Geographic information systems (GIS) are used by application developers to incorporate geographic information into their datasets to create apps with cool features such finding the address to the best steakhouse in town or the locations of local points of historical interest (the list is endless). In a nutshell, GIS captures, store, checks and displays data related to positions on Earth’s surface.

Next Wednesday I’m going provide an introduction to GIS functionality in MySQL along an overview of recent changes. I invite you to register now for this free webinar titled “MySQL and Geospatial Programming.” It starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time on March 18.

In this talk I’ll discuss:

• The various tasks that deal with geocoding
• How MySQL can solve problems such as points within a radius (e.g., “Find the 10 closest coffee shops) among others
• Highlights from some of the new features bundled in the upcoming 5.7 release, and what benefits they can bring to your applications

I’m happy to field questions in advance in the comments section below. This webinar, like all Percona webinars, will be recorded. In addition to the video, my slides will also be available for download.

Register now and I’ll talk to you next week!