Spatial Ed's blog

" Fixing" Polygon Ring Orientation in SQL Server 2008 using T-SQL In the last installment, I promised to try and correct invalid Geography data using FME.  While I am making progress on that front, I decided to take a small detour and discuss...

In his post last year, Integrating Virtual Earth and GeoNames , Johannes described how to load the GeoNames database into SQL Server using the "Import Data" Wizard in SQL Server Management Studio. In his scenario, Johannes did not need to take...

In his new book, Beginning Spatial with SQL Server 2008 , Alastair Aitchison describes how to create a new CLR-based geocoding T-SQL function utilizing the MapPoint Web Service .  Additionally, there is an SSIS -based MapPoint Batch Geocoder for...

In a long past post, Working with Invalid Data and the SQL Server 2008 Geography Data Type, Part 1b (August 2008), I discussed techniques for dealing with invalid data and the geography data type. In my last post, I listed the new geography validation...

The Report Builder, a component of Reporting Services, described in this post will be available as a separate download when the upcoming CTP2 release of SQL Server 2008 Release 2 (R2) is made available to the public, currently scheduled for August 2009...

I was recently presented with the problem of taking a US States dataset, in geographic coordinates, and creating a database table whose spatial column would render in a similar fashion to the map, below, with the Alaska and Hawaii insets. The ultimate...

Now that the February CTP (CTP-6) for SQL Server 2008 is available , it's time to let folks know what new spatial features have been added or updated since the November CTP (CTP-5). Before I get into the new and updated features, I want to make sure that...

The Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) maintains a comprehensive catalog of worldwide seismic events (typically earthquakes) which is a good source of spatial data for SQL Server 2008.  The ANSS Composite Catalog (formerly called the CNSS Earthquake...

Last Wednesday (March 17th), Dave Robinson of the SQL Azure Team announced upcoming support for spatial data in SQL Azure.  You can view the announcement at the MIX Conference in the video of Dave’s presentation, Building Web Applications with Microsoft...

In the first installment on this topic, I used a commercial text editor, EditPad Pro , to perform the Unicode file conversion and SQL Server BULK INSERT to load the data. In this installment, I'm going to change to workflow a bit to use of Microsoft's...

My faithful old IBM T60p laptop has been with me for years.  Over time, and every so slowly, it has been running hotter and hotter (especially when running complex spatial queries on SQL Server 2008 or generating map-based reports using the new SQL...

Welcome to my first blog effort. Many of you in the spatial world may already know me. For everyone else, I am the Spatial Program Manager for SQL Server. I’ve been working in the spatial/GIS field much longer than I wish to admit, with prior engagements...

In the previous post , the content for Chapter 14, Spatial Data, was presented.  This post will discuss the sample code and the spatial data associated with the chapter. SOURCE CODE .  The Source Code for Chapter 14 - Spatial Data is located...

  SQL Server Code-named “Denali” is currently available as a Community Technology Preview (CTP).  Denali introduces 4 new aggregates to the the suite of spatial operators in SQL Server: Union Aggregate Envelope Aggregate Collection Aggregate...

In a shameless bit of self-promotion, I’d like to call attention to the new book, Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008: T-SQL Programming (Microsoft Press). You can get further information on the book at Itzik’s blog or by going to Microsoft Press , but I...

  We have just released a white paper, New Spatial Features in SQL Server Code-Named “Denali” Community Technology Preview 1 , as your definitive guide to the spatial improvements in this release of SQL Server. Of course, you can’t take advantage...

In the previous posts we have covered items 1,2 and 3 of the workflow.  In this post we address item 4. Locate data source and download (Part 1) Load the data into SQL Server (Part 1) Remove unwanted features, simplify Alaska and Hawaii spatial features...

By popular request (well, at least the request of Abe on Spatially Adjusted...), I've changed the name of the blog from "Ed on Spatial" to "Spatial Ed". This should cause some interesting confusion...

Two new functions have been added to the SQL Server Spatial Tools CodePlex Project : FilterArtifactsGeography FilterArtifactsGeometry These new functions, as the names imply, are designed to remove unwanted components from spatial objects.  For instance...

As Isaac noted in his most recent post , the SQL Server Spatial Tools project on CodePlex has been updated with several new geography functions. This post provides additional detail on the new features: IsValidGeographyFromGeometry IsValidGeographyFromText...

In the previous post we covered items 1 and 2 of the workflow.  In this post, we will cover item 3: Locate data source and download Load the data into SQL Server Remove unwanted features, simplify Alaska and Hawaii spatial features   "Reposition"...

I travel quite a bit and have the need to carry a bit of equipment with me. This includes a laptop with the latest version of SQL Server 2008 (spatially-enabled, of course) and a geospatial data capture device - a Nikon D300 equipped with a special GPS...

In a recent post to the SQL Server Spatial Forum , the subject of finding the closest point from one geometry to another resurfaced. While this was a difficult problem with SQL Server 2008, the new “Denali” CTP has introduced a method, ShortestLineTo...

In the previous posts I indicated that this would be the last post in this series but it turned out that I was a bit optimistic. In order to make the final Report Builder post relevant, some interesting data for analysis was needed.  In this post...

As many of you have already discovered, the Geography data type in SQL Server 2008 is very strict about the structure of the spatial data which it will accept. The Geometry data type, on the other hand, is much more forgiving about spatial data which...