Tips & Tricks

CartoDB

Simplify

Use PostGIS' simplify function to simplify complex geometries in your database. This is especially helpful at lower zoom levels where high numbers of vertices aren't necessary.

the_geom

When performing spatial functions like the simplify example above, be sure that the geometry returned is always in a field named the_geom. This is the field name that is necessary to create GeoJSON (what Google Vector Layers uses for geometry).