postgis/loader

shp2pgsql - Convert Shape file to PostGIS
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VERSION: 0.5 (2001/07/20)

MORE INFORMATION: http://postgis.refractions.net

INTRODUCTION:
This program takes in ESRI shape files and output formatted text suitable
for uploading to the PostGIS/PostgreSQL spatial database using the psql
terminal monitor.

This application uses functionality from shapelib 1.2.8
by Frank Warmerdam <warmerda@gdal.velocet.ca> to read from ESRI
Shape files.


INSTALLATION:

To build shp2pgsql just run 'make'.
Copy the binary wherever you like. :)


USAGE:

shp2pgsql <shapefile> <tablename> -d -c -a -dump

The <shapefile> is the name of the shape file, without any extension
information. For example, 'roads' would be the name of the shapefile 
comprising the 'roads.shp', 'roads.shx', and 'roads.dbf' files.

The <tablename> is the name of the database table you want the data stored
in in the database. Within that table, the geometry will be placed in 
the 'geo_value' column by default.

The options are as follows:

  -d    Delete mode. Delete the database table before uploading the
        data into a new empty database table in 'insert' format.
  -c    Create mode. This is the default mode. Create a new table and
        upload the data into that table in 'insert' format.
  -a    Append mode. Do not delete the target table or try to create
        a new table, simple insert the data into the existing table.
        (A table will have to exist for this to work, it is usually
        used after a create mode as been run once.)
  -dump Dump mode. Create a new table and upload the data into that
        table in 'dump' format. Dump format is used by PostgreSQL for
	large data dumps and uploads. Use this mode if your upload
	dataset is very large.


EXAMPLES:

Loading directly:

  shp2pgsql roads1 -c | psql -d roadsdatabase
  shp2pgsql roads2 -a | psql -d roadsdatabase

Saving to an intermiate file:

  shp2pgsql roads1 > roads.sql
  psql -d roadsdatabase -f roads.sql