STDistance (geography Data Type)

**APPLIES TO:** ![yes](media/yes.png)SQL Server (starting with 2012) ![yes](media/yes.png)Azure SQL Database ![no](media/no.png)Azure SQL Data Warehouse ![no](media/no.png)Parallel Data Warehouse

Returns the shortest distance between a point in a geography instance and a point in another geography instance.

[!NOTE]
STDistance() returns the shortest LineString between two geography types. This is a close approximate to the geodesic distance. The deviation of STDistance() on common earth models from the exact geodesic distance is no more than .25%. This avoids confusion over the subtle differences between length and distance in geodesic types.

Syntax

  
.STDistance ( other_geography )  

Arguments

other_geography
Is another geography instance from which to measure the distance between the instance on which STDistance() is invoked. If other_geography is an empty set, STDistance() returns null.

Return Types

SQL Server return type: float

CLR return type: SqlDouble

Remarks

STDistance() always returns null if the spatial reference IDs (SRIDs) of the geography instances do not match.

[!NOTE]
Methods on the geography data type that calculate an area or distance will return different results based on the SRID of the instance used in the method. For more information about SRIDs, see Spatial Reference Identifiers (SRIDs).

Examples

The following example finds the distance between two geography instances.

DECLARE @g geography;  
DECLARE @h geography;  
SET @g = geography::STGeomFromText('LINESTRING(-122.360 47.656, -122.343 47.656)', 4326);  
SET @h = geography::STGeomFromText('POINT(-122.34900 47.65100)', 4326);  
SELECT @g.STDistance(@h);  

See Also

OGC Methods on Geography Instances