PostGIS 3.5+ Knowledge Patch Skill

PostGIS 3.5+ Knowledge Patch

Claude's baseline knowledge covers PostGIS through 3.4. This skill provides features from 3.5 (Sep 2024) onwards.

Source: PostGIS news at https://postgis.net/news/

Additional Resources

Reference Files

For detailed descriptions, code examples, and full context on each change, consult:

references/postgis-3.5-3.6-details.md — Detailed changelog organized by topic (breaking changes, new vector/raster/topology/SFCGAL functions)

3.5.0 (2024-09-25)

Requires: PostgreSQL 12-17, GEOS 3.8+, Proj 6.1+. SFCGAL 1.5 for all SFCGAL features.

Breaking Changes

| Change | Impact | |--------|--------| | SFCGAL ST_* → CG_* prefix | All SFCGAL functions renamed. Old ST_ names deprecated. | | ST_DFullyWithin semantics | Now ST_Contains(ST_Buffer(A, R), B). May return different results. | | ST_AsGeoJSON(record) signature | Can promote column as Feature id. Materialized views need rebuild. | | ST_GeneratePoints seed | Seeded random points produce different results. Regenerate if needed. | | ST_Clip variants replaced | New touched param added. Materialized views need rebuild. |

New Functions

| Function | Purpose | |----------|---------| | ST_HasZ(geom) / ST_HasM(geom) | Boolean Z/M dimension checks | | ST_CurveN(geom, n) / ST_NumCurves(geom) | CompoundCurve accessors | | ST_RemoveIrrelevantPointsForView(geom, ...) | Viewport-based simplification | | ST_RemoveSmallParts(geom, ...) | Remove small polygon parts (slivers) | | TopoGeo_LoadGeometry(topo, geom, tol) | Load geometry into topology | | CG_Visibility(polygon, point) | Visibility polygon (SFCGAL) | | CG_*Partition functions | Polygon partitioning algorithms (SFCGAL) | | ST_ExtrudeStraightSkeleton(geom) | Extrude along straight skeleton (SFCGAL) |

ST_Clip `touched` (Raster)

-- Include pixels touched by geometry, not just centers-inside
SELECT
  ST_Clip (rast, geom, touched => true)
FROM
  raster_table;

3.5.1 (2024-12-22)

Breaking: ST_TileEnvelope now clips envelopes to tile plane extent. Edge tiles return smaller geometries than before.

3.6.0 (2025-09-01)

Requires: PostgreSQL 12-18, GEOS 3.8+, Proj 6.1+. GEOS 3.14+ for full features. SFCGAL 2.2+ for all SFCGAL features.

Breaking Changes

| Change | Impact | |--------|--------| | TIN/PolyhedralSurface accessors | ST_NumGeometries/ST_GeometryN return 1. Use ST_NumPatches/ST_PatchN instead. | | Topology bigint | Topology IDs now bigint. Integer functions replaced with bigint versions. | | st_approxquantile(raster, double precision) | Removed (ambiguous). Use variant with additional params. |

New Functions

| Function | Purpose | |----------|---------| | ST_CoverageClean(geom[]) | Clean polygonal coverage — edge match + gap removal (GEOS 3.14) | | ST_AsRasterAgg(...) | Aggregate: create raster from geometries | | ST_ReclassExact(rast, ...) | Remap exact values in raster | | ST_IntersectionFractions(rast, geom) | Raster pixel/geometry intersection fractions (GEOS 3.14) | | ValidateTopologyPrecision / MakeTopologyPrecise | Topology precision validation and repair |

New SFCGAL Functions (SFCGAL 2.2)

| Function | Purpose | |----------|---------| | CG_Simplify | 3D geometry simplification | | CG_3DAlphaWrapping | Tight 3D surface around point set | | CG_Scale / CG_Translate / CG_Rotate | 3D affine transformations | | CG_Buffer3D | 3D buffering | | CG_StraightSkeletonPartition | Partition polygon via straight skeleton |

SFCGAL now supports M coordinates (SFCGAL >= 1.5.0).

Agent Skills: PostGIS 3.5+ Knowledge Patch

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