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Spatial Database for GPS Wildlife Tracking Data pp 53–73Cite as

Spatial is not Special: Managing Tracking Data in a Spatial Database

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Abstract

A wildlife tracking data management system must include the capability to explicitly deal with the spatial properties of movement data. GPS tracking data are sets of spatiotemporal objects (locations), and the spatial component must be properly managed. You will now extend the database built in Chaps. 2, 3 and 4, adding spatial functionalities through the PostgreSQL spatial extension called PostGIS. PostGIS introduces spatial data types (both vector and raster) and a large set of SQL spatial functions and tools, including spatial indexes. This possibility essentially allows you to build a GIS using the capabilities of relational databases. In this chapter, you will start to familiarise yourself with spatial SQL and implement a system that automatically transforms the GPS coordinates generated by GPS sensors from a pair of numbers into spatial objects.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://workshops.opengeo.org/postgis-intro/indexing.html.

  2. 2.

    http://www.opengeospatial.org/.

  3. 3.

    There are also many online resources where you can find useful introductions to get started (and become proficient) with PostGIS. Here are some suggestions:

    .

  4. 4.

    http://postgis.net/install.

  5. 5.

    http://postgis.refractions.net/docs/Topology.html.

  6. 6.

    http://www.epsg.org/.

  7. 7.

    http://postgis.refractions.net/docs/using_postgis_dbmanagement.html#PostGIS_Geography.

  8. 8.

    For the list of functions that support the geography data type see http://postgis.refractions.net/docs/PostGIS_Special_Functions_Index.html#PostGIS_GeographyFunctions.

  9. 9.

    http://www.qgis.org/.

  10. 10.

    http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis.

  11. 11.

    http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Connecting_to_a_database/.

  12. 12.

    http://postgis.refractions.net/docs/ST_Collect.html.

  13. 13.

    http://postgis.refractions.net/docs/ST_Union.html.

  14. 14.

    http://postgis.refractions.net/docs/ST_Dump.html.

  15. 15.

    http://www.bostongis.com/pgsql2shp_shp2pgsql_quickguide_20.bqg.

  16. 16.

    http://www.gdal.org/ogr2ogr.html.

  17. 17.

    http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/odbc/versions/msi/.

  18. 18.

    This process might vary according to the Windows version.

References

  • Corti P, Mather SV, Kraft TJ, Park B (2014) PostGIS Cookbook. Packt Publishing LTD., Birmingham, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Obe OR, Hsu LS (2011) PostGIS in action. Manning Publications Company, Greenwich

    Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Università Iuav di Venezia, Santa Croce 191 Tolentini, 30135, Venice, Italy

    Ferdinando Urbano

  2. Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University of Florida, 3205 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33314, USA

    Mathieu Basille

Authors
  1. Ferdinando Urbano
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  2. Mathieu Basille
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ferdinando Urbano .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Università Iuav di Venezia, Venice, Italy

    Ferdinando Urbano

  2. Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all’Adige, Trento, Italy

    Francesca Cagnacci

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© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Urbano, F., Basille, M. (2014). Spatial is not Special: Managing Tracking Data in a Spatial Database. In: Urbano, F., Cagnacci, F. (eds) Spatial Database for GPS Wildlife Tracking Data. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03743-1_5

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