Geekiest Sig Challenge

While for some SQL may be only work related, to me it is much more than that. To me it’s a language that allows me to express myself, very much like English or any other language is to others. I sometimes invent challenges for myself just for fun—you might say, for the soul. So, recently I did some research related to spatial data, and while I was at it I felt the irresistible urge to produce a realistic picture with a spatial query. Here’s what I came up with:

SELECT geometry::Point(x, y, 0).STBuffer(0.3) As sigFROM ( VALUES  (01,16),(01,17),(01,18),(01,19),(01,20),(01,21),(01,22),(01,23),(02,14),(02,15),  (02,24),(02,30),(02,31),(03,13),(03,23),(03,24),(03,25),(03,26),(03,27),(03,28),  (03,29),(03,32),(03,33),(03,34),(03,35),(04,13),(04,36),(05,10),(05,11),(05,12),  (05,37),(06,08),(06,09),(06,23),(06,38),(07,07),(07,23),(07,39),(08,06),(08,24),  (08,25),(08,39),(09,05),(09,23),(09,24),(09,25),(09,26),(09,40),(10,04),(10,23),  (10,24),(10,25),(10,26),(10,39),(11,03),(11,25),(11,39),(12,02),(12,10),(12,25),  (12,39),(13,01),(13,39),(14,01),(14,39),(15,01),(15,10),(15,14),(15,38),(16,02),  (16,07),(16,13),(16,14),(16,15),(16,17),(16,18),(16,19),(16,20),(16,21),(16,22),  (16,39),(17,02),(17,10),(17,14),(17,15),(17,16),(17,17),(17,18),(17,19),(17,20),  (17,21),(17,22),(17,23),(17,24),(17,25),(17,38),(18,02),(18,08),(18,10),(18,14),  (18,15),(18,16),(18,17),(18,18),(18,24),(18,25),(18,38),(19,03),(19,08),(19,10),  (19,15),(19,25),(19,26),(19,38),(20,03),(20,10),(20,11),(20,24),(20,25),(20,26),  (20,38),(21,04),(21,11),(21,23),(21,24),(21,25),(21,26),(21,38),(21,39),(22,05),  (22,06),(22,23),(22,24),(22,25),(22,38),(22,39),(23,07),(23,08),(23,22),(23,23),  (23,24),(23,38),(23,39),(23,40),(24,09),(24,10),(24,11),(24,12),(24,13),(24,22),  (24,23),(24,24),(24,37),(24,38),(24,39),(25,14),(25,22),(25,23),(25,24),(25,25),  (25,37),(25,38),(25,39),(26,15),(26,16),(26,22),(26,23),(26,24),(26,25),(26,26),  (26,27),(26,28),(26,29),(26,30),(26,31),(26,37),(26,38),(26,39),(27,17),(27,18),  (27,19),(27,20),(27,23),(27,24),(27,27),(27,28),(27,29),(27,30),(27,31),(27,32),  (27,33),(27,34),(27,35),(27,36),(27,37),(27,38),(27,39),(28,21),(28,22),(28,26),  (28,27),(28,28),(28,29),(28,30),(28,31),(28,32),(28,33),(28,34),(28,35),(28,36),  (28,37),(28,38),(29,26),(29,27),(29,28),(29,29),(29,30),(29,31),(29,32),(29,33),  (29,34),(29,35),(29,36),(29,37),(29,38),(29,39),(30,26),(30,28),(30,31),(30,32),  (30,33),(30,34),(30,35),(30,36),(30,37),(31,28),(31,29) ) AS Coordinates(x, y);

Run the code in SQL Server 2008 Management Studio and check out the Spatial Results tab:

This is me 10 years ago when I was young and pretty. You probably think that I used some tool that plots out the values from a given picture, but you’re wrong. I took the picture that the SQL Server Magazine folks took of me 10 years ago. I opened the picture with Microsoft Paint, flipped it vertically, saved as a monochrome bitmap, zoomed to the max, and then manually wrote down the point coordinates one by one. I kid you not!

This took me a few good hours, but it was well worth it. Now if that’s not geeky, I don’t know what is. So I challenge you to come up with your own geeky sig.

Cheers,
BG