Originally Posted by http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/mysql-spatial-datatypes.html
16.4.1. MySQL Spatial Data Types
MySQL has data types that correspond to OpenGIS classes. Some of these types hold single geometry values:
- GEOMETRY
- POINT
- LINESTRING
- POLYGON
GEOMETRY can store geometry values of any type. The other single-value types (POINT, LINESTRING, and POLYGON) restrict their values to a particular geometry type.
The other data types hold collections of values:
- MULTIPOINT
- MULTILINESTRING
- MULTIPOLYGON
- GEOMETRYCOLLECTION
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION can store a collection of objects of any type. The other collection types (MULTIPOINT, MULTILINESTRING, MULTIPOLYGON, and GEOMETRYCOLLECTION) restrict collection members to those having a particular geometry type.