Spatial tables can be partitioned using any of the previously described methods. However, spatial indexing imposes some restrictions on the type of partitioning used for the spatial tables. When a table is partitioned, the index on the table can be created as global or local. A global index treats the table as a non-partitioned table and creates one large index to cover all the rows of the table. A local index is partitioned the same way as the table and each partition of the table will have one index.
Oracle Spatial only supports the range-based partitioning approach for spatial indexes; that is, an Oracle Spatial table can be partitioned using any of the methods, but if a partitioned (or local) spatial index is required, then only the range-based partitioning must be used. Due to this restriction, the rest of the discussion in this chapter will focus on the range-based partitioning.