Geospatial types (ST_Geometry, MBR, and so on) are supported by ODBC Driver for Teradata in a transparent manner by making use of the import/export transform functionality of the database. For example, a value of type ST_Geometry is imported/exported as a CLOB and a value of type MBR as a VARCHAR (256). For more information about the transform types for the different Geospatial types, see Teradata Vantage™ - Geospatial Data Types, B035-1181.
An ODBC application sees the Geospatial types in the database as the standard SQL types SQL_LONGVARCHAR or SQL_VARCHAR depending on the database transform type. Values of the Geospatial types are transformed by the database to or from values of these standard SQL types. All the syntax for types, methods, functions, and expressions as used for Geospatial fall within the standard SQL syntax.
The specific Geospatial type behind the database transform type can be obtained through the SQL_DESC_TD_UDT_NAME descriptor field, which returns the fully qualified name of the Geospatial type. For more information, see SQL_DESC_TD_UDT_NAME.