back to article Back to basics for SQL Server 2008

When I asked: "How do we convert more than 12,000 location items - by hand?" we had almost completed the process as part of our move to Microsoft's up-coming SQL Server 2008. The question was, in fact, rhetorical. Nevertheless, we received a lot of advice and suggestions from Reg Dev readers. This, for example, from …

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  1. Robinson

    Yea, me too.

    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.

  2. Andrew Bolton

    Pleasby Wood

    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?

  3. Peter Mount
    Boffin

    ESPG 4326 = WSG84

    The 4326 is the WSG84 datum describing the curvature of the earth. It's the most commonly used datum when handling coordinates

  4. Rory Plaire

    That 4326 is...

    ...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.

  5. Mark Whitehorn
    Thumb Up

    Pleasby Wood

    Excellent Andrew, thank you! That's another one accounted for.....

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Clayhithe

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

  7. Mark Whitehorn

    Clayhithie

    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,

  8. Greg Fawcett

    PostgreSQL+PostGIS?

    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?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    @ Robinson

    Why are you attempting to store image Binary Objects INSIDE the DB?

    Sheesh. Kids nowadays.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    Ummm

    Coordinate mapping is already happening in databases. Now. Today. In really bog-standard RDM systems.

    Is this really something to get interested in? Is software engineering so bereft of ideas that this actually seems cool?

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