[postgis-users] What's the Purpose of the Geometry_Columns Table?

[Emilia Venturato]

Alle 15:14, martedì 5 settembre 2006, Bill Thoen ha probabilmente scritto:
> I created a table using a 'SELECT * INTO ...' statement which contained a
> geometry column, and then I performed a few more spatial selections on it
> without problems. Later I realized that the geometry column in my new table
> wasn't referenced in the Geometry_Columns, but it didn't seem to matter. So
> what is the purpose of the Geometry_Columns table?
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Geometry_columns is a table (OGC standard) that allows other apps  (Mapserver, 
QuantumGIS, ecc.) to use postgis data. All standard OGC applications looks at 
geometry_columns to have a complete overview of geographic data in your 
database.
If you work only in postgis, you can forget about geometry_columns but you'll 
find problems when you will use your data from other applications (mapserver 
for example doesn't show geographical data if geometry_columns is not 
correct).

At least, that's how I understand it.
bye
Lia


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Emilia Venturato
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