Changes between Version 2 and Version 3 of UserWikiRandomPoint

Timestamp:

06/07/11 05:11:39 (13 years ago)

Author:

Mike Taves

Comment:

add set returning function

UserWikiRandomPoint

@@ -1 @@
-= Random Point in Polygon =
+= Functions to Generate Random Points =
+== Random Point in Polygon ==
 
 Use this function when you need to create a random point inside a
@@ -94 +95 @@
 the East and West coast with a huge empty space in between.  To handle
 a case like that a function that would use some other strategy is
-necessary. 
+necessary.
+
+
+== Random Points in Polygon ==
+This set-returning function generates {{{num_points}}} uniform random points within a polygon geometry {{{geom}}}. See examples below.
+{{{
+#!sql
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION RandomPointsInPolygon(geom geometry, num_points integer)
+  RETURNS SETOF geometry AS
+$BODY$DECLARE
+  target_proportion numeric;
+  n_ret integer := 0;
+  loops integer := 0;
+  x_min float8;
+  y_min float8;
+  x_max float8;
+  y_max float8;
+  srid integer;
+  rpoint geometry;
+BEGIN
+  -- Get envelope and SRID of source polygon
+  SELECT ST_XMin(geom), ST_YMin(geom), ST_XMax(geom), ST_YMax(geom), ST_SRID(geom)
+    INTO x_min, y_min, x_max, y_max, srid;
+  -- Get the area proportion of envelope size to determine if a
+  -- result can be returned in a reasonable amount of time
+  SELECT ST_Area(geom)/ST_Area(ST_Envelope(geom)) INTO target_proportion;
+  RAISE DEBUG 'geom: SRID %, NumGeometries %, NPoints %, area proportion within envelope %',
+                srid, ST_NumGeometries(geom), ST_NPoints(geom),
+                round(100.0*target_proportion, 2) || '%';
+  IF target_proportion < 0.0001 THEN
+    RAISE EXCEPTION 'Target area proportion of geometry is too low (%)', 
+                    100.0*target_proportion || '%';
+  END IF;
+  RAISE DEBUG 'bounds: % % % %', x_min, y_min, x_max, y_max;
+  
+  WHILE n_ret < num_points LOOP
+    loops := loops + 1;
+    SELECT ST_SetSRID(ST_MakePoint(random()*(x_max - x_min) + x_min,
+                                   random()*(y_max - y_min) + y_min),
+                      srid) INTO rpoint;
+    IF ST_Contains(geom, rpoint) THEN
+      n_ret := n_ret + 1;
+      RETURN NEXT rpoint;
+    END IF;
+  END LOOP;
+  RAISE DEBUG 'determined in % loops (% efficiency)', loops, round(100.0*num_points/loops, 2) || '%';
+END$BODY$
+  LANGUAGE plpgsql VOLATILE
+  COST 100
+  ROWS 1000;
+ALTER FUNCTION RandomPointsInPolygon(geometry, integer) OWNER TO postgres;
+}}}
+
+=== Examples ===
+{{{
+#!sql
+-- Return 10 random points/rows
+SELECT ST_AsText(RandomPointsInPolygon('POLYGON ((10 20, 30 60, 50 20, 10 20))', 10));
+
+-- Or 10 random points as a single MultiPoint
+SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Union(geom))
+FROM RandomPointsInPolygon('POLYGON ((10 20, 30 60, 50 20, 10 20))', 10) AS geom
+}}}
+
+Now for a more complicated and practical example using a geopolitical polygon of the [http://www.aprsworld.net/gisdata/world/uncompressed/ world] table, create 10000 random points in India:
+{{{
+#!sql
+CREATE TABLE india_random_points
+(
+  gid serial NOT NULL,
+  CONSTRAINT india_random_points_pkey PRIMARY KEY (gid)
+);
+SELECT AddGeometryColumn('india_random_points', 'geom', 4326, 'POINT', 2);
+
+-- Populate table with 10000 random points within India
+INSERT INTO india_random_points(geom)
+SELECT RandomPointsInPolygon(geom, 10000)
+FROM world WHERE name='INDIA';
+}}}