postgis-setup

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Creating and configuring PostGIS database for ENC storage and maritime routing. Use when setting up PostGIS backend, deploying to production, or optimizing database performance for large-scale conversions.

studentdotai By studentdotai schedule Updated 1/27/2026
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name: postgis-setup description: Creating and configuring PostGIS database for ENC storage and maritime routing. Use when setting up PostGIS backend, deploying to production, or optimizing database performance for large-scale conversions. allowed-tools: [Bash] status: Under Development ready: false

⚠️ STATUS: Under Development - Not yet ready for use. This skill requires completion of production features (connection pooling, SSL/TLS, monitoring) before it can be used in production environments. Basic setup works, but advanced deployment scenarios are incomplete.

PostGIS Database Setup

Creating and configuring PostGIS database for ENC storage and maritime routing applications.

Quick Start (System PostgreSQL)

For local development with existing PostgreSQL:

# 1. Create database and enable PostGIS
createdb maritime_db
psql maritime_db -c "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS postgis;"

# 2. Create .env file
cat > .env <<EOF
POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
POSTGRES_PORT=5432
POSTGRES_USER=$USER
POSTGRES_DB=maritime_db
EOF

# 3. Verify
psql maritime_db -c "SELECT PostGIS_Version();"

Expected output: 3.4 USE_GEOS=1 USE_PROJ=1 USE_STATS=1 (or similar)

Purpose

PostGIS provides the fastest backend for large-scale ENC processing (2.0-2.4× faster than GeoPackage). This skill covers complete PostGIS setup from database creation through connection configuration.

Prerequisites

  • PostgreSQL 16+ installed
  • System permissions to create databases
  • Basic SQL knowledge
  • Python environment with psycopg2-binary

Procedure

Step 1: Create PostgreSQL Database

# Create database
createdb maritime_db

# Verify creation
psql -l | grep maritime_db

Step 2: Enable PostGIS Extension

# Enable PostGIS
psql maritime_db -c "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS postgis;"

# Verify PostGIS version
psql maritime_db -c "SELECT PostGIS_Version();"

Expected output:

            postgis_version
---------------------------------------
 3.4 USE_GEOS=1 USE_PROJ=1 USE_STATS=1

Step 3: Create User (Optional but Recommended)

# Create dedicated user for application
psql -c "CREATE USER maritime_user WITH PASSWORD 'secure_password';"

# Grant privileges
psql -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE maritime_db TO maritime_user;"

# Grant schema privileges
psql maritime_db -c "GRANT ALL ON SCHEMA public TO maritime_user;"
psql maritime_db -c "GRANT ALL ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO maritime_user;"
psql maritime_db -c "GRANT ALL ON ALL SEQUENCES IN SCHEMA public TO maritime_user;"

Step 4: Configure Environment Variables

Create .env file in project root:

cat > .env <<'EOF'
# PostGIS Connection
POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
POSTGRES_PORT=5432
POSTGRES_USER=maritime_user
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secure_password
POSTGRES_DB=maritime_db
EOF

# Secure .env file
chmod 600 .env

Step 5: Test Connection

# Test with psql
psql "host=localhost port=5432 dbname=maritime_db user=maritime_user password=secure_password" \
    -c "SELECT PostGIS_Version();"

# Test with Python
python -c "
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
import psycopg2

load_dotenv()

conn = psycopg2.connect(
    host=os.getenv('POSTGRES_HOST'),
    port=os.getenv('POSTGRES_PORT'),
    dbname=os.getenv('POSTGRES_DB'),
    user=os.getenv('POSTGRES_USER'),
    password=os.getenv('POSTGRES_PASSWORD')
)
print('✓ Connection successful!')
conn.close()
"

Examples

Example 1: Fresh Ubuntu Installation

# Install PostgreSQL and PostGIS
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install postgresql-16 postgresql-16-postgis-3

# Start PostgreSQL
sudo systemctl start postgresql
sudo systemctl enable postgresql

# Create database as postgres user
sudo -u postgres createdb maritime_db
sudo -u postgres psql maritime_db -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis;"

# Create application user
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE USER maritime_user WITH PASSWORD 'secure_pass';"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE maritime_db TO maritime_user;"

# Configure .env and test

Example 2: macOS with Homebrew

# Install PostgreSQL and PostGIS
brew install postgresql@16 postgis

# Start PostgreSQL
brew services start postgresql@16

# Create database
createdb maritime_db
psql maritime_db -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis;"

# Create user
psql -c "CREATE USER maritime_user WITH PASSWORD 'secure_pass';"
psql -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE maritime_db TO maritime_user;"

# Configure .env and test

Example 3: Docker Deployment

# Run PostGIS container
docker run -d \
    --name postgis \
    -e POSTGRES_DB=maritime_db \
    -e POSTGRES_USER=maritime_user \
    -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secure_pass \
    -p 5432:5432 \
    postgis/postgis:16-3.4

# Wait for startup
sleep 10

# Verify
docker exec postgis psql -U maritime_user -d maritime_db -c "SELECT PostGIS_Version();"

Connection String Formats

Format 1: Environment Variables (Recommended)

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

db_config = {
    "host": os.getenv("POSTGRES_HOST"),
    "port": os.getenv("POSTGRES_PORT"),
    "dbname": os.getenv("POSTGRES_DB"),
    "user": os.getenv("POSTGRES_USER"),
    "password": os.getenv("POSTGRES_PASSWORD")
}

