Geospatial Reporting

Geospatial reporting is a term used in the database industry. The term comes from a feature built in to Microsoft SQL Server databases that makes it possible to query a database for geographical data. The methodologies of geospatial reporting are derived from the field of geospatial analysis and geomatics,  the study of storing and converting map coordinate data to visual data.  This function is enabled through Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services.

The basic idea in the process of geospatial reporting to convert GIS or other longitude and latitude geographical data to “Well Known Text” data that can be used to create maps where specific locations correlating to data points can be identified.

For example, geospatial reporting could be used to enable an emergency services supervisor to be able to query a 911 database for the geographical location of various types of incidents across a city or county, or for a utility company employee to be able to query a database to locate all of the recent water main leaks in a specific neighborhood or in the entire city.

Geospatial reporting in essence turns static, limited value geographic data into dynamic data that can be mapped onto other data to create maps and related graphics that can be usefully applied to a variety of tasks.