Well Known Binary

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The Well Known Binary format (hereafter WKB) provides a non-textual, binary representation of a geometric shape. It is used to:

  • Allow shapes to be transferred between CockroachDB and a SQL client or application.
  • Provide a portable binary format that can be read across different platforms.

WKB is obtained by serializing a shape as a sequence of numbers. For more detailed information about the structure of the WKB format, see the diagrams showing WKB integer codes in the OpenGIS Implementation Specification for Geographic information - Simple feature access - Part 1: Common architecture.

The Extended Well Known Binary (EWKB) format is the same as WKB, with an SRID representation prepended to the data structure.

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