A single Locator function call can flip Oracle's own tracking table to show Spatial usage you never licensed or intended. This page shows why the finding is challengeable, and exactly how to build the evidence file that proves Locator-only use before the audit call.
A single Locator function call can flip Oracle's own tracking table to show Spatial usage you never licensed or intended. This page shows why the finding is challengeable, and exactly how to build the evidence file that proves Locator-only use before the audit call.
In an Oracle audit, one of the most common and most negotiable findings reads something like this: "DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS shows usage of the Spatial and Graph option on the following databases." Oracle's License Management Services (LMS) team treats that row as evidence, attaches a per-processor list price, and opens the negotiation from there. On older database releases that historical list price is $17,500 per processor and $350 per Named User Plus (NUP), per Oracle's own Technology Price List. On a modest 16-core Intel server (core factor 0.5, so 8 processors), the processor-metric exposure alone lands at roughly $140,000 before any support uplift or NUP minimums are layered on.
Here is what LMS will not volunteer in the finding letter: that row can be generated by using Oracle Locator, which is bundled free with both Standard Edition 2 and Enterprise Edition. Oracle's own documentation and its own bug catalog confirm the tracking table cannot tell the difference. In 25 years of negotiating Oracle option findings, we have seen this exact false positive appear in a large share of Spatial claims, and we have seen it disappear when the customer produces the right two artifacts. This page names the mechanism, the leverage, and the artifacts.
The Spatial row in the feature-usage table is an opening claim built on a data source Oracle itself says is not a true test of the option.
Oracle Locator is a subset of Spatial. It has been bundled free with Standard and Enterprise editions since at least 2003, when Oracle's own Spatial Best Practices paper stated that licensing SE or EE "enables you to fully leverage the valuable set of features offered in Oracle Locator, at no extra cost." The features share underlying packages (for example, most of SDO_GEOM is available to Locator users from 12c onward). The problem is that the instrumentation writing to DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS does not distinguish which subset of the shared code path was invoked.
House of Brick put the mechanism plainly: "Any use of the free Locator functionality will automatically trigger Oracle's database to record the usage of the license-required Spatial and Graph option." The AMIS scripts that mirror the LMS logic confirm the ambiguity from the other direction: "If value returned is 0 then SPATIAL is NOT being used. If value returned is > 0 then SPATIAL OR LOCATOR IS being used." That single 'OR' is the entire dispute. A perfectly licensed Locator workload produces a value greater than zero, and the audit report reads it as Spatial. Where the free line actually sits between the two is covered in detail in our companion piece on Locator versus Spatial feature boundaries.
This is not a customer theory. It is Oracle's own position, buried in My Oracle Support. MOS Doc ID 1309070.1 lists 14 known false-positive bugs in the feature-usage table, and the Spatial entry states directly: "Query against DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS is not a true test for use of SDO." Oracle also carries a specific bug, Bug 25661076, titled "DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS INCORRECTLY SHOWS SPATIAL USAGE IN 12C."
Better still, the very script Oracle distributes to run these checks (options_packs_usage_statistics.sql, referenced by MOS 1317265.1) labels the Spatial row with a warning in Oracle's own words: "Spatial (Not used because this does not differential usage of spatial over locator, which is free)." When the audit finding rests on a data source that Oracle's own tooling flags as unreliable, the burden of proof has effectively shifted back onto Oracle to substantiate actual Spatial use. That is your leverage. It sits in Oracle's documentation, not in your contract, which is exactly where you want it in a dispute.
MOS Doc ID 1309070.1 and Oracle's own script both concede the Spatial row does not differentiate Spatial from free Locator. Cite them by number.
| Artifact | What it proves | Source | Use in defense |
|---|---|---|---|
| MOS Doc ID 1309070.1 | Feature-usage query is not a true test for SDO | Oracle My Oracle Support | Rebut the finding's evidentiary weight |
| Bug 25661076 | 12c incorrectly shows Spatial usage | Oracle bug catalog | Attribute the row to a known defect |
| options_packs_usage_statistics.sql label | Script does not differentiate Spatial from free Locator | Oracle-distributed script (MOS 1317265.1) | Oracle's own tooling disclaims the row |
| DBA_REGISTRY after mddins.sql | Spatial deinstalled, Locator retained | Oracle Locator docs / MOS 1070647.1 | Positive proof of clean configuration |
On December 5, 2019, Oracle VP William Hardie announced in a blog post ("Machine Learning, Spatial and Graph - No License Required!") that customers no longer needed to buy separate licenses for those features. On the same date Oracle published an updated Technology Global Price List with the Spatial and Graph option removed, meaning it is likely no longer available for purchase. AWS documentation confirms the scope: in 2019 all Spatial features became included in EE and SE2 at no additional cost.
