Performance-related Guideline

The following performance-related guidelines apply to the use of spatial operators,
procedures, and functions:

• If an operator and a procedure or function perform comparable operations, and if the operator satisfies your requirements, use the operator. For example, unless you need to do otherwise, use SDO_RELATE instead of SDO_GEOM.RELATE, and use SDO_WITHIN_DISTANCE instead of SDO_GEOM.WITHIN_DISTANCE.
• With operators, always specify TRUE in uppercase. That is, specify = 'TRUE', and do not specify <> 'FALSE' or = 'true'.
• With operators, use the /*+ ORDERED */ optimizer hint if the query window comes from a table. (You must use this hint if multiple windows come from a table.) See the Usage Notes and Examples for specific operators for more information.