Next Version of SQL Server to Include Support for Geospatial Data

Update 5/10: We’ve contacted Microsoft on this matter, but in the mean time the Virtual Earth guys share what’s shareable (below). Interestingly, they note it was announced today; it was announced yesterday, according to our sources and the press release.

There are Community Preview and early alpha builds being tested outside of Microsoft right now, but if you aren’t testing there is limited information that has been made public. Here are a few bullets that are OK to share at this point -

Spatial will be supported in the next release of SQL Server (code named Katmai) as system data types
Katmai is scheduled to ship in 2008 and will most likely be called SQL Server 2008
Katmai spatial will support two models: a “Flat Earth” planar data type and a “Round Earth” geodetic data type
The Flat Earth data type (GEOMETRY) will support the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Simple Features for SQL Specification with support for approximately 70 spatial methods/functions
There will be spatial indexes for both planar and geodetic data types

—original post—5/9/07

Some news is beginning to filter out about the next version of Microsoft SQL Server, code named "Katmai." It’s expected in 2008. In a press release today, Microsoft specifically indicated that geographic information would be supported. Not much additional information was released but the news about support for geospatial data types is long overdue. See more information about the other SQL Server functionality at the Katmai homepage.