Adam Wulkiewicz

What is a spatial index? How does R-tree work? How to create one in C++ and how to use it with geographical data in order to solve a problem on the surface of ellipsoid?

We give answers to these questions and show solutions using utilities provided by Boost.Geometry library, the library that is currently being used to provide GIS support to MySQL. We discuss properties of the R-tree and show differences between variants of this spatial index. This is a practical talk presenting a set of example problems and various solutions to these problems. The complexity and performance of the algorithms is discussed to allow the listener to choose the best solution for a specific purpose.

What are spatial reference systems and how to convert between them? What are various ways of creating transformation representation in Boost.Geometry and how to use them to convert between polygons on the surface of a globe and flat surface of a map?

We discuss solutions to those questions highlighting some of the latest developments in Boost Geometry, the library that is currently being used to provide GIS support to MySQL. The implemented solutions allows to define transformations both in compile-time and run-time with known tradeoffs: execution time vs compilation time, run-time flexibility vs compile-time error reporting, etc. Last but not least we discuss similarities and differences between Boost.Geometry and Proj4 libraries.

Boost.Geometry is a C++ library defining concepts, primitives and algorithms for solving geometry problems. It contains a dimension-agnostic, coordinate-system-agnostic and scalable kernel, on top of which algorithms are built: area, distance, convex hull, intersection, within, simplify and much more. The library contains instantiable geometry classes, but library users can also use their own legacy geometry types. It also contains spatial index allowing to perform spatial and knn queries on a collection of geometries.

Boost.Geometry might be used in all domains where geometry plays a role: mapping and GIS, game development, computer graphics and widgets, robotics, astronomy and more. The core is designed to be generic and support those domains.

This introductory talk will be followed by a talk discussing the use of Boost.Geometry in GIS domain in more detail as it is used for example in MySQL.