

There are 90 degrees of latitude between the Equator and the North Pole. All parallels are equally spaced to each other. Because the lines are parallel to the Equator, they’re also referred to as parallels. The lines of latitude represent values in whole degrees. Latitude values indicate the angular distance between the Equator and points north or south on the sphere.Ī line of latitude is an imaginary line connecting all the points with same latitude value. The Equator is an imaginary line on the earth’s surface that circles the earth, bisecting the distance between the poles, as shown in the following figure:īecause the Equator lies at midpoint between the poles, it is considered to be at 0 degrees, which makes it the starting point for measuring latitude.

The North and South poles lie at the ends of that axis. It is common knowledge that earth spins on an axis. This figure provides an overview of how we obtain our coordinates in relationship to the earth’s center: What is latitude coordinate? Coordinates are measured in degrees and represent angular distances calculated from the earth’s center. We usually use spatial data to store coordinates, topology, or other data that can be mapped.īecause Earth is a sphere, we use latitude and longitude coordinates to define a location on its surface. Spatial data, also known as geospatial data or geographic information, is data that identifies the geographic location of features and boundaries on Earth. This functionality is also available in Azure SQL Database and Azure Managed Instances as well as all editions of SQL Server. At the same time, Microsoft added the functionality necessary to access and index spatial data, provide cost-based optimizations, and support operations such as the intersection of two spatial objects. Microsoft added support in SQL Server 2008, with the introduction of native spatial data types to represent spatial objects. Database systems such as IBM, DB2, and Oracle have supported spatial data for some time. With the introduction of so many handheld devices that support features such as GPS and maps, the need to store spatial data in a relational database is greater than ever. Introduction to SQL Server Spatial Data - Simple Talk Skip to content
