A method including receiving a spatial query on spatial data. The spatial query has a spatial query extent including a sub-portion of the spatial data. A projection type is selected for the spatial query. A framebuffer is created for the selected projection type. Vertex buffers are established to hold a geometry of the selected projection type. The vertex buffers are passed from a CPU to a GPU. A spatial geometry of the spatial query extent is rendered into the framebuffer by projecting feature vertex data for features that fall at least partly within the spatial query extent into the vertex buffers. Rendering generates rendered framebuffer pixel values. Pixel values of the rendered framebuffer are retrieved as bytes on the CPU. A spatial query result is processed that includes or uses the pixel values.