Connect to Databricks Unity Catalog

Wherobots now connects to Databricks Unity Catalog, allowing you to build spatial solutions with data directly from your lakehouse without replication or migration. This integration empowers data teams working on Databricks to use Wherobots’s best in-class geospatial capabilities while continuing to benefit from data governance capabilities of Unity Catalog.

Databricks foreign catalogs use direct authentication, not a Wherobots Cloud connection
When you add a Databricks Unity Catalog foreign catalog in Wherobots, you connect directly to your Databricks workspace URL. Unity Catalog Delta uses a Personal Access Token (PAT). Unity Catalog Iceberg uses OAuth client credentials (client_id and client_secret).

Benefits

Zero-Copy architecture: Read tables managed by Databricks Unity Catalog without moving or duplicating data.
Maintained governance: Databricks Workspace Admins can retain catalog- and table-level access control when reading their Databricks catalogs.
Secure federation: Connect securely using Databricks authentication credentials.
Accelerated innovation on the lakehouse: Take spatial ideas to market faster using WherobotsDB’s 300+ spatial functions and compute on your Unity Catalog data.

Supported workflows

Wherobots’ integration with Databricks Unity Catalog supports the following workflows:

Read Source (Unity Catalog)	Write Destination	Required Databricks Authentication	Documentation
Managed Delta Table	Managed Catalog in Wherobots	Personal Access Token (PAT) (assigned to an individual or Service Principal)	Workflow Configuration
Managed Delta Table	External Delta Table (in Unity Catalog)	Personal Access Token (PAT) (assigned to an individual or Service Principal)	Workflow Configuration
Managed Iceberg Table	Managed Catalog in Wherobots	Service Principal with OAuth	Workflow Configuration
Managed Iceberg Table	Managed Iceberg Table (in Unity Catalog)	Service Principal with OAuth	Workflow Configuration

Setup and configuration

The following sections provide step-by-step instructions for connecting Wherobots to your Databricks Unity Catalog.

Before you start

Before you can use this feature, make sure you have the following:

A Wherobots account. Your account needs the Admin role to add the foreign catalog in Data Catalogs.
A pre-existing Managed Delta or Managed Iceberg table within the Databricks platform.
A pre-existing Unity Catalog in Databricks.
The necessary permissions in Databricks, as described below.

Databricks authentication

Databricks Unity Catalog foreign catalogs do not use a Wherobots Cloud connection intermediary. Wherobots authenticates directly to your Databricks workspace using the credentials for your table format:

Unity Delta: Personal Access Token (PAT)
Unity Iceberg: OAuth client credentials (client_id and client_secret)

Make sure you have the necessary permissions in Databricks, as described below.

Databricks permissions

The permissions you need depend on your read/write workflow.

Writing to Wherobots
Writing to Databricks Unity Catalog

If you’re reading from a Managed Delta Table and writing to a Managed Catalog in Wherobots:

Create a Personal Access Token (PAT).

Best practice: Use a Databricks Service PrincipalTo mitigate security concerns, you should adhere to the principle of least privilege by attaching the PAT to a Databricks service principal instead of an individual user and granting it only the minimum permissions required.

The following permissions are required:

Permission	Granted On (Object Type)	Target / Scope
`USE CATALOG`	Catalog	The catalog containing the source Delta table
`USE SCHEMA`	Schema	The schema containing the source Delta table
`SELECT`	Table	The source Delta table being read
`CAN USE`	Service principal or individual

If you’re reading from a Managed Iceberg Table and writing to a Managed Catalog in Wherobots:
- Use a Service Principal with OAuth. For more information, see Authorize service principal access to Databricks with OAuth in the Official Databricks Documentation.
- Record the <uc-catalog-name>, <workspace-url>, <oauth_client_id>, and <oauth_client_secret> for the Wherobots UI.

The following permissions are required:

Permission	Granted On (Object Type)	Target / Scope
`USE CATALOG`	Catalog	The catalog containing the source Iceberg table
`USE SCHEMA`	Schema	The schema containing the source Iceberg table
`SELECT`	Table	The source Iceberg table being read
`EXTERNAL USE SCHEMA`	Schema	The schema containing the source Iceberg table
`READ VOLUME`	External Volume	The volume where the source table’s files are stored

If you’re reading from a Managed Delta Table and writing to an External Delta Table:

Authentication: You must use a Personal Access Token (PAT).

