Spatial Object Type Documentation

[_richardr]

I can't seem to find any comprehensive documentation on the Spatial Object Types, is there a reference?

From using the Spatial Info tool I have found; Points, Lines, Polygons, and PolyPolyLines.  Are there more object types?  I imagine maybe Multi-Points and PolyPloygons?

I would like to see each described with details on how they are built and stored.  It would also be nice to have a sample YXDB with an example of each of these types.

[CharlieS]

@_richardr

"Point", "Polygon", and "Line" are the three principal types of SpatialObj fields in Alteryx. If there are multiple objects within that field, then the most complex object will determine the type (If a line and Polygon are in a single object, it will be a polygon). Use the Map Input tool to draw some test objects if you'd like.

You can determine the spatial field type using the ST_ObjectType( function in a formula tool. The output will be a string field type:

ST_ObjectType([SpatialObj])

The Spatial Analytics Interactive Lessons here on the Community has some great material on this subject:

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Interactive-Lessons/tkb-p/interactive-lessons/label-name/Spatial%20...

[_richardr]

I'm not looking to watch videos/lessons or throw tests at tools to figure out how they work.  I want Alteryx to tell me exactly how their product functions; expected inputs, expected outputs, formats, etc.  I realize I can reverse engineer tools and determine how they work but that is a waste of time and is not 100% reliable.

A useful piece of documentation would say "the Spatial Info tool (ST_ObjectType) can output the following (n) object type strings; Point, Line, Polygon, PolyPolyLine, None, A, B or C"  Then explain what each of these outputs represent.

Simply stating, as in the current documentation, "Returns the spatial object type as a string value. (string data value)" is next to worthless.

Thank you for your insight, don't let my frustration with Alteryx rub off on you, I appreciate that you took the time to help.

[StephenR]

What are you trying to do that is leading to this question? The spatial objects are stored as a geoJSON which can be exposed if you use a select tool to convert the spatialobj type to a string type.

[_richardr]

I have made a macro, for general use, that converts spatial object to a particular format based on the Spatial Object Type.  I just don't want to have to continue to modify the macro if a new, to me/the process, object type comes along.  Thus a definitive list of all possible object types would be handy.

[StephenR]

It should be point, multi-point, line, polyline, polygon, multi-polygon. That's off the top of my head, so you might need to check the nomenclature, but you won't have more than 6 possibilities.

[_richardr]

First off, using a select to convert a SpatialObj to String was a great tip on exposing the format of the data type.  So thanks for that!

But you do realize I am not looking for an off the top of my head guess (I can do that).  I want definitive documentation.

You missed PolyPolyLine and None. My count, including your list, is 8 possibilities.  See the problem here?  No one, except Alteryx, knows the actual answer.

Also, can you confirm that those the proper spellings?  And do you have a sample of a multi-polygon, polyline and multi-point object I can test on?

[StephenR]

@AdamR_AYX, do you have a list of Alteryx spatial object types?

[_richardr]

For reference here are ESRI's shapfile object/shape types.

Value Shape Type
Null Shape
Point
PolyLine
Polygon
MultiPoint
PointZ
PolyLineZ
PolygonZ
MultiPointZ
PointM
PolyLineM
PolygonM
MultiPointM
MultiPatch

That level documentation is what I expect from Alteryx.

[_richardr · Accepted solution]

Downloading test shape files from GDAL I was able to determine the following...

	ESRI Shape	Alteryx SpatialObj Name	Alteryx geoJSON Type	ObjType	Alteryx KML
1	Point	Point	Point	Point	<Point>
2	MultiPoint	MultiPoint	MultiPoint	MultiPoint	<MultiGeometry><Point>
3	Line	Line	LineString	Line	<LineString>
4	MultiLine	PloyPolyLine	MultiLineString	PolyPloyLine	<MultiGeometry><LineString>
5	Polygon	Polygon	Polygon	Polygon	<Polygon>
6	MultiPoly	Polygon	MultiPolygon	Polygon	<MultiGeometry><Polygon>
7	Null	Null		None

One surprise is that Alteryx reports both Polygon and MultiPolygon as just Polygon.  That seems like an error to me because they should be handled differently. 

I am still not sure this is an exhaustive list so I am not marking this as solved.