How to get the intersection length of touching geometries with ST_Touches - sql

I am trying to develop a query in Postgis, where it can solve this problem:
I have a geometry and I wanna know which of the polygons that touches it, there is the highest contact area of this geometry. After I recognize this polygon I will take its value in a specific column and put this value in the same column but in my geometry.
Someone know how can I do that? I am a new user in postgresql/postgis.

As pointed out by #JGH in the comments, the overlapping area will be zero if you use ST_Touches alone. What you can do is to filter out only the geometries that do touch your reference geometry and then use ST_Intersection to get the intersection area, so that you can finally calculate the length of the intersection with ST_Length.
Data Sample
The geometry values depicted above are inside the CTE:
WITH j (id,geom) AS (
VALUES
(1,'POLYGON((-4.64 54.19,-4.59 54.19,-4.59 54.17,-4.64 54.17,-4.64 54.19))'),
(2,'POLYGON((-4.59 54.19,-4.56 54.19,-4.56 54.17,-4.59 54.17,-4.59 54.19))'),
(3,'LINESTRING(-4.65 54.19,-4.57 54.21)'),
(4,'POLYGON((-4.66 54.21,-4.60 54.21,-4.60 54.20,-4.66 54.20,-4.66 54.21))'),
(5,'POINT(-4.57 54.20)')
)
SELECT
id,
ST_Length(
ST_Intersection(
geom,
'POLYGON((-4.62 54.22,-4.58 54.22,-4.58 54.19,
-4.62 54.19,-4.62 54.22))')) AS touch_length
FROM j
WHERE
ST_Touches(
geom,
'POLYGON((-4.62 54.22,-4.58 54.22,-4.58 54.19,
-4.62 54.19,-4.62 54.22))')
ORDER BY touch_length DESC
LIMIT 1;
id | touch_length
----+---------------------
1 | 0.03000000000000025
(1 Zeile)

