Hi,<br><br>you could also see this compare table at <a href="http://bostongis.com">bostongis.com</a> (the site is offline but we have google cache :P)<br><br><a href="http://www.google.com.br/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&ved=0CA0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bostongis.com%2FPrinterFriendly.aspx%3Fcontent_name%3Dsqlserver2008_postgis_mysql_compare&ei=w3YOS7OAONKztgfQsvHqCg&usg=AFQjCNGieeag5GB-1wlnru62yyb68VJzNw">http://www.google.com.br/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&ved=0CA0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bostongis.com%2FPrinterFriendly.aspx%3Fcontent_name%3Dsqlserver2008_postgis_mysql_compare&ei=w3YOS7OAONKztgfQsvHqCg&usg=AFQjCNGieeag5GB-1wlnru62yyb68VJzNw</a><br>
<br> []'s<br clear="all">Luigi Castro Cardeles<br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/11/26 Simon Greener <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:simon@spatialdbadvisor.com">simon@spatialdbadvisor.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Paul,<br>
<br>
(This is NOT a flame!)<div class="im"><br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Oracle's wonderfully featureful, but if you're not already an Oracle<br>
shop, you'd be foolish to bring it in. It's difficult to learn and<br>
administer, which is why "Oracle DBA" is such a great job title to<br>
hold (job security!)<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
Still peddling this old canard, Paul, that Oracle is "difficult to learn and administer"?!<br>
It has never been difficult to learn (I've been teaching basic SQL since 1988 to non-technical people):<br>
no more than any other database. It might have been difficult to administer in the past but it is far easier nowadays. Anyway,<br>
its instrumentation and configurability is one of the reasons it is a great and very fast database....<div class="im"><br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
SQL Server is more lightweight, but it naturally ties you into the<br>
Windows platform, if you want to deploy on some other operating<br>
system... tough. Many administrators love it, some hate it. The<br>
spatial support is also pretty new, which means support for it is<br>
still building. However, it is Microsoft, so it'll only get stronger<br>
over time.<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
A reasonable summary.<div class="im"><br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
PostGIS is easy to install and easy to use, it has a clear simple<br>
syntax, it's been around a long time, is stable and very fast.<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
Now you go and compare apples with oranges. Above you have a go at Oracle being "difficult"<br>
(like ESRItes say Spatial is slow - but forget to tell you the slowest client against Oracle Spatial<br>
is ArcSDE. Compare ArcSDE+ArcGIS render time against GeoServer or MapServer and you'll<br>
see what I mean), but you don't talk about Oracle Spatial you talk about Oracle.<br>
<br>
You reference Spatial when talking about SQL Server (a fraction of the functionality of the database) but<br>
your criticisms are mainly about it (the host database) being on one platform etc etc.<br>
<br>
Yes PostGIS is "easy to install" but Oracle Spatial is even easier: you don't have to as it comes with<br>
the database! There are no issues about putting the Oracle Spatial code in another schema (cf the emails<br>
on this forum) - it just "works". Doesn't get easier than that!<br>
<br>
With regards spatial the functionality of the basic type in PostGIS is far superior to anything else on the market.<br>
Critical analytical functionality like ST_Union cannot be matched and are excellent. Oracle has other SPatial<br>
APIs other than just the basic type but the number of people who use them is low because of licensing issues.<br>
Yes, PostGIS has related projects that compare to these but most of these projects are not yet in full production (ie verion 1.0 or above).<br>
<br>
But if we talk about PostgreSQL the database, yes it is easy to install, but I would argue that it more difficult to<br>
learn than Oracle because of its quirky post-Relational extensions which (for simple people like me)<br>
is exposed in weird SQL quirks that I find frankly, crazy. Something trivial in Oracle can be bloody hard<br>
in PostgreSQL. Anyway, Oracle has better, more mature functionality (ie existed before PostgreSQL 8.4!) in many areas<br>
that I take for granted in crafting solutions eg hierarchical queries, materialized views, full analytic SQL etc.<br>
<br>
I am still learning how to get the best out of PostgreSQL. I like it a lot but that learning process will last a long time.<br>
And that learning (same with SQL Server) is not about the spatial stuff - it is trivial - it is about learning and<br>
mastering the whole database (eg explain plan and performance analysis). If you are not interested in doing this<br>
then just grab any database your GIS can connect to and treat it like a bit-bucket: PostgreSQL is probably best for this.<br>
<br>
Just my 2c worth.<br>
<br>
regards<br>
Simon<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 4:15 PM, Bruce Foster <<a href="mailto:gis.foster@gmail.com" target="_blank">gis.foster@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
a. Read somewhere on Topology. Hope someone throw more light on this.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Some basic topology support, but nothing to write home about, and more<br>
importantly there are no client tools that support it. Topology is a<br>
sexy slow dance between the underlying data model and the user-facing<br>
application that exposes the model, and the difficult part is on the<br>
user-facing side. This is why ESRI's topology stuff remains<br>
more-or-less the only stuff in use -- because they nailed the<br>
user-facing side.<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
b. Versioning, which is not available in Postgres<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
You can build versioned tables easily enough with some simple rules<br>
and triggers. Again, the question is what user-facing application you<br>
are planning to use and what your use case is going to be.<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
On a related note, can we edit directly on PostGIS using MapInfo,<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Yes<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
ArcGIS Desktop,<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Yes, with zigGIS. Yes also with ArcGIS Server underneath, but ... ouch.<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
AutoCad Map3D etc.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Yes'ish, the FDO support for PostGIS is still limited and apparently<br>
this is finicky at best.<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
uDIG, QGIS allow direct connectivity to PostGIS, hope they allow<br>
direct file editing too.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Yes, they do. As does gvSIG, and I think MapWindow.<br>
<br>
Also web-based tricks, like WFS editing through openlayers and<br>
geoserver. Or through openlayers and featureserver. Or through geoext<br>
and mapfish.<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
--<br>
Thanks<br>
<br>
Bruce<br>
NSW Australia<br>
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SpatialDB Advice and Design, Solutions Architecture and Programming,<br>
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