The following permissions are required:

Permission	Granted On (Object Type)	Target / Scope
`USE CATALOG`	Catalog	Both the source and destination catalogs
`USE SCHEMA`	Schema	Both the source and destination schemas
`SELECT`	Table	The source Delta table being read
`CREATE TABLE`	Schema	The destination schema where the output is written
`MODIFY`	Table	The destination table where the output is written
`CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE`	External Location	The external location for the destination table’s data
`EXTERNAL USE LOCATION`	External Location	The external location for the destination table’s data

If you’re reading from a Managed Iceberg Table and writing to a new Managed Iceberg Table:

Authentication: You must use a Service Principal with OAuth.

The following permissions are required:

Permission	Granted On (Object Type)	Target / Scope
`USE CATALOG`	Catalog	The catalog containing the source Iceberg table
`USE SCHEMA`	Schema	The schema containing the source Iceberg table
`SELECT`	Table	The source Iceberg table being read
`EXTERNAL USE SCHEMA`	Schema	The schema containing the source Iceberg table
`READ VOLUME`	External Volume	The volume where the source table’s files are stored

Add the catalog in Wherobots

To create a catalog based on your Databricks Unity Catalog, follow these steps:

In Wherobots Cloud, open Data Catalogs.
Start adding a catalog using either the Add Catalog button or the Data Catalogs explorer:
- Data Catalogs explorer
- Add Catalog button
Select the Unity Catalog card.
Click Add Catalog, then under Foreign Catalog choose Unity Catalog.
Either method opens the Connect to Databricks Unity Catalog dialog.
Enter a Name that exactly matches the catalog name in your Databricks Workspace, then enter your Workspace URL (https://<workspace ID>.cloud.databricks.com). Wherobots connects directly to this Databricks URL; no Wherobots Cloud connection is required.
Select Delta or Iceberg to match the format of your source table, then enter the credentials for that type:
- For Delta tables
- For Iceberg tables
- Enter your Personal Access Token (PAT).
- Enter your OAuth Client ID and OAuth Client Secret.
- Click Add.
Runtime Restart Required After Data IntegrationTo use new storage integrations or catalogs in your notebooks, destroy the existing runtime and start a new one. Notebooks can only access storage integrations or catalogs that were created before the runtime started.

Once your catalog is connected, see Reading and Writing Unity Catalog Tables to query and write your Unity Catalog data from a Wherobots Notebook.

Next steps

After connecting your Databricks Unity Catalog, you can read and write tables from a Wherobots Notebook. Read more for instructions:

Read and write Unity Catalog tables

Query Databricks Unity Catalog tables from a Wherobots Notebook and write results to supported destinations.

Try it in a notebook

Walk through a hands-on tutorial reading Unity Catalog Delta tables in Wherobots.

Usage and limitations

Catalog Naming: You cannot use a local alias for a catalog. If you have a pre-existing catalog in your Wherobots Organization named wherobots, trying to connect a Databricks catalog with the name wherobots will cause a permanent naming conflict and must be avoided.
Catalog Limit: The integration supports a limit of 10 foreign catalogs per Organization.
UniForm: If you use Databricks’ Universal Format (UniForm) to enable Iceberg reads on a Delta table, that table will be read-only.

Workflows explained

The following table provides a detailed summary of each workflow and its intended use case.

Use Case	Read Source (Unity Catalog)	Write Destination
Preserve `GEOMETRY` columns for continued complex spatial analysis and visualization within the Wherobots environment.	Managed Delta Table	Managed Catalog in Wherobots
Generate spatial features for AI and BI in Databricks. Complete complex spatial analysis in Wherobots and write spatially-enriched feature columns back to Unity Catalog for use in Databricks’ ML models and BI dashboards.	Managed Delta Table	External Delta Table (in Unity Catalog)
Preserve `GEOMETRY` columns for continued complex spatial analysis and visualization within the Wherobots environment.	Managed Iceberg Table	Managed Catalog in Wherobots
Generate spatial features for AI and BI in Databricks. Complete complex spatial analysis in Wherobots and write spatially-enriched feature columns back to Unity Catalog for use in Databricks’ ML models and BI dashboards.	Managed Iceberg Table	Managed Iceberg Table (in Unity Catalog)

Start here

Havasu data catalogs

Vector data

Raster data

Iceberg tables

Maps and visualization

Connect to Databricks Unity Catalog

Benefits

Supported workflows