12.18.5. Spatial Analysis Functions

12.18.5.1. Geometry Format Conversion Functions
12.18.5.2. Geometry Property Functions
12.18.5.3. Functions That Create New Geometries from Existing Ones
12.18.5.4. Functions for Testing Spatial Relations Between Geometric Objects

After populating spatial columns with values, you are ready to query and analyze them. MySQL provides a set of functions to perform various operations on spatial data. These functions can be grouped into four major categories according to the type of operation they perform:

Functions that convert geometries between various formats
Functions that provide access to qualitative or quantitative properties of a geometry
Functions that describe relations between two geometries
Functions that create new geometries from existing ones

Spatial analysis functions can be used in many contexts, such as:

Any interactive SQL program, such as mysql.
Application programs written in any language that supports a MySQL client API