PostgreSQL index in temporarly table

Question

I have the following PostGIS/greSQL query

SELECT luc.*
FROM spatial_derived.lucas12 luc,
  (SELECT geom
   FROM spatial_derived.germany_bld
   WHERE state = 'SN') sn
WHERE ST_Contains(sn.geom, luc.geom)

Query plan:

Nested Loop  (cost=2.45..53.34 rows=8 width=236) (actual time=1.030..26.751 rows=1282 loops=1)
  ->  Seq Scan on germany_bld  (cost=0.00..2.20 rows=1 width=18399) (actual time=0.023..0.029 rows=1 loops=1)
        Filter: ((state)::text = 'SN'::text)
        Rows Removed by Filter: 15
  ->  Bitmap Heap Scan on lucas12 luc  (cost=2.45..51.06 rows=8 width=236) (actual time=1.002..26.031 rows=1282 loops=1)
        Recheck Cond: (germany_bld.geom ~ geom)
        Filter: _st_contains(germany_bld.geom, geom)
        Rows Removed by Filter: 499
        Heap Blocks: exact=174
        ->  Bitmap Index Scan on lucas12_geom_idx  (cost=0.00..2.45 rows=23 width=0) (actual time=0.419..0.419 rows=1781 loops=1)
              Index Cond: (germany_bld.geom ~ geom)
Planning time: 0.536 ms
Execution time: 27.023 ms

which is due to an index on the geometry columns pretty fast. However when I want to add a buffer to the sn polygon (1 big polygon that represents a border line, hence a quite simple feature):

SELECT luc.*
FROM spatial_derived.lucas12 luc,
  (SELECT ST_Buffer(geom, 30000) geom
   FROM spatial_derived.germany_bld
   WHERE state = 'SN') sn
WHERE ST_Contains(sn.geom, luc.geom)

Query plan:

Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..13234.80 rows=7818 width=236) (actual time=6221.391..1338380.257 rows=2298 loops=1)
  Join Filter: st_contains(st_buffer(germany_bld.geom, 30000::double precision), luc.geom)
  Rows Removed by Join Filter: 22637
  ->  Seq Scan on germany_bld  (cost=0.00..2.20 rows=1 width=18399) (actual time=0.018..0.036 rows=1 loops=1)
        Filter: ((state)::text = 'SN'::text)
        Rows Removed by Filter: 15
  ->  Seq Scan on lucas12 luc  (cost=0.00..1270.55 rows=23455 width=236) (actual time=0.005..25.623 rows=24935 loops=1)
Planning time: 0.271 ms
Execution time: 1338381.079 ms

the query takes forever! I blame it on the not existing index in the temporally table sn. The massive decrease in speed can't be 'caused by ST_Buffer() as it's itself really fast and the buffered feature is simple.

Two Questions:

1) Am I right?

2) What can I do, to reach similar speed as with the first query?

Answer 1

I've ran into a trap. ST_Buffer() is not the right choice here rather ST_DWithin() which keeps the indexes of every geometry column when actually performing a bounding box comparison. The help page for ST_Buffer() clearly states to not make the mistake using ST_Buffer(), but instead use ST_DWithin() for radius searches. Since the word Buffer is used in a lot of GIS softwares I didn't consider looking for alternatives.

SELECT luc.*
FROM spatial_derived.lucas12 luc
JOIN spatial_derived.germany_bld sn ON ST_DWithin(sn.geom, luc.geom, 30000)
WHERE bld.state = 'SN'

works and only takes a second (2300 points within that "buffer")!