Preface

Oracle Spatial GeoRaster provides usage and reference information for the GeoRaster feature of Oracle Spatial, referred to in this guide as GeoRaster. GeoRaster lets you store, index, query, analyze, and deliver GeoRaster data, that is, raster image and gridded data and its associated metadata. GeoRaster provides Oracle Spatial data types and an object-relational schema. You can use these data types and schema objects to store multidimensional grid layers and digital images that can be referenced to positions on the Earth's surface or a local coordinate system.

GeoRaster is not a separate product. It is available when you install Oracle Spatial.

Note: To use GeoRaster, you must understand the main concepts, data types, techniques, operators, procedures, and functions of Oracle Spatial, which are documented in Oracle Spatial User's Guide and Reference.

This preface contains these topics:

• Audience

• Documentation Accessibility

• Organization

• Related Documentation

• Conventions

Audience

This guide is intended for anyone who needs to store GeoRaster data in an Oracle database.

You should be familiar with Oracle Spatial, PL/SQL programming, and Oracle object-relational technology.

You should also be familiar with raster concepts and terminology, techniques for capturing or creating raster data, and techniques for processing raster data. For example, this guide mentions that data can be georeferenced if it is georectified; however, it does not explain the process of georectification or the challenges and techniques involved.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For additional information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

JAWS, a Windows screen reader, may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, JAWS may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

Organization

This guide contains conceptual, usage, and reference information. It has the following elements.

Chapter 1, " GeoRaster Overview and Concepts"

Introduces GeoRaster concepts, including the data model and physical storage model.

Chapter 2, " GeoRaster Data Types and Related Structures"

Explains the object-relational schema associated with GeoRaster.

Chapter 3, " GeoRaster Operations"

Explains the main operations that you can perform using GeoRaster.

Chapter 4, " SDO_GEOR Package Reference"

Provides reference information about the functions and procedures in the SDO_GEOR package.

Chapter 5, " SDO_GEOR_UTL Package Reference"

Provides reference information about the functions and procedures in the SDO_GEOR_UTL (utility) package.

Appendix A, " GeoRaster Metadata XML Schema"

Provides the XML schema definition of the GeoRaster metadata.

Related Documentation

For more information, see the following document:

• Oracle Spatial User's Guide and Reference

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If you already have a username and password for OTN, then you can go directly to the documentation section of the OTN Web site at

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Conventions

In examples, an implied carriage return occurs at the end of each line, unless otherwise noted. You must press the Return key at the end of a line of input.

The following conventions are used in this guide:

Convention	Meaning
. . .	Vertical ellipsis points in an example mean that information not directly related to the example has been omitted.
. . .	Horizontal ellipsis points in statements or commands mean that parts of the statement or command not directly related to the example have been omitted.
boldface text	Boldface text indicates a term defined in the text.
monospace text	Monospace text is used for the names of parameters, files, and directory paths. It is also used for SQL and PL/SQL code examples.
italic text	Italic text is used for book titles, emphasis, and some special terms.
< >	Angle brackets enclose user-supplied names.
[ ]	Brackets enclose optional clauses from which you can choose one or none.