docs: land height is "elevation", not "altitude"

bmomjian · bmomjian · commit b0b216853883 · 2020-04-22T16:23:19.000-04:00
See https://mapscaping.com/blogs/geo-candy/what-is-the-difference-between-elevation-relief-and-altitude No patching of regression tests. Reported-by: taf1@cornell.edu Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/158506544539.679.2278386310645558048@wrigleys.postgresql.org Backpatch-through: 9.5
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/advanced.sgml
@@ -585,20 +585,20 @@ SELECT sum(salary) OVER w, avg(salary) OVER w
 CREATE TABLE capitals (
   name       text,
   population real,
-  altitude   int,    -- (in ft)
+  elevation  int,    -- (in ft)
   state      char(2)
 );
 
 CREATE TABLE non_capitals (
   name       text,
   population real,
-  altitude   int     -- (in ft)
+  elevation  int     -- (in ft)
 );
 
 CREATE VIEW cities AS
-  SELECT name, population, altitude FROM capitals
+  SELECT name, population, elevation FROM capitals
     UNION
-  SELECT name, population, altitude FROM non_capitals;
+  SELECT name, population, elevation FROM non_capitals;
 </programlisting>
 
     This works OK as far as querying goes, but it gets ugly when you
@@ -612,7 +612,7 @@ CREATE VIEW cities AS
 CREATE TABLE cities (
   name       text,
   population real,
-  altitude   int     -- (in ft)
+  elevation  int     -- (in ft)
 );
 
 CREATE TABLE capitals (
@@ -624,7 +624,7 @@ CREATE TABLE capitals (
    <para>
     In this case, a row of <classname>capitals</classname>
     <firstterm>inherits</firstterm> all columns (<structfield>name</>,
-    <structfield>population</>, and <structfield>altitude</>) from its
+    <structfield>population</structfield>, and <structfield>elevation</structfield>) from its
     <firstterm>parent</firstterm>, <classname>cities</classname>.  The
     type of the column <structfield>name</structfield> is
     <type>text</type>, a native <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
@@ -636,43 +636,43 @@ CREATE TABLE capitals (
 
    <para>
     For example, the  following  query finds the  names  of  all  cities,
-    including  state capitals, that are located at an altitude
+    including  state capitals, that are located at an elevation
     over 500 feet:
 
 <programlisting>
-SELECT name, altitude
+SELECT name, elevation
   FROM cities
-  WHERE altitude &gt; 500;
+  WHERE elevation &gt; 500;
 </programlisting>
 
     which returns:
 
 <screen>
-   name    | altitude
------------+----------
- Las Vegas |     2174
- Mariposa  |     1953
- Madison   |      845
+   name    | elevation
+-----------+-----------
+ Las Vegas |      2174
+ Mariposa  |      1953
+ Madison   |       845
 (3 rows)
 </screen>
    </para>
 
    <para>
     On the other hand, the  following  query  finds
     all  the cities that are not state capitals and
-    are situated at an altitude over 500 feet:
+    are situated at an elevation over 500 feet:
 
 <programlisting>
-SELECT name, altitude
+SELECT name, elevation
     FROM ONLY cities
-    WHERE altitude &gt; 500;
+    WHERE elevation &gt; 500;
 </programlisting>
 
 <screen>
-   name    | altitude
------------+----------
- Las Vegas |     2174
- Mariposa  |     1953
+   name    | elevation
+-----------+-----------
+ Las Vegas |      2174
+ Mariposa  |      1953
 (2 rows)
 </screen>
    </para>
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ddl.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ddl.sgml
@@ -2574,7 +2574,7 @@ REVOKE CREATE ON SCHEMA public FROM PUBLIC;
 CREATE TABLE cities (
     name            text,
     population      float,
-    altitude        int     -- in feet
+    elevation       int     -- in feet
 );
 
 CREATE TABLE capitals (
@@ -2594,40 +2594,40 @@ CREATE TABLE capitals (
    rows of a table or all rows of a table plus all of its descendant tables.
    The latter behavior is the default.
    For example, the following query finds the names of all cities,
-   including state capitals, that are located at an altitude over
+   including state capitals, that are located at an elevation over
    500 feet:
 
