scope:

This part of ISO/IEC 13249 a) introduces the Spatial part of ISO/IEC 13249, b) gives the references necessary for this part of ISO/IEC 13249, c) defines notations and conventions specific to this part of ISO/IEC 13249, d) defines concepts specific to this part of ISO/IEC 13249, e) defines spatial user-defined types and their associated routines. The spatial user-defined types defined in this part of ISO/IEC 13249 adhere to the following. - A spatial user-defined type is generic to spatial data handling. It addresses the need to store, manage and retrieve information based on aspects of spatial data such as geometry, location and topology. - A spatial user-defined type does not redefine the database language SQL directly or in combination with another spatial data type. Implementations of this part of ISO/IEC 13249 may exist in environments that also support geographic information, decision support, data mining and data warehousing systems. Application areas addressed by implementations of this part of ISO/IEC 13249 include, but are not restricted to, automated mapping, desktop mapping, facilities management, geoengineering, graphics, location based services, multimedia and resource management applications.