Introduction

Unlike prior chapters, this chapter does not discuss the capabilities or applications of PostGIS. Instead, it focuses on the techniques for organizing the database, improving the query performance, and ensuring the long-term viability of the spatial data.

These techniques are frequently ignored by most PostGIS users until it is too late - for example, when data has already been lost because of users' actions or the performance has already decreased as the volume of data or number of users increased.

Such neglect is often due to the amount of time required to learn about each technique, as well as the time it takes implement them. This chapter attempts to demonstrate each technique in a distilled manner that minimizes the learning curve and maximizes the benefits.