Related

Use St_ExteriorRing, or similar, to fill up 'holes' in Multipolygon geojson

I have an application that reads geojson from an external API. The geojson could be either Polygon or Multipolygon depending on the day.
These are examples of the two
Multipolygon
{"type":"MultiPolygon","coordinates":[[[[-99.51346135949517,49.00303923244011],[-100.15,47.95],[-102.31,47.45],[-108.58,46.38],[-109.18,46.08],[-111.49,44.89],[-112.76,44.42],[-114.63,43.9],[-116.74,43.72],[-118.71000000000001,42.86],[-118.87,42.36],[-118.11,42.11],[-116.35,42.63],[-115.24,42.27],[-114.45,42.12],[-112.6,42.27],[-111.36,42.76],[-110.7,42.98],[-107.75,43.9],[-106.11,43.66],[-104.91,42.66],[-104.77,41.68],[-104.04,40.6],[-103.49,39.34],[-102.87,39.26],[-102.41,38.64],[-102.31,37.41],[-101.91,36.68],[-101.2,36.36],[-100,36.46],[-98.74,38.68],[-98.39,38.95],[-97.53,39.53],[-97.02,39.44],[-96.43,39.32],[-95.05,38.49],[-93.51,37.47],[-93.13,37.15],[-91.08,35.28],[-88.52,34.63],[-86.34,34.86],[-85.31,35.74],[-84.18,36.63],[-83.04,36.79],[-81.59,36.01],[-81.13,35.08],[-80.45,34.34],[-80.32,34.26],[-79.57,33.82],[-78.81808696186206,33.27775502057361],[-78.931,32.928],[-79.294,32.69],[-79.725,32.427],[-80.061,32.203],[-80.21,32.07],[-80.436,31.966],[-80.764,31.633],[-81.09,30.74],[-80.989,30.128],[-80.765,29.498],[-80.349,28.83],[-80.197,28.552],[-80.271,28.232],[-79.788,27.148],[-79.7,26.777],[-79.766,26.228],[-79.812,25.576],[-79.965,25.158],[-80.143,24.859],[-80.331,24.705],[-80.635,24.487],[-81.054,24.361],[-81.782,24.208],[-82.816,24.169],[-83.288,24.221],[-83.28,24.513],[-83.238,24.798],[-83.163,25.012],[-82.313,25.017],[-82.368,25.134],[-82.51,25.288],[-82.632,25.453],[-81.934,25.61],[-82.143,26.09],[-82.324,26.171],[-82.535,26.48],[-82.719,26.892],[-83.105,27.532],[-83.07,27.615],[-83.183,27.781],[-83.185,28.105],[-83.156,28.373],[-83.014,28.465],[-82.99,28.551],[-83.026,28.753],[-83.273,28.827],[-83.421,29.093],[-83.625,29.29],[-83.895,29.642],[-84.073,29.73],[-84.171,29.626],[-84.467,29.438],[-85.018,29.246],[-85.336,29.335],[-85.675,29.436],[-85.767,29.696],[-85.985,29.876],[-86.462,30.068],[-87.771,29.878],[-88.406,29.863],[-88.432,29.714],[-88.695,29.394],[-88.581,29.249],[-88.619,29.022],[-88.937,28.691],[-89.175,28.63],[-89.399,28.577],[-89.712,28.693],[-89.828,28.916],[-90.102,28.755],[-90.3616055222485,28.728920906440788],[-90.59,29.18],[-90.87,30.19],[-90.74,31.24],[-90.18,31.97],[-89.72,32.76],[-90.62,34.34],[-93.28,37.05],[-95,37.73],[-96.23,37.81],[-97.39,37.44],[-98.65,36.55],[-100.01,35.09],[-101.27,34.54],[-102.23,34.53],[-103.01,34.66],[-103.73,34.32],[-103.8,33.75],[-103.99,33.41],[-104.32,32.69],[-105.35,32.06],[-105.9701240038253,31.300129741791523],[-106.325,31.547],[-106.448,31.769],[-107.166,31.772],[-107.78,31.773],[-108.182,31.777],[-108.213,31.305],[-109.08,31.308],[-109.891,31.327],[-110.732,31.321],[-111.103,31.32],[-112.189,31.67],[-112.66904089087537,31.81540516722906],[-112.7,32.69],[-111.95,33.62],[-110.88,34.28],[-109.67,34.89],[-108.43,35.58],[-107.8,36.94],[-107.19,38.87],[-106.27,40.84],[-106.23,41.55],[-106.45,42.34],[-107.19,42.6],[-109.05,42.48],[-110.95,41.14],[-112.4,40.46],[-115.28999999999999,39.87],[-117.96000000000001,39.46],[-119.89,39.24],[-121.74,39.12],[-123.06,39.74],[-123.78,41.24],[-123.28999999999999,43.33],[-121.28999999999999,45.26],[-119.8,46.42],[-118.65,47.32],[-119.25,48],[-120.4,48.34],[-121.84015239078087,48.98691337339889],[-121.659,48.986],[-120.472,48.999],[-119.253,48.999],[-117.737,49.015],[-116.09,48.994],[-114.493,48.985],[-113.116,49.003],[-111.3,48.99],[-109.984,48.991],[-109.64,48.997],[-108.993,48.996],[-107.31,48.993],[-105.605,49.009],[-103.573,48.991],[-101.079,48.988],[-99.687,49.004],[-99.51346135949517,49.00303923244011]],[[-84.43,34.91],[-86.05,34.1],[-86.37,33],[-85.19,32.64],[-84.24,32.79],[-83.28,33.27],[-82.39,33.89],[-82.05,34.63],[-82.23,35.26],[-83.17,35.46],[-84.43,34.91]]],[[[-88.87125436792684,48.17251743575732],[-88.4,47.64],[-88.31,46.8],[-88.89,45.98],[-89.68,45.43],