# GIS Resources

GIS stands for [Geographic Information System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_information_system).

Further reading:

* [OGC Simple Feature Access](https://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/sfs) - the Open Geospatial Consortium's OpenGIS Simple Features Specifications For SQL.
* [Geo/Spatial Search with MySQL](https://www.scribd.com/doc/2569355/Geo-Distance-Search-with-MySQL) - a presentation by Alexander Rubin, from the MySQL Conference in 2006.

There are no differences between GIS in stable versions of MariaDB and GIS in MySQL. There are, however, some extensions and enhancements being worked on.

<sub>*This page is licensed: CC BY-SA / Gnu FDL*</sub>

{% @marketo/form formId="4316" %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/sql-structure/geometry/gis-resources.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.
