How does ST_Area in PostGIS work?

SELECT
     st_astext(col)
    ,st_area(col, false) AS area
FROM table

ST_Area(geometry) calculates the polygon area as WGS1984, WITHOUT projecting to equal area sphere/ellipsis (if you use the sql-type Geometry instead of Geography). The result is measured in the unit in the geometry's SRID.

ST_Area(geography) calculates the polygon area as WGS1984, WITH projecting to equal area sphere/ellipsis (if you use the sql-type Geography instead of Geometry). The result is measured in square meters. To get from m2 to km2, you need to divide m2 by 10002 (1000 meters in a kilometer - it squares because it's an area, so 1000*1000 aka 10002).

ST_Area(geometry, true/false) calculates the area (in m2) with coordinates projected into CylindricalEqualAreaworld coordinate system (preserving area - makes sense if you want to calculate the area).

The difference between true/false is the accuracy.
ST_Area(geog,false) uses a faster but less accurate sphere.

Say, when I use this polygon:

var poly = [
    [47.3612503, 8.5351944],
    [47.3612252, 8.5342631],
    [47.3610145, 8.5342755],
    [47.3610212, 8.5345227],
    [47.3606405, 8.5345451],
    [47.3606350, 8.5343411],
    [47.3604067, 8.5343545],
    [47.3604120, 8.5345623],
    [47.3604308, 8.5352457],
    [47.3606508, 8.5352328],
    [47.3606413, 8.5348784],
    [47.3610383, 8.5348551],
    [47.3610477, 8.5352063],
    [47.3612503, 8.5351944]
];

I get the following results:

ST_Area(g) =             5.21556075001092E-07
ST_Area(g, false)     6379.25032051953
ST_Area(g, true)      6350.65051177517

I think the important part to be taken from the docs is this:

For geometry, a 2D Cartesian area is determined with units specified by the SRID.
For geography, by default area is determined on a spheroid with units in square meters.

So you need to be careful to choose geography, and NOT geometry.
If you use geometry, you NEED to use the true/false overloads of ST_Area.

In C#, I get more-or-less the same as true with KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.World.CylindricalEqualAreaworld, and false seems to be an earth-mean-radius-world, something close to WorldSpheroid.CylindricalEqualAreasphere or WorldSpheroid.EckertIVsphere, but it's off by 2m2, so it seems to do its own thing.

using DotSpatial.Projections;
using DotSpatial.Topology;


namespace TestSpatial
{


    static class Program
    {

        // https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46159499/calculate-area-of-polygon-having-wgs-coordinates-using-dotspatial
        // pfff wrong...
        public static void TestPolygonArea()
        {
            // this feature can be see visually here http://www.allhx.ca/on/toronto/westmount-park-road/25/
            string feature = "-79.525542519049552,43.691278124243432 -79.525382520578987,43.691281097414787 -79.525228855617627,43.69124858593392 -79.525096151437353,43.691183664769774 -79.52472799258571,43.690927163079735 -79.525379447437814,43.690771996666641 -79.525602330675355,43.691267524226838 -79.525542519049552,43.691278124243432";
            feature = "47.3612503,8.5351944 47.3612252,8.5342631 47.3610145,8.5342755 47.3610212,8.5345227 47.3606405,8.5345451 47.3606350,8.5343411 47.3604067,8.5343545 47.3604120,8.5345623 47.3604308,8.5352457 47.3606508,8.5352328 47.3606413,8.5348784 47.3610383,8.5348551 47.3610477,8.5352063 47.3612503,8.5351944";

            string[] coordinates = feature.Split(' ');
            // System.Array.Reverse(coordinates);


