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 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, multimedia, and resource management applications.