drizzle-team/drizzle-orm · error · Error

Unsupported geometry type

Error message

Unsupported geometry type

What it means

An Error 'Unsupported geometry type' thrown by parseEWKB() in drizzle-orm/src/pg-core/columns/postgis_extension/utils.ts:46. The parser decodes PostGIS EWKB but currently handles only the Point geometry (geomType & 0xFFFF === 1). After skipping the optional SRID, any non-Point geometry (LineString=2, Polygon=3, MultiPoint=4, etc.) falls through to this throw.

Source

Thrown at drizzle-orm/src/pg-core/columns/postgis_extension/utils.ts:46

	const geomType = view.getUint32(offset, byteOrder === 1);
	offset += 4;

	let _srid: number | undefined;
	if (geomType & 0x20000000) { // SRID flag
		_srid = view.getUint32(offset, byteOrder === 1);
		offset += 4;
	}

	if ((geomType & 0xFFFF) === 1) {
		const x = bytesToFloat64(bytes, offset);
		offset += 8;
		const y = bytesToFloat64(bytes, offset);
		offset += 8;

		return [x, y];
	}

	throw new Error('Unsupported geometry type');
}

View on GitHub (pinned to b7862528fd)

Solutions

1. If you only need coordinates, store Points instead of higher-dimensional geometries.
2. Otherwise do not decode with parseEWKB — read the column as raw text/bytea and decode with a full EWKB library (e.g. wkx/@turf) client-side.
3. Request/await broader geometry support in drizzle-orm if you need native decoding.
4. Filter or transform non-Point rows before they reach the Drizzle decoder.

Example fix

// before — column of LineStrings decoded via the Point-only parser
const routes = pgTable('routes', {
  id: serial('id').primaryKey(),
  geom: geometry('geom', { type: 'linestring', srid: 4326 }),
});
await db.select().from(routes); // Unsupported geometry type

// after — read raw EWKB hex and decode with a full library
const routes = pgTable('routes', {
  id: serial('id').primaryKey(),
  geom: text('geom').notNull(), // or customType returning raw
});
const rows = await db.select().from(routes);
const geo = rows.map(r => parseWKH(r.geom)); // use wkx / @turf to parse linestring

function isPointEWKB(hex: string): boolean {
  // EWKB: 1 byte order + 4 bytes geomType (+ optional SRID). Point type low bits === 1.
  const bytes = new Uint8Array(
    hex.match(/.{2}/g)!.map((h) => parseInt(h, 16)),
  );
  const little = bytes[0] === 1;
  const view = new DataView(bytes.buffer);
  const geomType = view.getUint32(1, little);
  return (geomType & 0xffff) === 1;
}

if (!isPointEWKB(hexValue)) {
  // do not pass to parseEWKB; decode with a full EWKB library instead
}

function isPointGeometry(hex: string): boolean {
  if (!hex || hex.length < 10) return false;
  const bytes = new Uint8Array(hex.match(/.{2}/g)!.map((h) => parseInt(h, 16)));
  const little = bytes[0] === 1;
  const geomType = new DataView(bytes.buffer).getUint32(1, little);
  return (geomType & 0xffff) === 1;
}

try {
  const [x, y] = parseEWKB(hexValue);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && /Unsupported geometry type/i.test(e.message)) {
    // fall back to a full EWKB decoder (wkx/@turf) for non-Point geometries
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Decoding a PostGIS column whose stored value is anything other than a Point (e.g. LineString, Polygon, MultiPolygon, GeometryCollection) using a column that calls parseEWKB on its EWKB hex. Selecting such a row triggers the throw at read time.

Common situations: Storing routes (LineString), areas (Polygon), or multi-geometries in a PostGIS column and reading them back through Drizzle's postgis helpers, which currently only round-trip Points. A schema change that starts storing non-Point geometries breaks previously working reads.

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AI-assisted analysis of drizzle-team/drizzle-orm@b7862528fd (2026-08-03). Data as JSON: /data/errors/93aa318e7402c531.json. Report an issue: GitHub.