topic Re: Spatial Queries in Get Started Discussions

Spatial Queries

GMB — Fri, 17 May 2024 11:55:02 GMT

Hi,

I'm trying to execute the following code:

%sql

SELECT LSOA21CD,

ST_X(ST_GeomFromWKB(Geom_Varbinary)) AS STX,

ST_Y(ST_GeomFromWKB(Geom_Varbinary)) AS STY

FROM ordnance_survey_lsoas_december_2021_population_weighted_centroids

WHERE LSOA21CD = 'E01029645'
And get the following error:
AnalysisException: [ST_NOT_ENABLED] st_x is disabled or unsupported. Consider enabling Photon or switch to a tier that supports ST expressions
I've enabled Photon but that doesn't resolve the issue. Cluster is defined as below:

Policy - Shared Compute
Access mode - Shared
Databricks Runtime Version - 14.2 (includes Apache Spark 3.5.0, Scala 2.12)
Worker type - Standard_D8ads_v5
Unity Catalog Enabled
Extra
1-5 Workers - 32-160 GB Memory, 8-40 Cores
1 Driver - 32 GB Memory, 8 Cores

Re: Spatial Queries

anardinelli — Fri, 17 May 2024 13:49:06 GMT

Hello @GMB , how are you?

The "st_x" function is part of the spatial expressions supported in Photon-enabled Databricks Runtime 14.2 with the Private Preview enabled.

Here are the steps you can follow:

Ensure that you're using a Photon-enabled Databricks cluster. If not, you might need to switch to a Photon-enabled cluster.
Check if the Private Preview is enabled in your workspace. If not, you might need to enable it.
Once you have a Photon-enabled cluster and the Private Preview enabled, you should be able to use the "st_x" function.

To participate on the Private Preview, your account team will need to nominate you first, then you will need to approve the Private Preview Terms of Service.

Can you please check with your SA or Account's Manager to see whether you can join?

Best,

Alessandro

Re: Spatial Queries

GMB — Fri, 17 May 2024 14:05:14 GMT

Are there any alternative options without enabling Private Preview?

Re: Spatial Queries

g_daems_vmm — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 12:58:37 GMT

we also need this function without the private preview, any solutions?

Re: Spatial Queries

Corar — Mon, 19 May 2025 12:24:25 GMT

How is the status of ST_X support in databricks, since we did not find any further information. We are using Azure Databricks, function appear in the functions list, but do not work even with Photon enabled? How could we get into the preview, if this still exists.

Re: Spatial Queries

ivan-kurchenko — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 09:35:06 GMT

@Corar You might want to enable that explicitly by setting 'spark.databricks.geo.st.enabled' configuration to value 'true'.