Gpkg.Database

PQDriverless

Not part of the Power Query standard library. This function ships in PQDriverless, an open-source package of pure M readers for binary file formats — no ODBC driver, no OLE DB provider, nothing to install. Paste the M source into a blank query, or load PQDriverless.mez as a custom connector. See Installing.

Returns a navigation table of the layers in an OGC GeoPackage (.gpkg).

Syntax

Gpkg.Database(
    source as binary,
    optional options as record
) as table

Remarks

A GeoPackage is the OGC's standard container for vector features, attributes and tiles, and it is a SQLite database underneath. Reading one usually means GDAL or a spatial ODBC driver. This function reads the SQLite container and decodes the GeoPackageBinary geometry blobs, returning geometry as WKT by default — the form Power BI's map visuals consume, so a layer lands in a map without an intermediate step.

One row per gpkg_contents entry.

Needs Sqlite3.Database

A GeoPackage is a SQLite database, so this reader calls Sqlite3.Database rather than embedding a second copy of the b-tree parser. If you are pasting the source, paste both and name the second query exactly Sqlite3.Database. PQDriverless.mez contains both already.

Options:

• GeometryFormat : Text, default "WKT". How geometry columns come back — "WKT" (well-known text), "WKB" (raw ISO well-known binary with the GeoPackageBinary header stripped), or "GeoPackageBinary" (the blob untouched).
• IncludeSystemTables : A logical (true/false). Also list the gpkg_* catalog tables (default is false).
• MaxRows : A number. Return at most this many rows per table.
• Strict : A logical (true/false). When true, tolerated malformations become errors; by default an undecodable geometry blob returns null (default is false).

Examples

Example #1

Read a layer, geometry as WKT.

let
    Gp    = Gpkg.Database(File.Contents("C:\data\boundaries.gpkg")),
    Layer = Gp{[Name = "admin_areas"]}[Data]
in
    Layer

Example #2

Check which spatial reference system a layer uses before mapping it.

let
    Gp    = Gpkg.Database(File.Contents("C:\data\boundaries.gpkg")),
    Layer = Gp{[Name = "admin_areas"]}[Data]
in
    Value.Metadata(Layer)[Gpkg.SrsId]

Supported

Features, attributes and tiles tables listed in gpkg_contents; all ISO WKB geometry types — Point, LineString, Polygon, MultiPoint, MultiLineString, MultiPolygon and GeometryCollection — in XY, Z, M and ZM dimensions; per-geometry and per-header byte order, both endiannesses; all envelope indicators; empty and null geometries. SQLite-level support and limits are those of Sqlite3.Database.

Not supported

• Extension-defined GeoPackageBinary payloads and EWKB — null by default, a clear error under Strict.
• Features registered as SQL views — a clear error per entry.
• R-tree spatial index internals, which are deliberately hidden.

Integer cells decode exactly across the full signed 64-bit range, inherited from Sqlite3.Database; downstream M arithmetic may still coerce past 2⁵³.

Metadata

On the navigation table: Gpkg.ApplicationId, Gpkg.UserVersion. On each feature table: Gpkg.SrsId, Gpkg.DataType, Gpkg.Description.

Category

Driverless connectors