apache/iceberg · error · UnsupportedOperationException

Unsupported BinaryView type:

Error message

Unsupported BinaryView type: 

What it means

toBinaryView converts WKB binary values to Spark geometry/geography types. If the target Iceberg type is neither GeometryType nor GeographyType, it throws UnsupportedOperationException. Only spatial BinaryView columns are convertible via this path.

Source

Thrown at spark/v4.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/source/StructInternalRow.java:394

            values,
            array -> (BiConsumer<Integer, Object>) (pos, v) -> array[pos] = toVariantVal(v));
      default:
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Unsupported array element type: " + elementType);
    }
  }

  private static BinaryView toBinaryView(Type type, byte[] wkb) {
    return toBinaryView(SparkSchemaUtil.convert(type), wkb);
  }

  private static BinaryView toBinaryView(DataType type, byte[] wkb) {
    if (type instanceof GeometryType) {
      return STUtils.stGeomFromWKB(wkb, ((GeometryType) type).srid());
    } else if (type instanceof GeographyType) {
      return STUtils.stGeogFromWKB(wkb, ((GeographyType) type).srid());
    }

    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Unsupported BinaryView type: " + type);
  }

  private static VariantVal toVariantVal(Object value) {
    if (value instanceof Variant) {
      Variant variant = (Variant) value;
      byte[] metadataBytes = new byte[variant.metadata().sizeInBytes()];
      ByteBuffer metadataBuffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(metadataBytes).order(ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);
      variant.metadata().writeTo(metadataBuffer, 0);

      byte[] valueBytes = new byte[variant.value().sizeInBytes()];
      ByteBuffer valueBuffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(valueBytes).order(ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);
      variant.value().writeTo(valueBuffer, 0);

      return new VariantVal(valueBytes, metadataBytes);
    }

    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
        "Unsupported value for VARIANT in StructInternalRow: " + value.getClass());

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)

Solutions

1. Confirm the column's Iceberg type is geometry or geography in the table schema
2. Recreate/alter the column with the correct spatial type
3. Remove the spatial reader path for non-spatial binary columns

Example fix

// before: column defined as plain binary
// after
ALTER TABLE t ALTER COLUMN geom SET TYPE geometry

if (!(colType instanceof Types.GeometryType) && !(colType instanceof Types.GeographyType)) {
  throw new IllegalArgumentException("BinaryView conversion requires geometry/geography type");
}

static boolean isSpatialBinaryView(Type t) {
  return t instanceof Types.GeometryType || t instanceof Types.GeographyType;
}

try {
  Object g = row.getBinaryView(ordinal);
} catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) {
  g = readAsRawBinary(ordinal);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Reading a binary column exposed as BinaryView whose declared type is not geometry/geography, e.g. a plain binary column or an unexpected custom BinaryView type.

Common situations: Schema drift where a column was recreated as plain binary but read via spatial accessors; misconfigured type mapping between catalog schema and reader.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is not a compatible type" / "cannot merge" errors: when a value's type doesn't match what the library requires — this error's family across 65 libraries.

Related errors

• Invalid WKB byte order:
• Invalid WKB: expected geometry type %s but found %s
• Invalid WKB: expected dimensions %s but found %s
• Cannot convert Spark geometry with mixed SRID to Iceberg
• Cannot convert Spark geometry with mixed SRID to Iceberg

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/604f58100b680e34. Report an issue: GitHub.