What is the ideal data type to use when storing latitude / longitude in a MySQL database?

Question

Bearing in mind that I\'ll be performing calculations on lat / long pairs, what datatype is best suited for use with a MySQL database?

Answer 1

Lat Long calculations require precision, so use some type of decimal type and make the precision at least 2 higher than the number you will store in order to perform math calculations. I don't know about the my sql datatypes but in SQL server people often use float or real instead of decimal and get into trouble because these are are estimated numbers not real ones. So just make sure the data type you use is a true decimal type and not a floating decimal type and you should be fine.