Spatial classes

• 1: Point
• 2: Multipoint
• 3: Linestring
• 4: Multilinestring
• 5: Polygon
• 6: Multipolygon

1 - Point

A location in two-dimensional space that is identified by one of the following:

• X and Y coordinates

• Longitude and latitude values

A point has dimension 0 and no boundary.

Examples

The following example uses a GEOMETRY point:

=> CREATE TABLE point_geo (gid int, geom GEOMETRY(100));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY point_geo(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geom AS ST_GeomFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter ',';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1, POINT(3 5)
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geom) FROM point_geo;
 gid |  ST_AsText
-----+-------------
   1 | POINT (3 5)
(1 row)

The following example uses a GEOGRAPHY point:

=> CREATE TABLE point_geog (gid int, geog geography(100));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY point_geog(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geog AS ST_GeographyFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter ',';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1, POINT(42 71)
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geog) FROM point_geog;
 gid |   ST_AsText
-----+---------------
   1 | POINT (42 71)
(1 row)

2 - Multipoint

A set of one or more points. A multipoint object has dimension 0 and no boundary.

Examples

The following example uses a GEOMETRY multipoint:

=> CREATE TABLE mpoint_geo (gid int, geom GEOMETRY(1000));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY mpoint_geo(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geom AS ST_GeomFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter '|';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1|MULTIPOINT(4 7, 8 10)
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geom) FROM mpoint_geo;
 gid |       st_astext
-----+-----------------------
   1 | MULTIPOINT (7 8, 6 9)
(1 row)

The following example uses a GEOGRAPHY multipoint:

=> CREATE TABLE mpoint_geog (gid int, geog GEOGRAPHY(1000));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY mpoint_geog(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geog AS ST_GeographyFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter '|';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1|MULTIPOINT(42 71, 41.4 70)
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geom) FROM mpoint_geo;
 gid |       st_astext
-----+-----------------------
   1 | MULTIPOINT (42 71, 41.4 70)
(1 row)

3 - Linestring

One or more connected lines, identified by pairs of consecutive points. A linestring has dimension 1. The boundary of a linestring is a multipoint object containing its start and end points.

The following are examples of linestrings:

Examples

The following example uses the GEOMETRY type to create a table, use copy to load a linestring to the table, and then queries the table to view the linestring:

=> CREATE TABLE linestring_geom (gid int, geom GEOMETRY(1000));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY linestring_geom(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geom AS ST_GeomFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter '|';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1|LINESTRING(0 0, 1 1, 2 2, 3 4, 2 4, 1 5)
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geom) FROM linestring_geom;
 gid |                 ST_AsText
-----+-------------------------------------------
   1 | LINESTRING (0 0, 1 1, 2 2, 3 4, 2 4, 1 5)
(1 row)

The following example uses the GEOGRAPHY type to create a table, use copy to load a linestring to the table, and then queries the table to view the linestring:

=> CREATE TABLE linestring_geog (gid int, geog GEOGRAPHY(1000));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY linestring_geog(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geog AS ST_GeographyFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter '|';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1|LINESTRING(42.1 71, 41.4 70, 41.3 72.9, 42.99 71.46, 44.47 73.21)
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geog) FROM linestring_geog;
 gid |                             ST_AsText
-----+--------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 | LINESTRING (42.1 71, 41.4 70, 41.3 72.9, 42.99 71.46, 44.47 73.21)
(1 row)

4 - Multilinestring

A collection of zero or more linestrings. A multilinestring has no dimension. The boundary of a multilinestring is a multipoint object containing the start and end points of all the linestrings.

The following are examples of multilinestrings:

Examples

The following example uses the GEOMETRY type to create a table, use copy to load a multilinestring to the table, and then queries the table to view the multilinestring:

=> CREATE TABLE multilinestring_geom (gid int, geom GEOMETRY(1000));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY multilinestring_geom(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geom AS ST_GeomFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter '|';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1|MULTILINESTRING((1 5, 2 4, 5 3, 6 6),(3 5, 3 7))
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geom) FROM multilinestring_geom;
 gid |                     ST_AsText
-----+----------------------------------------------------
   1 | MULTILINESTRING ((1 5, 2 4, 5 3, 6 6), (3 5, 3 7))
(1 row)

