[postgis-users] what is the units of distance parameter in the buffer function

[Bill Thoen]

On Sat, Dec 02, 2006 at 05:12:48PM -0000, Pedro Doria Meunier wrote:
>    From the manual:
> 
>    The optional third parameter sets the number
>    of segment used to approximate a quarter circle (defaults
>    to 8).
> 
>    What's this good for?!

I think it's a "smoothness" factor for drawing the corners of a buffer,
i.e. if you use 1 and create a buffer around a point, it's a diamond shape.
If you use 2, it's an octagon. But I'm just guessing...