cartodb-postgresql/doc/CDB_Overviews.md
Javier Goizueta 57c32332e2 New function CDB_CreateOverviewsWithToleranceInPixels
This function allows defining the previously fixed parameter grid_px.
The lim parameter used to define the reference Z level is also
correlated to this value.

Fixes #219
2016-04-04 19:21:10 +02:00

113 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown

Overviews are tables that represent a *reduced* version of a dataset intended
for efficient rendering at certain zoom levels while preserving the
general visual appearance of the complete dataset.
The *reduction* consists in a fewer number of records
(while each overview record may represent an aggregation of multiple records)
and/or simplified record geometries.
Overviews are created through the `CDB_CreateOverviews`.
The statement timeout may need to be adjusted before using this function,
as overview creation for large tables is a time-consuming operation.
The `CDB_Overviews` function can be used determine what overview tables
exist for a given dataset table and which zoom levels correspond to it.
The `CDB_DropOverviews` remove a dataset's existing overviews.
### CDB_CreateOverviews
Create overviews for vector dataset.
#### Using the function
The table for which overviews will be generated should be
a Cartodbfied dataset with vector geometry.
```sql
SELECT CDB_CreateOverviews('table_name');
--- Generates overview tables for the dataset
```
#### Arguments
CDB_CreateOverviews(table_name, ref_z_strategy, reduction_strategy)
* **table_name** regclass, table for which overviews will be generated
* **ref_z_strategy** regproc, optional function that provides
the Z-scale strategy.
It returns the base Z level for the dataset.
It should have these arguments:
- **table_name** regclass, table to compute the reference Z scale for
* **reduction_strategy** regproc, optional function that provides
the reduction strategy to generate an overview table from a table
for a smaller scale (higher Z number).
It returns the name of the generated table.
It should have these arguments:
- **base_table_name** regclass, base table to be reduced.
- **base_z** integer, base Z level assigned to the base table.
- **overview_z** integer, Z level for which to generate the overview.
#### Tolerance / level of detail
The level of detail to be representable by each overview layer can
be specified as a tolerance in pixels (if different from the default of 2 pixels)
with the function `CDB_CreateOverviewsWithToleranceInPixels`
which has as a second additional argument the desired tolerance.
### CDB_Overviews
Obtain overview metadata for a given table (existing overviews).
The returned relation will be empty if the table has no overviews.
The function can be applied to a single table:
```sql
SELECT CDB_Overviews('table_name');
--- Return existing overview Z levels and corresponding tables
```
Or to multiple tables passed as an array; this can be used
to obtain the overviews that can be applied to a query by
combining it with `CDB_QueryTablesText`:
```sql
SELECT CDB_Overviews(CDB_QueryTablesText('SELECT * FROM table1, table2'));
--- Return existing overview Z levels and corresponding tables
```
The result of `CDB_Overviews` has three columns:
| base_table | z | overview_table |
|------------+---+----------------|
| table1 | 1 | table1_ov1 |
| table1 | 2 | table1_ov2 |
| table1 | 4 | table1_ov4 |
| table2 | 1 | table1_ov1 |
| table2 | 2 | table1_ov2 |
#### Arguments
CDB_Overviews(table_name)
* **table_name** regclass, oid of table to obtain existing overviews for
CDB_Overviews(table_names)
* **table_names** regclass[], array of table oids
### CDB_DropOverviews
Remove the overviews of a table, if present.
```sql
SELECT CDB_DropOverviews('table_name');
```
#### Arguments
CDB_Overviews(table_name)
* **table_name** regclass, table for which to drop existing overviews.