Creating High Performance Spatial Databases
So you heard about the new spatial functionality in SQL Server 2008, rushed back to your database and added
geography and
geometry columns to all your tables, eager to create the next Google Earth-beating application. After putting the finishing touches to your spatial query, you click the Execute button and wait.
And wait.
And wait some more. (You get the idea).
Spatial data is a rather unique beast, and designing efficient spatial queries requires specific techniques when compared to other, more traditional types of data.
In the first part of this session, we'll start by examining how the SQL Server database engine satisfies spatial queries, the theory behind spatial indexes, and seeing how a spatial index can provide a primary filter to pre-select or discard rows from the need to perform expensive spatial operations.
We'll then move onto the practical application of this knowledge, demonstrating the effects of altering the bounding box and grid resolution of a spatial index, and interpreting the results of the spatial system DMVs and stored procedures to tune a spatial index for effective spatial query performance.
Speaker focus
Alastair Aitchison has over eight years experience as a management information consultant, providing data reporting and analysis for the House of Lords, the Police, and various UK media agencies. While working as a technical manager at Aviva, his principle area of interest was on the geographic analysis of risk patterns and assessing the regional impact of major weather events, and he now works as independent consultant specialising in spatial data analysis.
Based in Norwich, Alastair attempts to balance working from home, being a housedad for his two-year old son, and writing books on SQL Server at the same time. It's normally fairly chaotic.
Alastair is the author of two books on SQL Server, both published by APress:
- Beginning Spatial with SQL Server 2008 (http://www.apress.com/book/view/9781430218296)
- Expert SQL Server 2008 Development (http://www.apress.com/book/view/9781430272137)