--- title: "Why people (should) care about PostGIS" publication: "Postgres Weekly" issue: 521 published_at: "2023-09-13" canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/521" --- Plus who's in charge of Postgres? You are! | #​521 — September 13, 2023 [Web Version](https://postgresweekly.com/issues/521) Together with [![Polyscale logo\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,e_trim,w_600,h_160/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:12/rrcbnnamutiazyfczv81.png)](https://www.polyscale.ai/) Postgres Weekly [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/b1rvqbklldm5oxjiexlx.jpg)](https://avestura.dev/blog/explaining-the-postgres-meme) [Explaining the Postgres 'Iceberg Meme'](https://avestura.dev/blog/explaining-the-postgres-meme) — ‘Iceberg tiers’ is a common image meme format used to show off increasing levels of ‘deep knowledge’ about specific topics and Postgres got [one of its own](https://twitter.com/largedatabank/status/1559651463919452161) last year. This post is a neat walk through the iceberg's concepts going from basic ideas above the water to more arcane things (like the infamous [‘allballs’](https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/6EE64EF3AB31D5448D0007DD34EEB3412A75D9%40Herge.rcsinc.local)) in the 'depths.' There’s a _lot_ to both learn and be entertained by here. Aryan Ebrahimpour ▶️ Back in 2022, Jordan Lewis, director of engineering at Cockroach Labs, made [a video walking through the iceberg too](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZRWkfXNQOk) – if you've got a few hours to spare! [pgJQ: Now You Can Use `jq` in Postgres](https://github.com/Florents-Tselai/pgJQ) — [jq](https://jqlang.github.io/jq/) is a popular (and powerful) way to slice, filter, and transform JSON and this extension brings it, and its associated language, into Postgres in a way that works seamlessly alongside standard JSONB functions and operators. Florents Tselai [![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/1bd342fc.png)](https://www.polyscale.ai/) [Postgres Scaling, in Minutes](https://www.polyscale.ai/) — PolyScale.ai is a high performance Data Delivery Network that accelerates databases. Using smart caching, it improves query performance, lowers latency and makes data access and scale engineering a breeze, both on premise and at the edge. PolyScale.ai sponsor [Why People Care About PostGIS and Postgres](https://www.citusdata.com/blog/2023/09/12/ep07-highlights-of-path-to-citus-con-podcast/) — The latest episode of the [Path to Citus Con podcast](https://www.citusdata.com/podcast/path-to-citus-con/) tackled the huge topic of one of Postgres’s largest and most popular extensions: [PostGIS.](https://postgis.net/) Paul Ramsey and Regina Obe joined Claire Giordano and Pino de Candia went deep on all things spatial and geographical (when it comes to Postgres, at least). There’s [a written transcript](https://pathtocituscon.transistor.fm/episodes/why-people-care-about-postgis-and-postgres-with-paul-ramsey-regina-obe/transcript) if you prefer. Carol Smith (Microsoft) [Who's 'In Charge' of Postgres?](https://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2023.html#September_11_2023) — Bruce tries to answer a question many folks have when encountering Postgres – who’s in control? It’s ultimately no specific group, with committers, core team members, the security team, various committees, and others all having a role. _“So, who is in charge? You are, and everyone else in the community,”_ Bruce suggests. Bruce Momjian _IN BRIEF:_ - Yugabyte's Denis Magda [🐦 suggests that the confusion between the names PostgreSQL and Postgres](https://twitter.com/denismagda/status/1701446674499924154) lead to Postgres have a lower position in [the DB-Engines ranking](https://db-engines.com/en/ranking) that it should otherwise have.. - Postgres's _Community Code of Conduct Committee_ [has put out a call seeking new members](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/call-for-new-members-for-the-community-code-of-conduct-committee-2711/) of said committee, as its membership is refreshed on an annual basis. - [🐦 Phil Eaton