The data type of an argument that you pass to a geospatial system function does not need to exactly match the corresponding declared argument type as described in the function description. If the argument type is a compatible type, as listed in the following table, the system tries to implicitly cast the argument.
| Declared Argument Type | Compatible Argument Types |
|---|---|
| DECIMAL | BYTEINT, SMALLINT, INTEGER, or BIGINT |
| FLOAT | BYTEINT, SMALLINT, INTEGER, BIGINT, DECIMAL, or NUMERIC |
| INTEGER | BYTEINT or SMALLINT |
| VARCHAR | CHAR |
To pass an argument where the data type is not an exact match and is not a compatible type according to the preceding table, you must explicitly convert the argument.