Location data often lives in scattered spreadsheets, shapefiles and CAD drawings. A spatial database brings it together in one place where it can be queried, shared and kept up to date. PostGIS – an extension for PostgreSQL – is the most popular open-source choice.
What PostGIS adds
- Geometry and geography types for points, lines and polygons
- Spatial indexes for fast queries on millions of features
- Hundreds of spatial functions: distance, intersection, buffer, area, nearest neighbour
- Raster support for gridded data
- Coordinate system transformations
Example questions it answers
- Which customers are within 10 km of our new branch?
- Which parcels intersect the planned road?
- What is the nearest service vehicle to this incident?
- How many trees are in each district, and what is their condition?
Why use a database instead of files
- One source of truth for all users and applications
- Multi-user editing with permissions
- Integration with business systems, web maps and dashboards
- Performance for large datasets
- History and audit options
Typical architecture
PostGIS stores the data, GeoServer or a custom API publishes it, QGIS is used for editing and analysis, and a web map (Leaflet, OpenLayers, MapLibre) shows it to users. Mobile apps can collect new data in the field and sync it back.
Data import
Shapefiles, GeoJSON, GeoPackage, CSV with coordinates and CAD data can be imported and cleaned. Addresses can be geocoded into coordinates.
Security
Roles and permissions control who sees and edits which data; backups and hosting in Germany protect sensitive information.
We design spatial databases, migrate your existing geodata and connect it to maps and business applications.