== Google Summer of Code 2011 PostGIS raster ideas ==


1) '''Implement write support for the PostGIS raster GDAL driver.''' 

 Mentor: Jorge Arevalo (jorge.arevalo at deimos-space.com)

 A [http://www.gdal.org/ GDAL] driver allows reading/writing of raster (or images) data from/to formats like TIFF, PNG or JPEG.

 The current GDAL PostGIS raster driver supports reading of PostGIS rasters objects from a PostgreSQL/PostGIS database but does not support writing. The project includes proposing a driver writer design and implementing it. You will familiarize yourself with GDAL-OGR development (one of the most used open source geospatial package), geospatial imagery concepts, open source development tools and code in C.



2) '''Two rasters version of the ST_MapAlgebra SQL function'''

 Mentor: Pierre Racine (pierre.racine at sbf.ulaval.ca)


 [http://www.quantdec.com/SYSEN597/GTKAV/section9/map_algebra.htm Map algebra] allows the creation of a new raster as a mathematical (or logical) function of one or two other rasters. e.g. raster3 = (raster1 + raster2) / 2. This is a very common raster operation in the GIS world.

 A one raster version of ST_MapAlgebra already exist. We now need a two raster version. This version is much more complicated to implement as it must not only takes into account nodata values but also on-the-fly reprojection of non aligned rasters and multiple possibilities for the resulting extent when the two rasters do not have the same extent. It is also possible, but complicated, to optimize the algorythm in order to fill many areas as a chunck of data instead of pixel by pixel. The project includes reviewing the proposed algorythm and implementing it. You will familiarize yourself with PostGIS development (the most used open source geospatial database), geospatial imagery concepts, open source development tools and code in C and PL/pgSQL.

Want more details? Write to the [http://postgis.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/postgis-devel PostGIS developer list].