About importing spatial data

You can use IBM® Spatial Support for Db2 for z/OS® to import spatial data from external data sources.

More precisely, you can import spatial data from external sources by transferring it to your database in files, called data exchange files. This section suggests some of the reasons for importing spatial data, and describes the nature of the data exchange files that IBM Spatial Support for Db2 for z/OS supports.

Reasons for importing spatial data

By importing spatial data, you can obtain a great deal of spatial information that is already available in the industry. Consider the following scenario.

Your database contains spatial data that represents your sales offices, customers, and other business concerns. You want to supplement this data with spatial data that represents your organization's cultural environment—cities, streets, points of interest, and so on. The data that you want is available from a map vendor. You can use IBM Spatial Support for Db2 for z/OS to import it from a data exchange file that the vendor supplies. You must place the input files in an HFS directory.

Shape files

IBM Spatial Support for Db2 for z/OS supports importing shape files. The term shape file refers to a collection of files with the same file name but different file extensions. The collection can include up to four files. The files are:
  • A file that contains spatial data in shape format, an industry-standard format developed by ESRI. Such data is often called shape data. The extension of a file containing shape data is .shp.
  • A file that contains business data that pertains to locations defined by shape data. This file's extension is .dbf. The content of the .dbf file is ASCII data.
  • A file that contains an index to shape data. This file's extension is .shx.
  • A file that contains a specification of the coordinate system on which the data in a .shp file is based. This file's extension is .prj.

When you use IBM Spatial Support for Db2 for z/OS to import shape data, you receive at least one .shp file. In most cases, you receive one or more of the other three kinds of shape files as well.