[postgis-users] SRID and EPSG

[Andy Anderson]

> António Pestana <afsm.pestana at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> What about http://www.epsg.org/databases/Discv6_15sql- 
>> PosgreSql.html ? Is it
>> of any use? I'm really new to PostgreSQL and PostGIS, so may be  
>> this is a
>> really dumb question...

On May 26, 2008, at 3:04 PM, Markus Schaber wrote:
> The EPSG database contains a rather complex relational structure of
> different tables describing reference systems, projections etc.
>
> This relationals tructure was originally delivered as access file, but
> additional delivery formats (like PostgreSQL SQL dump) have been  
> added.
>
> The PostGIS spatial_ref_sys table itsself contains a "flattened" view
> of some aspects of that relational model.
>
> So the EPSG database cannot be loaded as spatial_ref_sys table, but
> maybe an automatic conversion process could be developed.


Might it be useful to implement that relational table in PostGIS,  
along with functions that combine them to build a spatial reference?  
This might make it more usable in situations where you want to build  
your own (give me the WGS 84 datum, a Lambert conformal conic with  
such-and-such standard parallels, and a coordinate origin at this  
point). Or is that just too uncommon and complicated for most users?

The current SRID table would still exist but be built at install time,  
of course.

-- Andy