my $area = geom_to_sql @points; my $sqlquery = <<_Q; SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE MBRIntersects(area, $area) _Q
Since release 4.1, mySQL supports geometry columns. The OpenGIS standard already defined the syntax for the extension back in 1999, but it only started to emerge in mySQL during 2004.
This module will try to work around missing features and problems which are found in the current mySQL implementation. Probably, the native mySQL C-library should support these new columns, but for now: let's try to make it work in the first place.
The DBD::mysql::Geom package will get tied into the database record, hopefully in the near future. DBD::mysql::WKT is able to handle the Well Known Text representation of the geometric data. It can translate the geometry data back and forward between the mySQL representation and Geo::Shape structures (which are based on Math::Polygon).