PostGIS
Description
Returns the 2-dimensional shortest line between two geometries. The line
returned starts in geom1 and ends in geom2. If geom1 and
geom2 intersect the result is a line with start and end at an
intersection point. The length of the line is the same as
ST_Distance returns for g1 and g2.
Availability: 1.5.0
Examples
Shortest line between Point and LineString
SELECT ST_AsText( ST_ShortestLine(
'POINT (160 40)',
'LINESTRING (10 30, 50 50, 30 110, 70 90, 180 140, 130 190)')
) As sline;
---------------------------------------------------------
LINESTRING(160 40,125.75342465753425 115.34246575342466)
Shortest line between Polygons
SELECT ST_AsText( ST_ShortestLine(
'POLYGON ((190 150, 20 10, 160 70, 190 150))',
ST_Buffer('POINT(80 160)', 30)
) ) AS llinewkt;
-----------------
LINESTRING(131.59149149528952 101.89887534906197,101.21320343559644 138.78679656440357)