[postgis-users] PostGIS functionality on non DB types

[Kralidis,Tom [Burlington]]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: postgis-users-bounces at postgis.refractions.net 
> [mailto:postgis-users-bounces at postgis.refractions.net] On 
> Behalf Of Markus Schaber
> Sent: 05 September, 2006 10:45 AM
> To: PostGIS Users Discussion
> Subject: Re: [postgis-users] PostGIS functionality on non DB types
> 
> Hi, Tom,
> 
> Kralidis,Tom [Burlington] wrote:
> 
> > I have a situation where PostGIS-like functionality is 
> required (i.e.
> > buffering shorelines).  The issue is that the data are not PostGIS 
> > enabled (why PostGIS is not used here is another story).
> > 
> > Is there any way the PostGIS engine can be used on a 
> non-PostGIS type 
> > (say shapefile) with a scripting language (say Perl, PHP)?
> 
> PostGIS does mainly provide storage. Geometry processing and 
> projections are imported from JTS/GEOS and Proj4, respectively.
> 

I haven't looked close enough, but are those functions imported by way
of compilation against those libs, or is there an actual code port in
PostGIS?  I'm asking mainly for JTS, as I have compiled PostGIS with the
geos libs.

I guess my main question is, are all the spatial functions in PostGIS
(buffer, distance) derived from building with geos?  Or are there any
which are native in the PostGIS code?

I guess I just want to be sure before jumping on the geos bandwagon (and
start bothering those email lists :)

> So, from Java, you can use JTS directly, for other 
> functionality, you need to write either a Java program using 
> JTS, or a C/C++ wrapper or interface between 
> LibJTS/GEOS/Proj4 and the scripting language of your choice.
>