<listitem>
<para>Returns 1 (TRUE) if Geometry A is "spatially
- within" Geometry B.</para>
+ within" Geometry B. A has to be completely inside B.</para>
<para>Performed by the GEOS module</para>
Geometry. The optional third parameter sets the number of
segment used to approximate a quarter circle (defaults to 8).</para>
- <para>Performed by the GEOS module</para>
+ <para>Performed by the GEOS module.</para>
<para>OGC SPEC s2.1.1.3</para>
</listitem>
<term>ST_ConvexHull(geometry)</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Returns a geometry that represents the convex hull of this
- Geometry.</para>
-
+ <para>The convex hull of a geometry represents the minimum closed geometry that encloses all geometries within the set. </para>
+ <para>It is usually used with MULTI and Geometry Collections. Although it is not an aggregate - you can use it in conjunction with ST_Collect to get the convex hull of a set of points. ST_ConvexHull(ST_Collect(somepointfield)). It is often used to determine an affected area based on a set of point observations.
+ </para>
+ <programlisting>SELECT d.disease_type, ST_ConvexHull(ST_Collect(d.the_geom)) As the_geom
+ FROM disease_obs As d
+ GROUP BY d.disease_type</programlisting>
+
<para>Performed by the GEOS module</para>
<para>OGC SPEC s2.1.1.3</para>
<listitem>
<para>Returns a geometry that represents the point set
- intersection of the Geometries.</para>
+ intersection of the Geometries. </para>
+ <para>In other words - that portion of geometry A and geometry B that is shared between the two geometries.</para>
<para>Performed by the GEOS module</para>
<para>OGC SPEC s2.1.1.3</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>ST_Shift_Longitude(geometry)</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Reads every point/vertex in every component of every feature in a geometry, and if the longitude coordinate is <0, adds 360 to it. The result would be a 0-360 version of the data to be plotted in a 180 centric map</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>ST_SymDifference(geometry A, geometry B)</term>
<para>OGC SPEC s2.1.1.3</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>ST_Union(geometry, geometry)</term>
<term>ST_ConvexHull</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Return the convex hull of the ST_Geometry value.</para>
+ <para>The convex hull of a geometry represents the minimum geometry that encloses all geometries within the set. </para>
+ <para>It is usually used with MULTI and Geometry Collections. Although it is not an aggregate - you can use it in conjunction with ST_Collect to get the convex hull of a set of points. ST_ConvexHull(ST_Collect(somepointfield)). It is often used to determine an affected area based on a set of point observations.
+ </para>
<para>SQL-MM 3: 5.1.16</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Return an ST_Geometry value that represents the point set
intersection of two ST_Geometry values.</para>
+ <para>In other words - that portion of geometry A and geometry B that is shared between the two geometries.</para>
<para>SQL-MM 3: 5.1.18</para>
</listitem>