[postgis-users] Point data type

[Joel Gwynn]

I'm sort of feeling my way in the dark here.  I have some GIS experience 
(Arcview, AutoCAD Map), and some database experience (MySQL, 
SQL-Server), but these tools (PostGIS, Mapserver) are new to me.

I have data with lat/long fields, and I've brought in a shapefile (from 
TIGER data).  I haven't done anything with it yet, but I have some 
questions.

1.   I've noticed that postgres has point and line data types.  Is there 
any advantage to creating a point field and using that instead of 
individual lat/long fields?
2.   Ditto for lines.