Spatial data infrastructure: PostGIS, GeoServer, THREDDS and APIs

The problem

Spatial data spread across shapefiles, NetCDF folders and spreadsheets is hard to keep consistent and impossible to share reliably. Each new dashboard or report starts with another round of copying and converting. Teams need a single, maintained source exposed through open standards (WMS/WFS, OPeNDAP, REST APIs) that both web maps and desktop GIS can use.

What you get

• PostGIS schema design and migration of existing vector data (including ODK/GeoODK surveys)
• GeoServer workspaces, layers and styles for WMS/WFS publication
• THREDDS Data Server / ncWMS catalogue for gridded NetCDF/HDF data
• REST API endpoints for application-specific queries
• Scheduled ETL jobs with logging and basic QA/QC checks
• Operations runbook: backups, updates, adding new datasets

How it works

1. 1

   Inventory

   Catalogue existing datasets, formats, owners, update cycles and the applications or users that need them.

2. 2

   Design

   Design the database model, service layout and naming conventions; agree access rules and which data is public.

3. 3

   Build

   Install and configure PostGIS, GeoServer and THREDDS, migrate data and write the ETL jobs that keep it current.

4. 4

   Document and transfer

   Hand over a runbook and walk the in-house team through adding a dataset and recovering from common failures.

Tools

• PostgreSQL/PostGIS
• GeoServer
• THREDDS Data Server
• ncWMS
• Apache Tomcat
• Python
• GDAL / CDO / NCO
• Django REST Framework
• Linux cron