[postgis-users] Database design book recommendations for the person who asked

[dnrg]

I highly recommend these as gentle, clear
introductions to relational database design:

* Databases Demystified by Andy Oppel
* Beginning Database Design: From Novice to
Professional by Clare Churcher

Read them both. They're the best I've found for basic
concepts and not inscrutably technical. Seems most
books in the field are either dull as a phone
directory or insultingly shallow, written for a
cognitively challenged audience.

If one book is deficient with a particular concept,
check the other for an alternate explanation.

The 2nd, although it has a generic-sounding title (and
there are some real stinkers under a similar moniker),
is a recent offering from APress books (2007 1st ed).
Invaluable for someone getting started.

Granted, these books are for non-spatial relational
database design.

Anything by Chris Date is good, but not for beginners.
Not sure anyone here cares what Chris Date has to say.
I was introduced to Chris Date and Fabian Pascal by an
ESRI ArcSDE developer in Redlands. So someone out
there cares about the RM.

Thanks to all for the recommendations on PostGIS +
Google Maps API. Good stuff.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

Dana




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