[Freegis-list] PostGIS 0.6 Released

[Paul Ramsey]

SUMMARY:

Refractions Research is pleased to announce the 0.6 release of
PostGIS : Geographic Objects for the PostgreSQL object-relational
database server. PostGIS/PostgreSQL is a spatial database much like
ESRI's SDE and Oracles OracleSpatial.

PostGIS/PostgreSQL includes the following functionality:

- Simple Features as defined by the OpenGIS Consortium (OGC)
- Support for Well-Known Text and Well-Known Binary representations
   of GIS objects
- Fast spatial indexing using GiST
- Geospatial analysis functions
- PostgreSQL JDBC extension objects corresponding to the geometries
- Support for OGC access functions as defined by the Simple
   Features Specification

The latest release increases OpenGIS standards support, upgrades
Mapserver support, and increases the number of accessor functions
dramatically.

For more information, see the PostGIS project web site at:

   http://postgis.refractions.net

REQUIREMENTS:

- PostgreSQL Version 7.1.x
   (Version 7.2 and CVS versions of PostgreSQL will *not* work
   due to changes in the GiST index interface. The next version
   of PostGIS will move to PostgreSQL 7.2.)
- The PL/pgSQL server-side language must be installed before
   PostGIS

RELEASE NOTES:

- Version 0.6 includes numerous new functions bringing the system
   closer to OpenGIS SQL standards. The SPATIAL_REF_SYS and
   GEOMETRY_COLUMNS tables are now supported and maintainted.
   SRIDs are included in all geometries, and functions check
   for consistent SRIDs.

- The internal binary format has changed since version 0.5,
   so a dump/restore of existing databases is *required*. See
   the UPGRADING section of the README.

- The latest CVS version of Mapserver will be required if you
   are using PostGIS as a Mapserver datasource. See
   http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/ for more information on
   Mapserver and for CVS snapshots.

NEW FUNCTIONS:

postgis_version()
   Return the PostGIS version number.
find_srid(<db/schema>::varchar, <table>::varchar, <column>::varchar)
   Return the SRID number for a particular column of a database.
AddGeometryColumn(<db/schema>::varchar, <table>::varchar,
   <column>::varchar, <srid>::integer, <type>::varchar,
   <dimension>::integer)
   Appends a geometry column to an existing table and updates the
   metadata tables appropriately.
DropGeometryColumn(<db/schema>::varchar, <table>::varchar,
   <column>::varchar)
   Removes a geometry column from an existing spatial table.
Distance(<geom1>::geometry, <geom2>::geometry)
   Returns the cartesian distance between two geometries.
AsText(<geom>::geometry)
   Returns the OGC well-known text version of the geometry.
SRID(<geom>::geometry)
   Returns the integer SRID of the geometry.
GeometryFromText(<geom>::varchar, <srid>::integer)
   Creates a geometry object given the OGC well-known text and a valid
   SRID.
SetSRID(<geom>::geometry)
   Sets the SRID of a geometry to a particular value.
IsClosed(<geom>::geometry)
   Returns true of first and last points of geometry are coincident.
StartPoint(<geom>::geometry)
   Returns the first point of a geometry.
EndPoint(<geom>::geometry)
   Returns the last point of a geometry.
Centroid(<geom>::geometry)
   Returns the centroid of a geometry.


-- 
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   | Paul Ramsey
   | Refractions Research
   | Email: pramsey at refractions.net
   | Phone: (250) 885-0632
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