spb/tools-spboucher-ai
Public
1{2 "slug": "postgis",3 "name": "PostGIS",4 "aliases": [],5 "vendor": {6 "name": "PostGIS Project Steering Committee (OSGeo)",7 "slug": "postgis-project",8 "website": "https://postgis.net"9 },10 "homepage_url": "https://postgis.net/",11 "docs_url": "https://postgis.net/documentation/",12 "repo_url": "https://github.com/postgis/postgis",13 "license_url": "https://github.com/postgis/postgis/blob/master/COPYING",14 "product_type": "extension",15 "product_status": "active",16 "summary": "Spatial extension for PostgreSQL adding geometry, geography and raster types with indexing and hundreds of SQL functions",17 "description": "PostGIS is the open-source spatial extension for PostgreSQL, developed under the OSGeo umbrella by a project steering committee, and sits in the GIS and mapping category. Installing it adds geometry and geography column types, spatial indexes (GiST and SP-GiST), and several hundred SQL functions for predicates (intersects, contains, within distance), measurements, overlays, buffering, reprojection, clustering and topology, with optional raster and 3D support. Because it lives inside PostgreSQL, spatial data gets transactions, roles, replication and joins with ordinary tables for free.\n\nIt is the usual backend for QGIS projects and web-map servers, the storage layer for OpenStreetMap imports via osm2pgsql, and the engine behind many geocoding, routing (with pgRouting) and address-matching pipelines. In real estate and urban analysis a PostGIS database typically holds parcels, assessment rolls, listings and census geographies so that nearest-comparable queries, catchment areas and spatial joins can be written in SQL and consumed from Python or R.\n\nIt is available on every major PostgreSQL distribution and most managed cloud databases, and it is licensed GPL-2.0-or-later, which does not constrain data or applications that merely connect to it.\n\nLimits: performance depends on correct indexing and SRID discipline; raster and topology features are less commonly used and documented than vector functions; very large OSM or lidar datasets demand tuning and disk; and version upgrades of PostGIS and PostgreSQL must be coordinated.",18 "capabilities": [19 "Geometry and geography types with GiST/SP-GiST indexing",20 "Spatial predicates, measurements, overlays and buffers in SQL",21 "Coordinate reprojection and geodetic calculations",22 "Raster storage and analysis",23 "Topology and 3D geometry support",24 "Import/export tools such as shp2pgsql and raster2pgsql",25 "Works with pgRouting, osm2pgsql and ogr2ogr"26 ],27 "workflows": [28 "Load parcels and assessment rolls, then find nearest comparables with a KNN query",29 "Serve PostGIS tables to QGIS or a vector-tile server",30 "Import an OpenStreetMap extract and compute distances to amenities"31 ],32 "advantages": [33 "Full relational database features alongside spatial types",34 "Broad ecosystem support (QGIS, GDAL, GeoPandas, GeoServer)",35 "Available on managed PostgreSQL services"36 ],37 "limitations": [38 "Requires PostgreSQL administration and indexing discipline",39 "Raster and topology modules are less mature than vector",40 "Large datasets need tuning and storage planning"41 ],42 "prerequisites": [43 "PostgreSQL server with the extension installed",44 "SQL knowledge"45 ],46 "audiences": [47 "GIS developers and data engineers",48 "Researchers building spatial databases",49 "Web-mapping backend teams"50 ],51 "alternatives": [52 "postgresql",53 "geopandas",54 "qgis",55 "duckdb"56 ],57 "comparison_notes": "PostgreSQL without PostGIS has only basic geometric types; PostGIS adds standards-compliant spatial SQL. GeoPandas performs similar operations in memory for single-user analysis, while DuckDB's spatial extension offers in-process spatial SQL on files without a server. QGIS is a desktop client that commonly connects to PostGIS.",58 "categories": [59 {60 "slug": "gis-mapping",61 "primary": true62 },63 {64 "slug": "relational-databases"65 }66 ],67 "tags": [68 "gis",69 "sql",70 "postgresql",71 "open-source",72 "spatial-database",73 "raster"74 ],75 "use_cases": [76 "map-geodata",77 "value-real-estate"78 ],79 "operating_systems": [80 "macos",81 "linux",82 "windows"83 ],84 "execution_modes": [85 "self-hosted",86 "cloud"87 ],88 "interfaces": [89 "library",90 "cli"91 ],92 "deployment_models": [93 "on-premises",94 "managed-cloud"95 ],96 "integrations": [97 "PostgreSQL",98 "QGIS",99 "GDAL/OGR",100 "GeoPandas",101 "pgRouting",102 "osm2pgsql",103 "GeoServer"104 ],105 "data_formats": [106 "WKT",107 "WKB",108 "GeoJSON",109 "Shapefile (via tools)",110 "GeoTIFF (raster)"111 ],112 "languages": [113 "SQL",114 "C"115 ],116 "source_model": "open-source",117 "license_spdx": "GPL-2.0-or-later",118 "pricing_model": [119 "open-source",120 "free"121 ],122 "self_hostable": true,123 "sources": [124 {125 "url": "https://postgis.net/",126 "type": "official_site",127 "supports": [128 "name",129 "summary",130 "product_type"131 ],132 "checked_at": "2026-11-02",133 "title": "PostGIS"134 },135 {136 "url": "https://postgis.net/documentation/",137 "type": "official_docs",138 "supports": [139 "capabilities",140 "data_formats"141 ],142 "checked_at": "2026-11-02",143 "title": "PostGIS Documentation"144 },145 {146 "url": "https://github.com/postgis/postgis/blob/master/COPYING",147 "type": "license_page",148 "supports": [149 "license_spdx",150 "source_model"151 ],152 "checked_at": "2026-11-02",153 "title": "PostGIS COPYING (GPL v2)"154 },155 {156 "url": "https://github.com/postgis/postgis",157 "type": "repository",158 "supports": [159 "product_status",160 "languages"161 ],162 "checked_at": "2026-11-02",163 "title": "postgis/postgis"164 }165 ],166 "confidence": "high",167 "depth": "deep",168 "featured": false,169 "discovery_method": "editorial-research",170 "editorial_status": "reviewed",171 "visibility": "public",172 "author": "batch-F"173}174