[postgis-users] Table w/existing geometry column (without AddGeometryColumn), SRID?

[Stefan Keller]

Dear all,

When creating a new table with a geometry column, most of the instructions say:

1. create a non-spatial table
2. add a spatial column to the table using the "AddGeometryColumn" function.

Now I've encountered at least three situations in which a table with
all columns - including the geometry column - gets created:
HibernateSpatial,  ArcGIS and GeoKettle.

My questions:

* Is there a trick to add metadata to the "geometry_columns" table,
given a table already exists with one geometry column?

* Given, no AddGeometryColumn function has been issued (and all
geodata is kept in the same coord ref sys): Does any postgis-function
or spatial index fail because of this? If yes, which ones?

* The value -1 is used to indicate no specified SRID. Does it make a
difference, if the SRID default is '0' instead of '-1' ?

* Given all data is stored with SRID set to 0, is it still possible to
use all spatial functions (similar to "SELECT ... USING SRID=-1")?