            // dotspatial takes the x,y in a single array, and z in a separate array.  I'm sure there's a 
            // reason for this, but I don't know what it is.'
            double[] xy = new double[coordinates.Length * 2];
            double[] z = new double[coordinates.Length];
            for (int i = 0; i < coordinates.Length; i++)
            {
                double lon = double.Parse(coordinates[i].Split(',')[0]);
                double lat = double.Parse(coordinates[i].Split(',')[1]);
                xy[i * 2] = lon;
                xy[i * 2 + 1] = lat;
                z[i] = 0;
            }

            double area = CalculateArea(xy);
            System.Console.WriteLine(area);
        }



        public static double CalculateArea(double[] latLonPoints)
        {
            // source projection is WGS1984
            ProjectionInfo projFrom = KnownCoordinateSystems.Geographic.World.WGS1984;
            // most complicated problem - you have to find most suitable projection
            ProjectionInfo projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.UtmWgs1984.WGS1984UTMZone37N;
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.Europe.EuropeAlbersEqualAreaConic; // 6350.9772005155683
            // projTo= KnownCoordinateSystems.Geographic.World.WGS1984; // 5.215560750019806E-07
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.WorldSpheroid.EckertIVsphere; // 6377.26664171461
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.World.EckertIVworld; // 6391.5626849671826
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.World.CylindricalEqualAreaworld; // 6350.6506013739854
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.WorldSpheroid.CylindricalEqualAreasphere; // 6377.2695087222382
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.WorldSpheroid.EquidistantCylindricalsphere; // 6448.6818862780929
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.World.Polyconicworld; // 8483.7701716953889
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.World.EquidistantCylindricalworld; // 6463.1380225215107
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.World.EquidistantConicworld; // 8197.4427198320627
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.World.VanderGrintenIworld; // 6537.3942984174937
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.World.WebMercator; // 6535.5119516421109
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.World.Mercatorworld; // 6492.7180733950809
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.SpheroidBased.Lambert2; // 9422.0631835013628
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.SpheroidBased.Lambert2Wide; // 9422.0614012926817
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.TransverseMercator.WGS1984lo33; // 6760.01638841012
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.Europe.EuropeAlbersEqualAreaConic; // 6350.9772005155683
            projTo = KnownCoordinateSystems.Projected.UtmOther.EuropeanDatum1950UTMZone37N; // 6480.7883094931021


            // ST_Area(g, false)     6379.25032051953
            // ST_Area(g, true)      6350.65051177517
            // ST_Area(g)            5.21556075001092E-07


            // prepare for ReprojectPoints (it's mutate array)
            double[] z = new double[latLonPoints.Length / 2];
            // double[] pointsArray = latLonPoints.ToArray();

            Reproject.ReprojectPoints(latLonPoints, z, projFrom, projTo, 0, latLonPoints.Length / 2);

            // assemblying new points array to create polygon
            System.Collections.Generic.List<Coordinate> points = 
                new System.Collections.Generic.List<Coordinate>(latLonPoints.Length / 2);

            for (int i = 0; i < latLonPoints.Length / 2; i++)
                points.Add(new Coordinate(latLonPoints[i * 2], latLonPoints[i * 2 + 1]));

            Polygon poly = new Polygon(points);
            return poly.Area;
        }


        [System.STAThread]
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            TestPolygonArea();

            System.Console.WriteLine(System.Environment.NewLine);
            System.Console.WriteLine(" --- Press any key to continue --- ");
            System.Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

e.g. you get a close-fit to false with the mean-radius:

// https://gis.stackexchange.com/a/816/3997
function polygonArea()
{
    var poly = [
        [47.3612503, 8.5351944],
        [47.3612252, 8.5342631],
        [47.3610145, 8.5342755],
        [47.3610212, 8.5345227],
        [47.3606405, 8.5345451],
        [47.3606350, 8.5343411],
        [47.3604067, 8.5343545],
        [47.3604120, 8.5345623],
        [47.3604308, 8.5352457],
        [47.3606508, 8.5352328],
        [47.3606413, 8.5348784],
        [47.3610383, 8.5348551],
        [47.3610477, 8.5352063],
        [47.3612503, 8.5351944]
    ];


    var area = 0.0;
    var len = poly.length;

    if (len > 2)
    {

        var p1, p2;

        for (var i = 0; i < len - 1; i++)
        {

            p1 = poly[i];
            p2 = poly[i + 1];

            area += Math.radians(p2[0] - p1[0]) *
                (
                    2
                    + Math.sin(Math.radians(p1[1]))
                    + Math.sin(Math.radians(p2[1]))
                );
        }

        // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_radius#Equatorial_radius
        // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_ellipsoid
        // The radius you are using, 6378137.0 m corresponds to the equatorial radius of the Earth.
        var equatorial_radius = 6378137; // m
        var polar_radius = 6356752.3142; // m
        var mean_radius = 6371008.8; // m
        var authalic_radius = 6371007.2; // m (radius of perfect sphere with same surface as reference ellipsoid)
        var volumetric_radius = 6371000.8 // m (radius of a sphere of volume equal to the ellipsoid)
        // geodetic latitude φ
        var siteLatitude = Math.radians(poly[0][0]);


        // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-major_and_semi-minor_axes
        // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Geodetic_System
        var a = 6378137; // m
        var b = 6356752.3142; // m
        // where a and b are, respectively, the equatorial radius and the polar radius.

        var R1 = Math.pow(a * a * Math.cos(siteLatitude), 2) + Math.pow(b * b * Math.sin(siteLatitude), 2)
        var R2 = Math.pow(a * Math.cos(siteLatitude), 2) + Math.pow(b * Math.sin(siteLatitude), 2);

        // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_radius#Radius_at_a_given_geodetic_latitude
        // Geocentric radius
        var R = Math.sqrt(R1 / R2);
        // var merid_radius = ((a * a) * (b * b)) / Math.pow(Math.pow(a * Math.cos(siteLatitude), 2) + Math.pow(b * Math.sin(siteLatitude), 2), 3/2)



        // console.log(R);
        // var hrad = polar_radius + (90 - Math.abs(siteLatitude)) / 90 * (equatorial_radius - polar_radius);
        var radius = mean_radius;

        area = area * radius * radius / 2.0;
    } // End if len > 0

    // equatorial_radius: 6391.565558418869 m2
    // mean_radius:       6377.287126172337m2
    // authalic_radius:   6377.283923019292 m2
    // volumetric_radius: 6377.271110415153 m2
    // merid_radius:      6375.314923754325 m2
    // polar_radius:      6348.777989748668 m2
    // R:                 6368.48180842528 m2
    // hrad:              6391.171919886588 m2

    // http://postgis.net/docs/doxygen/2.2/dc/d52/geography__measurement_8c_a1a7c48d59bcf4ed56522ab26c142f61d.html
    // ST_Area(false)     6379.25032051953
    // ST_Area(true)      6350.65051177517

    // return area;
    return area.toFixed(2);
}

WebMercator is the coordinate system used by Google-Maps.
The official name for this coordinate system is EPSG:3857.

What exactly PostGIS does, is documented here:
https://postgis.net/docs/ST_Area.html

And details in source-code can be found here:
http://postgis.net/docs/doxygen/2.2/dc/d52/geography__measurement_8c_a1a7c48d59bcf4ed56522ab26c142f61d.html

and here:
http://postgis.net/docs/doxygen/2.2/d1/dc0/lwspheroid_8c_a29d141c632f6b46587dec3a1dbe3d176.html#a29d141c632f6b46587dec3a1dbe3d176

Albers-Projection: Albers-Projection Albers-Projection 2

Cylindrical Equal-Area-Projection: Cylindrical Cylindrical 2


The calculation gives the right output. As you cited the documentation states "by default area is determined on a spheroid with units in square meters".

The result of your query is 5807028547.33813 m^2. To get the area in km^2 you have to devide the result by 1,000,000.

5807028547.33813 m^2 / 1,000,000 = 5807.02854733813 km^2

5807.02854733813 km^2 corresponds approximately to your expected 6226 km^2.

Tags:

Postgis

Area