apache / apache/sedona-db

[R] ST_Transform fails with 'Can't initialize ProjApi from sedona-proj without proj-sys feature' error

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Description

First, thank you very much for this, just started to dig in and looks super cool already.

I am trying to reproduce this Python example: https://sedona.apache.org/latest/blog/2025/09/24/introducing-sedonadb-a-single-node-analytical-database-engine-with-geospatial-as-a-first-class-citizen/#sedonadb-crs-management

But I am getting this error:

``` r
library(sedonadb)
library(sf)
#> Linking to GEOS 3.12.1, GDAL 3.10.1, PROJ 9.5.1; sf_use_s2() is TRUE
st_read(
"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/geoarrow/geoarrow-data/v0.2.0/example-crs/files/example-crs_vermont-utm.fgb"
) |>
sd_to_view("vermont")
#> Reading layer `example-crs_vermont-utm' from data source
#> `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/geoarrow/geoarrow-data/v0.2.0/example-crs/files/example-crs_vermont-utm.fgb'
#> using driver `FlatGeobuf'
#> Simple feature collection with 1 feature and 0 fields
#> Geometry type: POLYGON
#> Dimension: XY
#> Bounding box: xmin: 625858.2 ymin: 4733644 xmax: 775539.6 ymax: 4989818
#> Projected CRS: WGS 84 / UTM zone 18N

sd_read_parquet(
"https://github.com/geoarrow/geoarrow-data/releases/download/v0.2.0/microsoft-buildings_point_geo.parquet"
) |>
sd_to_view("buildings")

sd_sql(
"
SELECT
count(*)
FROM
buildings
JOIN vermont
WHERE
ST_Intersects (buildings.geometry, ST_Transform (vermont.geometry, 'EPSG:4326'))
"
) |>
st_as_sf()
#> Error: Execution error: Task join error: External error: Can't initialize ProjApi from sedona-proj without proj-sys feature
```

Created on 2025-09-28 with [reprex v2.1.1](https://reprex.tidyverse.org)

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Run the provided R reproduction using sedonadb and sf, then trace the ST_Transform path where ProjApi is initialized from sedona-proj. Investigate the reported proj-sys feature error; the issue is done when the example query completes without the initialization failure.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
r, rust
Domain
databases
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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