PostgreSQL: Enable Earthdistance Module
July 25, 2015
If you need to do any dynamic distance calculations within a PostgreSQL database, I highly recommend the earthdistance module. We are currently using it for locating and sorting target entities within a set radius using geocoded addresses. Earthdistance takes care of all of the heavy lifting, and allows for much more efficient queries.
Here’s how you enable it within PostgreSQL:
1 #from shell, login to PostgresSQL server
2 sudo -u postgres psql
3
4 #list available databases
5 postgres=# \list
6
7 #login to target database
8 postgres=# \connect my_database
9
10 #enable cube extension (required by earthdistance)
11 my_database=# CREATE EXTENSION cube;
12
13 #enable earthdistance extension
14 my_database=# CREATE EXTENSION earthdistance;