[postgis-users] ArcGIS desktop accessing and reading from PostGIS

Andy Anderson aanderson at amherst.edu
Mon Aug 26 08:46:41 PDT 2019 

Postgres Book says:

1) A database cluster is a collection of databases.

2) A database can have many schemas.

3) A schema is a collection of tables, indices, functions, data types, and operators. Essentially it is a name space that can be used to compartmentalize particular purposes that might have duplicate names, a development version and a production version (e.g. develop.mapit and product.mapit). If you only have one schema you don’t need to refer to it; if you have more than one there is a lookup order if the schema is not referenced.

— Andy

> On Aug 23, 2019, at 12:05 PM, Shaozhong SHI <shishaozhong at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi, Bobb,
> Fundamentally, PostGIS/PostgresSQL can be used to create a database.  When one creates a table, the table is defined.  Namely, a schema is created and defined.
> Am I right?
> 
> Can we define a schema so that all other applications including ArcGIS, MapInfo and QGIS can read?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Shao
> 
> On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 at 14:29, Basques, Bob (CI-StPaul) <bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us <mailto:bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us>> wrote:
> Correct.  One or more tables can be defined in a schema.
> 
> 
>> On Aug 23, 2019, at 3:36 AM, Shaozhong SHI <shishaozhong at gmail.com <mailto:shishaozhong at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> Think Before You Click: This email originated outside our organization.
>> 
>> 
>> Hi, Bobb,
>> 
>> A database has many schemas.
>> 
>> A schema is a definition of a data structure.  Many tables can be created by using this data structure.
>> 
>> Am I right?
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Shao
>> 
>> On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 at 17:25, Basques, Bob (CI-StPaul) <bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us <mailto:bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us>> wrote:
>> Shao,
>> 
>> I’ve always thought of a schema as a sub-grouping inside of a database, as in a database can contain many schemas.
>> 
>> Or, from a higher point of view . . .
>> 
>> Database instances (Postgres, Oracle, MySQL, etc) contain one or more databases, and each database can contain one or more schemas . . .
>> 
>> bobb
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Aug 22, 2019, at 11:07 AM, Shaozhong SHI <shishaozhong at gmail.com <mailto:shishaozhong at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Think Before You Click: This email originated outside our organization.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Hi, Bobb,
>>> 
>>> Thanks.
>>> 
>>> A lot of technical terms used are interchangeable.
>>> 
>>> Am I right to say this? When a postgreSQL database is created, a data structure is created.  This data structure is referred to as a scheme?
>>> 
>>> Namely, in this instance, a scheme = a data structure created with postgreSQL executables.
>>> 
>>> Am I right?
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> 
>>> Shao
>>> 
>>> On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 at 16:37, Andy Anderson <aanderson at amherst.edu <mailto:aanderson at amherst.edu>> wrote:
>>> Thanks for the correction, Paul, I guess I’ve been relying on my MySQL experience, which stores user data in the "mysql" database.
>>> 
>>> — Andy
>>> 
>>>> On Aug 21, 2019, at 12:59 PM, Paul Ramsey <pramsey at cleverelephant.ca <mailto:pramsey at cleverelephant.ca>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> This is not actually so. There’s nothing special about the postgres database, drop it and see. The system information lives in system catalogs that are not attached to any particular database. The template0 and template1 databases are “special” in that new databases are created by copying the contents of those templates, so alterations to them will percolate into any new databases created, so they should generally be left alone (unless you have a reason to want something included in all new databases). If you drop template1 you will find it hard to create new databases (unless you specify a different template) but otherwise things will keep running.
>>>> 
>>>> Anyways, I imagine the mystery of the Esri connection to ‘postgres’ is just that someone at Esri thought the same as you, seeing that most builds of postgres do ship with a postgres database already created, so that the postgres database user can easily have something to connect to that is not one of the templates. But it’s not special, it’s just a database.
>>>> 
>>>> P.
>>>> 
>>>>> On Aug 21, 2019, at 9:33 AM, Andy Anderson <aanderson at amherst.edu <mailto:aanderson at amherst.edu>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> The postgres database is set up by default by the postgres server and holds configuration information: databases, users, etc. Don’t touch. Set up another database for Arc to use.
>>>>> 
>>>>> — Andy
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Aug 21, 2019, at 12:23 PM, Basques, Bob (CI-StPaul) <bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us <mailto:bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> That’s what I’m talking about.  when I first tried to connect to Posters (and the “postgres” named database, I kept getting an error from ArcGIS saying the the “postgres” name for a database was a bad thing, and it wouldn’t connect.  After much searching, I discover that the name, “postgres” for a database wasn’t allowed by the ArcGIS client to connect to.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> As long as you don’t try connecting to the default “postgres” database, all seem to work fine.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> bobb
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Aug 21, 2019, at 10:59 AM, Shaozhong SHI <shishaozhong at gmail.com <mailto:shishaozhong at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Think Before You Click: This email originated outside our organization.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Hi, Bobb,
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I am confused with this.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> The idea is to use ArcGIS desktops to read data from PostGIS/PostgreSQL.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> How best to configure and make them happy to talk to each other?
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Shao
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 at 15:01, Basques, Bob (CI-StPaul) <bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us <mailto:bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us>> wrote:
>>>>>>> Shao,
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I had to dig fairly deeply into the ESRI site to find this particular explanation for why the service couldn’t/wouldn’t get connected.  Just to be clear, we do use logins for accessing the database, we just have chosen to use the “postgres” (named) database.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> So, I just went and tried to find the refence I found previously, and can’t find it (real quick).  Anyway,as long as you don’t try to connect to the “postgres” database, things do seem to work ok.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> bobb
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On Aug 21, 2019, at 2:18 AM, Shaozhong SHI <shishaozhong at gmail.com <mailto:shishaozhong at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Think Before You Click: This email originated outside our organization.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Hi, Bob,
>>>>>>>> Can you point me to excellent technical documentation on what you mentioned, so that I can double-check.
>>>>>>>> My colleagues have made it working, but there are some issues.  For instance, not all ArcGIS desktops can access and retrieve data.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Looking forward to have more insight into this matter.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Shao
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On Tue, 20 Aug 2019 at 17:08, Basques, Bob (CI-StPaul) <bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us <mailto:bob.basques at ci.stpaul.mn.us>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> All,
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> One biggie, is that the ESRI side does not like connecting to the “postgres” named database, claiming it’s a System database (whatever that means).  This is not readily available as a limitation either when looking for reasons why it won’t connect.  We’ve been using the “postgres” database name for years (a decade now??) with no ill effects from other applications/ connections.  I sort of understand this from the commercial side having worked with other databases like Oracle and MSSQL, but still, there should be a way to side step this with a setting somewhere.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I looked high and low for a way to alias the “postgres” database name inside of Postgres, but didn’t find anything very easy to implement or maintain very easily.  I did think about setting up another dataabase and using Views to the postgres database, but that seemed like a bad idea for some reason, along with being somewhat hard to maintain, but upon reflection I keep coming back to the idea.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> All non “postgres” named connections seem to work fine so far.  Haven’t implemented anything yet that is really heavy duty as far as loading though, so who knows.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Anyway, just my 2cents.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> bobb
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> On Aug 20, 2019, at 10:12 AM, Shaozhong SHI <shishaozhong at gmail.com <mailto:shishaozhong at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Think Before You Click: This email originated outside our organization.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> How to ensure that all versions of ArcGIS desktop applications can access and read from server-based PostGIS/PostgreSQL?
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Shao
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