In this talk, we’ll explore how you can create powerful, production-ready spatial APIs directly from your PostgreSQL database using PostgREST. PostgREST is an open-source tool that automatically generates a RESTful API from your database schema, eliminating the need for custom backend code. By integrating PostGIS, the geospatial extension for PostgreSQL, we’ll see how spatial data like points, polygons, and raster layers can be exposed through clean, performant REST endpoints.
We'll walk through the setup process, including enabling PostGIS, configuring PostgREST, and writing SQL views or functions to expose spatial operations. You'll learn how to use PostGIS functions—like distance calculations, spatial joins, and bounding box filters—directly through the API. We’ll also discuss how to secure, paginate, and filter spatial data, making your API both powerful and user-friendly.
Whether you're a GIS developer, a backend engineer, or just curious about spatial data, this session will give you practical tools to build and scale spatial APIs using only SQL. By the end, you'll have a clear roadmap to go from a PostgreSQL database to a fully-featured geospatial API ready for frontend integration or data sharing.