A user on the postgis-users had an interesting question today: how to generate a geometry column in PostGIS with random points, linestrings, or polygons?
Random data is important for validating processing chains, analyses and reports. The best way to test a process is to feed it inputs!
Random Points
Random points is pretty easy -- define an area of interest and then use the PostgreSQL random() function to create the X and Y values in that area.
CREATE TABLE random_points AS
WITH bounds AS (
SELECT 0 AS origin_x,
0 AS origin_y,
80 AS width,
80 AS height
)
SELECT ST_Point(width * (random() - 0.5) + origin_x,
height * (random() - 0.5) + origin_y,
4326)::Geometry(Point, 4326) AS geom,
id
FROM bounds,
generate_series(0, 100) AS id
Filling a target shape with random points is a common use case, and there's a special function just for that, ST_GeneratePoints(). Here we generate points inside a circle created with ST_Buffer().
CREATE TABLE random_points AS
SELECT ST_GeneratePoints(
ST_Buffer(
ST_Point(0, 0, 4326),
50),
100) AS geom
If you have PostgreSQL 16, you can use the brand new random_normal() function to generate coordinates with a central tendency.
CREATE TABLE random_normal_points AS
WITH bounds AS (
SELECT 0 AS origin_x,
0 AS origin_y,
80 AS width,
80 AS height
)
SELECT ST_Point(random_normal(origin_x, width/4),
random_normal(origin_y, height/4),
4326)::Geometry(Point, 4326) AS geom,
id
FROM bounds,
generate_series(0, 100) AS id
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION random_normal(
mean double precision DEFAULT 0.0,
stddev double precision DEFAULT 1.0)
RETURNS double precision AS
$$
DECLARE
u1 double precision;
u2 double precision;
z0 double precision;
z1 double precision;
BEGIN
u1 := random();
u2 := random();
z0 := sqrt(-2.0 * ln(u1)) * cos(2.0 * pi() * u2);
z1 := sqrt(-2.0 * ln(u1)) * sin(2.0 * pi() * u2);
RETURN mean + (stddev * z0);
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
Random Linestrings
Linestrings are a little harder, because they involve more points, and aesthetically we like to avoid self-crossings of lines.
Two-point linestrings are pretty easy to generate with ST_MakeLine() -- just generate twice as many random points, and use them as the start and end points of the linestrings.
CREATE TABLE random_2point_lines AS
WITH bounds AS (
SELECT 0 AS origin_x, 80 AS width,
0 AS origin_y, 80 AS height
)
SELECT ST_MakeLine(
ST_Point(random_normal(origin_x, width/4),
random_normal(origin_y, height/4),
4326),
ST_Point(random_normal(origin_x, width/4),
random_normal(origin_y, height/4),
4326))::Geometry(LineString, 4326) AS geom,
id
FROM bounds,
generate_series(0, 100) AS id
Multi-point random linestrings are harder, at least while avoiding self-intersections, and there are a lot of potential approaches. While a recursive CTE could probably do it, an imperative approach using PL/PgSQL is more readable.
The generate_random_linestring() function starts with an empty linestring, and
then adds on new segments one at a time, changing the direction of the line with
each new segment.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION generate_random_linestring(
start_point geometry(Point))
RETURNS geometry(LineString, 4326) AS
$$
DECLARE
num_segments integer := 10; -- Number of segments in the linestring
deviation_max float := radians(45); -- Maximum deviation
random_point geometry(Point);
deviation float;
direction float := 2 * pi() * random();
segment_length float := 5; -- Length of each segment (adjust as needed)
i integer;
result geometry(LineString) := 'SRID=4326;LINESTRING EMPTY';
BEGIN
result := ST_AddPoint(result, start_point);
FOR i IN 1..num_segments LOOP
-- Generate a random angle within the specified deviation
deviation := 2 * deviation_max * random() - deviation_max;
direction := direction + deviation;
-- Calculate the coordinates of the next point
random_point := ST_Point(
ST_X(start_point) + cos(direction) * segment_length,
ST_Y(start_point) + sin(direction) * segment_length,
ST_SRID(start_point)
);
-- Add the point to the linestring
result := ST_AddPoint(result, random_point);
-- Update the start point for the next segment
start_point := random_point;
END LOOP;
RETURN result;
END;
$$
LANGUAGE plpgsql;
We can use the generate_random_linestring() function now to turn random start
points (created in the usual way) into fully random squiggly lines!