So on Oracle Database 19c, the free-Spatial defense is strong and, importantly, contractual. The 19c program documentation lists Spatial and Graph as an "included option" across all editions (it even carries a restricted-use license to Partitioning). But here is the trap that costs unprepared customers real money: the older program documentation was never retroactively updated. The 12c documentation, for example, still lists Spatial and Graph as an option that "can be purchased with Oracle Database Enterprise Edition." On 12c and 18c the free-Spatial narrative is a blog post and a policy statement, not necessarily your license terms. Note the industry disagreement here: some practitioners argue Spatial has been free for EE since 12.1, while House of Brick's contractual reading limits the airtight defense to 19c. In our experience the safe assumption is that on pre-19c releases you defend on the false-positive grounds first, and treat the policy change as secondary support.
The practical takeaway: check your database version before you decide which defense to lead with. If you are on 19c, lead with the included-option documentation. If you are on 12c or 18c, lead with the false-positive evidence and the deinstall proof, because the version-specific contractual defense may not hold. The broader pattern of options that ship enabled and surface in audits is covered in our overview of the accidental-use options and packs audit trap.
Before you decide how hard to fight, size the number properly, because Oracle's opening figure is almost always the maximum. The historical Spatial and Graph list price is $17,500 per processor and $350 per NUP. Under the processor metric, exposure is driven by the core factor: Intel x86 carries a factor of 0.5, so a 16-core server counts as 8 Oracle processors, giving 8 x $17,500 = $140,000 list, before any negotiated discount and before the standard 22 percent annual support that would follow.
Under NUP, the minimums bite hard. Enterprise Edition requires 25 NUP per processor, so that same 16-core Intel server carries a minimum of 16 x 0.5 x 25 = 200 NUP, or 200 x $350 = $70,000 list. For estates with few actual users, NUP can be the cheaper concession, but only if user counts stay under the minimum threshold. The full decision framework, including where the crossover point sits, is set out in our guide to choosing processor versus Named User Plus for Spatial. Run both numbers before any call, because Oracle will quote whichever is larger.
House of Brick describes the audit as "a negotiation quagmire when the only way to prove that the paid option has not been used is to get the application team to dig into the source code to show that only Locator functions were invoked." That is true if you wait for the finding. It is far less painful if you build the file in advance. Four artifacts, assembled proactively, collapse most of these findings.
Then force a fresh sample with DBMS_FEATURE_USAGE_INTERNAL after applying the clean configuration, so the current-state row flips to reflect the deinstalled reality. That gives you a before-and-after that is far harder to argue with than a single stale row. The complete assembly sequence is documented in our companion page on the Locator-only evidence pack.
Do not wait for a finding letter to start this work. The proof is cheap to build in peacetime and expensive to reconstruct under a 30-day audit response clock.
The Spatial false positive is one of the most winnable Oracle option disputes precisely because Oracle has already documented the flaw in writing. Your job is to have that documentation, plus a clean DBA_REGISTRY, in a folder before the audit team ever runs a script on your estate. For the full commercial picture of this option, including where it surfaces across an estate, start with our pillar on Oracle Spatial and Graph licensing.
No. Locator is bundled free with Standard Edition 2 and Enterprise Edition. However, using Locator does trigger a Spatial usage row in DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS because the tracking table cannot distinguish the two. That row is a documented false positive, not a license liability.
On 19c, Oracle's program documentation lists Spatial and Graph as an included option across all editions, giving a contractual free defense. On 12c and 18c, the older documentation still lists it as a purchasable option, so lead your defense with the false-positive evidence (MOS Doc ID 1309070.1 and Bug 25661076) rather than the 2019 policy change.
Build a four-part file: deinstall Spatial via mddins.sql or MOS 1070647.1 and capture DBA_REGISTRY, cite Oracle's own false-positive documentation, triage flagged rows by AUX_COUNT and schema (SYS, MDSYS, DBSNMP are challengeable), and get an application-owner attestation that only Locator functions were invoked.
Historical list price is $17,500 per processor and $350 per NUP. A 16-core Intel server (core factor 0.5) counts as 8 processors, so processor exposure is about $140,000 at list, or roughly $70,000 under NUP given the 200-user minimum. These are opening claims, not settled amounts.
Likely not. On the same date as the December 2019 announcement, Oracle removed Spatial and Graph from its Technology Global Price List, so it is probably no longer available for purchase. This matters in an audit because Oracle may need to construct a bespoke remediation rather than pointing to a current SKU.
No. The feature-usage row is a data source Oracle itself flags as unreliable in its own distributed script. Self-reporting it as Spatial usage converts a challengeable defect into a volunteered liability. Treat it as a defect to be rebutted, not a confession to be filed.
The separately-licensed options and packs that ship enabled by default, get switched on with a single click, and become the single largest line item in most Oracle audit findings.
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