How to install PostGIS 2.3 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Hey guys,
today about the installation of PostGIS, an open source and OGC compliant spatial database extender for the PostgreSQL database management system. It is similar in functionality to ESRI ArcSDE, Oracle Spatial, DB2 spatial extender and something (SQL Server spatial…?)from Microsoft. It provides outstanding performance and functionality – for free! At this time the latest stable release is PostGIS Version 2.3.2. This Blogpost should give you an idea of how to install PostGIS in a stable and secure environment: The commonly used Debian-based Linux operating system Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

For all following commands use your terminal.

At firtst you need a working PostgreSQL DBMS. By default Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial) comes with PostgreSQL 9.5 in its repositories.
As you want to install current version 9.6 you have to add the official PostgreSQL Apt Repository to your sources.list:

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ xenial-pgdg main"

Import the relevant signing key:

wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -

Update your packages:

sudo apt update

Start installing PostgreSQL 9.6 and the “contrib” package to add additional utilities and functionality to the database:

sudo apt install postgresql-9.6 postgresql-contrib-9.6

Check your PostgreSQL Version:

psql --version

The output should look somehow like this:

psql (PostgreSQL) 9.6.2

Create a new database user(replace “simon” with your name):

sudo -u postgres createuser -P simon

You will be prompted for a password. As always: Use a strong password here!

Create a new database (replace “simon” with your username and “gisdata” with whatever you want to name your database):

sudo -u postgres createdb -O simon gisdata

Test if your database works correctly:

psql -h localhost -U simon gisdata

As an output you should see something like this:

 psql (9.6.2)
 SSL connection (protocol: TLSv1.2, cipher: ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, bits: 256, compression: off)
 Type "help" for help.

gisdata=>

Exit psql:

 q

Now, let’s add PostGIS support to your database:

Add UbuntuGIS-unstable repository and update packages:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
sudo apt update

Install PostGIS:

sudo apt install postgis postgresql-9.6-postgis-2.3

Create extensions for your postgres database:

sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE EXTENSION postgis; CREATE EXTENSION postgis_topology;" gisdata

That’s it! Part 2 will follow – It will be about how to config PostGIS for remote access and how to work with a geospatial database in combination with QGIS.

The post How to install PostGIS 2.3 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS first appeared on GIS-Blog.com.