The VicMap Incremental Update Format file is an XML document that is used to publish whole datasets (e.g. every Local Government Area in Victoria) or changes to one or more individual records within a whole dataset.

The IUF encodes its geometry objects in its own unique way. While tools such as Safe Software’s Feature Manipulation Engine can process IUF documents, it is a good dataset to demonstrate the use of SQL Server XML and Spatial processing to import the data.

This article introduces the structure of the IUF XML data and shows how to process it to create polygons with exterior and interior rings, and attributes.