Aspects described herein are concerned with automatically validating spatial features of a spatial dataset. One solution is built upon a database server which performs a decomposition of the features' geometries into line segments, after which, sets of line segments are compared to detect errors in the dataset. The decomposition of features geometries into line segments results in a reduction of processing time with a simultaneous increase of precision. The method not only generates new intermediate database structures for detection of topological errors but is also complemented by a clearance process that can lead to the automatic repair of topological errors. The clearance process identifies topological errors and provides modifications to the previously identified line segments such that a modified set of line segments overcomes the conditions that led to the error state. The changes to the data set can be applied automatically after displaying them as an overlay for a predefined amount of time.