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ST_DISTANCE ​

Returns the minimum geodesic distance between two GEOGRAPHY objects in meters.

By default, the calculation is performed on the spheroid defined by the SRID. If use_spheroid is set to FALSE, a faster spherical calculation is used instead.

See also:

Syntax ​

sql
ST_DISTANCE(<a>, <b>, <use_spheroid> = true)

Arguments ​

  • <a> and <b>: The two GEOGRAPHY objects to measure the distance between
  • <use_spheroid>: An optional boolean to control the calculation mode:
    • TRUE (default): Uses the spheroidal model for higher precision
    • FALSE: Uses the spherical model for faster computation

Returns ​

Returns a FLOAT8 value representing the distance in meters between the two GEOGRAPHY objects. Returns NULL if the calculation is not possible.

Example ​

sql
SELECT ST_Distance('POINT(0 0)'::GEOGRAPHY, 'POINT(1 1)'::GEOGRAPHY);
-- 156899.56829134

SELECT ST_Distance('POINT(0 0)'::GEOGRAPHY, 'POINT(1 1)'::GEOGRAPHY, false);
-- 157249.597768505