[postgis-users] The Old Who is using PostGIS survey again?

[Randall, Eric]

1) How you use PostGIS?

a.) Monthly transfer of County ESRI SDE/MSSQL Geodatabase to County PostGIS Database
b.) from which many manipulations, extractions, calculations, and updates are performed with greater ease and automation than from the ArcGIS tools.  Some of our uses include: 
c.) PA Act 319 Clean and Green calculations
d.) Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Application Scoring
e.) Monthly Municipal GIS Extraction for the Municipalities
f.) Datastore for intranet web mapping.
g.) Virtually any ad hoc analysis and querying.
h.) Explaining GIS.


2.) What you find useful about it over anything else?

a.) Probably one of the most useful aspects of PostGIS for me personally has been it's instructiveness (is that a word?).  Between the database/SQL nature of interfacing with spatial/non data, and the great community surrounding it, I think it is the ideal GIS learning environment.  I think of it as a GIS Erector Set.  I'm suprised that most Universities don't seem to be using it for teaching (This alone I think would be a great reason for a book). 
b.) The variety of ways that solutions can be thought through and worked through.  Usually straightforward, and when not, there is always plenty of help.
c.) Portable, numerous OSs and architectures.
d.) It JUST doesn't SUCK!  (you may remove that)


3.)  Why you think there should be any book written focused on its use and of
course if such a thing were to exist, would you buy it?

See 1h. and 2a., and yes, I will buy one...I'll always know someone who can use it.



-Eric



Eric Randall
GIS DB Admin/Analyst
County of Erie
140 W 6th St
Room 119
Erie, PA 16501

ph. 814-451-6063
fx. 814-451-7000


-----Original Message-----
From: postgis-users-bounces at postgis.refractions.net
[mailto:postgis-users-bounces at postgis.refractions.net]On Behalf Of
Paragon Corporation
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 7:22 AM
To: 'PostGIS Users Discussion'
Subject: [postgis-users] The Old Who is using PostGIS survey again?


Leo and I have a good portion of a PostGIS book written.  Ideally we would
like to get a publisher to publish it, but seem to be running into the same
obstacles.  No publisher seems to think people use PostGIS to warrant enough
demand for a book dedicated to it.

So to make a decent case for a book, can each of you in your own words
describe

1) How you use PostGIS?
2) What you find useful about it over anything else?
3) Why you think there should be any book written focused on its use and of
course if such a thing were to exist, would you buy it?

Of course I'll also need some official download stats etc. which hopefully
the Refractions group can help out with.  I think Mark Cave-Ayland had
posted some stats a while back, but can't find them.

Thanks,
Regina


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