ArcSDE compressed binary storage

The ArcSDE Compressed Binary storage type uses a binary storage mechanism for storing feature geometry.

The client application, after verifying the geometry, compresses and sends it to the server, where it is stored in Compressed Binary format in a feature table, or F table. Compressing the geometry on the client unloads the task from the server and reduces the transmission time to send the geometry. It also offers efficient storage and retrieval of spatial data by reducing the space required to store data by as much as 40 percent.

The ArcSDE Compressed Binary storage type can be used to store geometry in enterprise geodatabases in Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server databases.

A compressed binary feature class is made up of three tables: the business table, feature table, and spatial index table.

The business table contains attributes and a spatial column. The spatial column is a key to the feature and spatial index tables.

The relationship between the business table and feature table is managed through the spatial column and the feature ID (FID) column. This key, which is maintained by ArcSDE, is unique.

For further description of feature classes stored in the ArcSDE Compressed Binary format, see Feature classes in a geodatabase in SQL Server and Feature classes in a geodatabase in Oracle.

ArcSDE Compressed Binary in SQL Server

In ArcGIS 9.3 and lower releases, ArcSDE Compressed Binary storage in SQL Server is stored as an image data type. New data created using ArcSDE Compressed Binary storage in SQL Server at ArcGIS 10 and later releases is stored as a varbinary(max) data type.

The DBTUNE table parameter GEOMETRY_STORAGE defines the geometry storage format of a feature class. By default, the GEOMETRY_STORAGE parameter is set to Microsoft's Geometry storage type.

You can change the default GEOMETRY_STORAGE in a geodatabase in SQL Server to use ArcSDE Compressed Binary storage (SDEBINARY), Microsoft's Geography spatial type, or the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Well-Known Binary storage data type (OGCWKB). For a description of these data types, see ArcSDE and the Microsoft spatial types and The OGC Well-Known Binary representation for geometry.

If you want to create only some of your feature classes with ArcSDE Compressed Binary, you could create a configuration keyword to specify when you create specific feature classes. For example, a custom keyword created for SDEBINARY storage could have the following parameters:

##SDEBINARY

GEOMETRY_STORAGE "SDEBINARY"

UI_TEXT ""

COMMENT "Used to create feature classes with SDEBINARY geometry storage"

END

For information on creating DBTUNE keywords, see Custom configuration keywords.

8/21/2013