shptreetst(1)

📦
version 8.6.5 · 7 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 shptreetst 💖

okay bestie, so shptreetst is the little utility from the shptreetst(1) manual (yeah the manual name is literally right there in the title, it's giving self-titled album energy ✨) and its whole thing is: you run a spatial query on a spatial index that already exists. that's it. that's the gig. 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

shptreetst — run a spatial query on a spatial index that's already sitting there, existing, living its truth 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

shptreetst shapefile [minx miny maxx maxy]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so shptreetst goes and executes a spatial query on an existing spatial index (that's a .qix file, for the uninitiated 🎀), and that index was made by the shptree(1) utility. no cap.

why would you even want this? because it's genuinely useful for understanding how a search of a Shape data set and its qix index works. like, you get to peek behind the curtain and see the whole thing do its little dance. obsessed. 🔥

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • shapefile — the name of the .shp file index. yes bestie, that's the shapefile we're talking about 🍓
  • minx miny maxx maxy — the extents to render. four lil numbers that say "hey, look here" 🧚

🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

okay watch this:

shptreetst esp 879827.480246 4317203.699447 884286.289767 4321662.508967

and this is the absolute wall of text it blesses you with (do NOT panic, it's supposed to look like that):

  This new LSB index supports a shapefile with 48 shapes, 4 depth
  shapes 6, node 4, -13702.315770,3973784.599548,1127752.921471,4859616.714055
  shapes 5, node 3, -13702.315770,3973784.599548,614098.064712,4460992.262527
  shapes 1, node 1, -13702.315770,3973784.599548,331587.893495,4241748.814186
  shapes 1, node 0, 141678.278400,3973784.599548,331587.893495,4121164.917599
  shapes 1, node 0, 268807.855447,4193028.047889,614098.064712,4460992.262527
  shapes 1, node 0, 268807.855447,3973784.599548,614098.064712,4241748.814186
  shapes 7, node 4, -13702.315770,4372409.051076,614098.064712,4859616.714055
  shapes 1, node 0, -13702.315770,4372409.051076,331587.893495,4640373.265714
  shapes 3, node 1, -13702.315770,4591652.499417,331587.893495,4859616.714055
  shapes 1, node 0, -13702.315770,4712236.396004,176207.299326,4859616.714055
  shapes 2, node 0, 268807.855447,4372409.051076,614098.064712,4640373.265714
  shapes 3, node 2, 268807.855447,4591652.499417,614098.064712,4859616.714055
  shapes 2, node 0, 424188.449617,4712236.396004,614098.064712,4859616.714055
  shapes 1, node 0, 424188.449617,4591652.499417,614098.064712,4739032.817468
  shapes 2, node 1, 499952.540988,3973784.599548,1127752.921471,4460992.262527
  shapes 2, node 0, 499952.540988,4193028.047889,845242.750254,4460992.262527
  shapes 5, node 3, 499952.540988,4372409.051076,1127752.921471,4859616.714055
  shapes 1, node 1, 499952.540988,4372409.051076,845242.750254,4640373.265714
  shapes 1, node 0, 655333.135158,4372409.051076,845242.750254,4519789.369127
  shapes 1, node 0, 499952.540988,4591652.499417,845242.750254,4859616.714055
  read entire file now at quad box rec 20 file pos 1084
  result of rectangle search was
  8, 10, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42, 46,

👑 Result: 👑

okay so the above output from the shptreetst command? let me translate it for you, bestie, because it's actually lowkey iconic 💜

  • the existing .qix index is for a Shape data set that contains 48 shapes. and yes, the Shape data set used in this example, esp.shp, contains exactly 48 polygons of Spain 🇪🇸. main character data set fr fr.
  • the output ALSO tells us that the qix file has a quadtree depth of 4. slay.
  • but here's the part that actually matters most: the resulting shape IDs (or feature IDs, same thing, different name 💫) that were contained in the bounding box that we passed in our example. those got returned at the very bottom of the output: "8, 10, 36, 37, 38, 39, 42, 46". periodt.
  • so you can take a tool like QGIS and go view those feature IDs, and check what shapes MapServer is querying when a user clicks inside that bounding box. that's the whole point. that's the vibe check. 🎀

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

ngl the output looks like a glitch but it's not, it's just a quadtree being loud and proud 🌸 don't touch anything, it's working.

and that's the whole page bestie!! this was <rainbow>shptreetst(1)</rainbow> — the manual name, right there in the title like it owns the place 👑 — and the official footer says it's dated 22 August 2026 and it comes from the shptreetst(1) source/version. we love a well-documented queen. mwah 💅✨

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