Setting up Db2 Spatial Extender

This procedure describes the steps that you should perform to set up Db2 Spatial Extender.

Procedure

To set up Db2 Spatial Extender:

  1. Plan and make preparations (decide what projects to create, decide what interface or interfaces to use, select personnel to administer Db2 Spatial Extender and create the projects, and so on).
  2. Install Db2 Spatial Extender.
  3. Review your database configuration parameter settings and adjust them if necessary. You must ensure that your database has enough memory and space for spatial functions, log files, and Db2 Spatial Extender applications.
  4. Set up spatial resources for your database. These resources include a system catalog, spatial data types, spatial functions, a geocoder, and other objects.
    For more information, see Enabling a database for spatial operationsEnabling a database for spatial operations.

Example

The following example shows the steps performed by a fictional company, called Safe Harbor Real Estate Insurance Company, to set up Db2 Spatial Extender:
  1. The Safe Harbor Real Estate Insurance Company's information systems environment includes a Db2 database system and a separate file system for spatial data only. To an extent, query results can include combinations of data from both systems.

    For example, a Db2 table stores information about revenue, and a file in the file system contains locations of the company's branch offices. Therefore, it is possible to find out which offices bring in revenues of specified amounts, and then to determine where these offices are located. But data from the two systems cannot be integrated (for example, users cannot join Db2 columns with file system records, and Db2 services such as query optimization are unavailable to the file system.)

    To overcome these disadvantages, Safe Harbor acquires Db2 Spatial Extender and establishes a new Spatial Development department (called a Spatial department, for short).

    The Spatial department's first mission is to include Db2 Spatial Extender in Safe Harbor's Db2 environment:
    • The department's management team appoints a spatial administration team to install and implement Db2 Spatial Extender, and a spatial analysis team to generate and analyze spatial information.
    • Because the administration team has a strong UNIX® background, it decides to use the db2se CLP to administer Db2 Spatial Extender.
    • Because Safe Harbor's business decisions are driven primarily by customers' requirements, the management team decides to install Db2 Spatial Extender in the database that contains information about its customers. Most of this information is stored in a table called CUSTOMERS. The CUSTOMERS table has LATITUDE and LONGITUDE columns that were populated as part of the address cleansing process.
  2. The spatial administration team installs Db2 Spatial Extender on a Db2 environment UNIX.
  3. A member of the spatial administration team adjusts the transaction log characteristics, application heap size, and application control heap size to values suited to the requirements for Db2 Spatial Extender.
  4. The spatial administration team sets up resources that will be required by the projects that it is planning.
    • A member of the team issues the db2se enable_db command to obtain the resources that enable the database for spatial operations. These resources include the Db2 Spatial Extender catalog, spatial data types, spatial functions, and so on.

What to do next

After setting up Db2 Spatial Extender, you can start creating projects that use spatial data.