Description

Returns the 2D perimeter of the geometry/geography if it is a ST_Surface, ST_MultiSurface (Polygon, MultiPolygon). 0 is returned for non-areal geometries. For linear geometries use ST_Length. For geometry types, units for perimeter measures are specified by the spatial reference system of the geometry.

For geography types, the calculations are performed using the inverse geodesic problem, where perimeter units are in meters. If PostGIS is compiled with PROJ version 4.8.0 or later, the spheroid is specified by the SRID, otherwise it is exclusive to WGS84. If use_spheroid=false, then calculations will approximate a sphere instead of a spheroid.

Currently this is an alias for ST_Perimeter2D, but this may change to support higher dimensions.

This method implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Implementation Specification for SQL 1.1. s2.1.5.1

This method implements the SQL/MM specification. SQL-MM 3: 8.1.3, 9.5.4

Availability 2.0.0: Support for geography was introduced

Examples: Geometry

Return perimeter in feet for Polygon and MultiPolygon. Note this is in feet because EPSG:2249 is Massachusetts State Plane Feet

SELECT ST_Perimeter(ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((743238 2967416,743238 2967450,743265 2967450,
743265.625 2967416,743238 2967416))', 2249));
st_perimeter
---------
 122.630744000095
(1 row)

SELECT ST_Perimeter(ST_GeomFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(((763104.471273676 2949418.44119003,
763104.477769673 2949418.42538203,
763104.189609677 2949418.22343004,763104.471273676 2949418.44119003)),
((763104.471273676 2949418.44119003,763095.804579742 2949436.33850239,
763086.132105649 2949451.46730207,763078.452329651 2949462.11549407,
763075.354136904 2949466.17407812,763064.362142565 2949477.64291974,
763059.953961626 2949481.28983009,762994.637609571 2949532.04103014,
762990.568508415 2949535.06640477,762986.710889563 2949539.61421415,
763117.237897679 2949709.50493431,763235.236617789 2949617.95619822,
763287.718121842 2949562.20592617,763111.553321674 2949423.91664605,
763104.471273676 2949418.44119003)))', 2249));
st_perimeter
---------
 845.227713366825
(1 row)
			

Examples: Geography

Return perimeter in meters and feet for Polygon and MultiPolygon. Note this is geography (WGS 84 long lat)

SELECT  ST_Perimeter(geog) As per_meters, ST_Perimeter(geog)/0.3048 As per_ft
FROM ST_GeogFromText('POLYGON((-71.1776848522251 42.3902896512902,-71.1776843766326 42.3903829478009,
-71.1775844305465 42.3903826677917,-71.1775825927231 42.3902893647987,-71.1776848522251 42.3902896512902))') As geog;

   per_meters    |      per_ft
-----------------+------------------
37.3790462565251 | 122.634666195949


-- MultiPolygon example --
SELECT  ST_Perimeter(geog) As per_meters, ST_Perimeter(geog,false) As per_sphere_meters,  ST_Perimeter(geog)/0.3048 As per_ft
FROM ST_GeogFromText('MULTIPOLYGON(((-71.1044543107478 42.340674480411,-71.1044542869917 42.3406744369506,
-71.1044553562977 42.340673886454,-71.1044543107478 42.340674480411)),
((-71.1044543107478 42.340674480411,-71.1044860600303 42.3407237015564,-71.1045215770124 42.3407653385914,
-71.1045498002983 42.3407946553165,-71.1045611902745 42.3408058316308,-71.1046016507427 42.340837442371,
-71.104617893173 42.3408475056957,-71.1048586153981 42.3409875993595,-71.1048736143677 42.3409959528211,
-71.1048878050242 42.3410084812078,-71.1044020965803 42.3414730072048,
-71.1039672113619 42.3412202916693,-71.1037740497748 42.3410666421308,
-71.1044280218456 42.3406894151355,-71.1044543107478 42.340674480411)))') As geog;

    per_meters    | per_sphere_meters |      per_ft
------------------+-------------------+------------------
 257.634283683311 |  257.412311446337 | 845.256836231335
			

See Also

ST_GeogFromText, ST_GeomFromText, ST_Length