The following example uses the GEOGRAPHY type to create a table, use copy to load a multilinestring to the table, and then queries the table to view the multilinestring:

=> CREATE TABLE multilinestring_geog (gid int, geog GEOGRAPHY(1000));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY multilinestring_geog(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geog AS ST_GeographyFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter '|';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1|MULTILINESTRING((42.1 71, 41.4 70, 41.3 72.9), (42.99 71.46, 44.47 73.21))
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geog) FROM multilinestring_geog;
 gid |                                  ST_AsText
-----+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 | MULTILINESTRING((42.1 71, 41.4 70, 41.3 72.9), (42.99 71.46, 44.47 73.21))
(1 row)

5 - Polygon

An object identified by a set of closed linestrings. A polygon can have one or more holes, as defined by interior boundaries, but all points must be connected. Two examples of polygons are:

Inclusive and exclusive polygons

Polygons that include their points in clockwise order include all space inside the perimeter of the polygon and exclude all space outside that perimeter. Polygons that include their points in counterclockwise order exclude all space inside the perimeter and include all space outside that perimeter.

Examples

The following example uses the GEOMETRY type to create a table, use copy to load a polygon into the table, and then queries the table to view the polygon:

=> CREATE TABLE polygon_geom (gid int, geom GEOMETRY(1000));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY polygon_geom(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geom AS ST_GeomFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter '|';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1|POLYGON(( 2 6, 2 9, 6 9, 7 7, 4 6, 2 6))
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geom) FROM polygon_geom;
 gid |                 ST_AsText
-----+------------------------------------------
   1 | POLYGON((2 6, 2 9, 6 9, 7 7, 4 6, 2 6))
(1 row)

The following example uses the GEOGRAPHY type to create a table, use copy to load a polygon into the table, and then queries the table to view the polygon:

=> CREATE TABLE polygon_geog (gid int, geog GEOGRAPHY(1000));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY polygon_geog(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geog AS ST_GeographyFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter '|';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1|POLYGON((42.1 71, 41.4 70, 41.3 72.9, 44.47 73.21, 42.99 71.46, 42.1 71))
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geog) FROM polygon_geog;
 gid |                                ST_AsText
-----+---------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 | POLYGON((42.1 71, 41.4 70, 41.3 72.9, 44.47 73.21, 42.99 71.46, 42.1 71))
(1 row)

6 - Multipolygon

A collection of zero or more polygons that do not overlap.

Examples

The following example uses the GEOMETRY type to create a table, use copy to load a multipolygon into the table, and then queries the table to view the polygon:

=> CREATE TABLE multipolygon_geom (gid int, geom GEOMETRY(1000));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY multipolygon_geom(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geom AS ST_GeomFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter '|';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>9|MULTIPOLYGON(((2 6, 2 9, 6 9, 7 7, 4 6, 2 6)),((0 0, 0 5, 1 0, 0 0)),((0 2, 2 5, 4 5, 0 2)))
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geom) FROM polygon_geom;
 gid |                                           ST_AsText
-----+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   9 | MULTIPOLYGON(((2 6, 2 9, 6 9, 7 7, 4 6, 2 6)),((0 0, 0 5, 1 0, 0 0)),((0 2, 2 5, 4 5, 0 2)))
(1 row)

The following example uses the GEOGRAPHY type to create a table, use copy to load a multipolygon into the table, and then queries the table to view the polygon:

=> CREATE TABLE multipolygon_geog (gid int, geog GEOGRAPHY(1000));
CREATE TABLE
=> COPY polygon_geog(gid, gx filler LONG VARCHAR, geog AS ST_GeographyFromText(gx)) FROM stdin delimiter '|';
Enter data to be copied followed by a newline.
End with a backslash and a period on a line by itself.
>>1|POLYGON((42.1 71, 41.4 70, 41.3 72.9, 44.47 73.21, 42.99 71.46, 42.1 71))
>>\.
=> SELECT gid, ST_AsText(geog) FROM polygon_geog;
 gid |                                ST_AsText
-----+---------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 | POLYGON(((42.1 71, 41.4 70, 41.3 72.9, 42.1 71)),((44.47 73.21, 42.99 71.46, 42.1 71, 44.47 73.21)))
(1 row)