Querying database using geographical areas/points

Question

I'm new to the concept of GIS in databases and am looking for a solution that allows me to do the following: - store polygon areas in a record field - Store geographical points. These points will contain latitude and longitude coordinates (GPS). - query database for all records, whose polygons intersect with a given point. - query database for all records, whose points intersect with a given area

Any recommendations?

thanks,

Fbr

Answer 1

• PostGreSQL with the PostGIS extension. Free open source, very mature.
• SQL Server 2008 has built-in Spatial Extensions. Even in the free Express Edition.
• Oracle
• MySQL 5.6.1 or later has built-in spatial extensions.

More information here on different spatial databases and here on learning about spatial databases