Cloud

geometry

The geometry data type stores planar (Cartesian) spatial point values as two double-precision coordinates. It uses Well-Known Text (WKT) and Well-Known Binary (WKB) formats for input and output.

Redpanda SQL supports only POINT geometries. Multi-part geometries such as POLYGON, LINESTRING, and MULTIPOINT are not supported.

Format

geometry values can be specified in the following formats:

  • WKT: POINT(x y) (space-separated coordinates)

  • EWKT: SRID=4326;POINT(x y) (SRID is accepted but ignored for geometry)

  • EWKB: A hex-encoded binary string (42 hex characters)

SELECT GEOMETRY 'POINT(0.1234 5.6789)';

Differences between geometry and geography

geometry geography

Uses a Cartesian (planar) coordinate system

Uses a geodetic (spherical) coordinate system

SRID is ignored

SRID is always 4326 (WGS84)

st_distance returns Euclidean distance

st_distance returns distance in meters

Casting

geometry supports the following casts:

  • geometry → text: Returns WKB hex string

  • text → geometry: Parses WKT or EWKB string

  • geometry → geography: Adds SRID=4326

  • geography → geometry: Removes SRID

  • geometry → point: Converts to (x,y) format

  • point → geometry: Converts to WKB format

Functions

The following functions work with geometry values:

Function Description Return type

st_astext(geometry)

Returns the WKT representation of the geometry

text

st_astext(geometry, max_digits)

Returns the WKT representation with limited decimal digits

text

st_asewkt(geometry)

Returns the Extended WKT representation

text

st_asewkt(geometry, max_digits)

Returns the Extended WKT representation with limited decimal digits

text

st_distance(geometry, geometry)

Returns the Euclidean distance between two geometry points

double precision

Examples

SELECT
  ST_ASTEXT(GEOMETRY 'POINT(1.5 2.5)') AS wkt,
  ST_DISTANCE(
    GEOMETRY 'POINT(0 0)',
    GEOMETRY 'POINT(3 4)'
  ) AS distance;
      wkt       | distance
----------------+----------
 POINT(1.5 2.5) |        5