Description:

A spatial filter defines the envelope for a spatial query. The envelope can be a rectangle, point, line, polygon, or buffer.

Restrictions:

• One ENVELOPE, POLYLINE, POLYGON, or MULTIPOINT element is required. Only one of these elements can be used.
• Using MULTIPOINT as a filter against a point or line layer will yield no results. Instead, a small envelope should be generated around this point. The envelope can then be used as the filter. Similarly, POLYLINE used against a point will yield no results. If desired, an envelope can be generated around the line for use as a filter.

Notes:

• When "area_intersection" is used with relation, all features that partially or fully fall within the area of the filter are selected. This results in a complex operation that can take some time. To speed up processing, "envelope_intersection" can be used instead. This method checks to see if the bounding box of the filter overlaps any bounding boxes of the features in the layer. A much quicker search results, but the features found could fall outside the area of the filter. In the examples below, an oval shape is used as the filter. When "envelope_intersection" is used, features outside the filter can be selected even though they are far outside the filter.
  
  

  Shape of spatial filter to select points	Points selected when relation="area_intersection"	Points selected when relation="envelope_intersection"
  Shape of spatial filter to select polygons	No polygons are selected when relation="area_intersection"	Polygon is selected when relation="envelope_intersection"

Attribute Descriptions for SPATIALFILTER:

Examples for SPATIALFILTER: