Arrange and sort polygons in PostGIS - by Andrew Hill

arrange.sql

WITH RECURSIVE 
    dims AS (
        SELECT 2*sqrt(sum(ST_Area(the_geom))) as d, sqrt(sum(ST_Area(the_geom)))/20 as w, count(*) as rows FROM vttowns_wgs84 WHERE the_geom IS NOT NULL),   
    geoms AS (
        SELECT the_geom, cartodb_id, ST_YMax(the_geom)-ST_YMin(the_geom) as height FROM vttowns_wgs84 WHERE the_geom IS NOT NULL ORDER BY ST_YMax(the_geom)-ST_YMin(the_geom)  DESC),  
    geomval AS (
        SELECT the_geom, cartodb_id, row_number() OVER (ORDER BY height DESC) as id from geoms),  
    positions(cartodb_id, the_geom,x_offset,y_offset,new_row,row_offset) AS (     
        (SELECT cartodb_id, the_geom, 0.0::float, 0.0::float, FALSE, 2 from geomval limit 1)    
        UNION ALL       
        (SELECT 
            (SELECT cartodb_id FROM geomval WHERE id = p.row_offset),
            (SELECT the_geom FROM geomval WHERE id = p.row_offset),
            CASE WHEN p.x_offset < s.d THEN (SELECT (s.w+(ST_XMax(the_geom) - ST_XMin(the_geom)))+p.x_offset FROM geomval WHERE id = p.row_offset) ELSE 0 END as x_offset,
            CASE WHEN p.x_offset < s.d THEN p.y_offset ELSE (SELECT (s.w+(ST_YMax(the_geom) - ST_YMin(the_geom)))+p.y_offset FROM geomval WHERE id = p.row_offset) END as y_offset , FALSE, p.row_offset+1 
        FROM positions p, dims s 
        WHERE p.row_offset < s.rows ) ),  
    sfact AS (    
        SELECT ST_XMin(the_geom) as x, ST_YMax(the_geom) as y FROM geomval LIMIT 1  ) 
SELECT 
    ST_Transform(ST_Translate( the_geom, (x - ST_XMin(the_geom) - x_offset), (y - ST_YMin(the_geom) - y_offset)),3857) as the_geom_webmercator, cartodb_id 
FROM positions,sfact 
order by row_offset asc