DuckDB is probably the most important geospatial software of the last decade

Post by timschmidt » Sat, May 03, 2025, 10:37 PM UTC

maxxen wrote: post #28

larsiusprime wrote: post #6

“import geopandas” also exists and has for some time. Snark aside, WHAT is special about duckDB? I wish the author had actually shown some practical examples so I could understand their claims better.

I replied to another comment, but I think a big part is that duckdbs spatial extension provides a SQL interface to a whole suite of standard foss gis packages by statically bundling everything (including inlining the default PROJ database of coordinate projection systems into the binary) and providing it for multiple platforms (including WASM). I.E there are no transitive dependencies except libc. Yes, DuckDB does a…

Post by frainfreeze » Sat, May 03, 2025, 10:38 PM UTC

dbreunig wrote: post #22

WD-42 wrote: post #5

Is it that much simpler than ‘load extension postgis’? I know geos and gdal have always kinda been a pain, but I feel like docker has abstracted it all away anyway. ‘docker pull postgis’ is pretty easy, granted I’m not familiar with what else duckdb offers.

Yes. The difference between provisioning a server and running 'install spatial' in a CLI is night and day. Docker has been a big improvement (when I was first learning PostGIS, the amount of time I had to hunt for proj directories or compile software just to install the plugin was a major hurdle), but it's many steps away from: ``` $ duckdb D install spatial; ```

Post by tomnipotent » Sat, May 03, 2025, 10:56 PM UTC

frainfreeze wrote: post #33

dbreunig wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. The difference between provisioning a server and running 'install spatial' in a CLI is night and day. Docker has been a big improvement (when I was first learning PostGIS, the amount of time I had to hunt for proj directories or compile software just to install the plugin was a major hurdle), but it's many steps away from: ``` $ duckdb D install spatial; ```

I mean I like duckdb but this feels like you're pushing for it. On my system postgis comes from apt install, and it's one command to activate the "plugin". Is the night and day part not having to run random sh script from the internet to install software on my system?

Post by dbreunig » Sat, May 03, 2025, 11:03 PM UTC

frainfreeze wrote: post #33

dbreunig wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. The difference between provisioning a server and running 'install spatial' in a CLI is night and day. Docker has been a big improvement (when I was first learning PostGIS, the amount of time I had to hunt for proj directories or compile software just to install the plugin was a major hurdle), but it's many steps away from: ``` $ duckdb D install spatial; ```

I mean I like duckdb but this feels like you're pushing for it. On my system postgis comes from apt install, and it's one command to activate the "plugin". Is the night and day part not having to run random sh script from the internet to install software on my system?

Post by dbreunig » Sat, May 03, 2025, 11:05 PM UTC

jparishy wrote: post #25

dbreunig wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here: the beauty of DuckDB spatial is that the projections and CRS options are hidden until you need them. For 90% of geospatial data usage people don't and shouldn't need to know about projections or CRS. Yes, there are so many great tools to handle the complexity for the capital-G Geospatial work. I love Felt too! Sam and team have built a great platform. But lots of times a map isn't needed; an analyst just…

I think we're mostly making the same point about complexity, ya. To me, I think it's mostly a frontend problem stopping the spread of mapping in consumer apps. Backend geo is easy tbh. There is so much good, free tooling. Mapping frontend is hell and there is no good off the shelf solution I've seen. Some too low level, some too high level. I think we need a GIS-lite that is embeddable to hide the complexity and let…