PostGIS explained

PostGIS
Logo Size:	150px
Developer:	Refractions Research, Paul Ramsey, Dave Blasby, Mark Cave-Ayland, Regina Obe, Sandro Santilli, Olivier Courtin, Nicklas Avén, Bborie Park, Pierre Racine, Daniel Baston, Darafei Praliaskouski, Raúl Marín Rodríguez, Kevin Neufeld, Jeff Lounsbury, Chris Hodgson, Jorge Arévalo, Mateusz Loskot, Norman Vine, Carl Anderson, Ralph Mason, Klaus Foerster, Bruno Wolff III, Markus Schaber
Latest Release Version:
Operating System:	Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, POSIX-compliant systems
Genre:	Geographic information system
License:	GNU General Public License (version 2 or later)

PostGIS is an open source software program that adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL object-relational database. PostGIS follows the Simple Features for SQL specification from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).

PostGIS is implemented as a PostgreSQL external extension.^[1]

Features

• Geometry types for Points, LineStrings, Polygons, MultiPoints, MultiLineStrings, MultiPolygons, GeometryCollections, 3D types TINS and polyhedral surfaces, including solids.
• Spheroidal types under the geography datatype Points, LineStrings, Polygons, MultiPoints, MultiLineStrings, MultiPolygons and GeometryCollections.
• raster type - supports various pixel types and more than 1000 bands per raster. Since PostGIS 3, is a separate PostgreSQL extension called postgis_raster.
• SQL/MM Topology support - via PostgreSQL extension postgis_topology.
• Spatial predicates for determining the interactions of geometries using the 3x3 DE-9IM (provided by the GEOS software library).
• Spatial operators for determining geospatial measurements like area, distance, length and perimeter.
• Spatial operators for determining geospatial set operations, like union, difference, symmetric difference and buffers (provided by GEOS).
• R-tree-over-GiST (Generalized Search Tree) spatial indexes for high speed spatial querying.
• Index selectivity support, to provide high performance query plans for mixed spatial/non-spatial queries.

The PostGIS implementation is based on "light-weight" geometries and indexes optimized to reduce disk and memory footprint. Using light-weight geometries helps servers increase the amount of data migrated up from physical disk storage into RAM, improving query performance substantially.

PostGIS is registered as "implements the specified standard" for "Simple Features for SQL" by the OGC.^[2] PostGIS has not been certified as compliant by the OGC.

History

Refractions Research released the first version of PostGIS in 2001 under the GNU General Public License. After six release candidates, a stable "1.0" version followed on April 19, 2005.

In 2006 the OGC registered PostGIS as "implement[ing] the specified standard" for "Simple Features for SQL".^[3]

+ Release history (as of 17 February 2022)
Release	First release	Latest minor version	Latest release
1.0	style=white-space:nowrap	2005-04-19		2005-12-06^[4]
1.1	style=white-space:nowrap	2005-12-21		2007-01-31
1.2	2006-12-08		2007-01-11^[5]
1.3	2007-08-09		2009-05-06^[6]
1.4	2009-07-24		2010-03-11^[7]
1.5	2010-02-04		2012-11-15^[8]
2.0	2012-04-03		2015-04-06^[9]
2.1	2013-08-17		2017-09-19^[10]
2.2	2015-10-07		2018-11-22^[11]
2.3	2016-09-26		2019-08-11^[12]
2.4	2017-09-30		2022-04-24^[13]
2.5	2018-09-23		2022-11-12^[14]
3.0	2019-10-20		2023-05-29^[15]
3.1	2020-12-18		2023-05-29^[16]
3.2	2021-12-18		2023-05-29^[17]
3.3	2023-05-29		2023-07-28^[18]

Users

Many software products can use PostGIS as a database backend, including:

• ArcGIS (via GISquirrel, ST-Links SpatialKit, ZigGIS, ArcSDE and other third-party connectors)
• Cadcorp SIS
• Carto
• CockroachDB
• GeoMedia (via third-party connectors)
• GeoServer (GPL)
• GeoNetwork (GPL)
• GRASS GIS (GPL)
• gvSIG (GPL)
• Kosmo (GPL)
• Manifold System
• MapInfo Professional
• Mapnik (LGPL)
• MapServer (BSD)
• Maptitude
• MapGuide (LGPL)
• OpenJUMP (GPL)
• OpenStreetMap
• QGIS (GPL)
• SAGA GIS (GPL)
• TerraLib (LGPL)
• TerraView (GPL)
• uDig (LGPL)

See also

• Well-known text and binary, descriptions of geospatial objects used within PostGIS
• DE-9IM, the Dimensionally Extended nine-Intersection Model used by PostGIS

Notes and References

1. Web site: H.4. Extensions. 10 February 2022.
2. http://www.opengeospatial.org/resource/products/details/?pid=509 OGC Implementing Product Details
3. http://refractions.net/products/postgis/history/ PostGIS History
4. https://postgis.net/2005/12/06/postgis-1-0-6-released/ PostGIS 1.0.6 Released
5. https://postgis.net/2007/01/11/postgis-1-2-1-release/ PostGIS 1.2.1 Release
6. https://postgis.net/2009/05/06/postgis-1-3-6-release/ PostGIS 1.3.6 Release
7. https://postgis.net/2010/03/11/postgis-1-4-2-release/ PostGIS 1.4.2 Release
8. https://www.postgis.net/2012/11/15/postgis-1-5-8/ PostGIS 1.5.8 Released
9. https://postgis.net/2015/04/06/postgis-2.1.7/ PostGIS 2.0.7 and 2.1.7 Released
10. https://www.postgis.net/2017/09/19/postgis-2.1.9/ PostGIS 2.1.9 Released
11. https://postgis.net/2018/11/22/postgis-2.2.8/ PostGIS 2.2.8 EOL
12. https://postgis.net/2019/08/11/postgis-patches/ PostGIS 3.0.0alpha4, 2.5.3, 2.4.8, 2.3.10 Released
13. https://postgis.net/2022/04/24/postgis-2.4.10/ PostGIS 2.4.10 Released
14. https://postgis.net/2022/11/PostGIS-2.5.9-EOL/ PostGIS 2.5.9 Released
15. Web site: PostGIS 3.3.3, 3.2.5, 3.1.9, 3.0.9 Patch Releases.
16. Web site: PostGIS 3.3.3, 3.2.5, 3.1.9, 3.0.9 Patch Releases.
17. Web site: PostGIS 3.3.3, 3.2.5, 3.1.9, 3.0.9 Patch Releases.
18. Web site: PostGIS 3.3.4 Patch Release.