CREATE TABLE random_lines AS
WITH bounds AS (
SELECT 0 AS origin_x, 80 AS width,
0 AS origin_y, 80 AS height
)
SELECT id,
generate_random_linestring(
ST_Point(random_normal(origin_x, width/4),
random_normal(origin_y, height/4),
4326))::Geometry(LineString, 4326) AS geom
FROM bounds,
generate_series(1, 100) AS id;
Random Polygons
At the simplest level, a set of random boxes is a set of random polygons, but that's pretty boring, and easy to generate using ST_MakeEnvelope().
CREATE TABLE random_boxes AS
WITH bounds AS (
SELECT 0 AS origin_x, 80 AS width,
0 AS origin_y, 80 AS height
)
SELECT ST_MakeEnvelope(
random_normal(origin_x, width/4),
random_normal(origin_y, height/4),
random_normal(origin_x, width/4),
random_normal(origin_y, height/4)
)::Geometry(Polygon, 4326) AS geom,
id
FROM bounds,
generate_series(0, 20) AS id
But more interesting polygons have curvy and convex shapes, how can we generate those?
Random Polygons with Concave Hull
One way is to extract a polygon from a set of random points, using ST_ConcaveHull(), and then applying an "erode and dilate" effect to make the curves more pleasantly round.
We start with a random center point for each polygon, and create a circle with ST_Buffer().
Then use ST_GeneratePoints() to fill the circle with some random points -- not too many, so we get a nice jagged result.
Then use ST_ConcaveHull() to trace a "boundary" around those points.
Then apply a negative buffer, to erode the shape.
And finally a positive buffer to dilate it back out again.
Generating multiple hulls involves stringing together all the above operations with CTEs or subqueries.
CREATE TABLE random_hulls AS
WITH bounds AS (
SELECT 0 AS origin_x,
0 AS origin_y,
80 AS width,
80 AS height
),
polypts AS (
SELECT ST_Point(random_normal(origin_x, width/2),
random_normal(origin_y, width/2),
4326)::Geometry(Point, 4326) AS geom,
polyid
FROM bounds,
generate_series(1,10) AS polyid
),
pts AS (
SELECT ST_GeneratePoints(ST_Buffer(geom, width/5), 20) AS geom,
polyid
FROM bounds,
polypts
)
SELECT ST_Multi(ST_Buffer(
ST_Buffer(
ST_ConcaveHull(geom, 0.3),
-2.0),
3.0))::Geometry(MultiPolygon, 4326) AS geom,
polyid
FROM pts;
Random Polygons with Voronoi Polygons
Another approach is to again start with random points, but use the Voronoi diagram as the basis of the polygon.
Start with a center point and buffer circle.
Generate random points in the circle.
Use the ST_VoronoiPolygons() function to generate polygons that subdivide the space using the random points as seeds.
Filter just the polygons that are fully contained in the originating circle.
And then use ST_Union() to merge those polygons into a single output shape.
Generating multiple hulls again involves stringing together the above operations with CTEs or subqueries.
CREATE TABLE random_delaunay_hulls AS
WITH bounds AS (
SELECT 0 AS origin_x,
0 AS origin_y,
80 AS width,
80 AS height
),
polypts AS (
SELECT ST_Point(random_normal(origin_x, width/2),
random_normal(origin_y, width/2),
4326)::Geometry(Point, 4326) AS geom,
polyid
FROM bounds,
generate_series(1,20) AS polyid
),
vonorois AS (
SELECT ST_VoronoiPolygons(
ST_GeneratePoints(ST_Buffer(geom, width/5), 10)
) AS geom,
ST_Buffer(geom, width/5) AS geom_clip,
polyid
FROM bounds,
polypts
),
cells AS (
SELECT (ST_Dump(geom)).geom, polyid, geom_clip
FROM vonorois
)
SELECT ST_Union(geom)::Geometry(Polygon, 4326) AS geom, polyid
FROM cells
WHERE ST_Contains(geom_clip, geom)
GROUP BY polyid;
by Paul Ramsey (Paul.Ramsey@crunchydata.com) at September 11, 2023 01:00 PM
