14. Spatial Joins Exercises

Here’s a reminder of some of the functions we have seen. Hint: they should be useful for the exercises!

• sum(expression): aggregate to return a sum for a set of records

• count(expression): aggregate to return the size of a set of records

• ST_Area(geometry) returns the area of the polygons

• ST_AsText(geometry) returns WKT text

• ST_Contains(geometry A, geometry B) returns the true if geometry A contains geometry B

• ST_Distance(geometry A, geometry B) returns the minimum distance between geometry A and geometry B

• ST_DWithin(geometry A, geometry B, radius) returns the true if geometry A is radius distance or less from geometry B

• ST_GeomFromText(text) returns geometry

• ST_Intersects(geometry A, geometry B) returns the true if geometry A intersects geometry B

• ST_Length(linestring) returns the length of the linestring

• ST_Touches(geometry A, geometry B) returns the true if the boundary of geometry A touches geometry B

• ST_Within(geometry A, geometry B) returns the true if geometry A is within geometry B

Also remember the tables we have available:

• nyc_census_blocks

  • name, popn_total, boroname, geom

• nyc_streets

  • name, type, geom

• nyc_subway_stations

  • name, routes, geom

• nyc_neighborhoods

  • name, boroname, geom

14.1. Exercises

• What subway station is in ‘Little Italy’? What subway route is it on?

  SELECT s.name, s.routes
  FROM nyc_subway_stations AS s
  JOIN nyc_neighborhoods AS n
  ON ST_Contains(n.geom, s.geom)
  WHERE n.name = 'Little Italy';
  

     name    | routes
  -----------+--------
   Spring St | 6
  

• What are all the neighborhoods served by the 6-train? (Hint: The routes column in the nyc_subway_stations table has values like ‘B,D,6,V’ and ‘C,6’)

  SELECT DISTINCT n.name, n.boroname
  FROM nyc_subway_stations AS s
  JOIN nyc_neighborhoods AS n
  ON ST_Contains(n.geom, s.geom)
  WHERE strpos(s.routes,'6') > 0;
  

          name        | boroname
  --------------------+-----------
   Midtown            | Manhattan
   Hunts Point        | The Bronx
   Gramercy           | Manhattan
   Little Italy       | Manhattan
   Financial District | Manhattan
   South Bronx        | The Bronx
   Yorkville          | Manhattan
   Murray Hill        | Manhattan
   Mott Haven         | The Bronx
   Upper East Side    | Manhattan
   Chinatown          | Manhattan
   East Harlem        | Manhattan
   Greenwich Village  | Manhattan
   Parkchester        | The Bronx
   Soundview          | The Bronx
  

  Note

  We used the DISTINCT keyword to remove duplicate values from our result set where there were more than one subway station in a neighborhood.

• After 9/11, the ‘Battery Park’ neighborhood was off limits for several days. How many people had to be evacuated?

  SELECT Sum(popn_total)
  FROM nyc_neighborhoods AS n
  JOIN nyc_census_blocks AS c
  ON ST_Intersects(n.geom, c.geom)
  WHERE n.name = 'Battery Park';
  

  17153
  

• What neighborhood has the highest population density (persons/km2)?

  SELECT
    n.name,
    Sum(c.popn_total) / (ST_Area(n.geom) / 1000000.0) AS popn_per_sqkm
  FROM nyc_census_blocks AS c
  JOIN nyc_neighborhoods AS n
  ON ST_Intersects(c.geom, n.geom)
  GROUP BY n.name, n.geom
  ORDER BY popn_per_sqkm DESC LIMIT 2;
  

        name       |  popn_per_sqkm
  -------------------+------------------
   North Sutton Area | 68435.13283772678
   East Village      | 50404.48341332535