Re: New geographic types....

Franck Martin <Franck@sopac.org.fj> writes:
> As part of the Fmaps project (Fmaps.sourceforge.net), Eric Miller is
> developing some new geographic types for Postgres.

Cool!

> We have several questions relating to the implementation of new types,
> variable types, and especially how to index them.

Datatype questions in general we can deal with.  Are you planning to use
r-tree indices, or perhaps something even more esoteric?  You might be a
little bit on your own there; I don't think any of the currently active
developers know much about the r-tree code.

> For the moment we are developing the new types/functions
> as extensions, should it stays that way or what does it imply to be merged
> in the main distribution.

If you are willing to release your code under the Postgres license terms
(basically BSD) then I think we'd be interested in including these types
in the distribution --- certainly in the contrib area, maybe integrated
into the standard build if there seems to be enough interest in 'em.

> We will be glad if someone can point us to some documentation on the
> subject, as the developer doc that comes with PG is very short on the
> subject.

The docs are kind of weak; there's little substitute for looking at
existing code you can use as a model.  Asking questions on the lists
is good too.

> For Fmaps to be complete, we will need a toasted version of PG where the 8kB
> limit has been removed, and works with custom types. Can someone give a
> status on toasted PG (working, not working, stable enough, unstable,...)

This should happen for 7.1 which we are hoping to have out circa Aug-Sep.
Jan Wieck would have to be the one to give you any more-detailed
projection than that.  It's certainly not there yet in any usable form.

            regards, tom lane