Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 2, 2026

SpatiaLite

SpatiaLite is a spatial extension to SQLite, providing vector geodatabase functionality. It is similar to PostGIS, Oracle Spatial, and SQL Server with spatial extensions, although SQLite/SpatiaLite aren't based on client-server architecture: they adopt a simpler personal architecture. i.e. the whole SQL engine is directly embedded within the application itself: a complete database simply is an ordinary file which can be freely copied and transferred from one computer/OS to a different one without any special precaution.

Last revised
Jun 2, 2026
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≈ 2 min
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Wikipedia ↗
SpatiaLite
DeveloperAlessandro Furieri
Initial releaseMarch 21, 2008 (2008-03-21)
Stable release
5.1.0 / August 4, 2023 (2023-08-04)
Written inspatialite-gui: (C++, wxWidgets)1
Operating systemLinux, MS-Windows, macOS, POSIX compliant systems
TypeGeographic information system
LicenseMPL GPL LGPL tri-license
Websitehttps://www.gaia-gis.it/fossil/libspatialite/
Repository

SpatiaLite is a spatial extension to SQLite, providing vector geodatabase functionality. It is similar to PostGIS, Oracle Spatial, and SQL Server with spatial extensions, although SQLite/SpatiaLite aren't based on client-server architecture: they adopt a simpler personal architecture. i.e. the whole SQL engine is directly embedded within the application itself: a complete database simply is an ordinary file which can be freely copied and transferred from one computer/OS to a different one without any special precaution.

SpatiaLite extends SQLite's existing spatial support to cover the OGC's SFS specification.2 It isn't necessary to use SpatiaLite to manage spatial data in SQLite, which has its own implementation of R-tree indexes and geometry types. But SpatiaLite is needed for advanced spatial queries and to support multiple map projections. SpatiaLite is provided natively for Linux and Windows as a software library as well several utilities that incorporate the SpatiaLite library. These utilities include command line tools that extend SQLite's own with spatial macros, a graphical GUI for manipulating Spatialite databases and their data, and a simple desktop GIS tool for browsing data.

As it is a single binary file, SpatiaLite is also used as a GIS vector format to exchange geospatial data.

Software that supports SpatiaLite

  • Desktop:
    • ESRI ArcGIS since version 10.2 as "Database Connection".3
    • QGIS supports SpatiaLite native since version 1.14
    • AutocadMap 2013
    • Global Mapper5
    • OpenJUMP offers a Plug-In.
    • FME (also available as server)
    • TileMill renderer (uses Mapnik) reads SpatiaLite as data source.6
    • Spatial Manager Desktop,7 Spatial Manager for AutoCAD,8 Spatial Manager for BricsCAD 9
  • (Web)Server:
  • Tools and libraries:
  • Web Apps:
    • GeoConverter - Free online data converter which reads and writes several GIS vector file formats (based on OGR), including SpatiaLite.19

Standards

SpatiaLite supports several open standards from the OGC and has been listed as a reference implementation for the proposed GeoPackage standard.20

References

References

  1. "Debian -- Details of package spatialite-gui in jessie". Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  2. Furieri, Alessandro. "SpatiaLite - spatial extensions for SQLite". SpatiaLite manual. Gaia-SINS.
  3. "ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2)".
  4. "QGIS Features". Archived from the original on 2010-01-15. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
  5. "Global Mapper".
  6. "TileMill". Retrieved 2014-01-06.
  7. "Spatial Manager Desktop Page".
  8. "Spatial Manager for AutoCAD Page".
  9. "Spatial Manager for BricsCAD Page".
  10. "SpatiaLite - GeoServer 2.6.X User Manual". Retrieved 2015-03-01.
  11. "Installing Spatialite". Retrieved 2013-01-24.
  12. "GeoDjango Installation | Django documentation | Django".
  13. "FeatureServer.org". FeatureServer.org. Archived from the original on 2013-12-29. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
  14. "SpatiaLite - MapServer Documentation". Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  15. "SQLite RDBMS". Open Source Geospatial Foundation. Archived from the original on 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
  16. "JDBC SpatiaLite - GeoTools". Archived from the original on 2010-06-08. Retrieved 2013-01-24.
  17. "pyspatialite". pyspatialite. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
  18. "SpatiaLite Quickstart — OSGeoLive 14.0 Documentation".
  19. "GeoConverter – Geoinformation HSR".
  20. "The OGC Seeks Comments on Candidate GeoPackage Standard | OGC".
External links