Book Image

Mastering PostGIS

By : Dominik Mikiewicz, Michal Mackiewicz , Tomasz Nycz
Book Image

Mastering PostGIS

By: Dominik Mikiewicz, Michal Mackiewicz , Tomasz Nycz

Overview of this book

PostGIS is open source extension onf PostgreSQL object-relational database system that allows GIS objects to be stored and allows querying for information and location services. The aim of this book is to help you master the functionalities offered by PostGIS- from data creation, analysis and output, to ETL and live edits. The book begins with an overview of the key concepts related to spatial database systems and how it applies to Spatial RMDS. You will learn to load different formats into your Postgres instance, investigate the spatial nature of your raster data, and finally export it using built-in functionalities or 3th party tools for backup or representational purposes. Through the course of this book, you will be presented with many examples on how to interact with the database using JavaScript and Node.js. Sample web-based applications interacting with backend PostGIS will also be presented throughout the book, so you can get comfortable with the modern ways of consuming and modifying your spatial data.
Table of Contents (9 chapters)

Summary


Routing algorithms may be used with some more imagination that the actual road related routing - it is just a matter of defining a specific meaning of a cost of traveling via an edge. With the appropriate data, one can build routing solutions for hiking paths, calculate routes that avoid built-up areas, or take into account some road works that add penalty costs to some edges. It is also possible to calculate drive time zones, and from there, one could go on to defining the best locations of service centers.

As we saw, using pgRouting is rather straightforward and its usage is usually down to select * from <routing_algorythm> (<SQL for edges>, start, end, <options>). This makes it very easy to start with and then, as one becomes more familiar with the available functionality, to tweak the function parameters in order to improve the achieved results.

Exposing the functionality of pgRouting via web services is also quite simple, and from there, we're just a step away...