4 Loading Spatial Data

This chapter describes how to load spatial data into a database, including storing the data in a table with a column of type SDO_GEOMETRY.

After you have loaded spatial data, you can create a spatial index for it and perform queries on it.

The process of loading data can be classified into two categories:

• Bulk loading of data

  This process is used to load large volumes of data into the database and uses the SQL*Loader utility to load the data.

• Transactional insert operations

  This process is typically used to insert relatively small amounts of data into the database using the INSERT statement in SQL.

• Bulk Loading
  Bulk loading can import large amounts of data into an Oracle database.
• Transactional Insert Operations Using SQL
  Oracle Spatial uses standard Oracle tables that can be accessed or loaded with standard SQL syntax. This topic contains examples of transactional insertions into columns of type SDO_GEOMETRY. This process is typically used to add relatively small amounts of data into the database.
• Recommendations for Loading and Validating Spatial Data
  You should validate all geometry data, and fix any validation errors, before performing any spatial operations on the data.