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I am confused, sometimes I see people in videos using PostgreSQL and other times I see PostGIS. My QGIS install has PostgreSQL. They both have the little elephant. Can anyone explain why I see two different names?

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UPDATE: A couple of good video for anyone looking to get started

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    The database is PostgreSQL and PostGIS is an extension to PostgreSQL that adds advanced spatial capabilities into the database postgis.net. PostGIS cannot be used without PostgreSQL but PostgreSQL without PostGIS has very limited spatial support. In common GIS language PostGIS is a short name that means PostgreSQL + PostGIS.
    – user30184
    Commented Dec 16, 2023 at 16:16
  • Neither. The name of the database is "PostgreSQL" (the SQL-ized Postgres of yore, without the trailing 's'). The name of the spatial extension is "PostGIS" (not "POSTGIS")
    – Vince
    Commented Dec 16, 2023 at 19:21

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PostgreSQL is a generic, relational database system. Based on this, there was developped an extension that adds spatial functionality to PostgreSQL technology. So PostgreSQL is the generic name for the whole database system, whereas PostGIS is a PostgreSQL installation with additional spatial functionality. That's why both are sometimes used as synonyms.

PostGIS extends the capabilities of the PostgreSQL relational database by adding support storing, indexing and querying geographic data.

https://postgis.net/

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  • That makes sense. Thank you. I am also finding out that you need to install an extension in POSTGres to handle the spatial data. See post stackoverflow.com/questions/44618374/…. Hope this helps others
    – Joe G
    Commented Dec 16, 2023 at 16:18

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