In order to explore all the new interfaces to PostGIS (from QGIS, GDAL, GRASS GIS 7 and others) I decided to install PostGIS 2.1 on my Fedora 20 Linux box. Eventually it is an easy job but I had to visit a series of blogs to refresh my dark memories from past PostGIS installations done some years ago… So, here the few steps:

# become root
su -
# grab the PostgreSQL 9.3 server and PostGIS 2.1
yum install postgresql-server postgresql-contrib postgis

Now the server is installed but yet inactive and not configured. The next step is to initialize, configure and start the PostgreSQL server:

# initialize DB:
postgresql-setup initdb
# start at boot time:
chkconfig postgresql on
# fire up the daemon:
service postgresql start

A test connection will show that we need to configure TCP/IP connections:

# this will fail
psql -l
psql: could not connect to server: No such file or directory
    Is the server running locally and accepting
    connections on Unix domain socket "/var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.5432"?

So we enable TCP/IP connections listening on port 5432:

# edit "postgresql.conf" with editor of choice (nano, vim, ...),
# add line "listen_addresses = '*'":
vim /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf
...
listen_addresses = '*'
#listen_addresses = 'localhost'         # what IP address(es) to listen on;
...

Now restart the PostgreSQL daemon:

# restart to re-read configuration
service postgresql restart

Check if the server is now listening on TCP/IP:

# check network connections:
netstat -l | grep postgres
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:postgres        0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN     
tcp6       0      0 [::]:postgres           [::]:*                  LISTEN     
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     2236495  /var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.543

So far so nice. Still PostGIS is not yet active, and we need a database user “gisuser” with password:

# switch from root user to postgres user:
su - postgres
# create new DB user with password (will prompt you for it, choose a strong one):
createuser --pwprompt --encrypted gisuser

Finally we create a first database “gis”:

# create new DB
createdb --encoding=UTF8 --owner=gisuser gis

We enable it for PostGIS 2.1:

# insert PostGIS SQL magic (it should finish with a "COMMIT"):
psql -d gis -f /usr/share/pgsql/contrib/postgis-64.sql

That’s it! Now exit from the “postgres” user account a the “root” account:

# exit from PG user account (back to "root" account level):
exit

In case you want to reach the PostgreSQL/PostGIS server from outside your machine (i.e. from the network), you need to enable PostgreSQL for that:

# enable the network in pg_hba.conf (replace host line; perhaps comment IP6 line):
vim /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf

...
host    all             all             all                     md5
...

# save and restart the daemon:
service postgresql restart

Time for another connection test:

# we try our new DB user account on the new database (hostname is the 
# name of the server in the network):
psql --user gisuser -h hostname -l
Password for user gisuser: xxxxxx

Wonderful, we are connected!

# exit from root account:
exit
[neteler@oboe ] $

Now have our PostGIS database ready!

What’s left? Get some spatial data in as a normal user:

# nice tool
shp2pgsql-gui

Using the shp2pgsql-gui

Next pick a SHAPE file and upload it to PostGIS with “Import”.

Now connect to your PostGIS database with QGIS or GRASS GIS and enjoy!

See also: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PostgreSQL

The post Installing PostGIS on Fedora 20 appeared first on GFOSS Blog | GRASS GIS Courses.

We are pleased to announce that the 50th ICA-OSGeo Lab has been established at the GIS and Remote Sensing Unit (Piattaforma GIS & Remote Sensing, PGIS), Research and Innovation Centre (CRI), Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), Italy. CRI is a multifaceted research organization established in 2008 under the umbrella of FEM, a private research foundation funded by the government of Autonomous Province of Trento. CRI focuses on studies and innovations in the fields of agriculture, nutrition, and environment, with the aim to generate new sharing knowledge and to contribute to economic growth, social development and the overall improvement of quality of life.

The mission of the PGIS unit is to develop and provide multi-scale approaches for the description of 2-, 3- and 4-dimensional biological systems and processes. Core activities of the unit include acquisition, processing and validation of geo-physical, ecological and spatial datasets collected within various research projects and monitoring activities, along with advanced scientific analysis and data management. These studies involve multi-decadal change analysis of various ecological and physical parameters from continental to landscape level using satellite imagery and other climatic layers. The lab focuses on the geostatistical analysis of such information layers, the creation and processing of indicators, and the production of ecological, landscape genetics, eco-epidemiological and physiological models. The team pursues actively the development of innovative methods and their implementation in a GIS framework including the time series analysis of proximal and remote sensing data.

The GIS and Remote Sensing Unit (PGIS) members strongly support the peer reviewed approach of Free and Open Source software development which is perfectly in line with academic research. PGIS contributes extensively to the open source software development in geospatial (main contributors to GRASS GIS), often collaborating with various other developers and researchers around the globe. In the new ICA-OSGeo lab at FEM international PhD students, university students and trainees are present.

PGIS is focused on knowledge dissemination of open source tools through a series of courses designed for specific user requirement (schools, universities, research institutes), blogs, workshops and conferences. Their recent publication in Trends in Ecology and Evolution underlines the need on using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for completely open science. Dr. Markus Neteler, who is leading the group since its formation, has two decades of experience in developing and promoting open source GIS software. Being founding member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo.org, USA), he served on its board of directors from 2006-2011. Luca Delucchi, focal point and responsible person for the new ICA-OSGeo Lab is member of the board of directors of the Associazione Italiana per l’Informazione Geografica Libera (GFOSS.it, the Italian Local Chapter of OSGeo). He contributes to several Free and Open Source software and open data projects as developer and trainer.

Details about the GIS and Remote Sensing Unit at http://gis.cri.fmach.it/

Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2006 whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open source geospatial technologies and data.

International Cartographic Association (ICA) is the world authoritative body for cartography and GIScience. See also the new ICA-OSGeo Labs website.