[postgis-users] Who is Using PostGIS? For What?

[mark thomas]

Who are you?

Mark Thomas - independent GIS developer/contractor

What are you using PostGIS for?

1) geocoding, zip code lookups, radius lookups (i.e. is gimme everything
within XXX miles of 123 main st, somewhere, AL 12345), and
customer-created polygon lookups (cartoweb/MapServer for visual polygon
drawing) in a custom application providing free demographic data and
statistics on the public Internet.  PostgreSQL/PostGIS stores all the
demographic data retrieved by the various lookups and is then rendered
in either HTML or PDF.

check it out at http://www.demographicsdata.com - note that its running
on my home workstation right now so it might be slow/down at times, but
that will change soon...

2) I use PostGIS for easy creation of shapefiles.  For example, I used
it to create a shapefile out of a Google Earth KML file.  PostGIS is an
invaluable tool for spatial data analysis and manipulation.  I also use
PostGIS to create shapefiles out of TIGER/line files.

Why did you choose PostGIS?

Because its more OGC standards-based than Oracle Spatial/Locator, its
more robust/mature than MyGIS, the large user community, and its free!

What makes you happy about your PostGIS installation?

It's so easy to install and use.  A simple shell script gives me a fully
working environment.  The SDO libraries for Oracle Spatial work great,
but there's a steep learning curve involved and the functions are
somewhat convoluted.  On the other hand, PostGIS is so easy to use. The
community is also an order of magnitude better and more helpful IMHO.

What makes you unhappy about your PostGIS installation?

Nothing.

Mark Thomas
http://www.spatialguru.net

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, 
    and your plans will succeed." - Proverbs 16:3


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/postgis-users/attachments/20060712/5366911a/attachment.html>