[-90.53,43.89],[-90.58,42.8],[-90.29,42.37],[-89.65,41.69],[-88.48,41.31],[-86.62,41.26],[-83.61,41.42],[-81.71,41.54],[-80.43,42.18],[-80.35384895547264,42.36541123884922],[-80.167,42.399],[-79.353,42.673],[-78.966,42.881],[-79.194,43.433],[-78.597,43.655],[-77.369,43.615],[-76.813,43.628],[-76.377,44.151],[-75.828,44.443],[-75.494,44.756],[-74.876,45.025],[-71.551,45.021],[-71.366,45.294],[-70.884,45.379],[-70.38,45.841],[-70.319,46.114],[-70.03,46.658],[-69.251,47.478],[-68.967,47.467],[-68.967,47.24],[-68.497,47.296],[-68.287,47.417],[-67.785,47.096],[-67.744,46.598],[-67.724,45.726],[-67.403,45.548],[-67.372,45.222],[-67.182,45.297],[-67.043,45.044],[-66.976,44.938],[-66.991,44.84],[-66.86,44.821],[-67.302,44.414],[-67.279,44.152],[-67.925,43.906],[-68.184,43.802],[-68.352,43.817],[-68.538,43.761],[-68.681,43.688],[-68.902,43.581],[-69.149,43.51],[-69.388,43.422],[-69.557,43.333],[-69.738,43.3],[-69.962,43.13],[-70.094,42.939],[-70.041,42.768],[-69.908,42.491],[-69.795,42.31],[-69.595,42.133],[-69.483,42.001],[-69.443,41.721],[-69.548,41.498],[-69.488,41.199],[-69.663,41.018],[-69.946,40.916],[-70.34,40.942],[-70.838,40.931],[-71.244,40.859],[-71.608,40.77],[-72.156,40.586],[-72.567,40.462],[-72.944,40.361],[-73.2,40.303],[-73.648,40.236],[-73.751,39.803],[-73.839,39.533],[-74.085,39.198],[-74.24431116799899,39.091621252336154],[-74.72,40.43],[-74.13,41.32],[-73.27,42.18],[-73.28,42.96],[-73.69,43.37],[-75.34,43.41],[-76.08,42.83],[-76.99,42.2],[-77.99,41.95],[-79.57,41.64],[-81.97,41],[-84.85,40.86],[-88.66,40.91],[-89.93,41.4],[-91.14,41.9],[-91.69,42.6],[-92.39,43.51],[-92.06,44.4],[-91.92,45.58],[-92.15,46.97],[-92.73,48.56],[-92.72981693138672,48.56141140114221],[-92.611,48.546],[-92.049,48.36],[-91.504,48.094],[-90.835,48.281],[-90.646,48.094],[-90.054,48.116],[-89.35,47.985],[-88.87125436792684,48.17251743575732]]]]}
Polygon:
{"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-95.28501052631579,48.998],[-94.58,48.27],[-92.76,47.02],[-90.19,46.11],[-88.05,46.5],[-86.48,47.07],[-85.95569942586447,47.33464695646842],[-85.896,47.31],[-84.848,46.885],[-84.707,46.516],[-84.142,46.508],[-84.043,46.128],[-83.963,46.047],[-83.859,46.044],[-83.754,46.112],[-83.517,46.102],[-83.444,45.977],[-83.53,45.879],[-83.584,45.814],[-82.528,45.336],[-82.199,44.145],[-82.103,43.62],[-82.288,43.266],[-82.307,43.137],[-82.454,42.997],[-82.483,42.619],[-82.704,42.431],[-82.729,42.36],[-83.068,42.27],[-83.189,42.064],[-83.08,41.93],[-83.103,41.858],[-82.7,41.693],[-82.32,41.713],[-81.62,42.066],[-81.185,42.216],[-80.167,42.399],[-79.353,42.673],[-78.966,42.881],[-79.194,43.433],[-78.597,43.655],[-77.369,43.615],[-76.813,43.628],[-76.377,44.151],[-75.828,44.443],[-75.494,44.756],[-75.18869307056579,44.888892498410684],[-75.38,44.11],[-75.46,41.79],[-74.54,40.67],[-73.68141943423038,40.095508592021794],[-73.751,39.803],[-73.839,39.533],[-74.085,39.198],[-74.395,38.991],[-74.504,38.814],[-74.716,38.67],[-74.701,38.442],[-74.762,38.239],[-75.086,37.666],[-75.263,37.548],[-75.356,37.334],[-75.645,36.894],[-75.371,36.199],[-75.12,35.649],[-75.166,35.243],[-75.279,34.984],[-75.429,34.931],[-75.726,34.857],[-76.265,34.375],[-76.54,34.248],[-76.776,34.354],[-76.936,34.358],[-77.521,34.032],[-77.684,33.615],[-77.95,33.516],[-78.163,33.577],[-78.569,33.483],[-78.808,33.309],[-78.931,32.928],[-79.294,32.69],[-79.725,32.427],[-80.061,32.203],[-80.21,32.07],[-80.436,31.966],[-80.764,31.633],[-81.09,30.74],[-80.989,30.128],[-80.765,29.498],[-80.349,28.83],[-80.197,28.552],[-80.271,28.232],[-79.788,27.148],[-79.7,26.777],[-79.766,26.228],[-79.812,25.576],[-79.965,25.158],[-80.143,24.859],[-80.331,24.705],[-80.635,24.487],[-81.054,24.361],[-81.782,24.208],[-82.816,24.169],[-83.288,24.221],[-83.28,24.513],[-83.238,24.798],[-83.163,25.012],[-82.313,25.017],[-82.368,25.134],[-82.51,25.288],[-82.632,25.453],[-81.934,25.61],[-82.143,26.09],[-82.324,26.171],[-82.535,26.48],[-82.719,26.892],[-83.105,27.532],[-83.07,27.615],[-83.183,27.781],[-83.185,28.105],[-83.156