# PostGIS 3.7.0 released with major feature updates and PostgreSQL 19 support

> **Key takeaway:** PostGIS 3.7.0 introduces significant spatial function enhancements, improved loader idempotency, and expands compatibility to PostgreSQL 19.

**Published:** 2026-10-30T20:03:01.582111+00:00 
**Source:** Planet PostgreSQL 
**Category:** databases-storage 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/postgis-370-released-with-major-feature-updates-and-postgres.html 

## Summary
The PostGIS Team has announced the release of PostGIS 3.7.0, a major update providing new spatial functions and significant architectural refinements. This version is optimized for PostgreSQL 19 (RC 1) and requires GEOS 3.10 or higher, Proj 6.1+, and libgmp. It also introduces a new requirement for Python 3 when building documentation images.

This release includes several breaking changes, most notably the removal of support for PostgreSQL 12 and 13, as well as GEOS versions older than 3.10. Additionally, the address_standardizer and tiger_geocoder extensions have been moved to separate repositories. Users looking for full feature sets should ensure they are running GEOS 3.15+ and SFCGAL 2.3+.

## Technical improvements and breaking changes in PostGIS 3.7.0
- **Spatial Functionality:** New functions include ST_IsSimpleDetail, ST_MinimumSpanningTree as a window function, and ST_CoverageEdges for polygonal coverage.
- **Loader Enhancements:** The shp2pgsql and raster2pgsql loaders now support idempotent creation via the --if-not-exists flag and allow shp2pgsql to create UNLOGGED tables.
- **Topology and Indexing:** Improvements include optimized GiST indexes for repeated edge subdivision and the removal of recursive snapping to increase robustness.
- **Raster Support:** The release adds support for the GDT_Float16 pixel type and improves ST_MapAlgebra performance by moving neighborhood callbacks to C.
- **Breaking API Changes:** The ST_MemCollect aggregate has been removed, and topology building functions now interpret a tolerance of 0 as a literal zero rather than the previous default.

## Why it matters
This release forces a modernization of the geospatial stack by dropping support for older PostgreSQL and GEOS versions. Database administrators must plan migrations for users on PostgreSQL 12/13, while developers can benefit from more robust, idempotent data loading tools and advanced spatial analysis functions.