Spatial Databases – Avenza Systems

Overview

Geographic Imager can import several types of spatial databases including Esri geodatabases and PostGIS spatial databases. A geodatabase is a native Esri ArcGIS data format for storing geographic data. A PostGIS spatial database also stores geographic data including tables. Both are a collection of geographic datasets of various types and managed in either a file folder structure or a relational database, such as:

Feature classes or table of points, lines, polygons and annotation for discrete features
Feature datasets (group of feature classes)
Descriptive attributes stored in tables
Raster datasets and raster catalogs for imagery

Geographic Imager can import several types of spatial databases including Esri geodatabases and PostGIS:

	File extension	User access	Size limit	RDBMS Technology	Esri Licensing (create)*	Geographic Imager Import access
Personal geodatabase	.mdb	Single	2 GB	Microsoft Access (Jet Engine)	ArcInfo ArcEditor ArcView	Folder browser
File geodatabase	.gdb	Single	1 TB	No RDBMS - uses local file structure	ArcInfo ArcEditor ArcView	Folder browser
PostGIS Spatial Database	-	Multiple (limited)	Unlimited	PostgreSQL	-	PostGIS connection

Geographic Imager has the capacity to import several types of spatial databases including Personal and File geodatabases and PostGIS spatial databases. The connection to PostGIS server requires server access, user account and versioning information to be provided by the database administrator. Server parameters are exactly the same required to establish a connection using Esri ArcCatalog or PostgreSQL—with a small exception for SQL Server Express connections, explained later on in this section.

Once imported into Adobe Photoshop, data does not maintain a link with the original database and database functions are not valid (topology, table/feature class relationships, subtypes and attributes domains rules). However, Geographic Imager can make use of the geodatabases spatial and non-spatial relationships, subtypes and attribute domains information during the import process (to populate layer names and attributes).

Software Requirements

The Basic Personal Geodatabase Reader and Basic File Geodatabase Reader does not require an ArcGIS licenses for Windows and is compatible with Mac. However, this means that some import functions are limited in use (explained further in this section).

information Geographic Imager supports ArcGIS 9.2 and newer geodatabases. Please refer to Esri documentation on software requirements (service packs) and limitations.

information To use ArcGIS 10.0 geodatabases with Geographic Imager, a licensed installation of ArcGIS 10.0 is required. Having a valid installation allows for backwards compatibility with geodatabases created by ArcGIS 9.2 and newer.

information Unicode characters in path names are not supported by the Basic Personal and File Geodatabase Readers.

Supported Features

Data Types

The following is a list of supported and unsupported geodatabase geometry types for import in Geographic Imager:

Supported

Unsupported

Point

Polyline

Polygon

Circular Arc*

Elliptical Arc*

Bezier Curve

Annotations*

* Upon import, Geographic Imager converts an arc to a line where a series of vertices will maintain the geometry. In addition, Geographic Imager converts multipart annotation into <group> objects.

Raster

Grids

MultiPatch

Dimensions

information To import a geometry type that requires the use of a Representation in ArcGIS (such as Bezier curves), the Behavior when Representation Geometry is Edited must be set to Change the geometry of the supporting feature—option specified when creating a new Representation in ArcGIS.

Spatial Filters

During the import process, users can enter two opposite corner coordinate points in any coordinates system unit to limit the geographic area for the data being imported (see next section).

information When importing a feature class that has no art it is considered to have invalid extents and a spatial filter cannot be created.

SQL Queries

During the import process, users can use SQL queries on feature classes and tables to limit the objects and attributes to be imported.

Multiple feature classes can be imported using multiple SQL statements as long as all classes share the same source coordinate system. SQL queries can also be used to import a feature class and the attribute information from a related non-spatial table.

Geographic Imager uses Esri libraries to run SQL queries. Please refer to Esri documentation for more information on supported SQL expressions and syntax—it may vary depending on the geodatabase and database server type.

Non-Spatial Relationships

Geographic Imager supports non-spatial relationships between feature classes and tables during the import process using SQL queries. Here are some examples:

Query	Result
SELECT * FROM Feature_Class,Table WHERE FeatureClass.Id=Table.Id	Import and inner join a feature class to a related table (only features with entries in the related table are imported).
SELECT * FROM Feature_Class,Table WHERE FeatureClass.Id=Table.Id AND Table.Attribute='ABC'	Import and inner join a feature class to a related table and apply a query.
SELECT * FROM Feature_Class WHERE FeatureClass.Id IN (SELECT Table.Id FROM Table WHERE Table.Attribute='ABC')	Import a feature class without joining to a related table, but use a table value to make a query.

information SQL syntax may vary depending on the database server type.

Once vector data is imported into Adobe Photoshop, the database relationships rules do not apply anymore.

When the non-spatial table information is imported together with the feature class using a SQL query, only the vector features that have a record in the related table are imported. Import first the feature class and use Join Table in a second step: all vector features are imported and the related table information is added where a record match is found. This second option might be recommended if the database is not well known.

Topics covered in this section

Import Using Basic Personal and Basic File Geodatabase Reader

Importing PostGIS Spatial Database