Data Type

Description

DATETIME2

DATETIMEOFFSET

TIME

Enables applications to have separate DATE and TIME types, larger year ranges for date value, larger fractional seconds precision for time value, time-zone offset aware DATETIME type that contains date, time, and time zone offset portions, and a user-defined option on fractional seconds precision of time related types. DATETIME2 and DATETIMEOFFSET provide standards conformant semantics.

GEOGRAPHY

GEOMETRY

Provides spatial data support for location-aware applications. These data types can be used to store locations, as well as paths and regions in space, and provides functionality for comparing and manipulating these objects. These data types are also used in spatial indexes, which provide for fast execution of queries involving spatial data. Use the GEOGRAPHY data type when working with latitude and longitude coordinates in a true round-earth model. Use GEOMETRY when working with geometric data such as polygons, points, and lines within a Euclidean coordinate system.

FILESTREAM

Allows storage of large binary data such as documents and images directly in a NTFS file system while letting the data document remain an integral part of the database and maintaining transactional consistency. The new FILESTREAM data type enables the scale-out of large binary data, traditionally managed by the database, to be stored outside of the database.

HIERARCHYID

Used to represent position in a hierarchy. A hierarchyid column does not automatically represent a tree; it is the application that generates and assigns hierarchyid values so that the relationship between rows is reflected in the values. The value of the hierarchyid data type represents a position in a tree hierarchy.