Chapter 1. What is a spatial database?
This chapter covers:
Spatial databases in problem solving
Spatial data types
Modeling with spatial in mind
Why you might use PostGIS/PostgreSQL for a spatial database
Loading and querying spatial data
Most folks experience their first spatially enabled application when they see pushpins tacked onto points of interest on an interactive map. This provides a glimpse into the vast and varied field of geographic information systems (GIS).
We’ll begin this chapter with a pushpin model. As we demonstrate its limited usefulness, we’ll introduce the need for a spatial database—not just any database, but PostGIS. PostGIS is a spatial database extender for the PostgreSQL database management system. We’ll provide a ...
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