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Publishing a PostGIS table

This tutorial walks through the steps of publishing a PostGIS table with GeoServer.

Note

This tutorial assumes that PostgreSQL/PostGIS has been previously installed on the system and responding on localhost on port 5432, and also that GeoServer is running at http://localhost:8080/geoserver.

Data preparation

First let's gather that the data that we'll be publishing.

  1. Download the file nyc_buildings.zip. It contains a PostGIS dump of a dataset of buildings from New York City.

  2. Create a PostGIS database called nyc. This can be done with the following commands:

    createdb nyc psql -d nyc -c 'CREATE EXTENSION postgis'

    Note

    You may need to supply a username and password with these commands.

  3. Extract nyc_buildings.sql from nyc_buildings.zip.

  4. Import nyc_buildings.sql into the nyc database:

    psql -f nyc_buildings.sql nyc

Creating a new workspace

The next step is to create a workspace for the data. A workspace is a container used to group similar layers together.

Note

This step is optional if you'd like to use an existing workspace. Usually, a workspace is created for each project, which can include stores and layers that are related to each other.

  1. In a web browser, navigate to http://localhost:8080/geoserver.

  2. Log into GeoServer as described in the Logging In section.

  3. Navigate to Data → Workspaces.

    Workspaces page

  4. Click the Add new workspace button.

  5. You will be prompted to enter a workspace Name and Namespace URI.

    Configure a new workspace

  6. Enter the Name as nyc and the Namespace URI as http://geoserver.org/nyc.

    Note

    A workspace name is an identifier describing your project. It must not exceed ten characters or contain spaces. A Namespace URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) can usually be a URL associated with your project with an added trailing identifier indicating the workspace. The Namespace URI filed does not need to resolve to an actual valid web address.

  7. Click the Submit button. The nyc workspace will be added to the Workspaces list.

Creating a store

Once the workspace is created, we are ready to add a new store. The store tells GeoServer how to connect to the database.

  1. Navigate to Data→Stores.

  2. You should see a list of stores, including the type of store and the workspace that the store belongs to.

    Adding a new data source

  3. Create a new store by clicking the PostGIS link.

  4. Enter the Basic Store Info:

    • Select the nyc Workspace
    • Enter the Data Source Name as nyc_buildings
    • Add a brief Description

    Basic Store Info

  5. Specify the PostGIS database Connection Parameters:

    Option

    Value

    dbtype

    postgis

    host

    localhost

    port

    5432

    database

    nyc

    schema

    public

    user

    postgres

    passwd

    (Password for the postgres user)

    validate connections

    (Checked)

    Note

    Leave all other fields at their default values.

    Connection Parameters

  6. Click Save.

Creating a layer

Now that the store is loaded, we can publish the layer.

  1. Navigate to Data → Layers.

  2. Click Add a new resource.

  3. From the New Layer chooser menu, select nyc:nyc_buidings.

    Store selection

  4. On the resulting layer row, select the layer name nyc_buildings.

    New layer selection

  5. The Edit Layer page defines the data and publishing parameters for a layer. Enter a short Title and an Abstract for the nyc_buildings layer.

    Basic Resource Info

  6. Generate the layer's bounding boxes by clicking the Compute from data and then Compute from native bounds links.

    Generating bounding boxes

  7. Click the Publishing tab at the top of the page.

  8. We can set the layer's style here. Under WMS Settings, ensure that the Default Style is set to polygon.

    Select Default Style

  9. Finalize the layer configuration by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking Save.

Previewing the layer

In order to verify that the nyc_buildings layer is published correctly, we can preview the layer.

  1. Navigate to the Layer Preview screen and find the nyc:nyc_buildings layer.

  2. Click the OpenLayers link in the Common Formats column.

  3. An OpenLayers map will load in a new tab and display the shapefile data with the default line style. You can use this preview map to zoom and pan around the dataset, as well as display the attributes of features.

    Preview map of nyc_buildings