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How can I connect to a PostGIS database from ArcMap 9.3 or 10.0?

Ideally, I would like to be able to perform spatially enabled queries and receive the results back (e.g. spatial and non-spatial joins, filtering etc.) rather than just dumping the contents of a table.

To clarify, I don't want to use the ArcSDE spatial extensions, I want to use the PostGIS spatial extensions in ArcGIS.

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Very similar post to: gis.stackexchange.com/questions/6749/arcgis-and-postgis – RyanDalton Aug 12 '11 at 17:06

9 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

Easiest would be ZigGIS from Obtuse Software. Currently you have to pay for it, but word on the street is that version 3 will be open source.

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Version 3 will be open source. The only issue with it right now is that it does not management through ArcCatalog - meaning you need to use PgAdmin or SQL to admin your DB. Other than that you are good – TheSteve0 Jul 23 '10 at 6:38
To add to SteveO's comments, here's the ZigGISv3 Road Map: abegillespie.blogspot.com/2010/06/on-to-30.html The provider model will be a huge improvement. – Jay Cummins Jul 23 '10 at 11:34
Is thee free version 1.0 still available? – fmark Jul 30 '10 at 4:05
Yep, free version is available here: code.google.com/p/ziggis But it's oooooold, we don't support it any longer, and you can't do editing (which was the major feature introduced in version 2.0). – xanadont Aug 7 '10 at 23:58
I saw this post come through another list source recently that stated "zigGIS has officially reached its end-of-life since the next version of ArcGIS should support direct read / write interoperability with PostGIS (thereby rendering zigGIS moot)." groups.google.com/group/ziggis/browse_thread/thread/… – RyanDalton Aug 12 '11 at 15:41
up vote 10 down vote

If you are using ArcGIS 10, then you can directly connect to the PostGIS Data using a Query layer, there is more information on this available here

http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00s500000032000000.htm

** good to note this page does not view correctly in Chrome, so I have used IE to read

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Do you know if you can edit the PostGIS data through the query layer though? – om_henners Aug 6 '10 at 5:30
I believe at this stage this is not an editing solution but works more like a database view. – CDBrown Sep 1 '10 at 4:36
Is it just me or you can't access attribute table from PG with that technique when you use * in the query ? – Etiennebr Feb 2 '11 at 13:09
up vote 3 down vote

@OPENGISTECH

Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Data Sources.

Go to the System DSN tab.

Click Add.

Scroll down in the list. You should be able to see your PostgreSQL ODBC drivers there if you installed them. Click the first PostgreSQL ODBC driver in the list.

Enter your connection details in the form. If the connection is on the same machine as the PostgreSQL database, write localhost in the server field; otherwise, the name of the computer on the network. You'll have to make some changes in the pg_hba.conf file to connect to your database on the network. Read about it in the PostgreSQL manuals in the User Authentication section. After this is done, click Finish.

Add all the PostgreSQL ODBC drivers you find in the list similarly.

Click OK. You may now connect to the PostgreSQL database through the ODBC drivers. The drivers only needed to be directed to the database with connection information.

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up vote 2 down vote

@fmark. I have been monitoring this post and the wider web for a solution to this as I wanted a similar tool. Today I bumped into my (our) solution via RSS feed to James Fee's blog . And I believe the solution you seek is PgMap by ST-Links.

I have tried the ArcGIS 9.3 version and it's impressive. Still struggling with edits though since I'm still a PostGIS newbie (identity column thing). It also comes with a sleek ESRI to PostGIS loader and above all it's FREE! [Tested with OpenGeoSuite Community Edition 2.4.1]

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I heard st-link is only free for one year. After which you need to have a license. Isn't it true? – OPENGISTECH Jun 7 '12 at 15:02
up vote 1 down vote

Using ODBC driver and instructions from ArcGIS help worked for my machine.

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Does this method use the PostGIS extensions, or only the Arc SDE extensions to Postgresql? – fmark Jul 24 '10 at 4:22
For some strange reason I cant link correctly to ESRI web page. To get there try searching for 'setting postgresql' ArcGIS Desktop Help 9.3 website. To make it work you need to install PostgreSQL ODBC driver (psqlODBC) from postgresql.org/ftp/odbc/versions and then add OLE DB connection from ArcCatalog. Hope that helps. – radek Jul 24 '10 at 19:16
Just to confirm, I don't want to use the ArcSDE extensions in Postgresql, I want to use ArcGIS with the PostGIS extensions to postgresql. Is this possible? The method you describe makes me think not. – fmark Jul 25 '10 at 23:25
sorry, wasn't clear for me that it's your requirement. i think you're able to use all PostGIS functionality with the method described by ESRI. not sure if there is any way to do it without ArcSDE tho. afraid we will have to wait for answers from more knowledgable people to solve that. – radek Jul 27 '10 at 14:42
up vote 1 down vote

PgMap was replaced by st-links spatialKit and not only support PostGIS, but also support SQL Server 2008. It works with ArcMap 9.3, and ArcMap 10. It just meets your requirement. Check it out from www.st-links.com

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up vote 0 down vote

I believe you have several options outside of using SDE (although I will point out you can use PG_Geometry in SDE, therefore accessing data via ESRI software or PostGIS compatible OS software). You have the ESRI Data Interoperability extension, ZigGIS, and you could probably install a copy of geoserver or mapserver and connect via a WMS service in ArcGIS. Similar to the previous post about zigGIS and the need to manage queries via pgAdmin, you would need to use it to create your queries with geoserver/mapserver. Ideally, if you were reusing the same queries, you could savee them as views in postgresql and access the data that way.

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up vote 0 down vote

GISquirrel does the job. Its a plugin which allows you to view/edit spatial data which is stored in both PostGIS and MS SQL server. A great solution for those who require multi-user editing at low cost.

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up vote 0 down vote

GISquirrel does the job very well for MSSQLserver, and I am quite sure it will work well for Postgres. I work in a mixed ESRI/Qgis environment, and I use GIS squirrel also to import shapefiles etc. into the database. In SQLserver GISsquirrel keeps track of the geometry columns, I use this information to update the geometry_columns table used by Qgis. Very handy ...

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