SQL, PostGIS & large-data handling
Working with data that no longer fits in a spreadsheet — property tax rolls, census records, sensor feeds, a state's full parcel layer — and asking spatial questions of it in the database rather than exporting it first.
Needed across GIS / Urban-Data Analytics Lead, Planner — TCPO / MoHUA / NCRPB (Central)
This skill is still in review, so checkout is unavailable.
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Course outline
Learn from selected clips, concept by concept
Concept 1
When a spreadsheet stops being the right tool
Excel VS SQL as Database - My view as a Financial Controller
Joel Ting · English · beginner
Why this clip: The speaker demonstrates and explains how SQL handles large data volumes, automated joins, and data constraints far better than Excel.
Database vs Spreadsheet - Advantages and Disadvantages
365 Data Science · English · beginner
Why this clip: This segment details key spreadsheet limitations including the 1-million row limit, multi-user update sync issues, and how relational databases ensure data consistency and integrity.
Concept 2
Tables, rows, columns and keys
After: when-a-spreadsheet-breaks
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Concept 3
Your first real query: SELECT, WHERE, ORDER BY
After: tables-and-keys
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Concept 4
Counting and summarising with GROUP BY
After: select-where
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Concept 5
JOINs: combining tables
After: aggregation
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Concept 6
Building a query in steps with CTEs
After: joins
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Concept 7
Why a query gets slow, and what an index does
After: joins
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Concept 8
Getting your data into the database
After: tables-and-keys
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Concept 9
PostGIS: a geometry column in your table
After: loading-data, select-where
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Concept 10
Asking spatial questions in SQL
After: postgis-geometry
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Concept 11
Spatial joins and summarising by area
After: spatial-predicates, aggregation
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Concept 12
Using the database from QGIS
After: spatial-predicates
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What was rejected
14 candidates did not meet the course criteria.
- The video uses animated text slides rather than demonstrating actual database or spreadsheet software in action.
- Does not explicitly contrast relational tables against a single wide spreadsheet.
- Only covers primary keys and candidate keys; does not cover foreign keys or multi-table relationships.
- covers aggregate functions without GROUP BY at all
- This video explains how to read execution plans and join orders in Oracle, but does not cover what an index is or how indexes speed up queries.
- Does not explain or demonstrate what happens when data types or schema mismatch errors occur during import.
- clicks through an import wizard with no discussion of types or failures
- clicks through an import wizard with no discussion of types or failures
- lists PostGIS function names as a reference with no query answering a question
- The video contains auto-generated slides from a Q&A forum post and does not teach spatial joins or spatial aggregation.
- performs the spatial join without any aggregation step
- Does not demonstrate running a custom SQL query in QGIS to load as a query layer.
- Does not demonstrate executing a SQL spatial query or loading query results directly as a database layer.
- Does not demonstrate running SQL queries inside QGIS to load query results as spatial layers, nor does it explicitly contrast this workflow with exporting shapefiles.
Where this skill is used
GIS / Urban-Data Analytics Lead
Spatial-data and analytics roles — building GIS systems, remote-sensing pipelines, urban dashboards, and data products for planning clients, authorities, and tech/geospatial firms. Strong demand where planning meets data. Specialisation tags: Urban, Regional, Environmental (cross-cutting).
9 mapped employers
Explore path →Planner — TCPO / MoHUA / NCRPB (Central)
Central-government planning at the Town & Country Planning Organisation (under MoHUA) and bodies like the National Capital Region Planning Board. You work on national urban policy, regional plans, model guidelines, and inter-state coordination. Seats are very limited, UPSC/TCPO notifications are intermittent, and entry is prestigious. Specialisation tags: Urban, Regional, Infrastructure.
10 mapped employers
Explore path →