 <programlisting>
-SELECT name, altitude
+SELECT name, elevation
     FROM cities
-    WHERE altitude &gt; 500;
+    WHERE elevation &gt; 500;
 </programlisting>
 
    Given the sample data from the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
    tutorial (see <xref linkend="tutorial-sql-intro">), this returns:
 
 <programlisting>
-   name    | altitude
------------+----------
- Las Vegas |     2174
- Mariposa  |     1953
- Madison   |      845
+   name    | elevation
+-----------+-----------
+ Las Vegas |      2174
+ Mariposa  |      1953
+ Madison   |       845
 </programlisting>
   </para>
 
   <para>
    On the other hand, the following query finds all the cities that
-   are not state capitals and are situated at an altitude over 500 feet:
+   are not state capitals and are situated at an elevation over 500 feet:
 
 <programlisting>
-SELECT name, altitude
+SELECT name, elevation
     FROM ONLY cities
-    WHERE altitude &gt; 500;
+    WHERE elevation &gt; 500;
 
-   name    | altitude
------------+----------
- Las Vegas |     2174
- Mariposa  |     1953
+   name    | elevation
+-----------+-----------
+ Las Vegas |      2174
+ Mariposa  |      1953
 </programlisting>
   </para>
 
@@ -2646,9 +2646,9 @@ SELECT name, altitude
    to explicitly specify that descendant tables are included:
 
 <programlisting>
-SELECT name, altitude
+SELECT name, elevation
     FROM cities*
-    WHERE altitude &gt; 500;
+    WHERE elevation &gt; 500;
 </programlisting>
 
    Writing <literal>*</> is not necessary, since this behavior is always
@@ -2663,39 +2663,39 @@ SELECT name, altitude
    originating table:
 
 <programlisting>
-SELECT c.tableoid, c.name, c.altitude
+SELECT c.tableoid, c.name, c.elevation
 FROM cities c
-WHERE c.altitude &gt; 500;
+WHERE c.elevation &gt; 500;
 </programlisting>
 
    which returns:
 
 <programlisting>
- tableoid |   name    | altitude
-----------+-----------+----------
-   139793 | Las Vegas |     2174
-   139793 | Mariposa  |     1953
-   139798 | Madison   |      845
+ tableoid |   name    | elevation
+----------+-----------+-----------
+   139793 | Las Vegas |      2174
+   139793 | Mariposa  |      1953
+   139798 | Madison   |       845
 </programlisting>
 
    (If you try to reproduce this example, you will probably get
    different numeric OIDs.)  By doing a join with
    <structname>pg_class</> you can see the actual table names:
 
 <programlisting>
-SELECT p.relname, c.name, c.altitude
+SELECT p.relname, c.name, c.elevation
 FROM cities c, pg_class p
-WHERE c.altitude &gt; 500 AND c.tableoid = p.oid;
+WHERE c.elevation &gt; 500 AND c.tableoid = p.oid;
 </programlisting>
 
    which returns:
 
 <programlisting>
- relname  |   name    | altitude
-----------+-----------+----------
- cities   | Las Vegas |     2174
- cities   | Mariposa  |     1953
- capitals | Madison   |      845
+ relname  |   name    | elevation
+----------+-----------+-----------
+ cities   | Las Vegas |      2174
+ cities   | Mariposa  |      1953
+ capitals | Madison   |       845
 </programlisting>
   </para>
 
@@ -2704,9 +2704,9 @@ WHERE c.altitude &gt; 500 AND c.tableoid = p.oid;
    alias type, which will print the table OID symbolically:
 
 <programlisting>
-SELECT c.tableoid::regclass, c.name, c.altitude
+SELECT c.tableoid::regclass, c.name, c.elevation
 FROM cities c
-WHERE c.altitude &gt; 500;
+WHERE c.elevation &gt; 500;
 </programlisting>
   </para>
 
@@ -2716,7 +2716,7 @@ WHERE c.altitude &gt; 500;
    other tables in the inheritance hierarchy. In our example, the
    following <command>INSERT</command> statement will fail:
 <programlisting>
-INSERT INTO cities (name, population, altitude, state)
+INSERT INTO cities (name, population, elevation, state)
 VALUES ('Albany', NULL, NULL, 'NY');
 </programlisting>
    We might hope that the data would somehow be routed to the
