Chapter 13. PostGIS raster

 

This chapter covers
  • Differences between raster and vector data
  • Using raster data in PostGIS
  • The future of raster storage in PostGIS

 

Up to this point, we’ve focused on spatial vector data, because most of the functionality built into PostGIS is for storing and analyzing vector data. But there’s another kind of spatial data that people commonly use: raster data. Vector data is used to represent shapes with no distinct difference in value from one part of the geometry to the other, aside from what you can encode in Z and M coordinates. Raster data, on the other hand, is a mosaic of pixels. Each pixel stores one or more different values. Areas of work where raster data is preferred over vector data include the ...

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