[gdal-dev] What do people think of the MySQL Spatial Extensions?

[Frank Warmerdam]

Russell McOrmond wrote:
> I am aware of PostGIS, Oracle Spatial and ArcSDE.  I only became aware
> that MySQL had extensions as well very recently (My brother started at
> Pythian).
> 
> http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/mysql-gis-conformance-and-compatibility.html
> http://www.gdal.org/ogr/drv_mysql.html
> 
> Are there people in this list that use this extensively, and can give
> some comparisons to other databases/etc?

Russell,

I have not got extensive experience with the mysql spatial, but from my
limited experience (possibly now a bit dated) mysql have implemented
spatial data warehousing with pretty good query performance per the
OGC specs.  Last time I looked they had not implemented complex spatial
operations (like intersection) and had not done anything with coordinate
systems.

I see the docs still indicate that the mysql functions for things like
distance and intersects are still implemented using the MBRs rather than
the actual geometry.

It would be suitable, for instance, for straight forward web mapping
applications but it would not be a good data analysis environment for
instance.

Hopefully there will be some deeper answers forthcoming.

Best regards,
-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent