PostGIS Cookbook - Second Edition

Organizing the database

One of the most important things to consider when creating and using a database is how to organize the data. The layout should be decided when you first establish the database. The layout can be decided on or changed at a later date, but this is almost guaranteed to be a tedious, if not difficult, task. If it is never decided on, a database will become disorganized over time and introduce significant hurdles when upgrading components or running backups.

By default, a new PostgreSQL database has only one schema - namely, public. Most users place all the data (their own and third-party modules, such as PostGIS) in the public schema. Doing so mixes different information from various origins. An easy method with which ...