News

August 17th, 2013

PostGIS 2.1 has been released and is available here. This is a minor release which fixes some bugs, contains speed improvements and some additional features.

What is PostGIS?

PostGIS adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL object-relational database. In effect, PostGIS "spatially enables" the PostgreSQL server, allowing it to be used as a backend spatial database for geographic information systems (GIS), much like ESRI's SDE or Oracle's Spatial extension. PostGIS follows the OpenGIS "Simple Features Specification for SQL" and has been certified as compliant with the "Types and Functions" profile.

PostGIS development was started by Refractions Research as a project in open source spatial database technology. PostGIS is released under the GNU General Public License. PostGIS continues to be developed by a group of contributors led by a Project Steering Committee and new features continue to be added.

Case Studies

Learn how PostGIS is being used around the world.

Infoterra, United Kingdom

Infoterra, a leading European satellite and aerial imagery provider, runs their data provision and sales systems on PostGIS, and stores the complete Ordnance Survey database on PostGIS.

EcoTrust, Oregon

Building on the local and scientific knowledge of the Pacific Rim Bio-Region, Ecotrust is attempting to increase ecological awareness through the use of GIS and spatially enabled technologies.

Natural Language Spatial Search Engine for Rental Places &ndash Rento

Rento is a free web service that makes it easy to find a place to rent in Greece. Powered by PostgreSQL and PostGIS, it provides ad listings with photographs displayed on a map. Searching is accomplished through map navigation and natural language processing, with the search engine being capable of answering complex (spatial) questions such as "flat near the University of Athens" or "loft up to 800 euros near a metro station" (in greek).

More Case Studies...