SQL Server spatial queries every GIS developer should know

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Point-in-polygon

The workhorse of land-records systems: which parcel contains this coordinate?

SELECT p.id, p.khasra_no
FROM parcels p
WHERE p.shape.STContains(geometry::Point(74.34, 31.55, 4326)) = 1;

Nearest neighbour

Finding the closest features to a point, efficiently, needs an index-aware pattern rather than sorting the whole table by distance.

Indexing notes

A spatial index is not optional at scale — without one, every query above degrades to a full-table geometry scan.

Closing thoughts placeholder.