Why is ST_X and ST_Y of recently inserted GEOGRAPHY(Point) for certain coordinates different than value inserted?

Question

I have a table of cities that includes the name and location of that city.

CREATE TABLE cities (
    name        varchar (255),
    location    GEOGRAPHY(Point)
)

For certain cities, I'll set the location:

UPDATE cities SET location='POINT(32.4543 -99.7384)' WHERE slug='abilene';

But when I retrieve the longitude and latitude for that location, it is different than the value I inserted:

select ST_X(location::geometry),ST_Y(location::geometry) from cities where slug='abilene'

The ST_X is correct at 32.4543 but the ST_Y is incorrect at -80.2616

Why is the latitude different than the value I inserted?

I am using PostgreSQL 9.6.9 and Postgis 2.5

Answer 1

Coordinates must be expressed as longitude first, then latitude.

Instead of throwing an error when PostGIS receive a latitude of -99 degrees, it makes some artistic computation to try to locate the point on the earth surface (like going on the other side of the pole).

--> fix your coordinates order