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Data types in the DBMS

Data types in the DBMS
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Note: This topic was updated for 9.3.1.

When you create a table or add a field to a table in the geodatabase, fields are created as a specific data type. Data types are classifications that identify possible values for and operations that can be done on the data, as well as the way the data in that field is stored in the database.

When you import data of one type into a field of another data type, you need to understand what the equivalent data types are between ArcSDE and your database management system (DBMS) because it can impact data content. Also, when creating new datasets in ArcGIS, it is helpful to know the equivalent data types between ArcGIS and your DBMS. For example, if you add a floating point (float) column to an existing feature class, that equates to a numeric data type column in a SQL Server database.

NOTE: Moving data from one database to another can cause data types to remap.

Learn how data converts from one type to another.

File geodatabase data types are the same as ArcGIS data types. For DBMS products, though, data types can differ. The following sections contain information on how DBMS data types map to ArcGIS data types.

Access data types

When you create a feature class or table in ArcGIS, there are 11 different data types available for each column. These types are mapped to Access data types in the following table.


ArcGIS data type Access data type Notes
OBJECTID Long Integer OBJECTID is an AutoNumber field.
SHORT INTEGER Integer

LONG INTEGER Long Integer

FLOAT Single

DOUBLE Double

TEXT Text

DATE Date/Time

BLOB OLE Object*

GUID Number

GEOMETRY OLE Object*

RASTER Memo Memo fields can store up to 65,536 characters.

*Object linking and embedding (OLE) objects are objects created in other applications that are linked or embedded in Access. In this case, binary large object (BLOB) and GEOMETRY data types don't exist in Access, so the object is in ArcGIS and linked to the Access database.

DB2 data types

When you create a feature class or table in ArcGIS, there are 11 different data types available for each column. These types are mapped to DB2 types in the following table.


ArcGIS data type DB2 data type Notes
OBJECTID INTEGER(4) NOT NULL
SHORT INTEGER SMALLINT(2)

LONG INTEGER INTEGER(4)

FLOAT DECIMAL(31,8)

DOUBLE DECIMAL(31,8)

TEXT VARCHAR(n)

DATE TIMESTAMP

BLOB BLOB

GUID CHARACTER(38)

GEOMETRY ST_GEOMETRY ST_Geometry is a superclass. The actual data subtype created (such as ST_Multilinestring or ST_Point) depends on what type of feature class you create such as polygon, line, point, multipoint, and multipatch.
RASTER INTEGER(4)

Informix data types

When you create a feature class or table in ArcGIS, there are 11 different data types available for each column. These types are mapped to Informix types in the following table.


ArcGIS data type Informix data type Notes
OBJECTID INT(4) NOT NULL
SHORT INTEGER SMALLINT(2)

LONG INTEGER INT(4)

FLOAT DECIMAL(32)

DOUBLE DECIMAL(32)

TEXT VARCHAR(n)

DATE DATETIME

BLOB BLOB

GUID CHAR(8)

GEOMETRY ST_GEOMETRY ST_Geometry is a superclass. The actual data subtype created (such as ST_Multilinestring or ST_Point) depends on what type of feature class you create such as polygon, line, point, multipoint, and multipatch.
RASTER INT(4)

Oracle data types

When you create a feature class or table in ArcGIS, there are 11 different data types available for each column. These types are mapped to Oracle types in the following table.


ArcGIS data type Oracle data type Notes
OBJECTID NUMBER(38) NOT NULL
SHORT INTEGER NUMBER(4)

LONG INTEGER NUMBER(38)

FLOAT NUMBER(38,8)

DOUBLE NUMBER(38,8)

TEXT NVARCHAR2(n) or VARCHAR2(n) This field will be NVARCHAR2 in the database only if your geodatabase is using Unicode storage; otherwise, VARCHAR2 is used.
DATE DATE

BLOB BLOB

GUID CHAR(38)

GEOMETRY ST_GEOMETRY*

NUMBER(38)

SDO_GEOMETRY		 Oracle data type depends on the geometry storage specified for the layer.
RASTER BLOB

LONG_RAW		 Oracle data type depends on the raster storage specified in the DBTUNE table.

*ST_Geometry is a superclass. The actual data subtype created (such as ST_Multilinestring or ST_Point) depends on what type of feature class you create such as polygon, line, point, multipoint, and multipatch.

PostgreSQL data types

When you create a feature class or table in ArcGIS, there are 11 different data types available for each column. These types are mapped to PostgreSQL types in the following table.


ArcGIS data type PostgreSQL data type Notes
OBJECTID INTEGER

SHORT INTEGER SMALLINT

LONG INTEGER INTEGER

FLOAT NUMERIC(38,8)

DOUBLE NUMERIC(38,8)

TEXT CHARACTER VARYING

DATE TIME WITHOUT TIME ZONE

BLOB BYTEA

GUID CHARACTER VARYING(38)

GEOMETRY ST_GEOMETRY*

GEOMETRY

Data type depends on the geometry storage specified for the layer.
RASTER INTEGER

*ST_Geometry is a superclass. The actual data subtype created (such as ST_Multilinestring or ST_Point) depends on what type of feature class you create, whether polygon, line, point, multipoint, or multipatch.

SQL Server data types

When you create a feature class or table in ArcGIS, there are 11 different data types available for each column. These types are mapped to SQL Server types in the following table.


ArcGIS data type SQL Server data type Notes
OBJECTID INT(4) NOT NULL
SHORT INTEGER SMALLINT(2)

LONG INTEGER INT(4)

FLOAT REAL

DOUBLE DOUBLE If scale is set to greater than 0 in ArcGIS, the SQL Server data type is NUMERIC.
TEXT NVARCHAR(n) or VARCHAR(n) The data type is NVARCHAR if your geodatabase stores Unicode text. With NVARCHAR, you can have up to 4000 characters. If you are not using Unicode, text fields are VARCHAR. For VARCHAR, you can have up to 8000 characters. If you create a field with a value larger than the maximum allowed for that data type, the field will be converted automatically to a BLOB type.
DATE DATETIME

BLOB IMAGE

GUID UNIQUEIDENTIFIER(16)

GEOMETRY IMAGE

RASTER IMAGE

See Also

  • Geodatabase field data types
  • About geometry storage types