PostGIS - Geographic Information Systems Extensions to PostgreSQL
~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VERSION: 2.0.0 (YYYY/MM/DD)

MORE INFORMATION: http://postgis.org

This distribution contains a module which implements GIS simple 
features, ties the features to rtree indexing, and provides some 
spatial functions for accessing and analyzing geographic data.

Directory structure:

  ./            Build scripts and install directions.
  ./liblwgeom   LWGEOM access library.
  ./postgis     PostGIS library source code.
  ./java/ejb    EJB Java support
  ./java/jdbc   Extensions to the PostgreSQL JDBC drivers to support
                the GIS objects. 
  ./java/pljava PostgreSQL PL/Java spatial object support
  ./doc         PostGIS Documentation 
  ./loader      A program to convert ESRI Shape files into SQL text
                suitable for uploading into a PostGIS/PostgreSQL database
                and a program for converting PostGIS spatial tables into
                Shape files.
  ./utils       Utility scripts for PostGIS (upgrade, profiling, ...)
  ./extras      Various pieces that didn't belong to mainstream
	            (package management specfiles, WFS_locks, sample wkb parser)
  ./regress     Regression tests
	        

REQUIREMENTS
------------

PostGIS is compatible with PostgreSQL 8.3 and above.

You *must* have the full PostgreSQL - including server headers - installed
for this to work. 

* PROJ4 SUPPORT (Required, Version 4.5.0 or better): 

  The Proj4 reprojection library is required if you want to use the 
  transform() function to reproject features within the database.

    http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/

* SPATIAL PREDICATE / GEOS SUPPORT (Required, Version 3.1.1 or better):

  The GEOS library provides support for exact topological tests
  such as Touches(), Contains(), Disjoint() and spatial operations
  such as Intersection(), Union() and Buffer().  

    http://trac.osgeo.org/geos/

* XML SUPPORT (Required): 

  The LibXML2 library is required to use the ST_GeomFromGML() and 
  ST_GeomFromKML() functionality.

    http://xmlsoft.org/

If you want to compile PostGIS with raster support, you additionally 
must have installed:

* GDAL (Version 1.6.0 or higher)

* Python GDAL bindings

See README.raster for further information on how to compile PostGIS with
Raster support.

CONFIGURATION
-------------

To configure PostGIS, run:
	
  ./configure

The results of the configuration can be easily seen within the
postgis_config.h file.

If pg_config can't be found in your $PATH configure will complain
and refuse to proceed. You can specify it using the 
--with-pgconfig=/path/to/pg_config flag.

If PROJ4 has been installed (but cannot be found), configure will
complain and refuse to proceed. You can specify an alternative 
installation directory using the --with-projdir=DIR option.

If GEOS has been installed (but cannot be found), configure will 
complain and refuse to proceed. You can specify an alternative 
geos-config file using the --with-geosconfig=/path/to/geos-config 
option.

If you want to compile PostGIS with Raster support, you must provide
the --with-raster option.

If you want to compile PostGIS with Topology support, you must provide
the --with-topology option.

See ./configure --help for more options.

BUILD
-----

PostGIS uses the GNU make (aka gmake) for building. 
To build PostGIS library and utilities, as postgres run:

  make

See README.raster to know how to build PostGIS Raster extension.

TESTING
-------

You want to run regress tests before installation.
To do so, as postgres run:  

	make check

The above will create a test database with postgis extensions,
run tests and then drop the db.

Final lines of output contain a summary of test results:
run, succeeded, failed. If you have any failure please
file a bug report using the online bug tracker:
http://trac.osgeo.org/postgis/report/3.

See README.raster to know how to test PostGIS raster extension.

  
INSTALLATION
------------

To install PostGIS library and utilities, as postgres run:

  make install


Installation paths will typically be derived by ``pg_config'':

	- Lib in `pg_config --pkglibdir`
	- Binaries (loader/dumper) in `pg_config --bindir`
	- Important support files in [prefix]/share/contrib
	- Manual pages in [prefix]/man
	- Documentation in in [prefix]/share/doc

Where [prefix] above is extracted by `pg_config --configure`.

You can change them using ./configure switches.
See CONFIGURATION section.

See README.raster to know how to install PostGIS Raster extension.

CREATING NEW SPATIAL DATABASES
------------------------------

PostGIS support must be enabled for each database that requires
its usage. This is done by feeding the postgis.sql (the enabler script)
file to the target database. 

The enabler script requires the PL/pgSQL procedural language in order
to operate correctly, you can use the 'createlang' program from the
PostgreSQL installation.
(The PostgreSQL Programmer's Guide has details if you want to do this
manually for some reason.)

So, as postgres run:

  createlang plpgsql <yourdatabase>
  psql -f postgis/postgis.sql -d <your_database>

Your database should now be spatially enabled.

UPGRADING EXISTING SPATIAL DATABASES
------------------------------------

Upgrading existing spatial databases can be tricky as it requires
replacement or introduction of new PostGIS object definitions.

Unfortunately not all definitions can be easily replaced in 
a live database, so sometimes your best bet is a dump/reload
process. 