,28.373],[-83.014,28.465],[-82.99,28.551],[-83.026,28.753],[-83.273,28.827],[-83.421,29.093],[-83.625,29.29],[-83.895,29.642],[-84.073,29.73],[-84.171,29.626],[-84.467,29.438],[-85.018,29.246],[-85.336,29.335],[-85.675,29.436],[-85.767,29.696],[-85.985,29.876],[-86.462,30.068],[-87.771,29.878],[-88.406,29.863],[-88.432,29.714],[-88.695,29.394],[-88.581,29.249],[-88.619,29.022],[-88.937,28.691],[-89.175,28.63],[-89.399,28.577],[-89.712,28.693],[-89.828,28.916],[-90.102,28.755],[-90.54,28.711],[-90.745,28.711],[-91.083,28.732],[-91.315,28.893],[-91.556,28.983],[-91.655,29.121],[-91.742,29.058],[-92.079,29.114],[-92.164,29.181],[-92.629,29.233],[-93.243,29.441],[-93.588,29.43],[-93.777,29.35],[-93.86371715145437,29.3490574222668],[-94.43,30.11],[-95.48,32.28],[-95.9,34.79],[-97.03,36.61],[-98.25,37.5],[-99.48,37.64],[-100.37,37.51],[-100.95,36.99],[-101.57,36.09],[-102.05,35.51],[-103.01,35.26],[-103.97,35.42],[-104.89,36.02],[-105.46,36.22],[-106.3,35.84],[-104.73,33.68],[-104.99,32.67],[-106.17,32.34],[-107.24,32.43],[-107.23,31.95],[-107.16324568439407,31.771988491717522],[-107.166,31.772],[-107.78,31.773],[-108.182,31.777],[-108.213,31.305],[-109.08,31.308],[-109.891,31.327],[-110.732,31.321],[-111.103,31.32],[-111.5068844073521,31.450165324653078],[-111.32,31.76],[-110.88,32.62],[-111.06,34.11],[-110.37,35.35],[-109.05,36.35],[-108.06,37.78],[-107.21,39.63],[-105.82,41.42],[-105.1,41.94],[-105.06,42.36],[-105.26,42.78],[-105.62,43.15],[-106.56,43.87],[-107.39,44.07],[-109.01,43.9],[-111.36,43.17],[-113.32,43.43],[-114.49,43.16],[-115.82,42.89],[-116.23,42.73],[-118.37,43.02],[-120.51,43.78],[-121.1,44.75],[-119.58,46.35],[-119.09,47.98],[-119.44802702702702,48.999],[-119.253,48.999],[-117.737,49.015],[-116.09,48.994],[-114.493,48.985],[-113.116,49.003],[-111.3,48.99],[-109.984,48.991],[-109.64,48.997],[-108.993,48.996],[-107.31,48.993],[-105.605,49.009],[-103.573,48.991],[-101.079,48.988],[-99.687,49.004],[-98.242,48.996],[-96.798,48.991],[-95.874,48.998],[-95.28501052631579,48.998]],[[-90.2,32.05],[-88.72,30.79],[-88.05,30.65],[-87.21,30.8],[-86.45,31.65],[-85.88,32.11],[-85.02,32.55],[-83.71,32.58],[-82.55,33.06],[-81.69,33.45],[-81.33,34.29],[-80.13,35.88],[-79.91,37.41],[-79.69,38.28],[-80.79,38.96],[-83.11,38.16],[-85.63,38.75],[-88.01,38.14],[-90.04,37.53],[-91.48,36.43],[-92.4,35.03],[-92.58,34.06],[-91.41,32.64],[-90.2,32.05]],[[-109.65,45.06],[-100.16,42.48],[-99.01,41.67],[-97.4,38.75],[-95.53,35.91],[-94.12,35.24],[-93.06,35.66],[-90.26,38.1],[-90.85,40.46],[-92.65,43.69],[-94.58,44.37],[-98.8,44.91],[-102.84,46.18],[-110.55,46.83],[-111.85,46.61],[-112.49,46.05],[-111.89,45.39],[-109.65,45.06]]]}
The polygons almost always have a 'hole' in them, so I use:
ST_SetSRID(St_ExteriorRing(ST_GeomFromGeoJSON(mygeojson))
This works fine for Polygon but not for Multipolygon. I can understand why, as it may be a difficult task to "fill up the holes" of multiple geometries.
Is there a way to solve this so that multipolygons also can use ST_ExteriorRing (or the likes of it)? Conditional solutions are fine, I can find out which are polygons and multipolygons so the solution only needs to be for multipolygon.
One option is to ST_Dump the polygon, apply ST_ExteriorRing, and finally - if necessary - recreate the MultiPolygon with ST_Collect, e.g.
SELECT
ST_Collect(ST_MakePolygon(ST_ExteriorRing(geom)))
FROM (SELECT gid,(ST_Dump(mygeojson::geometry)).* FROM mytable) j
GROUP BY gid;
The query assumes each geometry has an identifier. In this case called gid. In case the geometries have no identifier, you might wanna create one with the window function ROW_NUMBER():
SELECT
ST_Collect(ST_MakePolygon(ST_ExteriorRing(geom)))
FROM (
SELECT
ROW_NUMBER() OVER w AS gid,
(ST_Dump(mygeojson::geometry)).*
FROM mytable
WINDOW w AS (ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW)
) j
GROUP BY gid;
It gets much shorter if you can live with Polygons ;)
SELECT
ST_MakePolygon(ST_ExteriorRing((ST_Dump(mygeojson::geometry)).geom))
FROM mytable

