Apart from geospatial types (which I'm going to be using for a GPS based application), we also have hierarchies (via hierarchyid), alternatives to storing image blobs in the database (FILESTREAM) and a way of passing arrays into stored procedures (table based parameters). These are the 4 main new features of the DB engine and all 4 of them are going to make my life a lot simpler.

Google Pleasby, find a book impression about Forest Scenery, google some other places near it, notice there is another edition of the same book where Pleasby is now called Pleasley. Find Pleasley on maps. There is a wood to the NE of it, just north of Pleasley Vale. And although it says Derbyshire on Google maps, the Notts/Derbys border runs right through it.

T'internet's marvellous, isn't it?

...the ID of the coordinate system used to give the number pairs meaning. This particular ID is published by the European Petroleum Survey Group (ESPG) and is a de-facto standard in the GIS world. 4326 means that the numbers are in Latitude / Longitude, with Greenwich at 0 Lon, and with the WGS84 ellipsoid (a slightly squished sphere) used to model the surface of the earth in order to figure out where those coordinates end up.

Well, now, that should be cleared up.

I think is on the Clayhithe Road, between Horningsea and Waterbeach.

AC is very kind but these four

Streatley Hill, Berkshire

Clayhithe, Cambridgeshire

Yalta, Crimea

Causey Pike Gill, Cumberland

are examples of ones for which we DO know the location:

51.52305, -1.15609

52.25789, 0.19911

44.49673, 34.16313

54.57683, -3.19908

However, as I say, the thought is much appreciated,

I guess you're a a Microsoft shop, but I wonder if PostgreSQL with the PostGIS spatial data add-on (http://postgis.refractions.net/) could have met your requirements?

If so, you have a valuable backup strategy if MS suddenly drop spatial data to get it out the door on time. Possibly worth some research while you wait for MS to get to the party?