Hi, I have a GiST index on st_geometry type (a user defined type). It looks like index is not getting hit when I use some geometric operator. Here is the example of st_contains operator. EXPLAIN analyze Select count(a.objectid_1) as contains from sde.parcel_l a Where st_contains(st_geometry('polygon ((6221958 1949440, 6349378 1949440, 6349378 2033808, 6221958 2033808, 6221958 1949440))'::cstring,3), a.shape) = 1; QUERY PLAN ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Aggregate (cost=79132.24..79132.25 rows=1 width=4) (actual time=49614.399..49614.400 rows=1 loops=1) -> Seq Scan on parcel_l a (cost=0.00..79122.79 rows=3778 width=4) (actual time=2.343..49388.591 rows=184750 loops=1) Filter: (st_contains('ST_POLYGON'::st_geometry, shape) = 1) Total runtime: 49614.479 ms The time 49614 ms is too high for 184k rows. I have tried various configuration parameters as mentioned in section 17.6 (Query planning) of PostgreSQL 8.2.1 Documentation. For example setting Set enable_seqscan = off; Set random_page_cost = 10; etc., Changing these parameters did not improve performance. If I call one of the operators (~) of GiST operator class, then it takes 1015 ms for 184k rows. EXPLAIN analyze Select count(a.objectid_1) as contains from sde.parcel_l a where (st_geometry('polygon ((6221958 1949440, 6349378 1949440, 6349378 2033808, 6221958 2033808, 6221958 1949440))'::cstring,3) ~ a.shape) = 't'; ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ Aggregate (cost=2827.78..2827.79 rows=1 width=4) (actual time=1015.025..1015.026 rows=1 loops=1) -> Bitmap Heap Scan on parcel_l a (cost=46.05..2825.89 rows=756 width=4) (actual time=213.914..876.122 rows=180512 loops=1) Filter: ('ST_POLYGON'::st_geometry ~ shape) -> Bitmap Index Scan on parcel_l_ind (cost=0.00..46.05 rows=756 width=0) (actual time=202.629..202.629 rows=180170 loops=1) Index Cond: ('ST_POLYGON'::st_geometry ~ shape) Total runtime: 1015.223 ms Here is information about table, type, index and rows in the table. pg=# SELECT relname, relkind, reltuples, relpages FROM pg_class WHERE relname LIKE 'parcel_l%'; relname | relkind | reltuples | relpages --------------------+---------+-----------+---------- parcel_l_pkey | i | 755653 | 1665 parcel_l | r | 755653 | 67788 parcel_l_ind | i | 755653 | 9582 (3 rows) pg=# \d parcel_l Table "sde.parcel_l" olumn | Type | Modifiers ---------------+-----------------------------+----------- objectid_1 | integer | not null area | numeric(38,8) | ..... fid_len | numeric(38,8) | shape | st_geometry | Indexes: "parcel_l_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (objectid_1) "parcel_l_ind" gist (shape) How can I force or direct the planner to use the GiST index? Am I missing something? Thanks. Ale Raza.