Problem with ST_AREA regarding coordinate system

I want to select all polygons with area more than 350 square kilometers from my initial polygons and tried ST_Area. But my polygons are in WKID: 25832 (UTM 32N) and I read that ST_Area always calculates in WGS 84 (EPSG 4326)....
I tried it like this but did not work.
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS projekt."Final_Selection";
CREATE TABLE projekt."Final_Selection" AS
SELECT (st_area/1000000), geom
FROM projekt."New_Pot" WHERE st_area>350 ;
and like this:
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS projekt."Final_Selection";
CREATE TABLE projekt."Final_Selection" AS
SELECT (st_area(ST_Transform(geom,25832)))/10000000, geom
FROM projekt."New_Pot" WHERE st_area>350;
Does anyone have an advice for me? Thx in advance!
If you want to select geometries by their size in sqm use ST_Area with geography instead of geometry:
For geography types by default area is determined on a spheroid with units in square meters.
SELECT * FROM projekt."New_Pot"
WHERE ST_Area(ST_Transform(geom,4326)::geography) >= 350000
Note: keep in mind that using ST_Area in the WHERE clause might slow down your query significantly, as the area is being calculated in query time. If it isn't a one time query, consider creating an index with the area pre-calculated, e.g.
CREATE INDEX idx_geom ON projekt."New_Pot" (ST_Area(ST_Transform(geom,4326)::geography));
See also: Calculate the percentage of polygon inside the buffer in postgresql
In case you want to query polygons within a given radius: the easiest way would be to convert your geometry column to geography and from there use ST_DWithin, which will calculate the distance in metres when used with geography parameters:
SELECT * FROM projekt."New_Pot"
WHERE
ST_DWithin(
ST_Transform(geom,4326)::geography, -- your geometry converted to geography
ST_MakePoint(1,52)::geography, -- a given point
350000) -- a 350km buffer
Related post: Getting all Buildings in range of 5 miles from specified coordinates

PostGIS query to Select all Polygons from Polygon table having an intersecting geometry with one or more point in passed list of GeoCoordinates

