[postgis-users] Newbie Question

[Adam Vande More]

Hello,

Perhaps my questions were addressed earlier or in some documentation I 
missed. If so, I apologize in advance as I am completely new to GIS and 
PostGIS.  Judging from the documentation I have read, my needs are 
extremely simple vs PostGIS capabilities however I am unsure if the 
functionality of what I want actually exists.

I deal with areas in the US, territories that are regional in nature but 
not bounded by common things eg state lines, water ways, counties, etc.  
They are irregular shapes of varying land area.  I also have sets of 
latitude and longitude points.  I would like some type of system where I 
enter in a perimeter of  territories, and find out whether a particular 
latitude and longitude point lies within that perimeter. 

My understanding of this is that I would need to either manually create 
a GML type file with the perimeters in it, or use some type of map 
authoring software to accomplish this goal.  Are my understandings 
correct and if so is there a recommendation for a particular piece of 
software which can fulfill this?

Also, are the libraries/functions available for determining whether a 
point is in a perimeter?

Much appreciated,

-- 
Adam Vandemore
Systems Administrator
IMED Mobility
(605) 498-1610