Yugniro Proceedings 2014

Comparing free software for spatial database management systems

Item Type Journal Contribution

Authors Smirnov, S.S.

Download date 24/09/2021 22:31:31

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/9593 192 УДК 004.45:004.9

S. Smirnov, divisional manager

Southern Scientific Research Institute of Marine Fishery and Oceanography (YugNIRO)

COMPARING FREE SOFTWARE FOR SPATIAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Three popular freeware spatial Database Management Systems (PostgreSQL/PostGIS, SpatiaLite, MySQL) are briefly compared. Recommendations for choosing between them in relation to the peculiarities of the assigned task are given. The most popular free GIS software applications compatible with the described database management systems are mentioned.

Keywords: free software, database, spatial data, GIS

INTRODUCTION — BASIC TERMS

Free software is computer software that is distributed along with its source code, and is released under terms that guarantee users freedom to study, adapt/modify, and distribute the software. Free software is often developed cooperatively by volunteer computer programmers as part of an open-source software development project [2]. A spatial database is a database, optimized to store and query the data that represent objects defined in a geometric space. Most spatial databases allow representing simple geometric objects such as points, lines and polygons. Some spatial databases handle more complex structures such as 3D objects, topological coverages, linear networks, and triangulated irregular networks (TINs) [5]. Database management systems (DBMSs) are specially designed applications that interact with the user, other applications, and the database itself to capture and analyze data. A general-purpose database management system (DBMS) is a software system designed to allow the definition, creation, querying, update, and administration of databases [1].

SPATIALITE

SpatiaLite is a spatial extension to SQLite database core in order to get a fully functional Spatial DBMS, really simple and lightweight [6]. SpatiaLite is not based on client-server architecture: a complete database is simply an ordinary file, which can be freely copied and transferred from one computer/OS to a different one without any special precaution.

MYSQL

MySQL is the world's most widely used (as of July 2013) open-source database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases [3]. MySQL is a popular choice of database for use in web applications. Free software projects that require a full-featured database management system often use MySQL. For commercial use, several paid editions are available.

PostgreSQL is the world’s most advanced open source database. It has more than 15 years of active development and a proven architecture that has earned it a strong reputation for reliability, data integrity, and correctness [4]. PostGIS is a spatial database extender for PostgreSQL. It adds support for geographic objects. See table 1 for technical details of the mentioned spatial database management systems.

Table 1 Comparing Free Spatial Database Management Systems

Features \ DBMS SpatiaLite MySQL PostgreSQL\PostGIS Maintenance complexity Low Medium Medium (installation, development, administration) Spatial Abilities (storing Medium Medium High and processing) Licensing Free (MPL GPL LGPL) Free (GNU GPL) for Free (FLOSS: BSD for non-commercial use, PostgreSQL, GPL for proprietary license for PostGIS) commercial use Free GUI Tools SQLite Browser, SQLite MySQL Workbench pgAdmin Administrator Resume Good solution for local Suitable for non- The most advanced and geodatabase commercial projects very popular free spatial DBMS

Free GIS Software that supports spatial database management systems is listed in table 2.

Table 2 Free GIS software that supports spatial DBMSs

GIS Software / DBMS SpatiaLite MySQL PostgreSQL\PostGIS GvSIG No Yes Yes Kosmo No Yes Yes Quantum GIS Yes No Yes MapWindow GIS Yes No Yes uDIG No Yes Yes

At present moment the most promising and functional free GIS applications are: – GvSIG and Kosmo (they are closely related projects); – Quantum GIS.

CONCLUSION

For simple local geodatabase SpatiaLite is recommended. Certainly, it is also possible to use client-server DBMS for this purpose. When choosing client-server spatial DBMS between MySQL and PostgreSQL — the last one (PostgreSQL/ PostGIS) is preferred. Recommended free GIS software are Quantum GIS, GvSIG, Kosmo.

ISSN 1026-5643. Труды ЮгНИРО, Т. 52, 2014 194 REFERENCES

1. Database — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [Electronic resource]. — URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Database. 2. Free software — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [Electronic resource]. — URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Free_software. 3. MySQL — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [Electronic resource]. — URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySQL 4. PostgreSQL. [Electronic resource]. — URL: http://www.postgresql.org/ 5. Spatial database — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [Electronic resource]. — URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Spatial_database. 6. The Gaia-SINS federated projects home-page. [Electronic resource]. — URL: http://www.gaia-gis.it/gaia-sins/

Поступила в редакцию 27.02.2014 г.

Сравнение свободного программного обеспечения для систем управления базами пространственных данных. С. С. Смирнов. Приводится краткое сравнение трёх популярных свободных систем управления базами пространственных данных (PostgreSQL/PostGIS, SpatiaLite, MySQL). Даются рекомендации по выбору между ними в зависимости от особенностей поставленной задачи. Также упоминаются наиболее популярные свободные ГИС-приложения, совместимые с описанными системами управления базами данных.

Ключевые слова: свободное программное обеспечение, база данных, пространственные данные, ГИС

Порівняння вільного програмного забезпечення для систем керування базами просторових даних. С. С. Смірнов. Представлено стисле порівняння трьох популярних вільних систем керування базами просторових даних (PostgreSQL/PostGIS, SpatiaLite, MySQL). Даються рекомендації з вибору між ними в залежності від особливостей поставленої задачі. Також згадуються найбільш популярні вільні ГІС-застосунки, сумісні з описаними системами управління базами даних.

Ключові слова: вільне програмне забезпечення, база даних, просторові дані, ГІС

ISSN 1026-5643. Труды ЮгНИРО, Т. 52, 2014