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(cross-posted from SO https://stackoverflow.com/q/55869582/2802810)

I've accidentally dropped geometry_columns and geography_columns tables from an existing PostgreSQL PostGIS database schema - let's call it mydb.myschema.

This post outlines how to restore using CREATE TABLE ... with .sql from PostGIS install (I am on a shared server and am having to get my devops to look for them because of permissions).

I wanted to check if this will work. Also, do these two tables (geometry_columns and geography_columns) contain data relating to the geometries held in existing tables in mydb.myschema. Or do geometry_columns and geography_columns hold reference information for spatial operations?

Any advice from anyone who has gone through this before?

Running PostGIS 2.5.2 on PG 11.x.

[NOTE: No backup available as snapshots weren't set up beforehand...]

Vince
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mark
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  • Found SQL on my server to re-generate these two as VIEWS. So the tables hold information about geometry as per OGC Simple Features specification see https://gis.stackexchange.com/a/54849/104667. Is there anything I've missed though I wonder? – mark Apr 26 '19 at 16:08

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The post you linked to is outdated; nowadays, geomtry_columns and geography_columns are views that automatically extract their data from the Postgres system tables.

You should be able to find the CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW statements in the file share/contrib/postgis-x.x/postgis.sql in your Postgres installation.

CL.
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