Format 2: GDAL Connection String

# For GDAL/OGR operations
conn_str = (
    f"PG:dbname={os.getenv('POSTGRES_DB')} "
    f"host={os.getenv('POSTGRES_HOST')} "
    f"port={os.getenv('POSTGRES_PORT')} "
    f"user={os.getenv('POSTGRES_USER')} "
    f"password={os.getenv('POSTGRES_PASSWORD')}"
)

Format 3: SQLAlchemy Engine

from sqlalchemy import create_engine

engine = create_engine(
    f"postgresql+psycopg2://"
    f"{os.getenv('POSTGRES_USER')}:{os.getenv('POSTGRES_PASSWORD')}@"
    f"{os.getenv('POSTGRES_HOST')}:{os.getenv('POSTGRES_PORT')}/"
    f"{os.getenv('POSTGRES_DB')}"
)

Performance Tuning

Basic PostgreSQL Tuning

Edit postgresql.conf (location varies by system):

# Memory settings (adjust based on system RAM)
shared_buffers = 256MB          # 25% of RAM (for 1GB system)
effective_cache_size = 1GB      # 50-75% of RAM
work_mem = 16MB                 # Per-operation memory
maintenance_work_mem = 128MB    # For VACUUM, CREATE INDEX

# Connection settings
max_connections = 100

# Write-ahead log
wal_buffers = 16MB
checkpoint_completion_target = 0.9

Restart PostgreSQL:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql  # Linux
brew services restart postgresql@16  # macOS

Spatial Index Optimization

-- Create spatial index on geometry column
CREATE INDEX idx_geom ON your_table USING GIST (geom);

-- Analyze table for query planner
ANALYZE your_table;

Common Issues

Issue: Permission Denied

Symptom: psycopg2.OperationalError: FATAL: permission denied

Solution:

# Grant necessary permissions
sudo -u postgres psql -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE maritime_db TO maritime_user;"
sudo -u postgres psql maritime_db -c "GRANT ALL ON SCHEMA public TO maritime_user;"
sudo -u postgres psql maritime_db -c "GRANT ALL ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO maritime_user;"

Issue: Connection Refused

Symptom: psycopg2.OperationalError: could not connect to server

Solution:

# Check PostgreSQL is running
sudo systemctl status postgresql  # Linux
brew services list  # macOS

# Start if needed
sudo systemctl start postgresql  # Linux
brew services start postgresql@16  # macOS

# Check pg_hba.conf allows local connections
sudo cat /etc/postgresql/16/main/pg_hba.conf | grep local
# Should have: local all all trust (or md5/peer)

Issue: PostGIS Extension Not Found

Symptom: ERROR: could not open extension control file

Solution:

# Install PostGIS package
sudo apt-get install postgresql-16-postgis-3  # Ubuntu/Debian
brew install postgis  # macOS

# Restart PostgreSQL
sudo systemctl restart postgresql

Issue: Role Does Not Exist

Symptom: psycopg2.OperationalError: FATAL: role "maritime_user" does not exist

Solution:

# Create user
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE USER maritime_user WITH PASSWORD 'secure_pass';"

# Verify
sudo -u postgres psql -c "\du" | grep maritime_user

Verification Checklist

Run these commands to verify your PostGIS setup:

# [ ] PostgreSQL version
psql --version  # Should be 16+

# [ ] Database exists
psql -l | grep maritime_db

# [ ] PostGIS extension enabled
psql maritime_db -c "SELECT PostGIS_Version();"

# [ ] User has privileges (if using dedicated user)
psql -c "\du" | grep maritime_user

# [ ] .env file exists and is secure
ls -la .env  # Should show -rw------- (600 permissions)

# [ ] Python connection works
python -c "
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
import psycopg2
load_dotenv()
conn = psycopg2.connect(
    host=os.getenv('POSTGRES_HOST'),
    port=os.getenv('POSTGRES_PORT'),
    dbname=os.getenv('POSTGRES_DB'),
    user=os.getenv('POSTGRES_USER'),
    password=os.getenv('POSTGRES_PASSWORD')
)
print('✓ PostGIS connection successful!')
conn.close()
"

# [ ] GDAL can connect (if using GDAL)
ogrinfo "PG:dbname=maritime_db host=localhost" -q

Maintenance Tasks

Vacuum and Analyze

# Regular maintenance
psql maritime_db -c "VACUUM ANALYZE;"

# Full vacuum (locks tables, run during low usage)
psql maritime_db -c "VACUUM FULL ANALYZE;"

Backup and Restore

# Backup
pg_dump maritime_db > maritime_db_backup.sql

# Restore
createdb maritime_db_restored
psql maritime_db_restored < maritime_db_backup.sql

Related Skills

  • environment-setup: Environment Setup (PostgreSQL installation)
  • backend-optimization: Backend Optimization (PostGIS vs GeoPackage performance)
  • integration-tests: Integration Tests (requires PostGIS for backend tests)

Cross-References

  • Project Knowledge: /dev/rules/CLAUDE.md (Database Backend Patterns section)
  • Development Workflow: /dev/rules/WORKFLOW.md (PostGIS Setup section)
  • Code Standards: /dev/rules/CODE_STANDARDS.md (Environment Variables section)
Install via CLI
npx skills add https://github.com/studentdotai/Nautical-Graph-Toolkit --skill postgis-setup
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