Richard Lynch wrote: >> >> OK, what is a 'geometry column' and what is a 'spatial index' ? > > Imagine a single column combining both longitude and latitude. > > Now imagine an index that "knows" about long/lat, and keeps > geographically "close" objects sorted in the index for you. > > Including "knowing" about the 180 <-> -180 degree wrap-around. > (Or 360 === 0 wrap-around in the other geo-system.) > > So when you ask for "theme parks near Zurich" your DB can answer in > milliseconds instead of minutes.
Thanks Richard - I thought Nathan was talking about an abstract concept, not something "real". So, back the Nathans suggestion: > Back on the mysql side of things, try using geometry columns rather > than numerical primary keys, with spatial indexes.. it's a MASSIVE > performance upgrade (I've cut 5 second queries down to 0.005 by > using geo columns) Is this worth a try? Have others tried this? /Per Jessen, Zürich -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
