I’m working with C# properties that use the double data type and need to save them to a SQL Server database table. Since SQL Server doesn’t have a double type, I’m wondering which option would work better - should I go with decimal or float?
The data I’m storing includes latitude and longitude coordinates, so precision is really important for my use case. I want to make sure I don’t lose any accuracy when the values get saved to the database.
Any advice on which data type would be the most suitable choice?
hmm interesting question! for lat/long coordinates, what kind of precision are you actually needing? like are you tracking gps points for navigation or just general locations? this could help determin the best approach since both have tradeoffs with storage size vs accuracy.
honestly ive been using float(53) for coordinates in my apps and it works fine. matches c# double perfectly without conversion headaches. unless your doing crazy precise calculations the tiny precision loss isnt noticable for most mapping stuff.
For latitude and longitude coordinates, I recommend using the decimal data type with appropriate precision and scale settings. When I implemented a similar mapping system, I used decimal(9,6) which provided sufficient precision for most geographical applications while maintaining exact decimal representation. The key advantage of decimal over float is that it avoids floating-point rounding errors that can accumulate over calculations. SQL Server’s float corresponds to C#'s double, but the conversion process can introduce subtle precision loss that becomes problematic when working with coordinate calculations or distance computations. If storage space is a major concern and you can tolerate minor precision variations, float(53) would be the direct equivalent. However, for geographical data where accuracy matters, the deterministic nature of decimal makes it the safer choice in my experience.