documentation of ST_Geometry functions

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06-23-2015 08:22 AM
David_JAnderson
New Contributor III

I have noticed that there seems to be a portion of the ESRI SQL implementation that is undocumented.  The geometry related functions such as ST_Area, etc are well documented in the help.  What is not documented are the various functions for the setup, administration and maintenance of the data.  One such function is the AddGeometryColumn function as described in the 10.2 help here:ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2)

There are other calls such as CreateSpatialIndex or DropGeometryMetadata that are shown in examples but I can not find the function documention.  Much less a list of what other functions are available in the ST_Geometry library.

Does anyone know where I might find the full documentation of the ST_Geometry library?

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7 Replies
FreddieGibson
Occasional Contributor III

Is the below link what you're looking for?

A quick tour of SQL functions used with ST_Geometry

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//006z0000003n000000

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David_JAnderson
New Contributor III

I already know about that section of the help files that documents the various ST_ functions.  What I can not find is the documentation for functions such as AddGeometryColumn.

Examples of full documentation are those such as PostGIS Chapter 6. PostGIS Reference  or Spatialite SpatiaLite SQL functions reference list.

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JoshuaBixby
MVP Esteemed Contributor

A quick tour of SQL functions used with ST_Geometry has been reformatted at 10.3.x.  Although the content is much the same as earlier versions, the improved presentation is helpful in understanding some of the information.

Regarding AddGeometryColumn, CreateSpatialIndex, DropGeometryMetadata, etc..., Esri doesn't document those SQL functions because they are not part of the ST_Geometry data type.  Since Esri didn't create/develop those functions and they aren't part of the ST_Geometry data type, they assume users will use the relevant DBMS documentation to read up on how those functions work.

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David_JAnderson
New Contributor III

Thanks Josh.  That makes sense.

As I read your reply and think about what I want to know I realize that my real question is what is the full documentation for the stgeometry_sqlite.dll.  That implements both the ST_Geometry functions and the utility functions on SQLite databases.  Now that is the library that lacks documentation about functions other than the ST_ series.  I found the reference to the ones like AddGeometryColumn in the help files which got me to wondering what other functions are under the hood.  So far as I can tell the ESRI documentation does not list them.  Just a few examples of using them.

Contrast this with Spatialite which has a plethora of documented functions, including ones to handle Geopackages.

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ThomasColson
MVP Frequent Contributor

Hacking ArcSDE describes some of the cool things you can to with georgraphy, and the little to no modification required to do the same things in geometry. The MSDN documentation on the Geometry and Geography functions is pretty basic, if you're willing to roll up your sleeves on SQL coding you can do some pretty advanced spatial logic, all outside of the SDE stack but transparent to users.

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JoshuaBixby
MVP Esteemed Contributor

The OP is/was asking about ST_Geometry, and ST_Geometry in SQLite specifically.  I agree that a lot of spatial can be done with SQL outside of the SDE stack, but MSDN documentation has limited value in this case since ST_Geometry isn't implemented on SQL Server.

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DavidAnderson_1701
Occasional Contributor

Bringing this topic back to life.  Seven years later and the question is still open.  I can not find any ESRI documentation about this function.  Its use is shown but still nothing that explains the call, what are the valid options, etc.

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