Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Black Art Of Spatial Index Tuning In SQL Server

For my inaugural blog post I have decided to discuss some investigations I have been making recently into tuning spatial indexes in SQL Server.

I have found that while there is a lot of information on teh interwebs about the theory of SQL Server spatial indexes, and the utilities that can be used to tune them, there is very little guidance on what spatial index settings are best suited for different data scenarios, and there is only limited information about the characteristics to consider when tuning these indexes.

As an attempt to provide some guidance I have investigated configuring and tuning spatial indexes on three different spatial data sets which I have discussed as case studies, but before jumping straight into these I think it would be wise to discuss some background aspects to spatial indexing in SQL Server.