Dimension of geometries
A geometry can have a dimension value to indicate whether a geometry is empty or the geometry has a length or area.
The dimensions values are as follows:
- -1
- Indicates that a geometry is empty
- 0
- Indicates that a geometry has no length and an area of 0 (zero)
- 1
- Indicates that a geometry has a length larger than 0 (zero) and an area of 0 (zero)
- 2
- Indicates that a geometry has an area that is larger than 0 (zero)
The point and multipoint subtypes have a dimension of zero. Points represent dimensional features that can be modeled with a single tuple of coordinates, while multipoint subtypes represent data that must be modeled with a set of points.
The linestring and multilinestring subtypes have a dimension of one. They store road segments, branching river systems and any other features that are linear in nature.
Polygon and multipolygon subtypes have a dimension of two. Features whose perimeter encloses a definable area, such as forests, parcels of land, and lakes, can be represented by either the polygon or multipolygon data type.