[postgis-users] satellite data (MODIS) into PostgreSQL - PostGIS database as points or grids?

[Stephen Woodbridge]

Hi Jan,

I will qualify my comments by saying I am far from an expert on this, 
but I have been following the discussion on the list with some interest.

I will start by saying the there is not really any good way to import 
and store raster data into the the database today. There has been a lot 
of discussion on this and there may even be some work that people are 
doing on this.

I think the common answer today would be to store the metadata about the 
image and maybe a path to the image in the database. You could also 
extract and store the bbox of the image so you could see how the image 
interacts with other data you might have in the database.

I think you will find that the next common response to this question is: 
Assuming we did load the data, what would you want to do with it in the 
database? You have sort of hinted at this in your item 2 below. Using 
your IDL to ascii and then storing them as points or whatever, would 
really depend on whether or not this would be an efficient format for 
whatever you want to do next with the data. Can you easily and quickly 
perform the analysis that you need to do if it is stored in that format? 
Can you pass it to R for visuallization, or to openGIS?

This is probably the correct place for me to step out and allow others 
to comment.

I hope this helps,
   -Steve

Jan.Verbesselt at csiro.au wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> After searching the mail archives and postGIS website I didn't find the
> right answer to my questions.
> 
> 1/Does anyone have experience on how I could import HDFEOS (MODIS)
> satellite data in a database system efficiently? Currently, I would
> transform the hdf files to ascii files via IDL an import these into the
> database. 
> 
> 2/Should the data be stored as points (X,Y,value) or can they be
> imported as a raster in the database such that spatial and temporal
> analysis is still possible (visualisation via R, openGIS progs etc.). 
> 
> Or as I found in the mail archives; Should we online create a path (link
> to the data) to the hdf files and store this in the database?
> 
> All related info, examples, advice is mostly welcome,
> 
> Kind regards,
> Jan
> 
> 
> ______________________________________________
> 
> Jan Verbesselt
> Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
> Ensis - the joint forces of CSIRO and Scion
> Private Bag 10
> Clayton South VIC 3169 - Australia
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> Fax: ++ 61 3 9545 2448
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