I have a polygons table in Postgres (using PostGIS extension) named polygon having two fields (geom, id).
If I want to query the id of the polygon which intersects with the geometry of input geo-coordinate then I can do it with the below query.
SELECT id, geom
FROM polygon
WHERE ST_Intersects(polygon.%s, ST_GeometryFromText(POINT(latitude logitude), 4326));
But now I have a use case where I am getting a lot of geo-coordinates in request(~60k), now I am breaking this into lists of 1k Geo-coordinate each and querying the id of the polygon intersecting with each geo-coordinate.
I am struggling with how to write. a query for this, or if anyone has a better solution for this please suggest.
Keep in mind that the right order of coordinate pairs is lon, lat, so creating a point with lat, lon in your query will return wrong results. Your query also misses the single quotes ' around the WKT coordinate, e.g. 'POINT(1 2)'.
That all being said, you could simply paginate your result sets using ORDER BY, LIMIT and OFFSET, e.g.
Getting the first 1000 records
SELECT id, geom FROM polygon
WHERE ST_Intersects(geom, 'SRID=4326;POINT(1 2)')
ORDER BY id
LIMIT 1000 OFFSET 0;
By changing the OFFSET value you are able to retrieve the next pages.
LIMIT 1000 OFFSET 1000;
and so on ..
LIMIT 1000 OFFSET 2000;
EDIT: One way to apply this query using multiple input points is to use a CTE / subquery (see comments), e.g.
WITH j(g) AS (
VALUES
('SRID=4326;POINT(1 1)'),
('SRID=4326;POINT(1 2)')
-- ... add as many geometries as you want
)
SELECT id, geom FROM polygon, j
WHERE ST_Intersects(geom, g::geometry)

Selecting a start line with where geom returns different geom

I have a table with multilinestrings and I would like to find a line which starts at a certain point. I am using:
gis=> select * from (select gid, ST_StartPoint(ST_LineMerge((geom))) as start from aw_pipes) s where s.start = '0101000020E6100000D050E433E678D73F71F37608AF284A40' order by gid;
gid | start
------+----------------------------------------------------
1458 | 0101000020E6100000809BB933E678D73FE3D07608AF284A40
(1 row)
The problem here is the result has different geom. It is not what I asked for. It doesn't event contain the geom I was searching for.
gis=> select geom from aw_pipes where gid = 1458;
geom
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0105000020E610000001000000010200000002000000809BB933E678D73FE3D07608AF284A40CDD4B35E4E7BD73F62DB7D83AD284A40
(1 row)
gis=> select ST_DumpPoints('0105000020E610000001000000010200000002000000809BB933E678D73FE3D07608AF284A40CDD4B35E4E7BD73F62DB7D83AD284A40');
st_dumppoints
--------------------------------------------------------------
("{1,1}",0101000020E6100000809BB933E678D73FE3D07608AF284A40)
("{1,2}",0101000020E6100000CDD4B35E4E7BD73F62DB7D83AD284A40)
(2 rows)
My postgis version is:
gis=> select PostGIS_Version ();
postgis_version
---------------------------------------
2.3 USE_GEOS=1 USE_PROJ=1 USE_STATS=1
Any idea what I am doing wrong or any suggestion what I may change in my query?
Comparing geometries using = might not lead to the result you would expect. Before PostGIS 2.4, the equality is based on the geometry bounding box, not on the vertices themselves, and likely truncate insignificant digits. Check this excellent article.
You could replace = by ST_Equals, which checks every vertices for exact spatial equality.
That being said, your expectations might be a bit too high. The distance between your geometry and the line starting point is 1.266e-005 m, so about 10 micrometers... most GIS user/software would consider the two points as being equal.

Finding the pair of points whose distance from each other is maximal

I have a very small database which includes 6 points, with those columns id, the_geom, descr. And my aim to write a PL/pgSQL function which finds the the pair of points whose distance from each other is maximal. As an output, I would like to show the id or descr of two points and also the distance between them.
I have tried to do a function with returns table but setof text would be better solution?
You may try something like a cross join to find all combinations, then order by the difference. If your table name was foo something similar to:
SELECT set1.id, set2.id, abs(set1.the_geom - set2.the_geom) --- May want to use earth_distance extension ehre
FROM foo set1, foo set2
WHERE set1.id != set2.id
ORDER BY 3 DESC;
And if you need earth distance to calculate the distance itself - http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/earthdistance.html