PostGIS 3.7.0 release candidate 3 drops PostgreSQL 12-13, adds spatial features

The PostGIS team has published the third release candidate for PostGIS 3.7.0, a major release of the geospatial database extension. This RC drops support for PostgreSQL versions 12 and 13 and requires GEOS 3.10 or newer. Two extensions, address_standardizer and tiger_geocoder, have been removed from the core distribution and moved to standalone repositories. The release adds multiple new spatial functions and requires Python 3 for documentation builds.

What's changing in PostGIS 3.7

• Breaking changes: PostgreSQL 12-13 support removed; GEOS < 3.10 support removed; ST_MemCollect aggregate removed; topology tolerance behavior changed (0 now means exactly 0, -1 means "use topology precision"); CG_AlphaShape now returns MultiPolygon
• Extension relocations: address_standardizer moved to github.com/postgis/address_standardizer; tiger_geocoder moved to git.osgeo.org/postgis/postgis_tiger_geocoder
• New spatial functions: ST_IsSimpleDetail, ST_CoverageEdges (shared edges in polygonal coverage), ST_MinimumSpanningTree (window function), ST_CatmullSmoothing, ST_3DInterpolatePoint, ST_MMin/ST_MMax, ST_XSize/ST_YSize/ST_ZSize/ST_MSize, CG_PolygonRepair, CG_ApproximateMedialAxis overload, SFCGAL roof generation
• Geometry support additions: NURBSCurve, TIN/surface support in ST_Multi, curved rings in ST_MakePolygon, MultiLineString in ST_MakeLine
• Build changes: Python 3 now required for documentation; visual examples require --with-visual-examples and running PostgreSQL instance; -fno-semantic-interposition enabled for LTO optimization

Why it matters

The removal of PostgreSQL 12-13 support and the relocation of tiger_geocoder and address_standardizer to separate repositories will require migration planning for users on older database versions and those relying on the unified extension package. The new spatial analysis functions and LTO-based performance improvements benefit geospatial workloads.