[DOCS] Correct geography area/length radius wording: spherical mean radius, not authalic or WGS84 spheroid#3079
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Pull request overview
Updates Sedona geography documentation to correctly describe the Earth model and radius used by ST_Area/ST_Length, aligning docs with the spherical implementation (mean Earth radius R = 6 371 008 m) rather than WGS84/authalic wording.
Changes:
- Reword
ST_Area/ST_Lengthdocs to labelR = 6 371 008 mas the mean Earth radius (not authalic). - Correct
ST_Areaoverview wording to reflect spherical (not WGS84 ellipsoidal) computation. - Align SedonaFlink geography overview and
ST_Areapage wording with the spherical mean-radius model.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| docs/api/sql/geography/Geography-Functions/ST_Length.md | Updates ST_Length intro to “mean Earth radius”. |
| docs/api/sql/geography/Geography-Functions/ST_Area.md | Updates ST_Area intro to “mean Earth radius”. |
| docs/api/sql/geography/Geography-Functions.md | Fixes ST_Area summary row to describe spherical mean-radius computation (not WGS84). |
| docs/api/flink/Geography-Functions/ST_Area.md | Updates Flink ST_Area intro to “mean Earth radius”. |
| docs/api/flink/Geography-Functions.md | Updates Flink geography overview to “mean Earth radius”. |
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| | Function | Return type | Description | Since | | ||
| | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | ||
| | [ST_Area](Geography-Functions/ST_Area.md) | Double | Return the geodesic area of a geography in square meters (WGS84 spheroid). | v1.9.1 | | ||
| | [ST_Area](Geography-Functions/ST_Area.md) | Double | Return the spherical area of a geography in square meters, computed on a sphere of mean Earth radius (~6,371,008 m), not the WGS84 ellipsoid. | v1.9.1 | |
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Reformatted to R = 6 371 008 m (inline code, space-separated) to match the ST_Area/ST_Length pages and the SedonaFlink geography docs. All six radius mentions across the geography docs now use the same style. Commit cf5385a.
…adius, not authalic or WGS84 spheroid
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[DOCS] my subjectWhat changes were proposed in this PR?
Corrects the radius wording in the geography area/length docs to match the implementation.
common/src/main/java/org/apache/sedona/common/geography/Functions.javacomputesST_AreaandST_Lengthon a sphere, scaling byorg.apache.sedona.common.sphere.Haversine.AVG_EARTH_RADIUS, which is defined as6371008.0meters. That value is the mean Earth radius (IUGG R1 = (2a + b) / 3 ≈ 6 371 008.8 m), and the constant is namedAVG_EARTH_RADIUSaccordingly. It is not the WGS84 ellipsoid, and it is not the authalic radius (R2 ≈ 6 371 007.2 m).Two inaccuracies are fixed:
ST_Areaoverview row indocs/api/sql/geography/Geography-Functions.mdsaid "WGS84 spheroid" — the computation is spherical, not ellipsoidal.R = 6 371 008 mas the "authalic Earth radius" — that value is the mean radius. Reworded to "mean Earth radius" in the SparkST_Area/ST_Lengthpages and the SedonaFlink geography overview andST_Areapage.How was this patch tested?
mkdocs buildsucceeds; the changed pages have no new warnings and all links resolve.Did this PR include necessary documentation updates?