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Extending Informix®
Beyond standard relational database objects, HCL Informix® can be extended to handle specialized data types, access methods, routines, and other objects. Informix includes many built-in extensions that are fully integrated in the database server. Informix also provides DataBlade® modules, which are packages of extended database objects for a particular purpose and that are installed separately from the database server. Alternatively, you can create your own user-defined objects for Informix.
Informix® extensions and DataBlade® modules
These topics describe how to use built-in database extensions and separately installed DataBlade® modules.
Spatial Data User's Guide
The contains information to assist you in using the Informix® spatial extension. The Informix spatial extension adds custom data types and supporting routines to the server.
Getting started with spatial data
The Informix® spatial solution embeds a geographic information system (GIS) within the Informix database server. The Informix spatial data types integrate spatial and non-spatial data, providing a seamless point of access using SQL (Structured Query Language).

Extending Informix®
Beyond standard relational database objects, HCL Informix® can be extended to handle specialized data types, access methods, routines, and other objects. Informix includes many built-in extensions that are fully integrated in the database server. Informix also provides DataBlade® modules, which are packages of extended database objects for a particular purpose and that are installed separately from the database server. Alternatively, you can create your own user-defined objects for Informix.
- Informix® extensions and DataBlade® modules
  These topics describe how to use built-in database extensions and separately installed DataBlade® modules.
  - Database Extensions User's Guide
    The Informix® Database Extensions User's Guide explains how to use the database extensions that come with HCL Informix: Large Object Locator, MQ messaging, binary data types, basic text search, node data type, and SQL packages.
  - Performing XML Publishing
    The Informix® XML User's Guide includes information about using built-in functions for XML publishing with Informix.
  - Spatial Data User's Guide
    The contains information to assist you in using the Informix® spatial extension. The Informix spatial extension adds custom data types and supporting routines to the server.
    - Getting started with spatial data
      The Informix® spatial solution embeds a geographic information system (GIS) within the Informix database server. The Informix spatial data types integrate spatial and non-spatial data, providing a seamless point of access using SQL (Structured Query Language).
      - Overview of spatial data
        The properties of spatial data include the type of spatial object, or geometry, the geographic area where the object is located, and whether the location of the object is measured in angular or linear units.
      - Informix® spatial solution architecture
        You can create tables that contain Informix® spatial data type columns. You can insert and store geographic features in the spatial columns.
      - Preparing for spatial data
        Before you load spatial data, you must prepare the database server for spatial data.
      - Loading spatial data
        After you prepare for spatial data, you can load data into the spatial table. The method for loading depends on the type and amount of data. Some loading methods automatically create an association between the spatial table and a spatial reference system in the geometry_columns table and create a spatial index. Otherwise, you must create the association and the index manually.
      - Query spatial data
        A common task in a GIS application is to retrieve the visible subset of spatial data for display in a window.
      - Update values in a spatial column
        You run the SQL UPDATE statement to alter the values in a spatial column in the same way that you update any other type of column. Typically, you must retrieve spatial column data from the table, alter the data in a client application, and then return the data to the database.
    - Spatial data types
      Informix® spatial data types are divided into two categories: the base geometry subclasses and the homogeneous collection subclasses.
    - Data exchange formats
      You can use several different GIS data exchange formats for spatial data.
    - R-tree indexes
      An index organizes access to data so that entries can be found quickly, without searching every row. The R-tree access method enables you to index multidimensional objects.
    - Run parallel queries
      Running queries in parallel distributes the work for one aspect of a query among several processors and can dramatically improve performance.
    - Estimate your spatial data
      The total amount of space you need for spatial data is equal to the size of spatial tables plus the size of the spatial indexes.
    - Spatial functions
      Use specific spatial data type functions to perform operations on spatial data.
    - Spatial Java™ API
      The spatial Java™ API enables Java applications to access geometry features that are stored in databases that contain spatial data. The spatial Java API provides classes to work with spatial objects from Java client-side programs. The client-side objects are called value objects. Spatial value objects can also be created and examined by Java methods that parallel some of the spatial data functions.
    - Appendixes
  - Spatiotemporal Search for Moving Objects User's Guide
    The describes how to program applications to search data from moving objects in HCL Informix® databases using the spatiotemporal search extension.
  - TimeSeries Data User's Guide
    The Informix® TimeSeries Data User's Guide contains information to assist you in using the TimeSeries extension with HCL Informix.
- Creating extensions
  You can create user-defined data types, routines, access methods, and other database objects to suit your needs. You can use application programming interfaces to write user-defined routines and applications that access data in Informix® databases.

Getting started with spatial data

The Informix® spatial solution embeds a geographic information system (GIS) within the Informix® database server. The Informix® spatial data types integrate spatial and non-spatial data, providing a seamless point of access using SQL (Structured Query Language).

Informix® spatial data types implement the OpenGIS Consortium, Inc. (OpenGIS, or OGC) SQL3 specification of abstract data types (ADTs). These data types can store spatial data such as the location of a landmark, a street, or a parcel of land. Informix® spatial data types also conform to the OpenGIS Simple Features Specification for SQL Revision 1.1 and the ISO/IEC 13249-3 SQL/MM Part 3: Spatial. The Informix® Spatial solution is based on the ESRI SDE 10.2 Shape and PE libraries.

You use specialized spatial data type functions to compare the values in spatial columns to determine whether the values intersect, overlap, or are related in different ways. These functions can answer questions like, Is this school within 5 miles of a hazardous waste site? An application programmer can use an SQL query to join a table that stores sensitive sites such as schools, playgrounds, and hospitals to another table that contains the locations of hazardous sites and return a list of sensitive areas at risk. For example, the following figure shows that a school and hospital lie within the 5-mile radius of two hazardous site locations and the nursing home lies safely outside both radii.

The graphic is described in the surrounding text. — Figure 1. Determining whether sensitive sites are within dangerous areas

You use the ST_Overlaps() function to evaluate whether the polygon that represents the building footprint of the school overlaps the circular polygon that represents the 5-mile radius of a hazardous waste site. The building footprints of the school, hospital, and nursing home are stored in the ST_Polygon data type and the location of each hazardous waste site is stored in an ST_Point data type.