Book excerpt: Write efficient GIS applications using PostGIS - from data creation to data consumption About This Book Learn how you can use PostGIS for spatial data analysis and manipulation Optimize your queries and build custom functionalities for your GIS application A comprehensive guide with hands-on examples to help you master PostGIS with ease Who This Book Is For If you are a GIS developer or analyst who wants to master PostGIS to build efficient, scalable GIS applications, this book is for you. If you want to conduct advanced analysis of spatial data, this book will also help you. The book assumes that you have a working installation of PostGIS in place, and have working experience with PostgreSQL. What You Will Learn Refresh your knowledge of the PostGIS concepts and spatial databases Solve spatial problems with the use of SQL in real-world scenarios Practical walkthroughs of application development examples using Postgis, GeoServer and OpenLayers. Extract, transform and load your spatial data Expose data directly or through web services. Consume your data in both desktop and web clients In Detail 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. Style and approach This book is a comprehensive guide covering all the concepts you need to master PostGIS. Packed with hands-on examples, tips and tricks, even the most advanced concepts are explained in a very easy-to-follow manner. Every chapter in the book does not only focus on how each task is performed, but also why.