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Description

This error indicates that you are attempting to create a SPATIAL index on a MySQL table whose underlying storage engine does not support this type of index. SPATIAL indexes are specialized for geographic data and require specific engine capabilities.

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Error Message

The used table type doesn't support SPATIAL indexes

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Known Causes

3 known causes

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Incompatible Storage Engine

The table is configured to use a storage engine (e.g., MEMORY, CSV, or older InnoDB) that does not provide native support for SPATIAL indexes.

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Outdated MySQL Version

Your MySQL server version might be too old, specifically for engines like InnoDB, which gained SPATIAL index support in later releases (e.g., MySQL 5.7.5+).

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Non-Persistent Table Type

Attempting to create a SPATIAL index on a temporary table or a view, which are not backed by a persistent storage engine capable of supporting such indexes.

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Solutions

3 solutions available

1. Convert Table to InnoDB Storage Engine medium

Migrate your table from a non-spatial-index-supporting engine (like MyISAM) to InnoDB.

1

Identify the table experiencing the error and its current storage engine. You can do this by running:

SHOW CREATE TABLE your_table_name;

2

If the table is not using InnoDB, you'll need to convert it. The safest way is to create a new table with the correct engine and copy the data over.

CREATE TABLE your_table_name_new (
    -- Define all columns exactly as in your_table_name
    id INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
    geom GEOMETRY
    -- ... other columns
) ENGINE=InnoDB;

INSERT INTO your_table_name_new (id, geom /*, other columns */) 
SELECT id, geom /*, other columns */ FROM your_table_name;

-- If you had other indexes, recreate them on your_table_name_new
-- Example: CREATE INDEX idx_geom ON your_table_name_new (geom);

3

Once the data is copied and indexes are recreated on the new table, you can rename the tables to replace the old one.

RENAME TABLE your_table_name TO your_table_name_old, your_table_name_new TO your_table_name;

4

Verify that the spatial index can now be created on the `your_table_name` table.

ALTER TABLE your_table_name ADD SPATIAL INDEX(geom);

5

Optionally, you can drop the old table after confirming everything is working correctly.

DROP TABLE your_table_name_old;

2. Recreate Table with Appropriate Storage Engine easy

If the table is small or you prefer a fresh start, recreate it using InnoDB from the beginning.

1

First, get the schema definition of your existing table.

SHOW CREATE TABLE your_table_name;

2

Modify the output of `SHOW CREATE TABLE` to explicitly set `ENGINE=InnoDB`. If you are adding a spatial index, ensure the column is of a spatial data type (e.g., `GEOMETRY`, `POINT`, `POLYGON`).

-- Example of modified CREATE TABLE statement:
CREATE TABLE your_table_name (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    geom GEOMETRY NOT NULL,
    -- ... other columns
    SPATIAL INDEX(geom) -- Add the spatial index here
) ENGINE=InnoDB;

3

Drop the original table.

DROP TABLE your_table_name;

4

Execute the modified `CREATE TABLE` statement to create the table with InnoDB and the spatial index.

-- Paste the modified CREATE TABLE statement here
CREATE TABLE your_table_name (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    geom GEOMETRY NOT NULL,
    -- ... other columns
    SPATIAL INDEX(geom) 
) ENGINE=InnoDB;

5

Re-insert your data into the newly created table.

INSERT INTO your_table_name (id, geom /*, other columns */)
SELECT id, geom /*, other columns */ FROM your_table_name_backup; -- Assuming you have a backup

3. Remove Spatial Index from Unsupported Table easy

If you don't need the spatial index, simply remove it.

1

Identify the spatial index on your table. You can usually find this by looking at the output of `SHOW CREATE TABLE your_table_name;`.

SHOW CREATE TABLE your_table_name;

2

If you find a line like `SPATIAL INDEX (column_name)`, you can drop it using the following command. Replace `column_name` with the actual name of your spatial column.

ALTER TABLE your_table_name DROP INDEX column_name;

3

If you explicitly created the spatial index using `ADD SPATIAL INDEX`, you would drop it like this:

ALTER TABLE your_table_name DROP SPATIAL INDEX column_name;

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Related Errors

5 related errors

MySQL Error 1464: Unsupported Table Type for Spatial Index