Using duckdb spatial module from R (with sf)?

The internal binary format is very similar to the one used by PostGIS -

I think you probably want ST_AsWKB() (almost certainly faster than hex).
The raw result looks like the internal geometry representation which is
probably something more like lwgeom's serialized form than WKB.
As far as I know, they have not yet implemented spatial index or
prepared
geometry support; however, plug-and-chug computations like length, area,
and distance are likely to be much faster (if you turn on threading).
I haven't played with it much yet but am looking forward to it!

-dewey

library(duckdb)
#> Loading required package: DBI

conn <- DBI::dbConnect(duckdb::duckdb())
# status <- DBI::dbExecute(conn, "INSTALL 'spatial';")
status <- DBI::dbExecute(conn, "LOAD 'spatial';")

test <- data.frame(site = letters[1:10], latitude = 1:10, longitude =
1:10)
DBI::dbWriteTable(conn, "test", test)

# Ok, let's try and make a geometry column
query <- paste(
   'SELECT *, ST_AsWKB(ST_Point(longitude, latitude)) AS geom',
   'FROM "test"'
)

sf::st_read(conn, query = query, geometry_column = "geom", EWKB = FALSE)
#> Simple feature collection with 10 features and 3 fields
#> Geometry type: POINT
#> Dimension:     XY
#> Bounding box:  xmin: 1 ymin: 1 xmax: 10 ymax: 10
#> CRS:           NA
#>    site latitude longitude          geom
#> 1     a        1         1   POINT (1 1)
#> 2     b        2         2   POINT (2 2)
#> 3     c        3         3   POINT (3 3)
#> 4     d        4         4   POINT (4 4)
#> 5     e        5         5   POINT (5 5)
#> 6     f        6         6   POINT (6 6)
#> 7     g        7         7   POINT (7 7)
#> 8     h        8         8   POINT (8 8)
#> 9     i        9         9   POINT (9 9)
#> 10    j       10        10 POINT (10 10)

On 2023-08-15 20:02, Carl Boettiger wrote:

Hi folks,


I'm curious if anyone has explored the relatively new spatial
extension in duckdb (https://duckdb.org/docs/extensions/spatial.html)
or has any pointers/tutorials regarding its use from R?

Consider the following minimal example that seeks to use the sf
library to speak to duckdb:

  library(duckdb)
  library(sf)
  conn <- DBI::dbConnect(duckdb::duckdb())
  status <- DBI::dbExecute(conn, "INSTALL 'spatial';")
  status <- DBI::dbExecute(conn, "LOAD 'spatial';")

  test <- data.frame(site = letters[1:10], latitude = 1:10, longitude =
1:10)
  DBI::dbWriteTable(conn, "test", test)

# Ok, let's try and make a geometry column
  query <- paste(
    'SELECT *, ST_Point(longitude, latitude) AS geom',
    'FROM "test"'
  )

  ex <- st_read(con, query=query, geometry_column = "geom")
  ## error: reading wkb type 0 is not supported


  ex <- st_read(con, query=query, geometry_column = "geom", EWKB =
FALSE)
  ## prints: wkbType: 1572864
  ## Error in CPL_read_wkb(x, EWKB, spatialite) : unsupported wkbType
dim in switch

 We seem to get closer than I might have hoped (sf doesn't just insist
that conn isn't postgresgis), but is getting stuck on the encoding of
the wkb.  Is this something we can work around?  The queries seem to
run successfully, I just seem to be getting some unsupported ecoding
of the WKB geometry column....

---
Carl Boettiger
http://carlboettiger.info/