tostring-geography-data-type.md

title	ToString (geography Data Type)
description	ToString (geography Data Type)
author	MladjoA
ms.author	mlandzic
ms.date	03/14/2017
ms.service	sql
ms.subservice	t-sql
ms.topic	reference
ms.custom	ignite-2024
f1_keywords	ToString (geography Data Type)
helpviewer_keywords	ToString method
dev_langs	TSQL

ToString (geography Data Type)

[!INCLUDE SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance FabricSQLDB]

Returns the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of a geography instance augmented with any Z (elevation) and M (measure) values carried by the instance.

This geography data type method supports FullGlobe instances or spatial instances that are larger than a hemisphere.

Syntax

  
.ToString ()  

Return Types

[!INCLUDEssNoVersion] return type: nvarchar(max)

CLR return type: SqlString

Remarks

This method returns the string "Null" when called on null instances. In [!INCLUDEssSQL11], the set of possible results on the server has been extended to FullGlobe instances. This method will return the same value as AsTextZM().

This method is not precise.

Examples

The following example create a LineString instance and uses ToString() to return the text description of the instance.

DECLARE @g geography;  
SET @g = geography::STGeomFromText('LINESTRING(-122.360 47.656, -122.343 47.656)', 4326);  
SELECT @g.ToString();  

See Also

Extended Methods on Geography Instances
AsTextZM (geography Data Type)