length_spheroid()

BUGFIX in join selectivity estimator

Other changes/additions

BUGFIX in shp2pgsql escape functions

better support for concurrent postgis in multiple schemas

documentation fixes

jdbc2: compile with "-target 1.2 -source 1.2" by default

NEW -k switch for pgsql2shp

NEW support for custom createdb options in postgis_restore.pl

BUGFIX in pgsql2shp attribute names unicity enforcement

BUGFIX in Paris projections definitions

postgis_restore.pl cleanups

Release 1.0.0

Release date: 2005/04/19

Final 1.0.0 release. Contains a few bug fixes, some improvements in the loader (most notably support for older postgis versions), and more docs.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.0RC6 you DO NOT need a dump/reload.

Upgrading from any other precedent release requires a dump/reload. See the upgrading chapter for more informations.

Library changes

BUGFIX in transform() releasing random memory address

BUGFIX in force_3dm() allocating less memory then required

BUGFIX in join selectivity estimator (defaults, leaks, tuplecount, sd)

Other changes/additions

BUGFIX in shp2pgsql escape of values starting with tab or single-quote

NEW manual pages for loader/dumper

NEW shp2pgsql support for old (HWGEOM) postgis versions

NEW -p (prepare) flag for shp2pgsql

NEW manual chapter about OGC compliancy enforcement

NEW autoconf support for JTS lib

BUGFIX in estimator testers (support for LWGEOM and schema parsing)

Release 1.0.0RC6

Release date: 2005/03/30

Sixth release candidate for 1.0.0. Contains a few bug fixes and cleanups.

Upgrading

You need a dump/reload to upgrade from precedent releases. See the upgrading chapter for more informations.

Library changes

BUGFIX in multi()

early return [when noop] from multi()

Scripts changes

dropped {x,y}{min,max}(box2d) functions

Other changes

BUGFIX in postgis_restore.pl scrip

BUGFIX in dumper's 64bit support

Release 1.0.0RC5

Release date: 2005/03/25

Fifth release candidate for 1.0.0. Contains a few bug fixes and a improvements.

Upgrading

If you are upgrading from release 1.0.0RC4 you DO NOT need a dump/reload.

Upgrading from any other precedent release requires a dump/reload. See the upgrading chapter for more informations.

Library changes

BUGFIX (segfaulting) in box3d computation (yes, another!).

BUGFIX (segfaulting) in estimated_extent().

Other changes

Small build scripts and utilities refinements.

Additional performance tips documented.

Release 1.0.0RC4

Release date: 2005/03/18

Fourth release candidate for 1.0.0. Contains bug fixes and a few improvements.

Upgrading

You need a dump/reload to upgrade from precedent releases. See the upgrading chapter for more informations.

Library changes

BUGFIX (segfaulting) in geom_accum().

BUGFIX in 64bit architectures support.

BUGFIX in box3d computation function with collections.

NEW subselects support in selectivity estimator.

Early return from force_collection.

Consistency check fix in SnapToGrid().

Box2d output changed back to 15 significant digits.

Scripts changes

NEW distance_sphere() function.

Changed get_proj4_from_srid implementation to use PL/PGSQL instead of SQL.

Other changes

BUGFIX in loader and dumper handling of MultiLine shapes

BUGFIX in loader, skipping all but first hole of polygons.

jdbc2: code cleanups, Makefile improvements

FLEX and YACC variables set *after* pgsql Makefile.global is included and only if the pgsql *stripped* version evaluates to the empty string

Added already generated parser in release

Build scripts refinements

improved version handling, central Version.config

improvements in postgis_restore.pl

Release 1.0.0RC3

Release date: 2005/02/24

Third release candidate for 1.0.0. Contains many bug fixes and improvements.

Upgrading

You need a dump/reload to upgrade from precedent releases. See the upgrading chapter for more informations.

Library changes

BUGFIX in transform(): missing SRID, better error handling.

BUGFIX in memory alignment handling

BUGFIX in force_collection() causing mapserver connector failures on simple (single) geometry types.

BUGFIX in GeometryFromText() missing to add a bbox cache.

reduced precision of box2d output.

prefixed DEBUG macros with PGIS_ to avoid clash with pgsql one

plugged a leak in GEOS2POSTGIS converter

Reduced memory usage by early releasing query-context palloced one.

Scripts changes

BUGFIX in 72 index bindings.

BUGFIX in probe_geometry_columns() to work with PG72 and support multiple geometry columns in a single table

NEW bool::text cast

Some functions made IMMUTABLE from STABLE, for performance improvement.

JDBC changes

jdbc2: small patches, box2d/3d tests, revised docs and license.

jdbc2: bug fix and testcase in for pgjdbc 8.0 type autoregistration

jdbc2: Removed use of jdk1.4 only features to enable build with older jdk releases.

jdbc2: Added support for building against pg72jdbc2.jar

jdbc2: updated and cleaned makefile

jdbc2: added BETA support for jts geometry classes

jdbc2: Skip known-to-fail tests against older PostGIS servers.

jdbc2: Fixed handling of measured geometries in EWKT.

Other changes

new performance tips chapter in manual

documentation updates: pgsql72 requirement, lwpostgis.sql

few changes in autoconf

BUILDDATE extraction made more portable

fixed spatial_ref_sys.sql to avoid vacuuming the whole database.

spatial_ref_sys: changed Paris entries to match the ones distributed with 0.x.

Release 1.0.0RC2

Release date: 2005/01/26

Second release candidate for 1.0.0 containing bug fixes and a few improvements.

Upgrading

You need a dump/reload to upgrade from precedent releases. See the upgrading chapter for more informations.

Library changes

BUGFIX in pointarray box3d computation

BUGFIX in distance_spheroid definition

BUGFIX in transform() missing to update bbox cache

NEW jdbc driver (jdbc2)

GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(EMPTY) syntax support for backward compatibility

Faster binary outputs

Stricter OGC WKB/WKT constructors

Scripts changes

More correct STABLE, IMMUTABLE, STRICT uses in lwpostgis.sql

stricter OGC WKB/WKT constructors

Other changes

Faster and more robust loader (both i18n and not)

Initial autoconf script

Release 1.0.0RC1

Release date: 2005/01/13

This is the first candidate of a major postgis release, with internal storage of postgis types redesigned to be smaller and faster on indexed queries.

Upgrading

You need a dump/reload to upgrade from precedent releases. See the upgrading chapter for more informations.

Changes

Faster canonical input parsing.

Lossless canonical output.

EWKB Canonical binary IO with PG>73.

Support for up to 4d coordinates, providing lossless shapefile->postgis->shapefile conversion.

New function: UpdateGeometrySRID(), AsGML(), SnapToGrid(), ForceRHR(), estimated_extent(), accum().

Vertical positioning indexed operators.

JOIN selectivity function.

More geometry constructors / editors.

PostGIS extension API.

UTF8 support in loader.