New SQL Skills I have learned from jobs - Part 3

This is a continuation of New SQL Skills I have learned from jobs - Part 1, Part 2

 

SQL Server 2008 Spatial Index

• For the first time, native Spatial functions inside SQL Server (not 3rd party extensions) and it's a good start
• Speed is quite fast with proper usage of Spatial Index (dividing earth into quadrants and quad-trees)
• You can check for intersection, container and many other relationship between locations (either a Point, or a Polygon)

SQL Server 2008 Full-Text Search

• An improved version of the Full-Text search engine since 2000, merged into the Database Engine (instead of separate process). New features include Stoplists and Word Breakers
• Still one big black box that's hard to fully understand or customize for one's specific needs. Ability to custom-rank will be awesome if it exists. For now, it is just Google-alike text search, literally. If you want If X rank highest; If Y rank higher, etc... good luck!

SQL Server 2008 Integration Service

• I enjoyed the built-in Fuzzy Search and Fuzzy Grouping, makes finding duplicate data much easier (say looking for duplicate address based on Street Name, City, State, Zip, Phone #, etc...)
• Powerful if run on a powerful machine
• I am used to the Drag-and-Drop GUI interface for everything now - SSIS, Maintenance Plan, rarely would I need to write custom code or T-SQL scripts to extend the current abilities