suggested](https://twitter.com/eatonphil/status/1700116804708737031) that while Postgres is a fantastic database, the reason so many new database systems keep appearing is because Postgres is less able to quickly take advantage of newer innovations. [🐦 Thomas Munro replied,](https://twitter.com/MengTangmu/status/1700259016356814867) however, saying he thinks the FAQ cited is out of date and that ideas like using threads and async I/O in Postgres are viable ideas in the long run. [Monitoring Postgres Replication](https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/monitoring-postgresql-replication/) — Replication helps your database become more resilient, but there can be a cost in the form of complexity, with things like replication lag to keep an eye on. Hans-Jürgen Schönig [When to Consider Partitioning in Postgres](https://www.timescale.com/blog/when-to-consider-postgres-partitioning/) — Table partitioning can be a powerful tool for scaling a database, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Soto and Blackwood-Sewell (Timescale) [Understanding Partitioning and Sharding in Postgres and Citus](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-database-for-postgresql/understanding-partitioning-and-sharding-in-postgres-and-citus/ba-p/3891629) — A partitioning vs. sharding post exploring the benefits of partitioning and sharding with Citus in particular. Claire Giordano [Watch 5 Mins of Postgres: Weekly Postgres Videos by pganalyze](https://www.youtube.com/@pganalyze6516/videos) pganalyze sponsor [We Used to Store Files as Base64 Strings in Postgres.. Not Anymore](https://blog.mailpace.com/blog/we-used-to-store-files-as-strings-in-the-database-but-no-more/) — Just because you can, doesn’t necessarily mean you _should._ Paul Oms (MailPace) [Random Geometry Generation with PostGIS](https://www.crunchydata.com/blog/random-geometry-generation-with-postgis) — Why? Why not? Paul Ramsey [Postgres Load Balancing Made Easy: A Dive into pgpool](https://www.highgo.ca/2023/09/11/postgresql-load-balancing-made-easy-a-deep-dive-into-pgpool/) Tristen Raab Code and Tools [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/vuxpxdfcxrhezq76offg.jpg)](https://github.com/dalibo/temboard) [temBoard 8.1: A Postgres Remote Control/Dashboard](https://github.com/dalibo/temboard) — A Python-built Web dashboard and monitoring system for Postgres. You install an agent on the servers in question and the temBoard webapp runs wherever you like. Dalibo [pgexporter 0.4: Prometheus Exporter for Postgres](https://pgexporter.github.io/) — Now with support for Postgres 10 thru 16 and [new docs for the Grafana integration.](https://github.com/pgexporter/pgexporter/blob/main/doc/tutorial/03_grafana.md) There’s also a [getting started guide.](https://pgexporter.github.io/gettingstarted.html) Red Hat - [Ora2Pg 24.1](https://github.com/darold/ora2pg/releases/tag/v24.1) ↳ Oracle to Postgres database schema converter. - [pg_show_plans 1.1.5](https://github.com/cybertec-postgresql/pg_show_plans) ↳ Get query plans of all currently running SQL statements. - [PL/Rust v1.2.5](https://github.com/tcdi/plrust/releases/tag/v1.2.5) ↳ Write Postgres functions in the Rust language. - [PGRX 0.10.0](https://github.com/pgcentralfoundation/pgrx/releases/tag/v0.10.0) ↳ Build Postgres _extensions_ with Rust. - [plpgsql_check 2.5](https://github.com/okbob/plpgsql_check) ↳ Linter for PL/pgSQL code. - [PG Partition Manager 4.7.4](https://github.com/pgpartman/pg_partman) **Got a new email?** You can [change your address here](https://postgresweekly.com/edit_subscription/*|UID|*). --- **Bored of us?** [Click here to stop getting Postgres Weekly](https://postgresweekly.com/leave/*|UID|*). --- **Got a link for us?** Reply and tell us. We can't include everything but we'll look at anything you send. _Thanks!_ --- Published by Cooper Press Ltd. Fairfield Enterprise Centre, Louth, LN11 0LS, United Kingdom Postgres, PostgreSQL and the Slonik Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of the PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada. [Stop getting this newsletter](https://postgresweekly.com/leave/*|UID|*).