[postgis-users] Newbie GIS/PostGIS Pointers

[Christopher D. Kyle]

dustinb wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm researching for an application which needs to store "zones" based on gps
> points.   Not sure the shape of these yet, most likely a circle or polygon. 
> The system then needs to determine what zone a particular "location" (gps
> point) is in.
>
> Can someone give me some direction as far as what terminology I should be
> learning and using, good beginner tutorials, and/or documentation a ogc/gis
> newbie should start with?
>
> In what I've got out of it so far I'll need to create polygons (or other
> geometry) and use st_within function do determine if the point is in that
> geometry.  What I don't understand yet is how these polygons get created
> from lat/long data points.
>
> Thanks!
> Dustin
>   
Dustin, try checking out the first chapter of Regina Obe's upcoming book 
on PostGIS, "PostGIS in Action".
http://www.manning.com/obe/
http://www.manning.com/obe/PostGIS_MEAPCH01.pdf
Chapter 1 is a freebie and a good starting place. Regina is very active 
on the PostGIS developers' list.

Another text I like is Gary Sherman's "Desktop GIS: Mapping the Planet 
with Open Source Tools". It is a very nice place to start if you are new 
to GIS and want to stick with open source. It will give you an idea of 
that tools to spend your time investigating further to meet you specific 
requirements.
http://www.pragprog.com/titles/gsdgis/desktop-gis


Hope those help,
Chris