Five years ago, in an article titled "GRASS Is Now Greener" [Linuxpower, Oct 1999] , I had written about the significance of the GRASS GIS being released under the GPL and the potential of combining the newly "open-sourced" GIS with the open source MySQL database. A reader had commented that the open source PostgreSQL database was more commonly used with GRASS.
Five years ago, in an article titled "GRASS Is Now Greener" [Linuxpower, Oct 1999] , I had written about the significance of the GRASS GIS being released under the GPL and the potential of combining the newly "open-sourced" GIS with the open source MySQL database. A reader had commented that the open source PostgreSQL database was more commonly used with GRASS.
PostGIS "spatially-enables" the open source PostgreSQL database. According to the PostGIS website, it is similar to the role played by ESRI's SDE or Oracle's Spatial extension. PostGIS 0.8.2 was released on May 27th, 2004. It is available under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
There are now several open source tools which work with PostGIS. For internet mapping, the University of Minnesota Mapserver can use PostGIS as a data source. The GeoTools Java GIS toolkit has PostGIS support, as does the GeoServer Web Feature Server. GRASS now supports PostGIS as a data source, through the PostGRASS driver. The JUMP Java desktop GIS viewer has a simple plugin for reading PostGIS data, and the QGIS desktop has good PostGIS support. PostGIS data can be exported to several output GIS formats using the OGR C++ library and commandline tools (and of cource with the bundled Shape file dumper). And of course any language which can work with PostgreSQL can work with PostGIS -- the list includes Perl, PHP, Python, TCL, C, C++, Java, and more.
Study: Maui’s Plan to Convert Vacation Rentals to Long-Term Housing Could Cause Nearly $1 Billion Economic Loss
The plan would reduce visitor accommodation by 25,% resulting in 1,900 jobs lost.
North Texas Transit Leaders Tout Benefits of TOD for Growing Region
At a summit focused on transit-oriented development, policymakers discussed how North Texas’ expanded light rail system can serve as a tool for economic growth.
Using Old Oil and Gas Wells for Green Energy Storage
Penn State researchers have found that repurposing abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal-assisted compressed-air energy storage can boost efficiency, reduce environmental risks, and support clean energy and job transitions.
Santa Barbara Could Build Housing on County Land
County supervisors moved forward a proposal to build workforce housing on two county-owned parcels.
San Mateo Formally Opposes Freeway Project
The city council will send a letter to Caltrans urging the agency to reconsider a plan to expand the 101 through the city of San Mateo.
A Bronx Community Fights to Have its Voice Heard
After organizing and giving input for decades, the community around the Kingsbridge Armory might actually see it redeveloped — and they want to continue to have a say in how it goes.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Ascent Environmental
Borough of Carlisle
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
