Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Spatial Data

More and more people are talking about Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and it’s new support for spatial data. How many people out there understand the in’s and out’s of how SQL Server 2008 works and what it is going to provide?

I found a really useful three article write up for those that like to learn more about SQL Server 2008. Jason Follas, has a nice write up in which is goes deep investigating SQL Server 2008.

In his first part of his write up:

I provided a somewhat verbose description of the two different types of Spatial data supported by SQL Server 2008: Geometry (flat Earth model) and Geography (ellipsoidal model).

Jason also talks about the spatial reference system. In his second part of his write up:

I introduced the Geometry and Geography data types, the various subclasses (Point, LineString, Polygon, etc), and demonstrated a little bit of the Well-Known Text (WKT) syntax. 

He covers of standards, specific types of spatial data and representing spatial data. In the last part of his write up, he talks about instantiating the user defined types and working with a user defined type instance. This is a very useful article for those wanting to know everything about the new spatial data support in SQL Server 2008.

Jason’s write up’s can be found here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3