What is Oracle Spatial?

Oracle Spatial is an extension to the Oracle database management system (DBMS) that adds a spatial type and spatial query functions to Oracle. It is offered by Oracle using two primary options.

Oracle Spatial shares duplicate functionality with many geographic information systems including ArcGIS. The primary way in which most ArcGIS users apply Oracle Spatial is as an optional mechanism for geodatabase storage and access in an Oracle DBMS. Essentially, one of the choices that ArcGIS users can make each time they create a new feature class or raster dataset in a geodatabase in Oracle is how to store feature or raster geometry—they can use either the geodatabase or the Oracle Spatial data storage options.

ArcSDE supports Oracle Spatial's Object Relational Model as an optional method to store spatial data. Specifically, Oracle Spatial or Locator geometry can be used to store and manage the feature and raster contents of datasets within ArcSDE geodatabases.

An overview of Oracle Spatial data storage

Oracle Spatial provides a spatial geometry type (MDSYS.SDO_GEOMETRY), spatial metadata schema, indexing methods, functions, and implementation rules, which are described below.

NoteNote:

Oracle Locator is a subset of Oracle Spatial. Oracle Locator includes the SDO_GEOMETRY data type along with some of the functionality provided with Oracle Spatial. Oracle Locator can be used with ArcSDE. Refer to Oracle's documentation for an explanation of the difference between Oracle Spatial and Oracle Locator. Throughout this topic, "Oracle Locator" can be used in place of references to "Oracle Spatial."


11/18/2013