PostGIS provides a SOFT UPGRADE procedure for minor or bugfix
releases, and an HARD UPGRADE procedure for major releases.

--- SOFT UPGRADE ---


Soft upgrade consists of sourcing the postgis_upgrade_*.sql
script in your spatial database:

 * postgis_upgrade_13_to_15.sql, upgrade a 1.3.x database
   to 1.5
 * postgis_upgrade_15_to_15.sql, upgrade a 1.4.x database 
   to 1.5
 * postgis_upgrade_16_minor.sql, upgrade a 1.5.x database
   to the latest minor release

If a soft upgrade is not possible the script will abort and 
no harm will be done. You can then move on to the 
HARD UPGRADE process. Always try a soft upgrade first, they 
are much simpler.

--- HARD UPGRADE ---

Hard upgrade is a PostgreSQL dump/restore procedure combined 
with a filter to selectively update PostGIS functions and 
objects to point to a new library version.

Hard upgrades are required when object definitions have changed,
aggregates have changed or been added, and when the underlying
PostgreSQL database itself has undergone a major update.

For this purpose, PostGIS provides a utility script to restore a dump
in "custom" format. The hard upgrade procedure is as follows:

	# [1] Create a "custom-format" dump of the database you want
	# to upgrade (let's call it "olddb")
	$ pg_dump -Fc -f olddb.dump olddb 

	# [2] Do a fresh install of PostGIS in a new database
	# (let's call it "newdb").
	# Refer to CREATING NEW SPATIAL DATABASES for instructions

	# [3] Restore the dump into your new database. 
	$ perl utils/postgis_restore.pl -v olddb.dump \
		2> restore.log | psql newdb 2> errors.txt

The spatial_ref_sys entries found in your dump will be restored, but
they will not override existing ones in spatial_ref_sys.  This is to
ensure that fixes in the official set will be properly propagated to
restored databases. If for any reason you really want your own overrides
of standard entries just don't load the spatial_ref_sys.sql file when
creating the new db.

If your database is really old or you know you've been using long
deprecated functions in your views and functions, you might need
to load <filename>legacy.sql</filename> before restoring the dump
for all your functions and views etc. to properly come back.  Only do
this if _really_ needed. Consider upgrading your views and functions
before dumping instead, if possible.  The deprecated functions can be
later removed by loading <filename>uninstall_legacy.sql</filename>.

USAGE
-----

Try the following example SQL statements to create non-OpenGIS tables and 
geometries:

  CREATE TABLE geom_test ( gid int4, geom geometry,name varchar(25) );
  INSERT INTO geom_test ( gid, geom, name ) 
    VALUES ( 1, 'POLYGON((0 0 0,0 5 0,5 5 0,5 0 0,0 0 0))', '3D Square');
  INSERT INTO geom_test ( gid, geom, name ) 
    VALUES ( 2, 'LINESTRING(1 1 1,5 5 5,7 7 5)', '3D Line' );
  INSERT INTO geom_test ( gid, geom, name )
    VALUES ( 3, 'MULTIPOINT(3 4,8 9)', '2D Aggregate Point' );
  SELECT * from geom_test WHERE geom && 'BOX3D(2 2 0,3 3 0)'::box3d;

The following SQL creates proper OpenGIS entries in the SPATIAL_REF_SYS
and GEOMETRY_COLUMNS tables, and ensures that all geometries are created
with an SRID.

  INSERT INTO SPATIAL_REF_SYS
    ( SRID, AUTH_NAME, AUTH_SRID, SRTEXT ) VALUES
    ( 1, 'EPSG', 4269,
      'GEOGCS["NAD83",
        DATUM[
          "North_American_Datum_1983",
          SPHEROID[
          "GRS 1980",
          6378137,
          298.257222101
        ]
      ],
      PRIMEM["Greenwich",0],
      UNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]]'
    );

  CREATE TABLE geotest (
    id INT4,
    name VARCHAR(32)
    );

  SELECT AddGeometryColumn('db','geotest','geopoint',1,'POINT',2);

  INSERT INTO geotest (id, name, geopoint)
    VALUES (1, 'Olympia', GeometryFromText('POINT(-122.90 46.97)',1));
  INSERT INTO geotest (id, name, geopoint)
    VALUES (2, 'Renton', GeometryFromText('POINT(-122.22 47.50)',1));

  SELECT name,AsText(geopoint) FROM geotest;


--- Spatial Indexes ---

PostgreSQL provides support for GiST spatial indexing. The GiST scheme offers 
indexing even on large objects, using a system of "lossy" indexing where 
a large object is proxied by a smaller one in the index.  In the case 
of the PostGIS indexing system, all objects are proxied in the index by 
their bounding boxes.

You can build a GiST index with:

  CREATE INDEX <indexname> 
    ON <tablename> 
    USING GIST ( <geometryfield> );

Always run the "VACUUM ANALYZE <tablename>" on your tables after
creating an index. This gathers statistics which the query planner
uses to optimize index usage.

--- PostGIS Raster support ---

See README.raster to know how to enable raster support on a spatially enabled database.