---
title: "Geospatial Unbounded: Spatial SQL GA with AI/BI Maps, Delta Sharing, and Iceberg v3"
description: "Databricks announces Spatial SQL as Generally Available, positioning its platform for geospatial analysis without separate spatial databases, warehouses, and mapping tools. It supports native GEOMETRY columns in Delta or Iceberg, more than 90 OGC-compliant ST_* functions, spatial joins, and boolean set operations. AI/BI dashboards can render Geometry and Geography columns as maps, while Genie can generate spatial queries and dashboards and respect Unity Catalog row filters. Geo columns are supported by Delta Sharing, and Databricks can read and write managed Iceberg tables or read externally written Iceberg tables with geospatial types in Iceberg v3. Benchmarks show eight of twelve SpatialBench queries improved since Public Preview, with gains from 20% to 15X, while areal boolean operations are twice as fast on average versus prior versions."
---

# Geospatial Unbounded: Spatial SQL GA with AI/BI Maps, Delta Sharing, and Iceberg v3

[Databricks](https://yomu.fyi/company/databricks) · Kent Marten · Jun 11, 2026

**Type:** Announcement

## Summary

Databricks announces Spatial SQL as Generally Available, positioning its platform for geospatial analysis without separate spatial databases, warehouses, and mapping tools. It supports native GEOMETRY columns in Delta or Iceberg, more than 90 OGC-compliant ST\_\* functions, spatial joins, and boolean set operations. AI/BI dashboards can render Geometry and Geography columns as maps, while Genie can generate spatial queries and dashboards and respect Unity Catalog row filters. Geo columns are supported by Delta Sharing, and Databricks can read and write managed Iceberg tables or read externally written Iceberg tables with geospatial types in Iceberg v3. Benchmarks show eight of twelve SpatialBench queries improved since Public Preview, with gains from 20% to 15X, while areal boolean operations are twice as fast on average versus prior versions.

## Context

Spatial questions previously required stitching together spatial databases, warehouses, and mapping tools, while data exchanges could require custom extraction pipelines. These extra systems and copies of policy or exposure data increased architectural complexity and fragmented governance.

## Approach / What changed

Spatial SQL provides native GEOMETRY storage, more than 90 spatial functions, and optimized joins and set operations. AI/BI dashboards render Geometry and Geography as maps, Genie generates spatial queries and dashboards, Delta Sharing supports tables with geo columns, and Iceberg v3 interoperability extends to geospatial data types.

## Takeaways

- GEOMETRY is generally available as a native type, while Geography remains in Public Preview until it is fully supported across common spatial functions.
- AI/BI dashboards can map Geometry or Geography columns, and Genie can generate a spatial query such as filtering policies within forecast counties while respecting Unity Catalog row filters.
- Delta Sharing supports tables with geo columns, and Iceberg v3 geospatial support enables Databricks to read and write managed Iceberg tables and read externally written ones.

**Tags:** [Apache Iceberg](https://yomu.fyi/topic/apache-iceberg), [Data Visualization](https://yomu.fyi/topic/data-visualization), [Delta Lake](https://yomu.fyi/topic/delta-lake), [SQL](https://yomu.fyi/topic/sql)

- Source: [Databricks](https://www.databricks.com/blog/geospatial-unbounded-spatial-sql-ga-aibi-maps-delta-sharing-and-iceberg-v3)
- Source URL: https://www.databricks.com/blog/geospatial-unbounded-spatial-sql-ga-aibi-maps-delta-sharing-and-iceberg-v3
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-08-30T17:03:17.852Z

[Read original post](https://www.databricks.com/blog/geospatial-unbounded-spatial-sql-ga-aibi-maps-delta-sharing-and-iceberg-v3)